My Season so far... • Alpine Bikes: Posted by fergus.lamb on 14 Jul 2008

It’s been a busy year so far, I can’t believe we’re more than half way through 2008 already. My first season as an Alpine Bikes rider has been an eventful one and I’m hoping to push it even more over the next few months. This is how I’ve been doing so far…

Round two of the SDA was a great weekend at Nevis Range in Fort William. Practice went well and the course was riding great. My bike was holding up well and I was ready for the race with just four practice runs on the Saturday and one on Sunday morning. Racing went well and I finished the first run in 3rd place on 5 minutes and 8 seconds. In my second race run I had another good run but was a little more tired and finished 1.5 seconds down on my first run.

NPS round two Innerleithen Friday night I picked up my bike from Alpine Bikes in inners. It had been in for a service and I had some new brakes so was keen for practice. The course was really technical and very fun. Practice went well, seeding runs were on Saturday afternoon. I went pretty steady in seeding but had a good run and came in fifth place. I was very pleased with this as there are always lots of fast riders at a national. Sunday came round and I was feeling good for the race run. In my race I was riding well. I got past the most technical part of the track and just went for it! This resulted in a big crash falling down a bank and ending my race. I was seriously gutted with this as I don’t like to not finish. Moreover there were UCI points for the first ten riders which would have allowed me to compete in the World Cup at Fort William. This was a huge disappointment for me as I would say that would’ve been the biggest race of my year, so to not be able to compete is a bitter blow for me.

SDA Aberfeldy This has to be the best course I have raced on, simple as that. A massive shout out to all who worked towards getting this venue and building such a great course. The course was very short and the uplift was very fast which meant I managed 10 practice runs. All day Saturday I felt very fast and really did feel that I could do very well on this track. Sunday and I only had time for 1 practice run which went badly and didn’t inspire confidence for the race. My race run was ok, I didn’t make any big errors but it didn’t feel like I had good flow like I had on Saturday. So I had to settle for a steady run. This put me 3rd in elite and 3rd overall which is great for the series as I still get good points for it. I have been on the first three podiums this year so will have to try and carry this through the whole series. At present I am second in the series with two races left plus the champs so fingers crossed it could come good yet.

At the moment I am in Morzine with Joe Barnes doing some extra training. We travelled out straight after Aberfeldy and we’re getting loads of riding in which is great. Every morning we ride down to town twice and race back up the road. It’s really hard as it’s so hot but its got to be good for the fitness so will be doing that every day. We have a week left before we travel back to Fort William for round three of the British Series at Nevis Range. I really hope this one goes better than round 2 of the NPS and I’m confident it will.

I am going to make it my goal to get my UCI points back for next season as I feel strongly that is where I should be racing. This means I will be spending a lot of my summer out here in Europe so I’m all set for next season.

That’s racing I guess – you've got to take the rough with the smooth.

I’ll keep you posted on my progress.