I see UK Enduro is stopping. Which set me thinking how many disciplines of MTB there has been over the years. Off the top of my head:

Uphill
Downhill
Mini DH
Dual Descender
Dual Slalom
4X
XC
XCO
XCE
Power XC!
Agressive XC!!
Trials
Speed Trials
Enduro (original ones in the early 90’s)
Enduro (Mega Avalanche style)
Enduro (Ride up a fireroad, then race down a late 90’s DH course style)
Freeride
Slopestyle
FMB?
All Mountain
Trailquest

I’m sure I’ve missed a load. What do the Great Marketing Lords have for us next?

What’s stopping exactly?

Is it 1st April?

UK Enduro Series has cancelled their remaining rounds. (jest seen on FB)

But there’s so many series’ purporting to be ‘national’ series that I forget which one this is,..

FB linky

https://www.facebook.com/nationalenduroseries/?fref=nf

A minor series has stopped, loads of races all over the country left. Life in the new kid yet.

I did the FoD Enduro. Four laps of a 10 mile XC gnarr* course. I’m glad I wasn’t wearing a full face & armour.

* one of the best “XC” courses I’ve ridden actually

Just one (of many) UK series has pulled the plug. There are currently way too many series IMO and having 2 “national” series devalues the title.

Enduro as a discipline is in fantastic health – see EWS selling out, 500+ racers at every Superenduro round, Add Rock selling out etc etc. 2016 is likely to be a consolidation year in the UK when oversupply corrects itself, and rightly so.

PMBA is well run and usually sold out. They had another first class event at the weekend.

There are currently way too many series IMO and having 2 “national” series devalues the title.

Agreed.

One of the reasons a top notch event such as Epic Cymru bit the dust – the market is saturated!

I’m sure I’ve missed a load. What do the Great Marketing Lords have for us next?

So which have you actually done?

Uphill Do you mean XC?
Downhill Still going strong
Mini DH Still going in places- great fun little events
Dual Descender Still done in slopestyle events
Dual Slalom
4X Still running UK & World
XC Going strong around the world
XCO Still a strong discipline just the UK is under represented
XCE yes well
Power XC! what was this?
Agressive XC!! are you making this up now?
Trials See the world cup/champs trials
Speed Trials ??
Enduro (original ones in the early 90’s) Evolving
Enduro (Mega Avalanche style) Still going strong
Enduro (Ride up a fireroad, then race down a late 90’s DH course style) One of the growth areas and massivly popular
Freeride See Crankworx/FMB tour/Rampage
Slopestyle as above
FMB? as above
All Mountain Nicely sums up a lot of good natural riding
Trailquest Probably still happening

What was your point exactly?

What was your point exactly?

That a badly run fledgling series died on its arse mid way through ergo Enduro is dead…

thought so, another marketing rules biking thing then… how stupid the public must be…

Hill Climb was a World Cup discipline at some point in the early or mid 90s when sponsored by Grundig. Was mostly a two horse race between Tomac and Overend.

Speed trials was something the martins (Ashton and hawyes, for those that don’t know/remember) came up with for events and shows as normal trials displays were getting a bit dull. Wasn’t really a ‘discipline’

Pushing bikes uphill then standing in large groups obliviously blocking the trail to anyone else?…..well it seems very popular around here so might as well stat charging £60 for doing it.

Was mostly a two horse race between Tomac and Overend.

Tim Gould was pretty good too!

Enduro….What Next?

MOOAAAARRR ENDUROOOOH!!!!!

I do love the condescending hate in here for enduro….

You forgot the Evans MTB Orienteering events in the 90s too, and family picnics on bikes (can be competitive)

@Mike Hope that’s not aimed at me, I’ve even “raced” a couple.

reviewing the posts there’s only Rorschach grumbling and he’s old and that so can be ignored

Yeah him and the OP… the rest will be along in a bit

Shame to see the series fold, I didn’t enter any but sounds like they had potential to be very good events. I did think that 7 rounds for a mates race type series was a bit ambitious. Fingers crossed all riders get refunds and the organisers aren’t too put off by the experience.

The demand for grass roots ( 😉 ) races which mere mortals can enter is strong. The more gnar / dh events become the more fragile they will be imho. There will be a place for a national series with top rides and the untra keenies willing to drive up and down the country, however 2 or 3 “national” series ? Regionalmstuff like the Southern Series Scott has been part of makes a lot of sense, a couple of hours drive most of us will consider for a course we think we can actually ride.

I don’t think upping the ‘gnar’ level makes an event more fragile, but more if it doesn’t stand out, have a USP.

PMBA seem to have a friendly approach.
Tweedlove have a great vibe and a huge amount going on in a small area.
SES is generally about the toughest, steepest trails.
Ard rock have trails you can’t normally ride, and also a great weekend, and sells out in minutes.

All of the above have ‘something’. Perhaps UK Enduro didn’t.

The demand for grass roots ( ) races which mere mortals can enter is strong. The more gnar / dh events become the more fragile they will be imho. There will be a place for a national series with top rides and the untra keenies willing to drive up and down the country, however 2 or 3 “national” series ? Regionalmstuff like the Southern Series Scott has been part of makes a lot of sense, a couple of hours drive most of us will consider for a course we think we can actually ride.

^^This. There should be regional leading into national, into EWS.

I know that from talking to all my mates from years out racing Superenduro, this is pretty much how it works out there. You’ll have small, one off almost “mates race” on a super local level, then regional series like the Lazio Cup, then Superenduro, then EWS. As a result, everything sells out, there’s clear progression for the riders and everyone’s happy. That also results in better media coverage which makes sponsors happy and keeps the money rolling in, which is critical to any series.

How about a decathlon-type format that combines all the different disciplines to find the best overall rider? Up, down, across, long, short, trials, road, the lot?

I’ll have some of what you’ve been smoking chrispo!. 😆

I don’t think it’s even about the smaller, regional stuff being ‘easier’ tracks, for me & most of the people I ride & race with it’s a time commitment thing.

The UKGE’s were becoming a 3 day event in reality if you wanted to do well, which meant travelling on a Thursday, riding the loop on the Friday, hitting a few choice stages on the Saturday & then sessioning the quali/seeding stage, before seeding that afternoon.

It was getting way too time intensive IMO. They really needed to be weekend events. The local stuff i’ve done has been great for that.

Having raced some EWS’s as well, the gap between doing a National, and the step to an EWS is massive. 70-80km loops. You do more distance and climbing on a race day than an entire weekend.

I think the reality of the series folding is (harsh reality) a complete sh*t show from the people I ride with who did some of the events.

Odd formats, crap taping of tracks, questionable results & other factors. It was barely a badly run regional series.

We could just do ‘mountain biking’ and all learn to get along….

😉

I’ll be honest here, I really wanted UK Enduro to do well- they just seemed a bit less arseholey. But as soon as they started announcing details of their format I started to wonder, it all just seemed messy and the whole 1 day/2 day/please everyone thing always seemed like it was going to cause a ton of confusion. We’re not new to this enduro lark now, the format’s pretty well understood so changing it all while trying to establish a new series was a bit weird

(I could be wrong but I had the feeling it was largely to open up different venues? 7 short stages can be easier to find than 3-5 big ones, especially when you don’t have a big hill)

agentdagnamit – Member
We could just do ‘mountain biking’ and all learn to get along….

Yep, it’s nice to know what kind of event your entering 🙂

Think I’ve done a few of those ones up there in the past few years and a few more 🙂

For various reasons, I’ve not raced at all this year, and it’s not looking likely for at least another few months. One of the main things that put me off is the amount of series, and the amount of time I invested over the last few years in racing. The guys at the UK Enduro seemed to have the best intentions, but in reality, were always going to struggle against the BES, with their superior sponsorship opportunities.

I’m more likely to race local stuff now regardless, living in the south west now rather than London, I’m lucky to have a large proportion of races within 2 hours drive. Enduro will continue and eventually will reach the balance point, but needs a few more years to reach this probably.

Speed Trials ??

This was actually a cool format, but it didn’t gain much traction.

Think a trials course, only formed into 2 equal lanes side by side in a race format. Lots of hoping on the back wheel across seemingly too wide gaps and landing on narrow ledges etc, against the clock and each other.

How about a decathlon-type format that combines all the different disciplines to find the best overall rider? Up, down, across, long, short, trials, road, the lot?

Done that in the ’80’s at the Essex Winter series. Well sort of. I remember trials, time trials, uphill, downhill and xc. I was trying to organise something like the TdF.

Downduro?

Antur , BPW, Forest of Dean, hell, they could double their turnover if uphill ever caught on. Imagine paying for a down lift day 😉
I know and ride with folk who compete in downhill, xc, enduro, endurance and 4x. As well as people who ride proper mountains or trail centres. It’s all just riding bikes to them and we all still tear round the local forest stuff together, on all ‘kinds’ of bikes.
Niche markets are all well and good for marketing , or promoters , but they all have a limited audience or lifespan.

Does anyone run the off road equivalent of Audaxes/sportives?

Keep the competitive element for those who care, a fun day out for everyone else.

Plenty of Sportive style events run by Wiggle, Evans and local organisers (Brecon Beast, Batch Burner, Dyfi Enduro, Marathon Series).

Lots of life in enduro, most long running series and races still running strong selling out (PMBA, Mini’s, SES, Ard’rock etc…)

Some of the new series are doing well too 😉