Tell me about Fort William please ?

I don't know the WC/ national course but the Nevis Range is a few mins drive out of town. There is a cycle path too, but you'll be with DH bikes. Plenty of accommodation in Fort William. We used a self-catering alpine timber lodge thing last time (24hr worlds) and it was pretty good.
Gondola - running times vary per time of year. Should be fine but check beforehand on their timetable.

Other things. It will be cold, wet and windy. There's a cafe on site, toilets and showers + bike wash.
Take weights for your gazebo as the pit areas are all in the massive carpark.

Edit - Nevis Range does have accommodation coming soon.
https://www.nevisrange.co.uk/plan-your-visit/opening-hours/

Nevis Range has a big car park, if your going with a Motorhome, they have a specific motorhome park behind the cafe/uplift station.
Is it Downhill or XC youll be doing? Thyey have the 10 Under The Ben etc on and around the Witches Trails

Im not a DH'er, but have ridden down the DH course from top to bottom, very gingerly and slowly. So mere mortals IMHO can ride it and survive.

Fort Bill is a few miles from Nevis Range, with all the usial amenities. When im XC racing there, i park up early and dont move until its over for fear of loosing space in car park

However, i don’t know what course the National will be on

There is only 1 course, the others come down the hill but aren't DH tracks as such. They may vary things slightly around the woods, but options are very limited.

Can it be ridden (mostly) by normal mortals ?

The race track is long and rough but not that technical (at the speed normal people can ride it). Its properly punishing, hand cramp inducing, fun*. If not there to practice the track you can do laps of the red, but it does take a chunk longer to get down

*maybe

I saw there was an uplift on the WC, is that open all the time ? (generally speaking).

Spring to autumn, 7 days a week. Keep an eye on their site for exact dates. Note that high winds will switch off the gondola. Not that common but a nightmare if you've already gone all that way.

How far from civilisation/hotels etc ?

Ft William is a decent sized town, loads of options from B&B, self catering, hotel, whatever.

Anything else we need to know ?

It's brutal to people and bikes. Take many spares (even for just an uplift day)

I imagine uplift will be closing for bikes fairly soon. A few years ago it used to be early-May to mid-September only, but that's been extended in recent years. I suspect it's open for bikes for the October school hols but will close afterwards but couldn't see anything on their site. Facebook probably a better source of more up to date info.

Gondola is frequently closed due to high winds - today being an example. It can be still at the bottom but crazy windy higher up.

All racing is on the World Cup track, with or without the road gap. The other gonolda-accessed tracks (Blue Doon and Top Chief) aren't used for national racing.

And yeah, rideable by mere mortals. Road gap is closed off though, thankfully. A few years old now, but this mere mortal made it to the bottom without dying:

Mostly the track is not difficult at all, and it's not steep, just long. There's a few inside line corners that are rocky drops but generally you can gap them and place the wheels right for the next corner. There's the Hazard Hoofer river gap in the woods, but they seem to have cleared the run in now so you can get speed up (used to be two only big cranks of the pedal from almost a standing start to get your bike over the river - a bit trickier/scarier!)

However, it is NOT to be underestimated. If you want to ride it at speed or take the proper lines then the pure length of the track and the unforgiving nature of the rocks mean it is hard on your body. REALLY hard. All muscles screaming by the time you get to the old deer gate. The jumps at the bottom are massive and difficult to clear, even in perfect conditions. Also, as the day progresses and fatigue hits mistakes start to creep in and that's when you catch a front wheel and go down like a sack of the proverbial. So know when to quit on the day.

Also, watch as many videos/helmet cams as you like, then laugh at your own progress in comparison. I'm managed a 5:50 on the old (longer!) track, current times are something like sub 4.40...

Gondola is frequently closed due to high winds – today being an example. It can be still at the bottom but crazy windy higher up.

I'm hoping it'll be open Saturday as I've an all-day ticket booked - luckily I can also do Sunday 🙂

Also, watch as many videos/helmet cams as you like, then laugh at your own progress in comparison. I’m managed a 5:50 on the old (longer!) track, current times are something like sub 4.40…

+1 to that. And that's good going with those times. In the above video I linked I was around 6.45ish without going daft - I was the first-aid patrol so never had an eye on the clock, but doubt I ever had the balls to ride it faster. I certainly don't now.

Up your tyre pressures, then up them again. It is absolutely savage to wheels.

militantmandy
Free Member
Up your tyre pressures, then up them again. It is absolutely savage to wheels.

Tyre inserts are also your friend these days

Just released I said red earlier, its regraded black/Top Chief these days

We'll be taking at least 3 bikes and 3 sets of spare wheels as emergencies, so should be OK i hope. We could even take a 4th if needed, but that's overkill.

Great info though guys, thanks lots... I think it sounds fairly plausible for early next year then. We'll likely not decide on exact dates until the race dates are announced, but seems like it'll work though.

They do seem to kill a lot of wheels up there. A friend raced a National up there a few years ago and killed 3 rear wheels (the menace!!).

Jeepers. Killed how dead? What wheels if you can recall?

I think it sounds fairly plausible for early next year then.

Bear in mind what Aonach Mor gondola was actually built for and that area of the UK actually has proper weather, like properly proper.

You may not get much done if you come too early in the year.

( it may all be fine, but statistically speaking.....)

Round 2: Fort William - May 07-08 was this years date.

What wheels if you can recall?

It doesn't matter, they've all died up there. Just take a spare and hope for the best, expect many dings and absolutely insist on upping his tyre pressures a bit or he'll hear the rims hitting rocks within about 30 seconds of the start gate.

30 seconds? I think my record was 3 seconds - punctured on the starting straight before the first turn and jump past the top station veranda!

It doesn’t matter, they’ve all died up there.

Yep, at least a set every race weekend there, totally totalled.

Round 2: Fort William – May 07-08 was this years date.

You might have quite a narrow window! MTB uplift started mid-April this year but can be later depending on the ski season.

Mmmm interesting. We certainly wouldn't be going back to back weekends etc. The boy may need to learn it and race it in the same weekend after all 😂

I think they are closed Tues/Weds out of school hols, but will apparently return to 7 days in the winter.

Yes, but for skiers not bikes. There's no MTB uplift over the winter.

Yep though the season is getting longer- they used to have a pretty set season, now they basically run it til they can't and open it when they can.

There's only one "dh" and the race will definitely be on it, but there are different ways for them to tape it. The "big doon" ie the road gap is only open for the highest end races frinstance (because frankly, **** that!). I suspect for the champs the main line will be in but the alt line will be open?

The route through the world cup woods is more formalised now since they put in the awkward stone pitch so that takes out a lot of the uncertainty in what lines they'll use but there's still options, IIRC, the wee high line on the right with the gap is still usable and a mean taper could still do a classic fort william "let's just ride down the totally undug rooty bits and hope it doens't rain"

They've done some rebuilding higher up for water damage this year though I've not ridden it since- don't know if they've put it back more or less how it was or if it's evolved at all.

Basically, it's fairly straightforward as long as you can smash over big rocks, and jump. The public version of the course which is usually open isn't much harder than the uplifed black, and is easier than a bunch of the offpiste. You don't need to be able to clear the massive jumps, in fact hardly anyone does, but you do need to be able to at least manage something on them otherwise that section's dead dead slow. I never worked out a way to conserve speed through it so I lose so much time on it...

FW town is shit btw. But that's where most people will be based so there's usually a nice feeling of Race Weekend at least. Spean Bridge is quieter but is barely any further away (and tons of the accomodation in fw is on the south side so you're probably faster getting to spean bridge, with traffic taken into account), so I usually stay there. There's a really lovely wee farmhouse b&b right near nevis range which I've been at a few times too.

If you want to do other riding around the area, the uplifted black is ace, the uplifted blue is a missed opportunity but still worth riding imo, the official trailcentre stuff and interweaved offpiste is almost all worth doing (don't do the "10 under the ben" route they waymark sometimes, it's shite and you can do all the good bits just by navigating off the witches trails). There's more offpiste south of the main trails that you access from the other car park, it's way nastier! And nearby Kinlochleven is god's scary trail centre, some of the best horrible riding anywhere. Laggan's just along the road, in highlands terms and again it's all good- the black and red are ace and the brown over the road is really good too.

Laggan’s just along the road, in highlands terms and again it’s all good

If you have a bike that can be pedalled uphill then Wolftrax is a great wee place - only 45 mins away but the other side of the watershed, so the weather can still be dry there even when its grim at Fort William.

Thanks again chaps

+1 for Laggan Wolftrax when the Nevis Range is wet. Amazing. There's probably a line in the road with 'wet/dry' written on it somewhere.

Also if Nevis is off because of the wind, Glencoe might still be open. However the main (black) track there is in no way friendly

Yah, glencoe black is something else. Haven't ridden the new red yet, is it any good? I gather it shares just about nothing with the previous one since it pretty much sank (and we almost destroyed it in a single day's SDA racing...)

How new is new? I was up there with my Norco before the cafe burnt down, couldn't see how you could sink it as it was all shale and boulders! Good fun though.

As for FW and wheels, I think that's the one place I've never pranged one. Tell a lie, buggered a 729 there, brand new and a shite build. Rim is still going though not great for tubeless.

So the take home here is make sure its a good build and you'll be fine. I ran hardtails down there and never had grief from wheels (always ran 521/721 though).

Watch out for dogs

So the take home here is make sure its a good build and you’ll be fine.

Good builds ain’t stopping bent and/or cracked rims from hitting rocks

Yah, glencoe black is something else.

Way harder than Bill's DH fo'shure.

+1 for Laggan Wolftrax when the Nevis Range is wet. Amazing. There’s probably a line in the road with ‘wet/dry’ written on it somewhere.

Not if you showed up with a DH bike it's not......

Good builds ain’t stopping bent and/or cracked rims from hitting rocks

If you're hitting rocks that hard you either haven't inflated enough or are just stupid. As I said, my experience doesn't agree with this and I've ridden down the old track with flats.

Not saying it can't happen at race pace but for a practice weekend nobody should be chewing their way through multiple wheelsets.

Sorry, that came across really shitty, I'm a bit cranky and sore, apologies. Not saying everyone that breaks their gear is an idiot but it's really not as bad as folk seem to be making out in my experience.

Not if you showed up with a DH bike it’s not……

Well yeah, but if you go all the way to Fort William, you might as well take trail bikes as well. Gotta make the bike time get somewhere near the drive time at least and spend a few more days there.

Not ridden it properly since 2015 but raced it (SDA) the previous 3 years. I didn't have a lot of money at the time, was 18, so didn't really have any spares with me and never struggled,. I'd built the wheels I raced on and had no issues, just superstar rims and hubs so nothing special. I'm not particularly easy on parts, but would say I know how to ride well.... Wouldn't worry too much unless you're a bit of a hack and can't choose appropraite lines. Fastest time outside of racing (using gopro for time) was just under 6 mins, would love to go back up and ride it now as reckon I'll be faster, even on an enduro bike.

As mentioned above, season tends to be end of september / sometime in October, I believe it's still open, they're pretty good at updating their socials about wind / closing Gondola etc. Weather can be very hit and miss, we went to Fort William (not to ride) last October and weather was a lot better than in May this year.

Generally just the one track for the most part, SDA avoids the road gap and may use the new wood section (wasn't open when I raced last) but there are bits and pieces of line choice but mostly it's the same track that you can ride year round.

Feel free to PM and I'll try remember some more detailds!

and spend a few more days there.

That'll be the ideal plan, we'll go up with Mrs Weeksy as well, bit of riding, bit of sight-seeing/wandering, bit more riding. But depends on dates, school, work etc.. So we'll have to see what the dates come out as when released.

We'll also take 2 Enduro bikes.

I’ll just leave this quite here as I believe it’s more accurate than the “just choose safe lines and sensible pressures” crew

The track has traditionally been one of the roughest and toughest on the calendar on both bikes and bodies and so it proved to be once more with an abundance of punctures and ruined rims and more unfortunately the odd injury.

I've not doubt it's tough and rough, that's why we'd like to head up there for a look and some runs before he goes up there racing... I'm not sure it'll make a massive difference in terms of where he finishes in a National at the moment... but it may make him a bit happier pre event.

we're not underestimating the place for a second put it that way.

I think the difference is probs whatever your race speed is. I've been down the thing on my Spesh Enduro, and it was a hoot but 1. I was plodding, and 2. I stopped to shake out my hands a couple of times. I think I did one "Right, going to give it some beans" run, and I got to the deer gate and had a little cry.

Yah, glencoe black is something else.

I’ve never been more flat out scared on a bike. If the lad can ride that competently and quickly, no other race track will worry him. He should give it a go whilst you’re there.

Agreed. Take the boy to the Coe for a day and @Mark88 will be well happy 🙂

Something else that I’m not sure has been mentioned - it’s really fast. Like, totally different fast to any other place I rode a DH bike in the UK. Takes a few runs to get used to ime

It’s a great track, I rode it in 2021 as I had a job to do in Oban so took the bike, did 2 runs down on the first day, then the 2nd day spent the 1st time down stopping, looking and learning it, did a total of 5 runs and by the end loved the place, except the motorway section.

There’s a Singletrack world, Strava leaderboard.

I hope there's more pages 🙂

My best time would've put me 7th, about 08:30 IIRC

There’s a Singletrack world, Strava leaderboard.

Ha, that's funny... didn't know that. I'm sure I could have got down it 5s faster 😉

nickc
Full Member

I think the difference is probs whatever your race speed is. I’ve been down the thing on my Spesh Enduro, and it was a hoot but 1. I was plodding, and 2. I stopped to shake out my hands a couple of times. I think I did one “Right, going to give it some beans” run, and I got to the deer gate and had a little cry.

See, this is why I miss the endurance dh- I'm not fast but I can knock out 7 minute laps all day, even after the bit when your skin starts falling off and you go completely mad.

I got an 8:02 in 2009, was that the longer or shorter track?

It’s this segment https://www.strava.com/activities/5490676937/segments/2840991518160331220/sharing

The faster you go, the rougher and tougher it gets - on bikes and bodies.