I just entered my first ever enduro, which is the 30 mile one at the Altura Whinlatter trail near Keswick on March 29th.
I’m pretty certain I can finish it, based on the fact that I’ve ridden 30-40 mile routes lots of times, which may be a rather naive assumption. Obviously I don’t have long to train, but the things I think I need to focus on to put in a non-embarrassing performance are:
– Doing that sort of distance without breaks (i.e. map reading, bacon butty stops)
– Using the middle ring more on longer easy climbs, rather than just coasting until I reach the next fun bit
– Doing downhill/technical stuff more smoothly to preserve energy and not just razzing about pretending I’m riding an mx bike
The last one is clearly a technical thing, and is probably more about self restraint than anything else. I have a fairly good idea of what I should be practicing there (carrying speed through corners, picking sensible lines etc), so I’m not too worried about it.
The first 2 may require a bit of actual training, and I could really use some tips. I can manage a maximum of one all day and one 2 hour mtb rides a week. I also have a road bike which I go for a quick blast on a couple of nights a week. I could probably manage 2 or 3 1-2hour road bike rides a week, but unfortunately as I live in central manchester these would have to be mostly on the flat. I could also do a bit of running, but not too much, I had a bad ankle break a few years ago and running 5k more than twice a week seems to aggrevate it.
Any advice would be most appreciated, I’m sure these kind of concerns are fairly standard for anybody who rides for fun who is preparing to do an event like this. Anyone else on here doing this event?
