Agree with Hob Nob.
I know I keep banging on about my missus but she only pushed her limits & rode stage 2 because she ‘had’ to.
It was hard, but like most of us she made it down and regardless of time or placing the rewards of making it down stuff at the edge of your comfort zone is fantastic.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the summer.

Good to see Nick Craig’s name up there – nice to see xc/cyclo cross legends can go down as well as up!

Mattbee – was your wife dark hair & specs? She was bricking it at the top of stage 2 & said she normally rode stuff with her husband.

I’m glad she enjoyed it though, we tried (not that hard) to ease her mind at the start!

I think we will go for one start area in July but look at mutli end locations like the day and night 🙂

That was her Mork, she said that the marshals at the top were really good at helping calm her nerves.
I’m knackered, she’s absolutely buzzing!

mattbee

There’s a pic of you up now on Rain and Roots, an arty shot no less.
Mark No.32 😀

Another fantastic weekend, how do we do it with the weather, its starting to look like voodoo magic 😆
Nick Craig is a legend and a thoroughly nice bloke. He well enjoyed the enduro and will hopefully be back next year, hopefully on a more competitive bike!
I’m knackered and I stink. Best have a shower!

I had a bit of a nightmare to be honest .

I am a member of the collective and dug some of 1 and 2 , so sorry if it didn’t float your boat.

Friday night spent 4 hrs taping stage 3 ( the best one imo ) , Sat did practise and thought I was ok on the notorious qecp root / chalk /loam combo . My Hans Dampf and Ignitor combo didnt really offer enough grip so i minced my way round 1 and 2 in practise pretty much hating every second and crashing every other second.

Then rode ~3 and it all sort of came together and decided to actualy ‘race’ .

1 went OK I thought , 2 got owned by Charlie mort from this ere place , 3 caught the rider in front as he had a stick in his rear mech, 4 didnt practise and faffed my way down really slowly.

DFL in Vets out of those who started and finished all stages. I have told myslef no more racing if this ever happens. So thats my first and last gravity race. Its more endurance than enduro for me from now on .

150 / 163 overall says it all really. I did enjoy it, and unless you have a go you never know . getting up for work at 0630 sucked though .

You can’t give up because you finished last ! You can only improve 🙂

@john the clear solution is to buy some new bits for the bike.

I feel sad I missed it but the greasy conditions don’t sound too much fun in the dark. Not sure at 52 I could cope with 6 offs in the dark, even if the body survived I suspect the attitude would not

Wow what a top weekend

Camped over with the wife and kids

Got there 3 on Saturday, tent up family sorted quick tour of the stalls was just about ready for practice eby 5!,

1 and 2 were tricky for sure but great fun, 3 and 4 pedally and fast

Started up for another gp at 2 as I’d had a big tumble, but halfway up the road thought stuff that, back to tent fire up the BBQ, set up lights stuff down some sausages then back on it

1 was going well till I span out just b4 the finish
2 had me crashing in a different place but just right for the hecklers!
Stage 3 was fine by 4 my legs were dying, only the cheers from the arena spurred me on, big skids round the last corner to grab my free beer at the finish line 82nd wasnt as good as I’d hoped for but had a great time
Drininkg till 130 was great at the time… until 6 am when the kids woke up bouncing round the tent
Nice chilled day with the family, now home , wrecked

Awesome weekend, cant believe how the QECP guys manage to put on such a great event, good work Hargreaves and all the trade and demo stands, ben from bird for showing me some tyre love and whoever it is that sorts out the weather

Oh and ardents + off camber slick stuff = pain

Just going to add that we (…and I’m going to speak for freeridenick off here who I did it with) loved it…very well run and great stages, all of them. Good chatty atmosphere amongst riders added to a great day…really can’t fault it.

Oddly Stage 1 & 2 i did alright on (ie stayed upright) but binned it on 3…finished it with most of a hedge on my bars 😐

Can we do it again next Saturday? I can’t wait a whole year!

Too broken to do it again next week sorry; we’ll be back in July.

Add my name to the list of all those saying thanks. Build some nice trails in some lovely woods and then show some strangers around with a good loop throwing in some nice downhill runs and add some timing to make you try a bit harder than normal. Great evening, thank you all for your efforts.
Apparently, not so Fast Eddie.

when are day enduro entries live??

30th May

Nice.

Apparently, not so Fast Eddie.

Of ladder drop fame?

Ha ha, not sure what that makes me then Fast Eddie as you were way quicker than me!

Did enjoy having a good chat with you on the transitions though, even if Chiefgrooveguru did end up taking me for 17 seconds 🙁

Next time, next time…..

I arrived Friday at 3pm.

I can’t believe the campsite stayed so empty!

Anyway, team Big Bike Bash had a rider in fun category, and he finished! Top work 40MPG 🙂

The rest of us had a few ciders, chilled out, did a bit of riding, went to the pub, chatted to loads of happy people and had an ace weekend 🙂

Thank you all QECP, you guys rock 🙂

Oh, and I got to ride my fatbike through an AMBULANCE! In the side door, out the rear 🙂

Pictures tomorrow!

Important life lesson – don’t pitch up to these things early to chill, only to fall asleep in the sun. I now have sunburn on one side of my face and neck, and look like a deformed baddie from a low budget superhero flick 😳

Event was fantastic though. I never would have ridden stage 2 A line if it wasn’t for the heckling. Totally out of control, somehow slid the right way into *that* corner still upright but ended up stood behind my bike. Don’t know how that happened. Got to the bottom of that section to see tumbling green/blue/green/blue heading towards me – my mate rolling with the bike down the hill. He nearly overtook me!

Loved stage 1 – just the right mix of steep tech and fast blast – although I totally minced down it. 3 & 4 were great sprints through the trees.

I did all 4 runs in practice so was knackered for the race proper! Still got up Sunday morning and went for a cheeky run down 1 again and a spin round the blue. Proper aching today!

Hats off to the QECP guys – excellent job well done 😀

I know its a shameless plug so I will do it twice!!

First, The QECP Enduro is on the 26th July but the important date is when it goes on sale as it will sell out quick. 30th May at )8:00 Here: http://www.moredirt.com/event/1166

Second, we have a DH race at QECP in a couple of weeks (Some of it will be used for the enduro too) Sun 7th June and it is on sale now:
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/133136/Gravity-Project-Honey-Series-2015-Rd4#entry

Piggybacking on the DH Race will be the UK Hardtail Champs so if you got a HT grab your mates and come a bit of fun in the HT champs. The track won’t be any harder than stage 2 in the dark 😉
(Remember to sign up in the Hardtail category)

It would be great to get 30+ hardtail competing having fun!!
More info on champs:
http://www.qecptrailcollective.co.uk/2015/04/uk-hardtail-dh-champs-7th-june-2015-at-qecp/

Scott, anyone who puts on an event so consistently brilliant should be allowed to plug as much as they like!

Are you sure you don’t fancy an autumn/winter night/night enduro? Or even a day/night that starts in the afternoon and finishes in the early evening? Go on, go on, go on, go on!

Anyway, as promised, Ambulance riding 😆

Ah, Mr Sport, I slipstreamed you and your fatbiked associate back to the car park just before practice started. I like how the tyres growl like a tiger who is allergic to tarmac!

@cider excellent 🙂 @chief you need to copyright that line !

Ah, Mr Sport, I slipstreamed you and your fatbiked associate back to the car park just before practice started. I like how the tyres growl like a tiger who is allergic to tarmac!

Slipstreaming makes it sound like I may have moved fast! I’m sure I didn’t 😉

And yes, there was a little growl. I had some rather low pressures (5psi) that was ace out on the trails, but rather crap on hard stuff 😆

i feel bad for singletrackmind. encouraged him to do it even though he was knackered and now he regrets it. not enough tyre. i think loads of people underestimated amount of tyre needed? this is great STW subject. i was also slow as s*** from setting up and getting too excited on 1&2, nothing in the tank for 3&4… still won the “best alien lights” maybe? 😉 also cheers for the comment on Stage4.

^ fatbike made sense on S2?

i said on our forum but everyone please check for ticks i got 3 small ones taping S2 & S3, really small.. you might need a “friend” to help look 😯

The story from Team Bean was one of the funniest things i’ve heard, yes those were carrot chunks on S2, be glad it was dark!

winter night/night enduro

Don’t the sound of that! How about a race at a different local venue in autumn/ winter (In the day)?

Just another shout of thanks to Scott, volunteers and the QECP collective in general! Loved the developments of the course from last year and the growth in numbers. I reckon the ‘field’ in general was much more competitive too- I was nearly 2 minutes faster than last year in the dry, but further down the overall. (A morning mis-spent on Roots and Rain looking at stats…)

Pretty happy with my 15th in Vets, especially as I took a wide line into the steep section on stage 2 and ended up with a little branch stuck in my rear wheel/mech/chain- a slightly random way to lose time…

Bit of a reality check when Nick Craig, on the fatty, came steaming past on stage 2 practice as well!

Edit: +1 for an autumn race! -i’m always on holiday for the summer one, there must be other spots locally to do a ‘falling leaves’ enduro!?

i think loads of people underestimated amount of tyre needed?

I always run big (2.35+) aggressive ones at qecp.
Like my 2.5″ bad boy on the front from Vee:
[url=https://flic.kr/p/sdoEMw]IMG_8911[/url] by Southern Enduro / QECP Trail Collective, on Flickr

smoooth plug Scott 8) you know when a minion looks weedy something is up.

Ollie and Francie both looked fantastic right?

Francie was flying been load of the locals boys. I remember when she did here first race a couple of years ago on a bike she borrowed from her brother 😉 He was at the BDS at Fort William this weekend finishing 9th in Expert! Not bad for a local.

Come to think of it his first race was a QECP Mate race in 2012, He was 4th and no I didn’t beat him, I was 5th 😉 http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/9052227/

During practice I pushed back up the side of the switchbacks on Stage 2 and had great fun watching a couple of dozen people ride them, with varying degrees of success. The guy Francie was following in practice seemed to have forgotten his brakes, just carved the first turn and flicked round the nasty switchback, and she followed a little less quickly like it was easy. Then Nick Craig went by on a fatbike. Just before them a couple of the ladies dismounted and climbed down. And a load of my mates variously ballsed it up and fell down the hill or made it look as difficult as it was. Hence my excellent and beautifully executed (until my lace entanglement…) high line into the B option…

I’d have liked a full spike up front for stage 1 and 2 but even a cut spike would have been a bit squirmy on stages 3 and 4. Wheel swap halfway? 😉 During practice my DHR2 and Trail King clogged up on the loose stuff but once the clock was ticking and thus the brakes off and wheels spinning they were fine.

I reckon the ‘field’ in general was much more competitive too- I was nearly 2 minutes faster than last year in the dry, but further down the overall. (A morning mis-spent on Roots and Rain looking at stats…)

Ditto! I was over three minutes quicker than last year but further down the field though my time was closer to the fastest overall and in my category. Once again just a few seconds behind Kimbers, dammit!

The guy Francie

BTW Francie is a Girl 😯
https://www.rootsandrain.com/photos/977609

The guy Francie was following.. 😆

Oops OK that’s Benjamin he is quick, 4th in pro!!

chiefgrooveguru- I did the same pushing up move on the switchbacks, which was probably the hardest work of the evening! I would have been down on the middle part of stage two, (after the first fireroad) trying to work out a way of slithering round a tree when Mr Craig came past me… Not hanging around!

Great event! Loved stage one, loathed stage 2 but pleased to make it unscathed, was enjoying flying on stage 3 and got a bit over excited I think and had a massive crash, lights went flying, bike on my head, picked up by a by stander, lost 5 mins or so, adrenaline kicked in and stage 4 went pretty ok considering. Pleased to finish but most annoyed at the time lost but on the plus side I got the spot prize Matbee’s wife was after!