Douglas F Shearer

Innerleithen MTB TT 2011

The TT was the final round of the Innerleithen MTB Racing Proper Mountain Bike Series.

Year on year the course for this course has been progressed in terms of the level of demand it puts on competitors. This year it not only featured the first descent from the Enduro, but also some fresh cut descents off Minch Moor, and a resulting 940m of climbing.

I pre-rode on Saturday with Dave Henderson, and to make the course more difficult, we were treated to snow on the ground and constant rain for the two hours that it took us to go round. The course was great though, and I knew that it was going to be a smasher the next day.

On sunday the weather was much warmer, so warm the jacket got ditched in favour of a gilet. I was off about 50th, and the snow was only on the sides of the trail higher up, so nothing to worry about there.

I started hard, after having a good warmup. I pulled back about 20 seconds on my minute-man, Gary McCrae, within the first few minutes, finding I was quicker on the steeper sections, but wasn’t gaining any ground when it flattened out. On the top section of the pushup track my chain went over the top of the cassette, so I had to fix it then get going again on the 30% slope. Down the first descent I was behind Gary, then lost a bit of time by going off-piste for a while.

Gary was gone, and by the time I got to the quarry section, I couldn’t see him at all, so suspected I may have passed him somehow. Turns out he’d missed some markings and bashed on up a fireroad for five minutes. I kept the hammer down, all the way up Minch Moor. The next section of descent of minch moor was pretty steep in places, and I felt like I was more skiing the bike than riding it down. I kept my feet up the whole time, unlike the day before when I was making some sort of human tripod.

The climb out of the bottom was pretty brutal, with a steep section of the Southern Upland Way. Near the top of this at the crop-circles I got passed by Gareth, who had caught me for almost ten minutes. I tried to hold onto his wheel on the flat muddy section, even following has rather off-piste line to avoid the mud, but could only hold him for about a minute.

After this it was down through Plora Graig rock gardens, then out onto the uplift track. I motored up there, slowed a little bit to chat with Chris Herraghty over the top, then chased Dave as he passed us both. Just the last descent to go, and that was over pretty quickly.

I ended up in third place in 1:32:08, 10 minutes down on Dave, with Gareth in first by 18 seconds. I was pretty pleased with my result considering the time off I had to take in February, though a ten minute gap to the next rider is huge.

Thanks to Helen, Steve, Dan and their team of helpers and marshals for a great event.

Full results.

Alistair Lees Memorial XC Time Trail - 15th March 2009

Innerleithen Forestry Commission Carpark

The traditional Scottish XC season opener on the best XC course in Britain ! This year we will be using a longer course, and all riders will complete one lap. The trophy, in memory of our friend Alistair who died of cancer in November 2007, will be awarded in the Vet category. We will be taking a split time at the top of the course and a prize will be awarded for the fastest male and female riders on that section.

Get a flavour of the trails to be used for the British National Champs this year! This event sold out last year and is limited to 120 places, so enter now to be sure of a place.

Event website www.innerleithenmtbracing.com

Entries on www.entrycentral.com

Provide a marshall and get free entry – contact helenmfindlay@yahoo.co.uk for details.

Innerleithen MTB TT 2008

The Inners MTB TT course has to be one of the most testing courses in the UK, and the most fun. You climb for 20 minutes on a mixture of manmade singletrack and natural rooty singletrack, then descent for five minutes down ‘The Tunnel’ and ‘New Luge’ of the DH tracks, followed by the ‘Merida’ singltrack, and finished off by the bottom half of ‘Caddon Bank’. Not much to complain about here, event with all the mud!

Despite the noise, and exclamation from others (JFM!), I did my warmup on my rollers. The mountainbike isn’t nearly as stable on them as the road bike is, but it does give me the chance to get properly warmed up in a controlled environment.

First lap went really well, with the only real problem on the up being harder than expected breathing. On the down I felt in control, despite going way faster than I had been going on the Friday when I practiced the course.

On the second lap I went through right before Ben Thompson, James Fraser-Moodie and Andy Barlow. Ben caught me just before we went into the tunnel. I got a puncture, and while I was stopped Andy went past, closely followed by James. It seemed to be a bad day for punctures, as James got on a few hundred meters later, and Ben got one at the start of his second lap.

With mine quickly fixed I was off again, round into my third lap. The third was pretty uneventful, I pushed almost as hard as I could, saving myself a little for the descent.

Turns out I was fourth, behind Andy, Paul Newnham and Paul McInally. Pretty chuffed with that result especially with my puncture.

So, top training tip people…. take 3 months off the bike with injury, train like a mad person for two weeks, then ride a course that is almost perfectly suited to you.

Here’s hoping the last round of the SXC is held on the same course.

Full results on the SXC Forum