A week later and its into the car for the long 7 hour haul to Fort William for round 4 of the SDA, a race Ben has been looking forward to all season. We arrived Friday evening and after checking in to our hotel went to the race venue, where we went up in the gondola and walked back down the course for Ben to inspect all the corners and drops for the fastest lines as well as trying to familiarise himself with a track he had not ridden before (this is done at every new track he rides whether racing or riding for fun).

Saturday 8th July, practice day and we arrive in the rain to be told it has been glorious for the past 3 weeks, but not to worry we are used to abrupt changes in the weather by now. First up is signing on then onto the gondolas for the 12 minute ride up Anocch Mor to the start line and practice was underway, steady at first, stopping and starting, building up speed and knowledge with every turn of the pedals.

With the uplift system at Fort William being so efficient, Ben managed 10 practice runs the last of which ended when he crashed on a bend breaking his gear cable, twisting the bars and breaking other items on the bike. So it was time for some repairs before the following days racing could commence, and in the usual way, other riders all chip in with parts and help in remedying the problem.

Sunday 9th July, SDA Fort William Race Day, and yes its raining again. Ben got straight on with the task ahead and went straight for the uplift to get in a couple of practice runs, as soon as this was over it was time to clean and check the bike before his first race run.

Ben set off on race run 1 with one thing on his mind, to put in a clean run from top to bottom as fast as possible in order to set up a platform which would allow him to go for it on the second run. But disaster struck about a third of the way down when the gear cable came loose again, and with the loss of gears Ben was unable to pedal and so was forced to freewheel the rest of the way down and setting a time of 5mins 55.34secs, disappointing but still reasonably well up in the category.
And so it was back to work, into the toolbox for spare parts, and with the offer of a helping hand a new rear mech was fitted, before the bike was washed and made ready for run 2.

With the weather getting progressively worse Ben set off down the hill on the rocky gravely section, down through Bus Stop, Pin Ball and Snakes and Ladders before passing over Slab 1 followed by Slab 2, over the Steps and into the woods.

There the terrain changed with mud now being thrown up to impair vision as well as making the going harder.

After that it was through Switch Back, The Stairs and ‘Rootu’ Step Down before passing through the Dark Place and heading onto The Motorway, a fast pedalling section with jumps and drops.

Next up was the Tissot Jump, then the Off Beat Wall and down into the finish with Ben achieving a time of 5.28 giving him 22nd place out of 59 riders in youth category.