Joe Barnes' Euro Blog - Le Grande Finale

MTBcut's Joe Barnes has been living the dream all summer racing his bicycle all over Europe. With the nights closing in, there was a few good times to be sampled before the ski season starts.
Check out what Joe's been up to in his report below:

After arriving back from my big Euro Trip this summer the good times haven't stopped.

The drive back from Norway was made slightly easier by getting the Amsterdam ferry to Newcastle. Persuaded by the cabaret act that didn't disappoint. We rocked up to Fort William with a van that was beyond stinking, loaded up with every item of clothing wet and fusty and some worse for wear bikes. The luxury of a house was novel enough to keep me stoked for a while, swaggering about soaking in the real estate and the comfort of my couch.

It wasn't long before myself and my Dad trucked down to Innerleithen for the SDA race.

It was great to race in Scotland again and I was having great fun on the course. A classic Innerleithen style track with a pedally top half followed by some steep loose corners down the bottom. I came down in the first timed run to take the win and the fastest time of the day as well. I was really happy with this, to come back from a summer away and stamp a bit of authority on the Scottish scene. Leaving the race we swung by Airdrie to pick up my new van. It is a beauty of a transit van, same wheelbase but a good bit of overhang out the back. Work has already started to turn it into the Landship2 and be a luxury palace for next summer.

A couple of weeks at home was great after this. Time to get a bit of work in to restock the monies and to ride the trails around the Fort that had been missed over the summer. A great bonfire at Jamesy boy Shirleys' house topped it off nicely. James' pump track has had its final coat of bitumen and with a big fire in the middle of each loop some great night pumping (not in the way you were thinking) took place before the marshmallows came out.

My final race this year was the SDA final at Glencoe.

A pretty steep gnarly trail in places and nowhere to ease up over the condensed 2+ minutes trail. I was keeping it pretty pinned in practice and felt fast and within myself all weekend. A rainy day of practice was followed by a great day for Sunday's race. Conditions were perfect with watery, fast rolling mud and clear conditions overhead. I had a clean first run for a time of 2.21 to take the win and fastest time. A new course record from my previous best from over 3 years ago. It couldn't have been a better finish to the year taking my second consecutive win and on such a fun track.