Will and Rich, our mechanic and marketing man, raced the Intro race on the Sunday morning. The Intro takes in stages 4, 5, 6 and 7. Here's how it went down…

After an already hectic weekend including over 1500m climbing on the demo loop alone and our bodyweight in beer on the Saturday night, we braved the Intro round on the Sunday morning. Thinking the best way to shake the pounding in our heads was to pedal a bike in the sun with your pal. Just like everything else with the event, the registration, route finding and marshalling was a breeze which made up for the fact that the stages and transitions were as tough as old boots. All of the stages started with a sprint then got steeper and faster, so we decided that Will would go ahead and I (Rich) would follow and try to keep up! I could heckle on the pedally bits and then Will could tow me along when it got fast. This seemed like the best plan and long story short, it worked! Every stage was 100% blind - we hadn’t even ridden them last year so we were completely wet behind the ears, (though that was probably sweat). We only caught up a couple of people. Will drank from a stream and didn’t die of dysentery. I cleaned the steepest hill up I’ve ever ridden - had steps cut in and everything. We spent the day with Jack from Hunt wheels who was awesome company & one of the soundest guys you’re likely to meet. We had a much needed coffee and flapjack from Boost Coffee Co who were parked at the bottom of stage 5. There were zero crashes but many close calls. Contrary to suggestion, you most definitely CAN’T pull up off every lip on stage 6. Flat pedals win medals and it turns out, you’d be faster on a hardtail: Will won.

The rest of the weekend was just as enjoyable - so many friends, many demo laps on our phenomenal bikes, so much lovely beer from Abbeydale Brewery, sun, smiles, the Foo Fighters tribute was rowdy, the food was unbelievable, the mood was high and as John Fife said, we had the needle bending on the stoke-o-meter! Ard Rock is without a doubt the bike festival that sets the bar (very high). Thanks to everyone who made it possible and so much fun. See you next year for sure.

The owner's ride out was a great success. A great bunch of people out riding with the Cotic crew, including our team rider Chay and ambassador Dave and Downtime Podcast Chris. Lovely to get out riding with so many Cotics out on the hill, beautiful light and good vibes.

After squeezing in an entry to the Intro race last year and breaking his racing retirement, Cotic's Paul was eager to race again this year. This year he entered the Sprint race which takes in the stages that the Intro doesn't, so now he's done them all! He absolutely loved it and got a great result. No doubt he'll be racing again next year.

The fastest girl around Mel Fife did it again. What a race! She's on the top spot yet again, proving that you really are faster on a Rocket. Huge congrats to her, we're so pleased for her.

Thanks again to the organisers, marshalls, demo riders, Cotic owners, ambassadors and people that came over to say hi at the stand. What a great weekend, we enjoyed every second. See you at Ard Rock 2019.