10 Under the Ben - Fort William, June 2008 • Alpine Bikes: Posted by lesley.ingram on 10 Jun 2008

Even the midges decided to leave the Nevis Range on Saturday due to the soaring heat! Honestly, people would not believe you if you told them it was that warm in Fort Bill! So you kind of have to ask yourself at what point does participating in a 10 hour mountain biking event at temperatures exceeding 25 degrees even begin to be a good idea remembering that we are in Scotland and 10 degrees can pass as a good summer’s day! The truth of the matter was that all in all it was a great event, organisation was spot on and there was a really good vibe floating around the course as riders of all abilities embarked on a very tough physical challenge. I think there was somewhere in the region of 840 riders competing in the event whether individually or in a team; that’s a pretty phenomenal statistic right there! And boy did it make the start interesting as a sea of riders attempted to file onto a fire track road. Luckily I followed Geraint at the start and he got us positioned nicely up at the front of the field. The lap was 10 miles long and very physically challenging, incorporating long gradual climbs on fire track with tricky descents laden with rocks waiting to catch you out. It was dusty and dry and front wheel wash outs were inevitable. At roughly the half way point the course crossed over the downhill track and onto the XC World Cup course where all riders were faced with a tough little climb before a brilliant long descent. Water crossings, natural sections and north shore also featured throughout the course. It was a real mixed bag and had something there for everyone to enjoy – well done to the NO FUSS team; it was a cracker. The heat only added to the physical challenge as parts of the course were relentless due to the fact that there was no shade.

The Alpine Bikes team were out in numbers and a massive bow of respect has to go to all the guys that completed the event solo. Geraint Florida-James put in an awesome effort completing 9 laps in 9h 58mins finishing in 9th position overall in the senior male category. It took over 7 and a half hours before he stopped for some food. His ride was eventful, with objects entering places they shouldn’t, but the less said about that the better! Andy Dodds also put in an impressive performance completing 8 laps and looking very cool out there with his shades on! (Cheers for the shout out, it was good to eventually meet!). And last but by no means least to Bryan Shedden (the boss) who completed 6 laps during the event! However questions have to be asked as Bryan appeared to be a bit illusive during the whole event and was not seen by anyone…is he earning so much money these days he can pay people to ride for him?

I took part in the event as a pair with Ruth McKean. Ruth encountered a nasty fall in the first lap when her forks exploded as she descended a rock drop and as if riding the rest of the lap on a broken bike wasn’t enough we later discovered she completed the lap with a fractured wrist and a torn rotator cuff muscle in her shoulder. So any normal person would stop here but on no not Ruth, she well and truly earned full downhill status by going out for a second and third lap. It was a bumpy course and those vibrations must have been a killer, not to mention the fact that she couldn’t brake or change gear! So we were pleased to finish overall 2nd in the female pairs! Sadly you will find that we are missing off the podium photos but after 10 hours of riding we had to head straight to the hospital to get things checked out; not quite the celebration we were hoping for! Matt from the Innerlethien store put in a very respectable performance, his team Another Fine Mess finished 37th overall in the male senior pairs (a very competitive field!). Every time I saw Matt out there he had a big smile on his face and was telling me how much he was enjoying it!! I wish I felt like that while I was out there! Laura Thompson’s team from Alpine Bikes Head Office, Defibrillators At The Ready, also did well completing 5 laps. I take it you managed to find your bike Laura?

All in all it was a lot of fun out there! Good luck to all of those daft enough to embark on the next 10 hour event!