Hannah Barnes rides Rd. 1 of 2015 Bluegrass Enduro Tour

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The observant among you will note that it is still only May, and Scotland has had a lot of snow this year. Logically, most event organisers would extrapolate from this that Glencoe – one of Scotland’s busiest ski resorts – might not be the ideal location for an enduro on the second Saturday in May. Not the organisers of the Bluegrass Enduro Tour though – if a snowfield start is good enough for the Megavalanche, then it’s good enough for them…

We’ll hand over to Hannah Barnes for her tale of the day, accompanied by pics from Joolze Dymond.

Hannah-J81_3859
A totally unique series, the Bluegrass Enduro Tour stages are ridden ‘blind’ or unseen – riders are not permitted to walk the course or practice in advance of the race, making for a really challenging day. And Glencoe proved to be just that – with untaped sections making riders choose their own way down, a mass start and riders sliding their way through snow fields peppered with boulders.

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JD2_4584
Not the Alps.
JD2_3650
Come in number eleven, your time is up.

“This is the third consecutive year of the Bluegrass Enduro Tour coming to Glencoe in the Scottish Highlands. Each year has been a huge success, and amazingly the weather has always been fantastic! It is a pretty exposed mountain and can be a wild place if the weather isn’t good, which makes it even more special when it’s glorious sunshine and we’re surrounded by snow capped mountains.

It was great to share the day and chat to so many lovely people who had all travelled from all over the UK and even Germany or Italy to race.

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Hannah getting her sprint on.
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Scotland at its best.
JD2_4327
There was some ‘proper’ riding too.

Being on a rough and wild mountainside with no bike trails from the top, we were racing blind down a widely taped hillside. With no trail to follow, you have to think quickly and pick the fastest and smoothest line between the gates down the hill, navigating through bogs, tussocks, snow, rocks; a bit of everything! One of my favourite elements of this race, one which is rare in enduro races, is that it is blind racing. It adds a whole new dimension and is great fun!

JD2_4221
What tyres for snow?
Frazer
If you’ve ever raced in Scotland there’s a fair chance it’s this guy’s fault. Thanks, Frazer.
IMG_4580
Not actually sure we’d want to be at the front.

The final stage was a mass start in the snow, which I think was the highlight and main attraction for a lot of the riders. Just as we did for the first two stages, we took two chairlifts up the mountain, then we had around a 30-minute hike further up the mountain to the snow start.

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Up, up and away.
JD2_4612
Last one to the aprés ski’s a loser.

Hiking up to the start, everyone was happily chatting with a mixture of excitement and nervousness for the anticipated craziness of the mass start! Racing elbow to elbow with over a hundred racers down a snowy mountainside is so exhilarating, sketchy and fun! Racing alongside others also pushes you to ride hard, take good lines, and try and catch people.

JD2_3957
Not the ideal place for a nap, but go on then…
JD2_4341
Look at the trail, not the view.

It was an achievement in itself to have a clean race without big crashes or mechanicals as it was so rough and physical. Everyone who came over the finish line had a huge smile on their face; it was a really great atmosphere chilling at the finish area in the late afternoon sun.

JD4_5215
Just one of the aforementioned huge smiles.
JD2_4559
“Hmmm. Maybe next time I can bolt some skis on here…”

Each category winner at each race in the series wins a tree! The idea is that each person plants the Bluegrass tree, and its location is put a map to show where in the world all the Bluegrass Trees are growing. What a great idea!

JuniorMen
We’ve seen babies/toddlers, significant others and dogs on the podium before, but the pet pot plant is a first.

From each race entry £1 is donated and then matched by MET, so $2 is donated to Qhubeka, World Bicycle Relief’s programme in South Africa. Every little helps, and maybe if more races had this system it would really make a difference!

The Bluegrass Enduro Tour in Glencoe certainly is a very unique race, and I can’t wait for next year!”

SeniorWomen
Winning women.
podio_men_expert
Where will his tree go?
Vetmen
We reckon that one’s going back to the farm.

Bluegrass Enduro Tour dates

Jenn Hill was the deputy editor here at Singletrack up until her untimely death from Lung Cancer in October 2015. She was and remains an inspiration to us all here at Singletrack. Jenn Hill - 1977-2015

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