The track at Fort William is known to be long, rough and tough on both the body and bike. Sterland Mondraker riders Ollie Sinden and Sam Hatfield headed North to Scotland for their first taste of UCI World Series action. See how they got on in this video.

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    I’ve been to Fort William for countless years and I think this is probably the fastest I have ever seen the track yeah right just cage yeah there’s a nervousness in the air which is [Music] understandable I mean I’ve been aware of kind of Sam and OE sort of through racing uh following kind of like the national series and sort of regional series but sort of going to see kind of what was happening at sort of these Talent centers get to know kind of OE and Sam a little bit more there they those guys were both invited to kind of regional sessions as well where we kind of sort of built upon hopefully that knowledge that they were learned at the talent centers yeah we were impressed by kind of like what we saw from them kind of like on and off the bike um at those centers through the racing so they were invited to become part of the the national uh National gravity Academy we wanted to work with the best second-year youth Riders who looked to be demonstrating that sort of potential both on and off the bikes to actually race World Cups as a first year Junior kind of moving forward potentially for the national team or a trade [Music] team we’re uh first World Cup track walk with the British cycling boys looking forward to it um me they’ve done a fair bit of work on it looks pretty smooth so pretty key for it we out here for William round one of the UCI downhill series about to rip it [Music] up all I is is Rim dingers ding ding ding ding ding ding big pool it’s quite cool that we’ve got to the first World Cup this year and these guys are kind of graduated on to um bacing for the national team essentially we’re doing a bit of a track walk together we’ve kind of organized to kind of do that as a as kind of a big group the kind of thinking behind that is like let’s sort of breed some sort of familiarity between the Riders they here kind of with like friends familiar faces so that you can kind of come to this like an event like this not feel kind of isolated and kind of overall maybe by the situation how many on the bridge let’s make everything with sort of feel relaxed enjoyable I think when people kind of feel that way they’re going to sort of ride better they’re going to enjoy themselves and the results are kind of going to come as a result of that first World Cup track walk they’ve definitely uh filled a lot of holer uh it’s a lot smoother a lot faster like I think it’s going to go run well TI time as possibly a lot of lines that’s for sure few more than our national yeah droppage pretty unrealty it’s like FL out a it big BMS okay for built action and so yeah it’s all about just sort of giving exposure experience to kind of like what’s potentially to come us up in the future fresh Fast Fun ke to get on a bike really yeah I’ve been wanting to get on the old track walk it’s fun right oh yeah today was pretty sick uh we did track walk and there um that’s about it really but the track looks unreal so I’m Keen for tomorrow this is the setup can’t see through that full black celebrities in the back you know it is you got the truck this is the stiring racing we got the rigs we got the uh the oy synd mobile it’s the slow of the two bikes it’s not bad it’s not bad think this is funny it yeah sick come come come over look inside ah there we go 99% battery B yeah well luckily I wasn’t in uh in the truck and Roda it sound like a proper disaster no that’s a bit the shambles and uh no no even qualif for me no result but mate new race we’re here it’s all working not actually sure how Mark gets into his [Music] bed some he look at the sunset over for the mountains for the nest my life’s basically a movie I’ve realized um I remember I remember the first time I ever really thought you know like I might be interested in doing this more was like went to the forest te with my dad and and one of my mates in primary school we ride in like the skills area and I remember like there was this drop and I was like scared to do it and then like it’s like right at the end and I eventually did it by the end of the day and I was like gas I was all the adrenaline rush was like insane and then um obviously now it’s like a tiny drop but at the time I thought it was massive it was like probably like eight on a hard or whatever almost like you don’t really stop on the way and think about what you’re doing it’s just like one thing happens after another and like now here we are for Will and World Cup like we’re literally sitting in Scotland t-shirts shorts looking at like one of the sickest views I just think um getting stuck into something you love is like the best thing for you imagine when the imagine when we can Drive [Music] M man morning doing all right all right how you doing yeah good thanks half 7 what time is it 7:39 so I’ll show you what I’ve come from from this you can see it to this what we do we adapt [Music] we’re just doing the final touches ready for ready for practice I just know I’m running my bike today going to have some fun [Music] oh unlucky mate [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] today’s qual day um s some breakfast at the pits and then head over couple of runs in the morning for practice and then then qu run about I think it’s 2:40 my quality so yeah even though they may have taken some of the roughness out of it the speed’s gone really high which kind of invites kind of higher consequence and high risk kind of for the Riders um and that sort of coupled with kind of like three days of ride and has made the sort of track sort of super rough kind of like how we’ve kind of seen um sort of in previous years but maintaining that s that super high speed as well [Music] tense I’d say yeah there’s a nervousness in the air which is understandable that’s how it should be that’s what Firs you up hey hey Josh morning should be a good day both are feeling good I’m feeling good day of riding bikes bottom of the track it’s a bit damp so uh whether or not they want to switch to a 22 the afternoon obviously hopefully the practice goes well got a couple lines I need to tidy up and stuff so yeah should be should be good F on the dot1 uh punctures and rims rest like those are the two major things that I see the most here um so I there a lot of wheel building a lot of Tire changes wheel changes cassettes roaches they only changing when you do a wor set otherwise the rest of the bikes tend to be okay unless you hit a tree like Ollie did yesterday dude not St brother Fort William is Infamous for its brutality and uh yeah it certainly takes it out on the bikes and the Riders so just finished Sam’s bike and I’m picking up my left off of Olli since uh since he had his Rim implosion yeah I think it’s kind of just learning to cope with the pressure maybe of the uh the magnitude of the event and seeing the world’s best Riders riding amongst them enjoy rela enjoy lit if if some’s getting nervous before race he tends to go kind of in on himself really likes to be on his own um happy to just to kind of go quiet really doesn’t particularly want to eat uh so it feels like I have to remind him to eat and drink a little bit look after himself but he’s just kind of focused I think that’s the way he deals with it it’s fting a bit rough today it’s definitely woking up in a bit of a cold uh which isn’t helping but I think there’s nothing major and I’m sure once he adrenaline kicks in and he’s warmed up he’ll be he’ll be fine he’s in a familiar place he’s done it often enough so I think it’s it’s um it’ll be familiar to him he should be okay toy mango this Bast B Taste of mov [Music] [Music] slow one now shring the motor lips talk about Downhill Racing let’s see here here he comes W he has to really keep on going he’s just on that liit oh he’s just outside in 435 79 D well D that was great that was awesome I know it’s frustrating but that was a good run tell me about it it was decent it was pretty good fast I’ve written all weekend but yeah I should have been riding like that all weekend like now yeah we don’t so proud you know you didn’t come off you didn’t puncture done a great time you know you just missed out but that’s cool um just a bit smooth I think a bit too conservative I thought I didn’t want to push too hard and crash or you know hit a rock and puncture or do something stupid so I kind of kept it I didn’t keep it chill but you know like I was just too conservative I think and and just missed out by a couple of seconds yeah I obviously I came to qualify came to do well but I got down I was frustrated but after I took my helmet off and had a chat with like Billy’s D Matt and Jamie a few other people that I just kind of realized like it’s not the end of the world I mean I just done my first World Cup it’s cool man we’re here like it’s it’s I’m just like fortunate to be here and I mean you got me an ice cream and I was pretty Gass yeah I think like I’ve had a discussion with both Sam and OE about not qualifying um and actually both of them have been really positive about that and I think that’s like great qualifying at this event that’s kind of the uh like the Silver Lining like that’s great get yourself into the final and be able to experience that but at the end of the day if you don’t qualify like you you’ve got so much opportunity and experience that you’ve just had over the last couple of days to kind of learn from and sort of take forward um and I think that’s really great that Sam and OE um both can see that like rather than kind of sort of maybe taking the negatives and being sort of hard on themselves about it um yeah it’s really positive that they’re sort of taking learning and like have got like new goals um and New Reflections to kind of like move forward and Tackle kind of the next race when they end like that next opportunity comes around I don’t know what it’s still [Music] [Music]

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