Season two of At the Sharp End follows KJ Sharp and team mate Stacey Fisher as they take on this year’s downhill race season.
The opening sortie for RBF Racing team mates KJ Sharp and Stacey Fisher sees them heading to Lenzerheide to take on the opening round of the UCI Downhill World Cup.
Photos by RAAW Mountain Bikes (unless stated).
Tuesday
Chugging through the main street of Lenzerheide with mountains peering down at us and logos covering every second vehicle, all too quickly, I feel nerves flood through my veins and cramp my stomach. The gleaming sun, sending angel rays to earth, hides behind the next break of rain and hail. This alone sits as the strongest indication that the upcoming week will be eventful. Off the back of one of the longest off-seasons known to sport, we are finally back to the mad rush of Downhill racing that is.
Slotting our two campers into the RBF Racing Pit Space, we, Stacey Fisher and I, scope the area for water, electric and showers. Awnings, seats, and tables out, kettle on, dinner in the oven and we are ready for a 9pm bedtime. After the 17-hour drive from the glorious land of Yorkshire, climbing into bed with a sleepy tea felt luxurious. A few chapters into my new book, my eyes hardly able to make it to the end of the next sentence, I dozed off with some subconscious sleepy hope that the disappointing lack of romance from my book would improve in the coming days.
Wednesday
The clouds dispersed; around 9pm we lined up in the ever so extensive sign-on queue. As British as could be, we took our place at the back and watched Europeans slide themselves sneakily into the queue. No matter how much we tutted under our breaths, we continued politely to stand in line in the only way we know, the British way.
Around 11am, most likely 11.30am, only 30-minutes late, we pondered up the gondola just in time for the last track walk. A track we’d already walked down in years past, the only change made was the location of the start gate and the first two corners. Two grassy corners to ease the load before entering 3-minutes of rock gardens, slippery steep roots, high speed motorways and a good handful of jumps and drops.
I thought I was going to regret my decision to pass on racing these first batch of World cups. As the week continues, the relief and lift I feel from partaking as a linesperson, chef, chief motivator, hugger, counsellor, etc, etc., sparks me to enjoy the upcoming days more than any other racing weekend. An article I’m yet to release, however, the words to explain stepping back from racing have not quite made it from my head to paper, as of yet. All in due course.
Stacey spent the remainder of the afternoon with the RAAW mechanics setting up her race bike and wiring up suspension and brake testing kit. I took this opportunity to step away from the hustle and bustle of the pits, the never-ending hello’s, introductions, catch-ups and took myself for a 5km jog around the beautiful Lake of Heidsee. What a dream of a location. With racing on my mind in the previous years, it quickly dawned on myself that I’d not taken this place in.
The beautiful rolling hills covered in endless wildflowers, the lake differing in shades of turquoise, the towering trees and huge mountains peaking over the top with glints of snow and glaciers holding strong in the direct sunlight. The romantic book back in my van was lacking last night, it now felt devoid of any competition. This place is the pinnacle of beauty. The imagination of this dream cannot be written in a book. Surely enough, 4km in and I could no longer take my surroundings in with the same intensity. The 5minute/km pace combined with altitude had kicked in and the burn in my lungs reached an unignorable level. I got back to the camper exhaustedly fulfilled.
Thursday
After prepping Stacey’s breakfast, we made our way up the gondola for morning practice. A quick clip of Stacey coming out of the start gate, and I was off down the hill, scoping lines, scanning options, and watching out for any specific riding options that could make up even a fracture of a second.
Around 12noon, four runs and 100 riding clips later, we were done for the morning. I followed Stacey back to the pits excited to have my breakfast. With the Raaw Racing mechanics downloading data and Stacey prepping her bike for tomorrow, other than going through a few line choices, my jobs were done for the time-being.
Unable to stop my eyes from losing focus, I took myself to bed for a quick nap. Once awaken I did a banded strength session, had a brew and a snack whilst reading yet another chapter of my crappy romantic book before heading back up the gondola on e-bikes to watch the junior’s qualifying runs.
Next to the World cup track is a red flowy track, which, on an e-bike is so-much-fun. We stopped at three separate points to scope out line choices. The first slippery rooty off camber, the steepest section of the track and the last rock garden. With lines already dialled in from this morning’s practice, Stacey’s choices were simply confirmed by the juniors. The peace of mind needed to sleep well.
Friday
Qualifying day was upon us. Another breakfast on the hob and Stacey’s bike set up waiting for her to munch and crunch the Lenzerheide World Cup Track. Stacey spent the 2hours of morning practice scoping out wet line choices. With overnight rain, the track had become dewy. In these conditions, the number of unseen roots on track start to rocket. I spent the two hours scoping out any missed lines. What I didn’t expect to see were the number of riders that started to crumble.
Even the Queen herself showed signs of difficulties, making her qualifying, semi-final and final run all the more impressive. The quality and quantity of crashes I got to witness was disconcerting. I don’t know whether the empathy I felt came from a place I once knew, or the sheer sound of bodies and bikes slamming hard into the ground. I imagine both.
With Stacey’s dry and wet line choices confirmed we headed back to the pits for lunch and a quick bike check before making our way back up the hill for qualifying. I was shocked by how relaxed and calm Stacey remained all the way through to her race run. The flashbacks of warming up solo, feeling alone and vulnerable was enough for me shrivel up inside. Following Stacey’s lead, we went through an effective routine warm-up before she hopped on the rollers and spun her legs to some mental visualisation.
This race week was not for Stacey. Off the back of a major ankle injury, this race sat as a warm-up for the following weeks to come. A couple of mistakes and crashes saw the end of the racing week for the RBF Racing Team. Nothing to overthink, just a case of putting that run behind and focusing on getting up to speed at the next World Cup in Leogang.
A few hours post-qualifying, I found myself drawn, once again, to running around Heidsee Lake again. Even though I knew I was at altitude, I could not accept that I ran 5km in over 25minutes. I set off at 4:45minute pace, giving my lungs leeway at the latter end of the run. Sure enough, 24minutes and 30seconds later, I was done. All I needed to tick the day off was for my book to show at least an inch of some kind of old-fashioned romance.
Saturday
Sure enough, the book finally delivered. At last we got to the point where the couple to be shared a blooming kiss. Gordon Bennett, they didn’t half take their time. With success in this part of my life, I watched on with admiration as the British DH racers dominated a full afternoon of DH racing entertainment. What a result and what a grand life we get to live watching DH history occur right in front of our eyes.
