Orange Bikes Tour de Ben Nevis
Inaugural Tour de Ben Nevis Sets a Challenge
Stu Thomson / 16.09.2010
With the pre-event promotion claiming that the Tour will ‘take mountain bike racing back to the mountains’ it was clear that Frazer Coupland and the team from No Fuss had a clear plan for the event. This entailed a race of one lap of an epic and wild route around Ben Nevis, at 61km the route stretched from Fort William down to the spectacular south side of Kinlochleven and heading up towards Spean Bridge over some of the most stunning and dramatic scenery in the UK. The route was almost 100% off-road and with incredibly rough and rocky terrain of the natural trails of the Lochaber area it was generally considered that a 5-inch style suspension bike was the order of the day.
To add an extra incentive, the team at No Fuss threw in 5 special stages scattered over the course to provide competitors with an extra challenge during the day. These consisted of extremely technical rocky descents, climbs and even a tough hike-a-bike section.
Participants who gathered on the shores of Loch Linnhe in Fort William for a 9am start on Saturday morning were greeted with a typically damp Fort William morning. Spirits were high though and competitors seemed excited by the prospect of such a full challenging day in the mountains, a refreshing change from the man made, trail centre style endurance races that seem to dominate the events calendar in the UK.
The first climb of the day headed up out of Fort William to the West Highland way and towards Kinlochleven. Immediately the field spread out and a few headed out front and the main field prepared themselves for a long, wet day of incredible riding and scenery.
From the outset it was clear that the event winner was going to come down to a battle between James Shirley and early leader Ruaridh Watt, both riders competing on 5-inch travel Orange bikes. Where as for the majority the day was about survival, Shirley and Watt proved that it is possible to keep an incredible pace up over the gruelling 61km terrain.
SleepMonsters
