A BRIEF HISTORY

Before we got talking, his brother Christian (a quick rider himself) and dad Chris got some old photos out, and filled us in on how Brendan got started by entering some local Cross Country races – one being no more than half a mile up the road from their Surrey house. He raced Pee Wee class, and apparently there was one section on the track that went steeply downhill for around 300m or so. Chris told us, “he struggled to pedal round all the rest of the lap, but each time he got to the top of that slope he blasted down it and overtook half the other kids, who were either walking or carrying their bikes down. Brendan ended up winning the race because he was the only one that could do the downhill properly. Anyway, we bought him a new cross country bike, and within only a few weeks he came home from school and said, “Dad I’ve got something to tell you, I’ve just swapped my XC bike for a DH bike”. At this point we knew absolutely nothing about downhill.

Brendan said he’d entered a DH race with friend Nick Platt. So we went to this local race at Rogate, and I remember saying to Brendan’s mum how it was full of all these people we’d have crossed the street to avoid previously. They had multiple earrings, etc, and we had our snobby impression, but they were all totally delightful in reality. Great people. Anyway Brendan did well and that’s how it all started – Brendan would have been about 13 years old. From then on it meant driving him all over the country every weekend…

Dirt: So what you been up to?

Brendan Fairclough: I’ve just got back from the NPS in Wales, and before that a couple of weeks riding in the Alps after Leogang with the SRAM boys. I thought I’d race Llangollen to try and build some confidence on a track I know suits me, one I can win on. Obviously that didn’t happen, I made a mistake and messed it up, and that was that, it’s just one of those things.

Even though they’ve removed my whole anterior cruciate ligament, I’ve just got two tiny insertions and you can’t really see much damage. I don’t get any pain when I’m pedalling or sat down climbing, but it hurts first thing in the morning when I’m not wearing my brace, or when I dab my foot or whatever when riding. It feels weak and I’m like a bit of a flamingo – on the DH bike without the brace it feels like the leg might flip forwards under the forces. It’s fine once I’m conscious of it and using the muscle in the right way to support it, but the other day I got out of bed a bit sleepy and stepped on something in the dark, and my leg just folded forwards and put me straight to the floor.

This worst bit is this injury has come at completely the wrong time. That month off after the first WC, I’d normally be flat out on the road bike and doing intensive training, and I basically sat with my leg up doing what I could. I didn’t put one single pedal stroke in on a bike, so I’ve come back into the other races still with my same head on, and feeling like I’ve got my old speed and skills, but I’ve lost all the power and fitness I need to support it.

It’s not that annoying. It doesn’t seem to get in my way too bad, so I honestly don’t know why I’m getting such shit results at the moment. I feel OK in the technical sections, but I just can’t pedal very well, it’s like I’m wobbling trying to put the power down and I’ve already lost a load of muscle in the left thigh, which is my leading leg. I still feel like I can hit turns hard, jump fine and things like that, but if I’m honest by the end of a run I’m fatigued, so I’m having to slow myself down to hold it together to the end.

Yeah, I think it’s forcing me to take it a bit easier the whole way down as it’s in the back of my mind whether I like it or not. I’m doing four practice runs at a WC like normal, and feeling tired after because I haven’t been able to do what I need to do, I haven’t been able to be on my bike.

You’ve just come from the Alps and tomorrow you’re off again, so you’ll be riding everyday for the best part of a month. Have you thought about how you’re going to use this time? I mean are you going to go to Whistler and tit about on A–Line all day, or are you going to try and have a structure where you can think about getting fitter and making the knee stronger?

I know what you’re saying. We do try to fit some XC riding into the week, but it’s not always that easy. Racing WC’s in the thick of the season, it’s really hard to get a training structure that fits around the events. You get there on a Tuesday or whatever and your time is mapped out. Jetlagged or acclimatising at first, then it’s track walk, then practicing. It’s not like you’re actually pedalling hard or training as such, cause you’re looking for lines, trying things out and only ever riding small sections to conserve energy. So you’re quite knackered from the concentration, but it’s a different kind of tired to hard physical effort. I was speaking to Aaron Gwin about fitting this stuff all together, and he was telling me how after a few races he needs to get home fast to be able to focus on his training schedule properly again.