Jared’s training is legendary, so there was no doubt he would commit 100% to becoming a great enduro racer. His first indication came at the Australian National Championships this year -- he finished eight in the pro cross-country race and less than an hour after his race, qualified first in downhill and went on to place second in the finals.

Fast forward to the first race in the Enduro World Series in Punta Ala, Italy this weekend. There was endless debate about what type of rider would excel in the new format and the field was packed with the biggest name in our sport. The Yeti crew felt confident Jared would be in the hunt.

Here’s Jared’s diary during the week of training and racing...

Monday, May 15 - I arrived in Florence straight from Australia, collected the hire car then off to Punta Ala. For sure, it was a mission, finding my way out of the airport. Being solo with just a printed Google map and driving on the wrong side of the road was tough. CRAZY Italian drivers and no street signs made the trip an adventure. Eventually I just decided to wing it. I knew the venue was southwest, so that’s where I headed. My plan, surprisingly, worked out very well.

Once I arrived in Punta, I built my bike, got groceries, unpacked and then went out for an easy spin to check out stages 4 and 5. Stage 4 and 5 are definitely the more mellow trails, such good flow and just plain good fun! Grabbed dinner and headed off to bed ready to get some big days riding in over the next few days.

Tuesday, May 14th - Jet-lag is a killer sometimes, but I generally like it when I am wide awake at 5am and ready to get on with the day. By 6 am I was out on the trails. I had all the trails to myself, the sun was out and I was loving it. What a way to start the day.

I took a quick break and early lunch. Late morning, I decided it was time to check out the first three stages. This is where things got a little frustrating. After four hours out riding and about 4000 vertical meters climbing we had finally checked out the the first three stages. We then saw a bunch of riders shuttling with quads, moto's, and trucks. They were doing four runs to our one and saving a load of energy.

To me this is not really in the 'spirit of enduro' that people keep talking about, but I guess as soon as you call something a World Series with a World Champion to be crowned, things change. I've trained way too hard to be at a major disadvantage, so I planned to shuttle as much as we could over the coming days.

Wednesday, May 15th - Again, I was up nice and early for another solo spin of stages four and five (which can't be shuttled, at least not in any way that I know of). Another awesome morning, two runs on each and a good start to the day!

11 am and it was shuttle o'clock. We only had a hire car, which meant part shuttles, the rough roads wouldn't allow the car all the way up top. But it was good to save the legs a bit and get in some more riding, even though there was still a lot of climbing involved.

This is where my preparation paid off. Some solid study on what the trails were like lead me to believe a more aggressive bike setup would be the way to go. I chose a Maxxis 2.5 EXO 3c Minion front and rear, tubeless of course! Added an extra 5 psi in the Fox 34's and an extra 10 psi in the Float X CTD out back. I switched to  a 50mm mm stem from the 70mm I was riding at home, and my bike felt right at home on the VERY rough and fast trails.

Stages 1,2, and 3 were to my liking - actually very similar to the trails that the SB66 was designed for, fast, rocky and unforgiving! Loving it!

This is where things get tricky... you need an easy 48 hrs leading up to the race to be fresh and ready to roll on race day, so squeezing in that last practice while freshening up proves to be a bit of a juggling act. Time management over the next few days is going to be very important!

Thursday, May 16th - The predicted rains for today rolled in last night, which is giving me a bit of a forced rest. Sunny skies are predicted for the weekend so there isn't much point going out and sliding around in the mud. I'm taking my first moments to myself since I've landed, getting on top of some emails, and letting the body recover a bit. Also, a perfect time to do some helmet cam footage study from the past two days riding to learn the tracks a bit better.

Friday, May 17 - More overnight rain, and very slippery conditions. I  decided to just take it easy and check out how the tracks were changing and if they were getting cut up from the runs in the mud. The rain has totally transformed the tracks -- they are full on World Cup DH status rough. The punchy climbs were boggy and slow, very physical now, but really enjoyed the riding today. Unfortunately, a couple bad line choices ended up in some mechanical issues which resulted in quite a stressful next 24 hours!

Saturday, May 18th - Sun’s out guns out! Bike was back to 100% perfect working order, and it was time to head off and do a final check of stage four and five. They were both drying nicely, especially stage five, which was top to bottom hero traction, such good fun! Focus of the day though was on recovery with 6000 ft of climbing over 62km in the dirt and mud to ride tomorrow, I needed to freshen up.

PM was the prologue which is a showcase for the spectators, done street race style, down through the streets of a nearly town. After washing my bike and making sure everything was 100%, I headed off for the prologue. Practice went until 5pm, but with me arriving at 4pm, and 500 riders to practice, I only got in one run. It’s gonna have to do...

Then the rain came down, just to make things more interesting! My plan was to just not crash, you don't want to throw away the whole race in a 40 second stage when there’s going to be close to 30 minutes of timed race stages to come tomorrow. So I kept it simple, and casual, and just tried to make it down with myself and my bike in one piece. To my surprise I came in 8th fastest, pretty happy with that!

Ready for a big one tomorrow. Weatherman says its going to rain, which will make things interesting for sure, but I'm ready for whatever, can't wait!

Sunday, May 19th, Race Day - Yep, there was overnight rain, but not as much as predicted - just enough to keep thing interesting.

The first two stages were long, rough, rocky, muddy, rooty, rough, physical, tiring and rough! The call "world cup DH on trail bikes…. with some pedaling" was being thrown around a lot! My plan was to stay smooth and carry overall speed from top to bottom. I knew stages four and five would be my strongest, so I had to be within striking distance in these stages.I was very happy when I found out I was in 3rd overall after the first two stages.

Stage three and four were less physical and technical, but more about flow and speed maintenance. I knew had to push hard to try and push my way up the order, but I pushed a little too hard on stage three. I found a tree with my shoulder, nothing major, but a few seconds gone. Still, I ended up 2nd fastest on the stage, which gave me a lot of confidence for the final stage.

I wasn't really content to ride smooth and just make sure I got down safely. I really wanted a stage win! Stage four suited all my stregths the best, so it was now or never. My run was clean and fast, and to cut a long story short, I got my stage win. What a perfect way to end the day. I was two seconds off Jerome Clementz, who finished second, and fifteen seconds off Fabian Barel who took the win. But to stand on the podium with those guys was awesome!

Man I learnt a lot this week. It was very mentally and physically tough, 6-7 hours riding most days, and in the end, I got very limited shuttling. Enduro definitely combines the best of all forms of riding -- you can't have any weak points. The hype of this race was justified and I am looking forward to the next race.

Bike Set-up:
Yeti SB66c frame / medium
Fox RAD 34 and Float X 2014 fork and shock
Fox DOSS dropper post
DT Swiss EXC 1550 wheel set, ghetto/split tube tubeless
Maxxis 3C EXO Minion front and rear / 26psi front 29 psi rear.
Shimano XTR group, with Saint brake calipers
Renthal 740 wide fat bar lite and 50mm duo stem
Stages power meter

That's about it for now! Cheers!

Via Yeti Cycles

Both Manuel and Valentina took 13th place in their races, Paul Aston returned from injury, but we lost Dorian and Kike to injuries.

Manuel started tenth in the race and rode hard to claim 13th overall. In a stacked, international field like this, he fought off many established riders and this gives him a good start to take a top ten result over the course of the season. This also placed him as the second of the Italian riders.

Valentina was the first Italian woman home, putting her thirteenth overall in the women's race. Paul Aston returned from a ligament injury in his ankle, which had put him off the bike for a month. On race day he put in a solid ride to take 63rd.

The course at Punta Ala was always going to be one of the toughest tests of the year and it didn't disappoint. On the first day of training Dorian crashed hard training on PS1, dislocating his wrist. Fortunately nothing was broken, but he will be out of action for a month. On the second day of training Kike crashed on the same track, slightly dislocating his shoulder. He recovered well enough to compete on Sunday, but the injury took its toll on him.

Team manager Manuel Ducci says:
"It's been a tough week for us, with the injuries and I had influenza mid-week, which hurt my fitness. But to come away with both myself and Valentina in the top fifteen is a great achievement for us."

You can follow the team on: www.facebook.com/pages/Life-Cycle

Source: PinkBike

Don't miss the chance to win some mega prizes - 661 have given us a pair of Evo knee pads, 858 gloves,a beanie/cap and tee to donate to one lucky winner.

Find the hidden link within the video to win. Hint - it's at the end!

Via Wideopenmag.

Fort William conjures up two very different images with the mountain bike crowd. One is a sun-drenched mountainside with carnivorous midges, whilst the other is of a cold, wet and windy place that at times feels like the very definition of isolation when sat atop the hillside.

Photography: Laurence Crossman-Emms // www.laurence-ce.com

Round 2 of the Saracen British Downhill series was to be the latter, with the exposed tops of the Nevis Range giving nowhere to hide from the elements. Snow-capped mountains are a very prominent reminder that its still early in the season and whilst those in England are basking in Spring, up in Scotland it’s a very different story.

The British Downhill Series has a reputation of being one of the best domestic races series in the world and with the turnout and rider list on offer this weekend, you can see why. Practice was extremely busy with a number of teams opting to come early in the week to get some serious practice in. Fort Bill always brings in a good crowd from over the UK and even afar with this weekend seeing the likes of Greg Minnaar, Cedric Gracia, Sam Blenkinsop and the whole of the Gstaad Scott team attending. No doubt many teams are looking to the opening round of the World Cup and are using this as a dress-rehearsal for one of the most anticipated races on the calendar,

On the whole the Madison Saracen team were all in good spirits. With Combe Sydenham being a great start to the season, each rider was looking for an improvement on their last results, with the new-look team now starting to come together and looking like a team that really work well in each others company.

Weather in the Nevis range is unpredictable at the best of times and the ever-changing forecast meant for an ever-changing race schedule which fluctuated from standard race weekend, to Cancelled, to race runs Saturday, to practice being cancelled to eventually the final decision of Seeding Runs on Saturday and early Race Runs on Sunday. Not the best situation for getting your race head together

Waking up Saturday to the sound of rain against your window isn't the best of starts and we all knew we were in for a soggy one. Damp and sodden within a few hours it sure did make being out on the hill far from enjoyable. With the team being at the venue from Friday and having already got some solid runs in, practice on Saturday morning was more of a refresher and a chance to spin those legs out . Into seeding’s on the Saturday and the intermittent rain and the odd time delaying red flags made it difficult to keep warm and motivated for seeding, especially being 45mins behind schedule on an already late start. But considering that the seeding run could have counted as race runs if the weather turned bad, there was a lot of pressure riding on putting in a solid time.

Manon was first down the hill and with a healthy top section she manages to flat out half way down just before the wooded section.

Phil up next and after a few on-course troubles with tear offs, he managed to lay down a solid 3rd place seeding time which put him in great stead for race runs.

Rolling in next, Harry managed a very fair seeding run time, which considering if made a few mistakes and a spin off on a corner he seemed pleased and gave him some solid areas to improve on comer race day.

Sam, having the same fate as Manon also managed to flat out on his seeding run, Fort Bill can be a bully to your wheels and tyres, it eats them for breakfast!

Team test-rider, Jack (AKA The Stig), managed to really have an eventful practice run which culminated with a concussion and a bruised ego that didn't put him in the frame of mind to lay down a seeding run but was still able to break the beam to put him in the running for race day (if he was healthy enough to ride)

A late end to the day and the team headed back to the house for feed and sleep, fingers-crossed for a dry day of racing.

And all I can say is crossing fingers paid off well! Overcast, high clouds but dry was the forecast for the morning with the bad weather closing in to the afternoon.

A few morning practice runs put the team into good pace and over all the team were feeling fit and fast. The track had dried up nicely over night and was had left a nice tacky riding surface to play on.

Race runs came pretty quick, starting them at 11 to try and avoid the horrible forecast weather.

Manon Carpenter was first out the gate, her flat in seeding meaning she was the first of the Elite Women down the hill, giving enough space in front to lay down a quick time. And quick she was. Coming down with a solid time and straight into the hot seat, Manon was in good contentions for the win, as well as being the only girl to successfully clear the river gap during the race. She sat in the hot seat up until Pugin came speeding through, putting 3 seconds into Manon’s time. Sitting on the second spot come podium time was a good result and great preparation for the World Cup season.

Phil Atwill was looking to stamp his claim on the Junior category, but it as not to be. A flat at the top of the wooded section put him way back and out of contention for a podium place.

With a renewed focus on reaching his full potential this season, Harry Molloy was stoked to make it down the hill in a sub 5 minute time, walking away with 16th place in a stacked Elite field.

Sam, Dale although finishing a place behind Harry, wasn't happy with his race run and felt it hadn’t all fallen into place when it really mattered. With an 8th place at the fort William World Cup last year, a top-ten finish was the goal, but it was not to be.

Jack Geoghegan, after knocking himself out and then having a concussion-riddled wasn’t expecting to put down a quick time. Dropping in he seemed to be fast in the top section with an almost “I don't care attitude”. He was looking good, until the woods claimed another victim : A big OTB and Jack thought he was out, but he jumped back on and steamed ahead. Cruising into the finish line he didn't even care to look at his time. But as it turned out he went straight into the hot seat. With everyone in his category still to come down after his DNF yesterday he didn't think he would be there long. But rider, after rider after rider attempted to beat his time, all unsuccessful, and in the end Jack took the win against the odds.

Overall, the team had a good weekend of riding with a host of ups and downs to make the weekend nice and eventful. Some great results mixed with some disappointment only gives the team more fuel as the World Cup season looms on the horizon.

Overall BDS Rd 2 Results

Manon Carpenter: 5:30.2 // 2nd
Phil Atwill: 5:51.8 (PUNCTURE) // 23rd
Harry Molloy: 4:55.6 // 16th
Sam Dale: 4:56.1 // 17th
Jack: 5:10.7 // 1st

A special mention must go to the marshals at the round, having to suffer an extremely grim Saturday ,they did their very best and were truly the unsung heroes of this round.

Madison.cc
Saracen.co.uk

Photography: Laurence Crossman-Emms // www.laurence-ce.com

The team has several goals: Despite being composed of high level athletes the desire of living the MTB at 360 degrees with travels, adventures and enduro seats beside the pursuit of good racing results.

<<We like to consider ourselves as Ibis'ian - Explains Ducci - As lovers of the philosophy of the Ibis Brand: Focussed on competition but without ever losing sight of true spirit of mountain biking, or rather having fun and exploring the world on MTB>>

Life Cycle is a team based on friendship and not just results.

There is not a team if there is not the desire to share the excitement of travelling the world thanks to MTB.

The team roster has just been defined and Life Cycle has recently announced a very importatnt new element of he spirit of the group, Jeff Kendall from Ibis. But first lets start with the captain.

Manuel Ducci, 31 Years old from San Remo (Italy) - Team leader.
His goal is to live the experience of Life Cycle and share it with as many people as possible. Knowing how Mtb is possible in the most remote places on the planet. Ducci comes from XC and DH but his is now dedicated to Enduro and All Mountain.

Valentina Macheda, 26 also from San Remo(Italy): In addition to being the companion of Ducci she is one of the promoters of the Life Cycle project. Valentina is a racer, determined willing to bet everything in the team which she races for. She starting with DH to learn more of both MTB and companion Ducci.

Dorian Zuretti, 22 from Metz (France) is about to start his first season with this team. A natural born Enduro racer, he is 100% focused on this discipline. He spends a lot of time training with the rest of the team.

Paul Aston, 27 from Birmingham (UK) has a history of downhill racing but also still practises Motorcross and BMX. His riding style is a nice confirmation of his background...

Christopher Bertotto, 17 from Villareggia (Italy): He has never raced in MTB nor Enduro but he discovered he had a hidden talent for it after attending a school of MTB.

James Mcknight, 27 from the UK has been part of the group for over a year. Amongst his goals are a host of races on the Enduro calendar coupled with the desire to share stories about his travels and experiences around the world.

Jeff Kendall, hails from California. Jeff works for Ibis bikes and he can't wait to take part  of the American stage of the Enduro World Series. He's a very skilled rider and careful not to undervalue his talent.

Seven riders with one goal: to be part of the project Life Cycle and get higher and higher rankings from racing.

All members of the team ride with Ibis Bikes and have recently taken new sponsorship from DT Swiss who will provide the new Spine 1 Wheelset.

Among the official sponsores you can find ; X Fusion, E'13, KS, Evov, Fiveten, Dirty, Formula, One Industries, Sixsixone, 100%, Muc Off, Onza, Contour, Production Privee, Unior, Effetto Mariposa, 4Guimp, Villaggio Dei Fiori, Redbike, EDR Fittings and Sport Attitude.

For further details visit www.life-cycle.eu

Manuel Ducci and Valentina Macheda, were busy at the Bike Festival in Riva del Garda - Italy, while French team mate Dorian Zuretti raced an Enduro race in France, the Enduro des Vals of the Dark Dog series, reaching an awesome third place. Bad race instead, for our mascot Christopher Bertotto who ran the Superenduro's sprint in Priero, Italy, he was in top 10 but has forced to retire after a crash. Luckly without consequence.

It was the first time at the Bike Festival for both Manuel and Valentina, who participated at one the most awaited european date of the early season. A great cue, taking part in the Italian round of the German Specialized-SRAM Enduro series, to meet the team's partners and even breath a bit of internationality, to match against other riders, most of which will race the first round of the Enduro World Series in Punta Ala, in a couple of weeks.

Arrived thursday evening at Riva, the two Sanremish riders decided to practice for the six stages and the prologue. Race course showed immediately really hard. Climbs were super steep, long and continuous. The stages were really physical: rough, rocky and slippery terrain.

While the big number of riders practiced using vans and shuttling, the two Life Cycle's athlete have decided to use this weekend as a training for the first round of the EWS. Manuel completed a full round, testing every stage, but Valentina has decided to save some energy for the race, testing only 3 stages.

The evening's prologue was really hard, with a cool track between xc and bmx, about 1' 30" long.

Without watching it and with many km of climbing in the legs, Vale and Manu didn't got a great result, but after all the whole weekend was just about training.

Saturday, race was on with a different format from what's usually used in Italy: there wasn't any starting list or order, anyone was free to start the stages whenever they want, even that Barel for example, has ended the race a couple of ours later than the other top riders. Some athlete waited atop some stages, hoping to have drier trails. All that, not to mention that the enduro race was far from the Bike Festival's center, so it hasn't all the visibility and public that Enduro deserves.

Unfortunately Manuel wasn't so lucky. During the PS1, after few meters from the start, he broke his gear cable and in the PS2 he crashed destroying the front wheel, luckily without any physical damage. He has been able to complete the race, by then compromised, changing wheel and carrying on the training, finishing 53°.

Also Valentina had a crash, without damage, but haven't practiced the stages affected her performance, ending with a 12° place.

Both are happy and satisfied about the great experience and the good feelings on saddle, for the upcoming race in Punta Ala, may 18.

Next appointment at Punta Ala 18/19 may to the first round of Enduro World Series.

Via : Life Cycle

I wanted to kick start the season as fit as I could be and so the start of 2013 saw me putting my energy into a new training programme from Andrew Wadsworth, who has worked with the likes of Danny Hart and Oli Beckingsdale. The programme focuses on building the Core and I also put the hours on the XC bike as well as getting down the gym on the bikes and doing sprints as much I could. I wanted to put a few pre-season races under my belt, the first of which was the SixSixOne mini downhill in the Forest of Dean. The initial race was cancelled due to snow but re-scheduled so there was no getting out of it...

I arrived in the Forest of Dean on a cold but dry Sunday. I would be riding my trusted 2012 DH bike as I hadn’t taken delivery of the new one as yet. I was feeling good in practice and it was great to be riding a bike that I am confident and comfortable on.  The first run seemed ok and I finished 3^rd but realised that I’d need to push harder on such a short course if I wanted to secure a podium finish. Second run came and the extra push I gave produced an almost faultless run to take the win. Not bad for a pre-season warm up race.

I crack on with training and riding throughout January and February, determined to hold off the competition and put in podium finishes for other races throughout 2013. The next and final SixSixOne mini downhill soon comes around and once again in the Forest of Dean. It was a great little track and a great atmosphere. These events reminded me of racing back in the day – no uplifts, pushing your bike back to the top and riding with some of my old buddies, like, Stu Hughes and Peter Crump.

I put in a good first run, very smooth and post the fastest Master on track and one of the fastest times of the day. My second run isn’t quite as fast. I think I was trying a bit too hard which ended in not such a smooth ride. Good job my first run was fast as it meant I secured another Masters win, just in front of Kye Forte – a serious force to be reckoned with in the upcoming DH season.

I continue to train hard. Trying to ride XC every other day and in the evenings doing my Core training, gym sprints and weights – feeling stronger than I have done for years.

This year I am racing Gravity Enduros for the first time on my Ghost Carbon AMR plus and as the first one in Afan, South Wales approaches I can’t wait to test it out in a race situation as I am feeling fast on the local trails.

The Enduro scene is all a bit new to me but after some bike tuning and advice from Box at Bad Ass Bikes I feel I am as ready as I can ever be. Practice was on Saturday and it was brutal cold weather and some really wet conditions. I ride all of the stages and feel ok considering the distances and conditions. It feels that Afan favors the fit. Seeding stage was very hard - a mixture of trail centre, forest track and four cross track to the finish.

I grit my teeth, suck up the dirt and push hard in seeding to finish a very happy 3^rd.

Another cold day for race day and I set out for another epic day ahead. The first stage goes ok and I am hoping that I can continue to be a threat to the other riders. I keep going hard on the second stage, possibly a bit too hard and manage to drop the chain. In the panic to get the chain back on, I twist the chain and have to limp to the end of the stage. Gutted and kiss goodbye to any chance of a good result.

Nothing like over 20 years of racing to make you determined.  I fix my bike, continue riding and with gritted teeth and a bit of angst inside, drive hard for the final stages.  I was disappointed with the end result but the first Gravity Enduro provides me with a lot to learn and take into the next one in Innerleithen in April. I was later to find out that my times were consistently fast and this made me even more determined to get a Gravity Enduro podium at Inners.

My new 2013 Ghost downhill bike arrived. Amazing bike, similar geometry to last year, with a Cane Creek shock and even more tricked out weighing in at 37lbs. After adding some Renthal kit I ventured out for a day uplifting in South Wales to put the new bike to the test ahead of the season. The bike felt incredible and I couldn’t wait to race it.

Before I knew it the DH season had arrived and April saw the first BDS at Combe Sydenham. The pre-season races had put me in good shape and for the first time in years I felt really good going into a new year -  no injuries, awesome bike, new kit and feeling fit. The conditions for the race were very wet, not great fun for practice but I was riding well. I always seem to go well in the wet.

I am always nervous on race day but it’s all part of racing. I headed up for a few practice runs. The track was getting gnarlier and rutted as the day went on. In seeding I somehow managed to crash but still seeded 2^nd. I must have been going well, but my competition, Rohan Sorell had about 5 seconds on me. I needed to step it up for the race run. It goes really well. I pedalled hard but felt I eased off a bit in the bottom woods yet still managed to go into the hotseat with one more rider to come down. Rohan was down at the split but made up some time at the bottom to beat me by a second. I’m still very happy to start the downhill season with a 2^nd place alongside some top riders on the podium.  1^st - Rohan Sorell 2^nd – me 3^rd – Duncan Ferriss 4^th – Kye Forte 5^th – Dan Hanes.

A few weeks later and I’m heading up to the second Gravity Enduro at Innerleithen. A race where I was determined to put my downhill skills and strength to good use. I travelled up to the race with some old friends of mine, Jim Buchanan, Lee Turner aka Bush and met the Don aka Neil Donoghue at the static caravan that would be our home and pit for the few days. Steve Parr had really pulled out all the stops for the race which included as many gnarly tracks as possible.

The wet conditions made things really challenging to ride all the stages but luckily I was in my element as the gnarlier the better for me.

On the day of seeding we headed back up on to the hill and practiced a few stages but realised that energy conservation is the name of the game (more invaluable advice from Box) so we headed back to the site to rest and prep the bikes for the seeding stage later that afternoon.

My seeding stage went well. I pushed as hard as possible and felt happy with my time and position in 4^th – only a few seconds of 1^st. We headed back to camp to clean the bikes and relax before the big race day.

I was feeling good for race day. I wished the other lads good luck before heading up the hill for the first race stage of the day. The first stage was down one of the old downhill tracks, which I’m familiar with. I pushed hard and rode smooth making it a happy start to the day without any issues. I really enjoyed riding the next few stages. I was loving riding the mud and rocks and seemed to excel on sections that others struggled on. After passing a few riders I was convinced I must be going well.

Stage 4 was mega technical and although, I had to jump off the bike and run a short section, I felt convinced that I had pushed hard on the steep gnarly section at the bottom that all I had to do was ride to the top of the long forest climb for the final stage. I set off and within 30 seconds of the stage I managed to crash into a trail marker sign at full speed. A massive crash – biggest crash for years. I jumped back on the bike, winded but in one piece and pushed hard to the bottom. It was going well but I couldn’t believe my luck when I get a rear puncture about two thirds the way down the track. I continued to ride as hard as I could to make sure I got over the finish line. I was exhausted and gutted, convinced there was no chance of picking up a decent result.

I waited around for the results and luckily all of the hard work I put in on the earlier stages had paid off and I managed to take 3^rd. My first Gravity Enduro podium. I drove home with the boys, bruised and battered but was made up to have already achieved a Gravity Enduro and BDS podium this early in the season.

Bring on Fort William BDS in two weeks!

Huge thanks to all my 2013 sponsors:

Hotlines                SixSixOne

Ghost                     One Industries

Renthal                 Oakley

Rock Guardz        Bad Ass Bikes

Photo credits

Page 1: photo 1 & 2 Doc Ward Photography

Page 2: photo1 Andrew Titley photo 2 Jamie Edwards Wide Open Magazine

Page 3: photo 1 & 2 Doc Ward Photography

Check out this great video of the last round of the UK Gravity Enduro round at Innerleithen Scotland from the guys at Wideopenmag, Aspect Media and Juice Lubes.

"Round 2 moved north of the border to Innerleithen – a classic, gnarly downhill race venue. Long, tough stages, loose trails and big climbs challenged competitor’s legs and their minerals and it was Mark Scott and Tracey Moseley that came out on top."

Credit: Wideopenmag