Most do, i think this round used some chairlift access but still:

Whistler Enduro World Series. … 2,300m of climbing, 3,300m of descending

One thing – I always understood that enduro involved climbing to the top of every descent

They have a mix of lift and pedal liasons. Still a lot of pedalling though.

http://www.enduroworldseries.com/events/canada/

convert – Member

Looking at that reminds me that enduro has to be the most aspirational competitive form of MTB to the common man. So much better that XC or DH. Why did it take so long to be invented?

It’s been around for a long time, the first series of what you might recognise as ‘Enduro’ started in 2003 – it’s no coincidence that Spesh have been calling their longest, slackest XC bikes ‘Enduro’ since 2004.

Even here in the UK Kona were Sponsoring the ‘Mash-Up’ Series from 2007 – not many people were familiar with the format when I raced them, but it made a lot of sense straight away because it was basically what my mates and I had been doing forever. Riding trails – chatting and taking it easy on the climbs then racing like hell on the descents, they were fun, not too serious events held at Afan on the normal Trail Centres trails, so if you could complete a lap of White’s without dying, you could race.

It was only when the EWS started and riders like Dan Atherton and Cedric Gracia quit DH to compete it got any coverage in MTB Media though.

I don’t know why so many riders get upset about it, they say “Enduro, what’s that, it’s ‘just’ mountain biking” like it’s some grandioso title or something – but what’s the alternative – call it the “Mountain Bike Race Series” how arrogant would that sound.

14mins at that pace! incredible – only a couple of minutes shy of the fast lads’ total time over 5 stages of the ard rock at the weekend! stage one took me just under 6 minutes and could hardly stand up at the end of it!

P-Jay – Member

It was only when the EWS started and riders like Dan Atherton and Cedric Gracia quit DH to compete it got any coverage in MTB Media though.

That’s not right… In the UK at least, Singletrack and the Future mags were at the UKGE back in 2011 for sure, pretty sure Dirt had coverage from earlier Inners ones that (imo) mark the start of the modern uk enduro thang.

Speechless. Unless I saw it, I wouldn’t believe it were possible. A complete adjustment in reference point.

That was the final stage too, so while I can’t be bothered to check how much riding he’d done up to that point….he’d done a shit load of riding up to that point.

The whole loop was about 60km all in. The last stage was about 7km in distance, and although the longest in distance, it wasn’t the longest in time.

Top Of The World into Khybers was longer (and tougher).

Northwind – Member

P-Jay – Member

It was only when the EWS started and riders like Dan Atherton and Cedric Gracia quit DH to compete it got any coverage in MTB Media though.

That’s not right… In the UK at least, Singletrack and the Future mags were at the UKGE back in 2011 for sure, pretty sure Dirt had coverage from earlier Inners ones that (imo) mark the start of the modern uk enduro thang. [/quote]

Yeah. The EWS only started in 2013, and it was big news because “Enduro” was already a pretty big deal. I remember seeing footage and magazine articles covering things like Megavalanche, Mountain of Hell and those Endurance DH/ Enduro events going back donkeys years. Maybe 10 years or more.

EDIT:

Megavalanche 2006

http://www.sicklines.com/2006/12/04/megavalanche-nicholas-vouilloz-win/

in other ‘good-grief that’s quick!’ news, has this been done yet?

some lad called Aaron…

I look at videos like that and think

WOW!

If only I had 650b I could ride like that too

😀

And another!

Was that onsight or would he have walked the course, or bits of it beforehand?

Damn impressive either way, my brain doesn’t compute quick enough to see the lines he’s taking.

Damn impressive either way, my brain doesn’t compute quick enough to see the lines he’s taking.

Yes – it’s like watching POV from the Isle of Man TT – I cannot cope with trying to process it in my mind just watching, let alone all the physical forces on the body and the mental aspect of knowing what the outcome of small mistake could be………..

A breed apart.

I’m convinced that if the Athertons had been into swimming they would have sprouted fins and developed gills.

Was that onsight or would he have walked the course, or bits of it beforehand?

Course info was released late Tuesday night. We were officially allowed to only practice the Park stages (of which there was this & part of stage 2) from Weds onwards.

Everything out of the park we were allowed to practice on Friday & Saturday.

I would expect most stages were ridden once or twice and video’d & this one (or parts of it anyway) a few more as it’s made up of various trails in the park people ride anyway 🙂

I’ve just had a proper watch of that on the big screen at home.

That really is next level shit, isn’t it? Some of those sections where he pulls off from a fireroad sprint into the trees….. 😯

*speechless*

well not quite. Agreed ^^ a million miles an hour off the firewood into a steep, technical section about the width of his bars. Not worthy etc…

Thanks for the info Hob Nob, interesting details.

Wheres the technical bit then ?

Just a roll down a hill innit?

One of the things that really knocked me out at the ews was riding with fabien barel for a little bit in practice and seeing how he anaylses- he was out all day and every damn thing seemed to be worth studying. If I take zis line to the left of ze pebble instead of riding over ze pebble, I will zave 0.0000001 zeconds. I stopped for 2 bits, that I thought were worthy of more respect and a quick doublecheck, he analysed everything. And videod it to boot. That might be taking it to extremes, I don’t know but I reckon I could keep about 1/100th of what he was looking at in my head. Maybe less.

If you gave me a body swap and a skill download, and a fear bypass I still wouldn’t be able to keep up 😆

The whole loop was about 60km all in. The last stage was about 7km in distance, and although the longest in distance, it wasn’t the longest in time.

Top Of The World into Khybers was longer (and tougher).

How’d you get on in the end Hob Nob? Had a couple of mates racing who did pretty well for guys who aren’t pros.

I’d ridden nearly all the trails in this years EWS before but wouldn’t of wanted to race them! ToTW into Khybers is awesome, but long and very physical. Hey Bud at race pace would of been interesting too.

I have mixed feelings, I came 9th, which I’m pleased about, but I had a twatty crash on Khybers which cost a lot of time, and I blew myself up trying to make it back, then I had another stupid one on BC’s.

What really hurt though was washing out coming into EZ does it, I wasn’t concentrating and went down on a flat corner. The 2 guys in front of me were less than 5 seconds ahead overall, that was the last crash alone.

It’s what could have been, but it should have been a 7th, if I’d stayed on my bike I might have snuck the top 5, which would have been awesome.

I enjoyed it though, good day out, not as brutal as last year, but still really tough, some of the trails were pretty slick.

Do they give you an overall position hobnob?
i.e; where you finished in relation to the seniors and pro category?