WideopenMag tester Monet Adams takes 4th at opening BDS Round

We’ve handed a 2015 Vitus Dominer to WideopenMag’s Monet Rose Adams for the season on long term test. Taking the move up to 27.5″ wheels could be daunting for some – but with a 4th place at last weekend’s opening British DH Series it looks like Monet has made the switch pretty well! We catch up with her after a wild weekend in Scotland

“After skidding around at Ride Portugal for a week and doing some race’s in the dust it was time to get down to business in the UK at the first round of the British Downhill Series.

The series kicked off at AE forest, a long time favourite of the national circuit that never really fails to deliver an exciting race. This year the track had changed slightly again – for the better in my opinion, with a technical rocky start, and off camber gambler in the bottom woods.

The Dominer had proved itself on fast, open, dusty tracks and seen me safely through a week of staying at ‘Send it Portugal’ (RidePortugal) now I wanted to see what she was like on a proper British race track.

Although I was having fun, I didn’t quite feel like I had mastered the track by race run. I was still a bit unsure of entry speeds and linking all the sections together mainly due to the physical nature of the track causing lots of clusters of riders in practice. I decided to race safe, put in two good runs to see me through and concentrate on riding my bike well. I was linking everything together smoothly and hitting the lines I had planned. I enjoy Ae forest for its good mix of technical roots, rocks, and faster jumps, and its pretty satisfying to do a run knowing you nailed everything.

Photo // Ian Lean Photography

Come race run I had set my sights on a sub 3 minute time – and thought about where I might be able to find 6 seconds! Unfortunately, there was a moment in my run that disturbed the balance and results in me posting a time 0.2 seconds slower than my seeding run. However I had retained my 4^th place spot behind three good friends and Rainbow stripe holders, and I was warmed up and in one piece ready to head south this weekend to the first round of the UCI World Cup at Lourdes.

And the Vitus? I’ll write more about this over on www.wideopenmag.co.uk shortly, but it held up to a weekend of physical racing really well. I’m still adapting to the bigger wheels and a slight change of style in corners … but having fun and going fast! See you at Lourdes!”