Endura Whyte Vallelujah Enduro – report

The past weekend – the 28th and 29th March – saw the start of the Tweedlove race calendar, and with it their most recent event, Vallelujah. The race is set in the less-visited Selkirk end of the valley, and was billed as a course full of either fresh cut or natural trails – so it was sure to be a test of skill and fitness whatever the weather. Singletrack’s Intrepid Enduromonkey Rich was there, and gave us this report:

Prior to the weekend, excitement was building amongst the group of riders we were racing, and talk and all attention soon flipped over to the weather forecast. Strong wind and rain meant it was going to be interesting to say the least; tyre choices were swiftly evaluated, pored over and discussed. Vans loaded, we headed north with smiles on our faces and enough kit to hit the Alps for a month. En-route, I got a text from the Tweedlove organisers saying they were considering closing stage 1 due to the high winds forecasted. I was a little gutted to say the least but safety at these events needs to come first. We’d have to see what happened.

Saturday morning soon came round, and full of cooked breakfast and satisfied with bike fettling, we headed to the event village to sign on and get our number boards. But before we could, we needed to help a few expo stands secure their EZups in the gales that had now arrived.

That done, all signed up and number boards acquired, we were ready to head out for a practice.

Heading up the first climb to The Three Brethren was a lovely social affair; wide forest tracks meant that for the majority of the climb you could have a good chin-wag with your mates and other riders around you. This is what it’s all about for me; riding with your mates socially to the top and hammering down the other side as fast as you can: perfect.

Stage 1 (was 2)

With the original stage one closed for safety reasons (gah!) we started with stage two, which headed off from The Three Brethren with amazing panoramic views. A strip of singletrack headed off in pretty much a straight line; so it’s off the brakes and let it go! What a buzz! Going flat-out down a straight first-thing doesn’t wake your bike handling skills up though, as I quickly realized. The trail turned into some muddy tight turns between some smaller trees before heading up a slight climb and into some fast bermed corners, where it was easy to overdo it. Blat over a fire road and it was a completely different beast: steeper, muddier and some large ruts made it ‘interesting’ to try and hold any kind of line. A carpet of roots between each corner had emerged, and this lower section painted the picture of how the rest of the day was going to pan out. Sideways, mostly.

With a bike that now weighed in at around 50lbs, it was time for the first push of the day. A freshly cut in trail on soft ground popped us out near the half way point of stage 2 (which was once stage 3 – oh, this is confusing!). But this was a great opportunity to see how riders were negotiating an off-camber, multi line corner that caught many riders out during practice.

A quick stop at the cake shop – what a great idea, cake and flapjack at the top of a big climb (my personal favourite was the lemon cake, nom!) – and off to stage 2 we go!

Stage 2 (was 3)

Stage 2 had a *completely* different feel to it. From the start there were big ruts and corners with small berms, which kept things interesting when I was trying to maintain speed. A tight left hand corner with a hub-sized rut led you to a rooty climb; possibly the driest section of the day. Exiting the climb and trying to get my breath spat me out onto another straight-ish section with another huge rut that was difficult to ride: one side of my brain was telling me to slow down, and the other side was screaming DON’T TOUCH THE BRAKES… Down, down through the rooty off-camber steepness, and over the fire road. Once more, the lower section of the stage was completely different to the top. It was less muddy; a little more open; very physical but I got to the end with a huge grin on my face.

Back up the same push (another filling of cake – mmm) and it was off to the most technical and leg-burning stage of the day.

Stage 3 (was 4)

A flattish pedal to start the stage was a pure fitness affair. It had me twisting and turning through the trees on a soft loamy floor; each pedal stroke quickly sapped my energy. In the back of my mind I knew I had to hold something back though, for the middle section. I dropped altitude quickly, then, through off camber corners and rock gardens – and a few much needed seconds to catch my breath – before the middle uphill, off-camber, rooty, soul destroying, blood curdling, lung bursting mid section of doom; this bit was so hard that some riders just got off and ran. And so, with my lungs on the floor and my legs screaming at me, the carnage began. Steep switchback corners, covered with polished roots were in front of me (and alarmingly below me too). Bikes and bodies were starting to litter the corners, with tripodding a common riding technique. The last two corners were in view of the fire road at the bottom, where tired, relieved racers stood baying for action before they headed off back to Selkirk.

Results

Junior Men

 

Junior Women

Senior Women 

 

Senior Men

SuperVet Men

 

Vet Women

 

Vet Men

Putting on a race of this nature is no easy feat. A massive thank you needs to go out to everyone involved; the Tweedlove crew, marshals, medics and the event sponsors – but for me the biggest thanks needs to go to the trail builders and Foreztry Commission, without whom there would be no trails to ride on – let alone race.

Here’s a video to round things off:

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