Downhill Rock and Roll.

So the Fort William round of the UCI Downhill World Cup swung into action last week and I went along to Qualifying on Saturday to check it out. The Nevis Range at Fort William is a brilliant venue with Gondelas to take you directly to the top of the course and loads of space at the bottom for a great village of traders, teams and stalls.

What's really fantastic about the World Cup events is the incredible amount of access you get to the best riders in the world. Want to see Rachel Atherton fine tuning her brakes with her mechanic before a run? There she is... Want to chat with Gee about how his qualifying went? He's all ears... Want to watch Peaty sessioning a couple of big drops before qualifying? He's right over there! Greg Minnar was in the queue for the gondela in front of me... how awesome is that?

I've got some more photos to put up soon and a report on the choice looking new kit from Crank Bros that you might have seen in the press recently, in the meantime here's a little video I made of the Downhill qualifying...  What a day.

click here to go to MPORA for the video