Connor Fearon tells us more about his week in Fort William, how his race went and what he is up to until the next World Cup.
After Val Di Sole was done and dusted me and Mitch flew over comfortably to Glasgow and stayed overnight. We had to wait until team mechanic Matti took one for the team and drove the van 25 hours from Italy to Scotland! Not much to report about Glasgow we went out and found a cool pub that resembled the Hogwarts school with big chairs and heaps of staircasesa��Anyway we headed out to Fort William the next day I have never been there before so I was looking forward to it!
Thursday was track walk; It was more like half a day hike to get down the track. I could tell the track was rough, fast and long. To be honest just by walking the track I didna��t really like it. It was rocky and hard pack. The type of track that just a small crash in practice could put you out for the race.
Practice went well for me, the track didna��t suit my style to much but I still had fun with it. I had a lot of little slide out crashes in practice which is easy to do on the gravely surface. I had a fun run in qualifying doing whips for the massive crowd down the bottom. In hindsight I might have taken it too easy. 56th was my worst qualifier ever but I knew I could improve so I didna��t mind.
I made a few changes to my setup and line choice before racing and felt I was ready to crack a top 40 or hopefully top 30. My race run was fast and smooth at the top. I gave it everything which showed down the bottom sections of the track when I could hardly spin the cranks over anymore. The crowd was the biggest Ia��ve ever seen which was amazing. I finished 38th overall and 4th junior. I was happy but also disappointed, I was only 2 seconds off a top 30 result.
Right now I have just over a week break riding in Bromont before the team sets off for MSA. My goal is to get a few top 30a��s this season so Ia��m staying focused on that goal.
We will check back in with Connor on downhill247.com soon!