Ae forest near to Dumfries is a long established venue for the NPS series that has evolved over the years into a track that demands precision and offers little margin for error for a good result. This years track was a welcome surprise in that there was a new start heading down an open boggy section onto the existing track which then went off into a new wooded section with a mesh of exposed slippery tree roots then joined the existing middle part of the track. On the lower part of the track was another new wooded section also with plenty of lovely fresh exposed tree roots which then lead riders onto the near impossible (with Saturdays rainy conditions) “do or die” off camber down towards the infamous Ae drop-off into the cork screw of berms before launching down the steep bank into the finish.
Saturday, riders were faced with fog and driving rain beating down for most of the day. This made for the customary “timed seeding” to be abandoned, for which I feel for most riders was welcome, as it allowed for all day open practice. As the day progressed the track begun to ride like a race track, this left you battling with the ever increasing clog up of mud on wet weather suits and goggles with each run of the track
As ever, the end of the day cleanup operation took hours.
Sunday started as Saturday finished, no rain, and actually turned to bright sunshine all day. This help the track conditions a treat, so by the time racing commenced everyone was chomping at the bit for a good days racing, especially as no-one knew how each other was fairing (timed seeding was aborted on the previous day). This was what we had been waiting for, all the previous days carnage and mess would count for nothing, it was this one run what the weekend was all about, it is reason why we compete!
As it happened I had didn’t have a great run, one major error and the odd mistake, made for a scrappy run, but this was the new Ae forest which you could afford to make an error without all being lost, there are areas where you can try to claw some valuable time back. I was very surprised to have finished with a great result of 2nd(Masters). This I was pleased with, until I found out that it was sooo close 2/10 sec separating myself and the winner. This, as always, made for a 2:51 run to last the 4hr drive back home, going over and over in my head, with the ever so common phrase repeating itself “if only”.
