SDA Round 5 – Innerleithen

As the final round of the SDA series has come and gone I can’t help but feel like this season has gone in seconds. We arrived at inners on Friday evening at about 8 and set up the pit area once Steve arrived. As it was dark I didn’t walk the track so just rolled down slowly to see the track in the morning.

From the hut at the top the track went down the long straight into a set of switchbacks with roots and drops and a big stump to avoid. Over the first fire road and you go down to the left and into perhaps the most unusual part of the track. Here you go into the middle section of the red bull free-ride run and over a series of jumps and big berms. This section went slightly uphill at the end and really tested the fitness of the riders. Back round to the right and you go through a series of switchbacks with roots and loose corners before dropping back out into the open section.

Here it’s a sprint to the next corner where you keep the bike on its edge round the loose flat corners. Round to the left and over the second road crossing you drop straight down into a sharp right hander and then through a series of very fast and banked switchbacks which were fun on every run. Over a broken down wall and round a tight left hander leads you into some tighter and slower corners with more roots before dropping down into the arena.

Down the gulley at the end of the jumps line and round a set of switchbacks leads into the muddy roots section where you have to be careful of the small but hard trees in the track. Drifting all the way down the next straight and ragging the bike anywhere possible to stay on course leads into the deep gulley where many riders lost it. Up to the right and round the last corner next to the main road leads down through the finish line to complete your run.

After the rain on Saturday and the lack of rain on Sunday the track was sticky and the cut down spikes came out. In my first run we got stuck on the uplift for an extra hour due to another bus going off the road. This meant I was tired at the top and my run was good but not fast. I did a time of 4:01.034 and 6th place. In run 2 I was better prepared and I put in a faster time of 3:57.968. In my last report I promised a top 5 result so I came 4th in junior category and 23rd overall out of 255. Podium at the next race.