For a team of young riders it’s always tough to focus on racing with the distractions that are around in North America… No fear, we soon found Go Karts and cliff diving to bring everyone back into focus. A vital part of the preparation you understand!

With that out the way it was time to go racing. First up was Mt St Anne, just outside Quebec City, this infamous DH track has been used since the beginning of World Cup racing and still stands as one of the toughest tests for bike and body that the WC circuit has to offer.

A tough comeback course for Manon then but day-by-day she relaxed into riding again and tried to find her groove. Come race day, it all came together and she started hitting all the big gaps and smashing through the rocks in her usual style.

To get down in one piece was the goal here, stay strong and move on to Windham ready to attack the hill again. A place in the final was the first success of the weekend then taking a huge chunk out of her qualifying time in the final to come 13th was another. The smile was back… well almost!

Phil was riding well in practice, with a short amount of time on a hill that most of the top 30 men have ridden many, many times, Mt St Anne is a beast that needs taming and he did everything he could to learn how to ride the longest track he had ever raced on. Just missing out on a place in the final was no disgrace. He took the opportunity to ride the rest of the Mt St Anne trails for two days, good time on the bike and good time getting to know the terrain for next time.
 

Harry was last man up for the team and had a solid run in the final. With micro tight times in the men’s racing, his 50th place was just seven seconds off the elusive top twenty.
 

After the joys of Canada and the delights of the American border control, we cruised down the highway to Windham in New York State. The temperature control was cranked up a notch and by contrast the track was the shortest of the season. Don’t be fooled though, packed with action from top to bottom with flat out tree dodging and boulder fields to negotiate, the riders had to be sharp to carry speed and stay in one piece after six back to back weekends of racing.

Phil got to grips with Windham hill quickly and the result showed as he qualified for his second WC final of the season, a great achievement for a first year junior in what must be the most stacked with talent World Cup series of many years. 75th in the final after a trip to the bottom of a berm to check out a pile of dust was another great ride for Phil.
 

Manon continued her return to form bringing home a 9th place and vitally, staying in one piece on hill that claimed two of the top ten girls over the weekend.
 

So it was over to Harry to round off the racing for Madison Saracen in North America and 48th place just five seconds off the top twenty was another banker for Happy Harold.

To finish off the whirlwind tour of North America we headed for a day out in Manhattan before the flight home. Check out the team video to see what we got up to on the trip and stay tuned for more news from the BDS series coming up next from Glencoe.