Lewis Buchanan
Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland
Mountain Biking
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I've been racing Downhill mountain bikes since 2005 and I turned professional in 2010. It has always been a dream of mine to turn professional and make it on to the World Cup Circuit. In 2010 I got picked up by the MS/Evil World cup team and had a great season with them. I was the youngest competitor in the World Cup Series that year aged 16. I managed to grab a 16th overall and fastest Junior at the Val Di Sole World Cup round in Italy. I then Qualified 15th and finished 14th overall at the final World Cup round in Windham-USA which was amazing! I was also Junior Scottish Champ and National Champ that year along with a Bronze medal at the UCI World Championships in Canada to finish the year off. For 2011 I signed with Chainreactioncycles/Nukeproof team and had great things ahead of me. Unfortunately, weeks before the season kicked off I had a crash that dislocated my right shoulder. For the rest of the season I had some reasonable results with getting inside the top 20-25 in some World Cup rounds & being crowned UK Junior National Champion for the second year in a row.
I signed with the team again for 2012 but It was an up and down year with some good results and others I'd rather forget about! I had so much time off the bike as I had my shoulder operated at the end of the previous season. I came in to 2013 really prepared & healed up fully and my season started off super good getting a 2nd at the first Scottish Downhill round. A few weeks later I qualified 1st ahead of some of the Worlds fastest racers at the third British Downhill Series round in Innerleithen. I finished out 3rd in the final which was huge for me being ahead of some of the sports biggest names like Steve Peat, Sam Hill, Loic Bruni, Steve Smith, Marc Beaumont, Brook Macdonald etc. A week later I started off the World Cup series at Fort William Qualifying 19th and finished up 22nd in the finals which was awesome for me. The Following week I went to World Cup round 2 in Val Di Sole, Italy and unfortunately broke my left leg which sidelined me for the rest of the season.
Once I was fully healed up near the end of 2013, I started my training to get ready for the 2014 season & its been going great. I feel really good and I really believe that things will happen for me eventually and I'll reach my goals. I have had a couple years of bad luck but I have for sure shown speed ,and I know I can put in great results when things go my way. Unfortunately in this sport injuring yourself and being out for a year does not help with landing yourself a deal with a factory team so I am funding it all myself and trying to head to as many races as I can with my dad.