It was a return visit to Val Di Sole for me as I raced the European Championships here in 2005. The track was quite similar, just steep from top to bottom winding its way through roots and rocks making it a very challenging track. Since my last visit a new chairlift had been installed and I think we were the first people to test it out ! It whisked you up to the start in no time, sometimes too quick as it was so easy to do loads of runs and get really tired !! The World Championships is always a long week as practice started on Tuesday. The first couple of days the weather was grim, just rain and cloud most of the day. The rain made the track so hard as all the rocks and roots were so slippery. I was really enjoying the challenge. Fortunately the weather for the rest of the week was amazing

Finally after 6 wet Fort William world cups we were treated to some absolutely fabulous weather this year. Many of the riders have never seen the view from the start line and the camera

All the travelling and racing up in Scotland over the last 2 weeks took its toll on me and I started getting a sore throat. Unfortunately that developed into a cold just in time for the week in Andorra. Also after 2 lovely dry weeks of riding the weather was not looking so good for Andorra this week. We arrived into Toulouse in the pouring rain and then drove the whole way to Andorra in the rain

Scotland was again the best place to be this weekend as we had another dry and dusty race ! I just hope that we have not used up too much of the sunshine quota so when the world cup heads to Fort William in a couple of weeks there will still be some sunshine left !! There was still a cold wind and unfortunately with the 1hr wait for an uplift each run it was pretty chilly at times. I think transport for downhill races in the UK is always going to be a problem and is going to be a factor that will discourage people to spend money to race as you really don

The Scottish series is always one of my favourites as the tracks are always great and the organisation is fantastic whilst still keeping a really good family feel to the event. The long trip up to Fort William was certainly worth it as the weather was fantastic all weekend ! It

It was back to the venue of the final round of last year

Well it

Before heading back on the ferry up to the North Island for Xterra, I had a couple of weeks left on the South Island to explore a few of the many great trails for riding. I spent a few days in the Golden Bay area trying to fit in as much swimming as possible and I also did the Remeka Track, a great natural singletrack descent which was great fun. I then met up with one of the downhill girls in NZ, Harriet Harper and we teamed up to do the Whakamarina trail, one that someone had told me I must do before I leave! It was a classic NZ trail in the middle of the bush ! We drove the car up a very dodgy gravel road and then set off on the trail following little orange arrows in the trees for the next 35km ! There was some pretty steep climbing at first and then about a 40 min push, but the rest was just natural unspoilt walking track, tonnes of roots and rocks and about 1hr of awesome switchbacks down through the bush. I think the only other people that use most of these trails are crazy New Zealand pig hunters !! The next day we experienced even more wilderness thanks to a helicopter dropping us in the middle of nowhere !!

Yes

Being so far from everywhere else there is quite

This week we spent another few hours in the little Bike Barn van along with a 3hr ferry trip across the Cook Strait to reach the South Island. My previous trips across the Cook Strait have been idyllic, sunning myself on the deck watching dolphins swim by the boat. This time it was pretty chilly and I had a big fry up breakfast just before we hit the open ocean so was not feeling too special for a while! However it soon mellowed out and I had chance to catch up on a little sleep.

As soon as we arrived at Picton, the weather really picked up and we had a great week of sunshine for the racing. Nelson was the venue for the Oceania