It’s Friday here at the 2017 Fort William World Cup, which means it’s practice and timed practice day. We’ve been lucky enough to see plenty of riders head up the mountain and grace the track with their supreme style and incredible bike control, but down in the pits, our trusty Singletrack crew have been hunting down some riders to catch up with them, and grab their thoughts on Fort William as a race, and specifically the updated track for 2017.
Ross was on hand and on camera duties, to point it in the faces of plenty of riders in and around the pits, including Aaron Gwin, Sam Hill and Jack Reading. We even managed a quick chat with Joe Barnes who isn’t even racing this year, but instead is helping out on mechanic duties.
We caught a quick word with Sam and his prototype Norco Factory Racing bike, before he jumped back on the gondala for another run.Mulally hits the bottom of Fort William on his YT Mob Tues.On his lead-equipped Geometron, Jack takes us through some of the features of this new and improved Fort William track.The chilled-as-ever Laurie talks to Ross about the updates to the Fort William World Cup track. It’s all smiles here.It’s not a World Cup at Fort William without a chat with the legendary Rob Warner. On form, as always.Now on the Specialized Gravity Racing team, Miranda chats with Ross about the tricky sections up in the woods.Back on the big downhill bike for Fort William, Sam casts his eyes back to Ireland last weekend, for a chat about Enduro racing.We didn’t manage to catch up with Rachel today, but after timed practice she’s the woman to catch. A true legend of the sport, and one of the greatest mountain bike athletes of all time.Fort William local Joe Barnes is here supporting his pals as a mechanic, now his attention is turned to the EWS.The beast that is Aaron Gwin. Ross catches up with Gwin to discuss bike set-ups for Fort William.Smiling in the pits. Gwin seems super relaxed through practise, with plenty of laps to pack in before race day on Sunday.
Head over to our YouTube channel to see plenty more from the 2017 Fort William World Cup, as the week progresses. Just search Singletrack Magazine and click subscribe to keep updated. As always, check out @singletrackmag across social media to keep up to date with all things Fort William 2017.
