Douglas F Shearer

SXC 2007 Round 6 - Drumlanrig Castle

Gonna be a short one this, really should have written this ages ago.

The Course

It had been four years since I had last ridden Drumlanrig, as a junior. The course was almost exactly the same as the courses back then, although not continuing around route no.7 for quite so far.

The course basically follows route no.7 for the majority of it’s distance. The amazing rooty descents and steep climbs make it a properly fun course to ride lap after lap.

How’d I do?

Off the startline I felt good, quickly gaining places on the first steep climb. On the next climb I passed Iain Nimmo and went into 4th position. Down the second descent I passed Andy Barlow who had slid out on one of the corners. I did the same a few corners later, and was passed by Andy, Iain and Andrew Cockburn.

James FM went past at warp 9 on the final fireroad section, way too fast for me to get on his wheel. For the next few laps I sat with Cockburn while Barlow pulled out a gap on us. On lap 2 I hit my knee on my stem, apologies to the man and his kid standing at that corner for my cursing out loud.

Lap 4 saw me fall again, this time sliding out on some gravel as I came onto a fireroad. It took me the whole way down the long rooty descent to catch Cockburn. Back onto the fireroad I downed what remained of my coke, and put the hammer down. It was the only time I used my big-ring for the whole race. On the next steep singletrack climb I locked out my forks, and gave it death round the switchbacks to get a decent gap going.

Going into the final lap I had about 10s, definitely not comfortable in case of accidents. I kept the hammer down and caught and passed Barlow on the first climb.

The last lap seemed to go super fast, with me only looking back when the trail doubled back. Luckily I had no trouble, and finished 5th, my best XC result of the year so far.

Hopefully Glentress will be as good.

Cycling Catchup

Not had a post for too long, so I’m going to do a quick catch up on what I’ve been doing cycling wise…

SXC 2007 Round 2 – Dalbeattie

The second round of the SXC series was at Dalbeattie, one of the 7 Stanes best known for it’s rocky singletrack and steep slabs. True to previous form, the race course avoided most of this, and instead used a large amount of steep natural singletrack. Super dry conditions meant that some corners were deep sand instead of the slippy mud of previous years.

In the Expert/Elite race I got off to a good start, though lost a few places on the first descent when I ended up behind the tape after a bit of mis-direction. I also had cramp for the first 2 laps, so had to ease off the pace a bit. Once the cramp disappeared I was flying again, really enjoying the course.

On the last lap I decided to give it everything, locking my forks out and stomping on the pedals up the main climb. I passed several people here, and caught Andy Wardman, who I passed on a later section of fireroad to put almost a minute into him before the finish.

I was 13th overall, which compared to the top fives I was getting last year is a little poor. No doubt the field is stronger this year, as my form is definitely better than last.

Ingliston Crit Series

For the second year in a row I was riding the support races at the Cycling Scotland Ingliston Criterium Series. A bit of a mixed bag of results here…

1. First round I got stuck behind two crashes, losing me decent position in the field. Low 20s finish.
2. Second round I lost a contact lens on the 3rd last lap, making things slightly difficult. Low 20s finish.
3. I missed the third round due to the SXC race the next day.
4. Round 4 – Sat in the front of the field for the first few laps, helping to chase down breaks. Came back to the front near the end and held my position to take 10th in the sprint.

A Century

On saturday Tom and I went on a big hilly loop round Innerliethen, Biggar and Lanark. It ended up being 100miles, not bad for a 6 hour day in the saddle. I’ve never done 100miles before, but as with the other long distances I have done, I find that after about 70miles my legs just keep going.

SXC 2007 Round 1 - Laggan

Sunday just past saw the first round of the SXC series at Laggan. It used the same course as last year apart from a new boggy section that replaced a very fast section of singletrack, but cut out some fireroad. This boggy section was rideable apart from a middle section which was quicker to run. There was also a huge deep puddle on exit, which caught a few people out.

For the third year I was riding expert, and having just come back from Cyprus, I we feeling good. As good as I was feeling, the standard was definitely up this year. I came in 11th, 18 minutes down on the winner. 7 laps didn’t seem much harder than the 6 we did last year, and I came away feeling fairly pleased with my efforts, and having something higher to aim for next time.

I will get some photos up soon, but for the moment you can look at my (almost) complete 2007 race build.