Video: Borderline/PMBA Day & Night Enduro, Grizdale

Callum Russell, the winner of the day/night, gives us his race report from the wet and wild Cumbrian forest of Grizdale…

Last weekend saw me and many others brush the cobwebs off our enduro machines to go and burn some mince pies off at the PMBA day and night Enduro. Where better to do this than Grizedale forest; home to a collection of many classic mountain bike trails, single tracks and gnarly downhills, all nestled in the Lakeland fells. I got lost on the way in, and ended up driving down endless country lanes making it feel like I was entering Mordor. I made it on time for some morning practice and was eager as always to jump aboard the hoss! Signed on, waiting for the rain not to stop and set off with non other than Jim Topliss. A quick morning lap around the forest for practice, back for a cuppa, change of clothes and off again for the day race, followed by the night race. Our plan sounded simple, even time for some hot food in between the two race laps.

Up we went to stage one where it had actually stopped raining, at least for 10 minutes. The first stage involved rocks shaken up with even more rocks, aka Carron Cragg. It was a true test of line choice with some high speed action. The kind of stage where a smile appears and you forget what you’re doing for the next section as you hope for the best, which is probably why, if I remember correctly, the marshal at the bottom counted 38 punctures! From what I saw, each one was accompanied with laughter and banter from fellow opponents telling you about how your tyres pressures were very wrong.

Stage two was just along the fire road so you were still buzzing from the previous stage. A quick pedal through a big puddle and then you were straight into the fast, flowy single track which shot you straight through a tight gate over the usual Grizedale red route- which I can only describe as doing a cheeky Scandinavian flick, narrowly missing your bars, a quick close of the eyes and you were through the gate and back onto a flat out chute down to the finish.

A pedal over the hills and before you knew it you were at Sculpture Trail-stage three. This took you back down to the final trail centre, red-faced following a lung busting sprint. This was the tough one in terms of pedalling, but was certainly made worth it after you had just done some steep techy switch-backs through the trees. Just before you came onto the trail centre and out of the tech, there was one particular puddle in which seemed to be mentioned quite a few times between riders, especially as you had big Duncan egging you on to pedal into it. A bit like the scene off The Vicar of Dibley, or so Jim said!

It came to the end of the day race and I had finished second behind Elliot Heap. I was happy to come back with a solid time and I knew that time would be lost or gained in the moonlit stages of the race. I, for one, was keen to get back out there.

Night lap time and I put on another three pairs of socks (it was a good job I was lucky at Christmas). I was keen to use my new lights from BrightBikelights.com and Stage 1 would surely be a test, racing this in the dark would be an interesting one. Carron Cragg was the stage I was most wary about in the dark, but it was actually the one I actually felt most confident about when on the track. Strangely this is what us folk would call ‘fun’ . The lights definitely did the trick, illuminating the way for a stage win as well as blinding a few spectators.

Another blast down stage two but this time with a very near crash. This is when I realised things could get quickly out of hand. I felt lucky to come away with another stage win on that one.

The pedal to stage three seemed to get even shorter this time. My confidence had peaked at this time and knew there was seconds to be, made especially in the dark. Once I was on the stage, corners seemed to be popping up out of nowhere; ones that I couldn’t remember from earlier on in the day.

Every stage in the dark had be followed by “did you know what was going on down there Jim?” “Nope” was his answer, but I knew he will have been laughing all the way down.

A quick breather while transponders were handed in before getting in line for the bike wash, by this point everyone seemed to forget it was pouring it down with rain. It was a hose down of the bikes and bodies. It was a “you hose me, I’ll hose you sort of thing,” but not in a weird way.

And there we have it. A mega day out with your mates and if you get lucky, you could even win some prizes on the way. The Wet Lettuce boys couldn’t have asked for better results with Jim fourth in his first event as a senior and with me taking the top spot in my first Elite race – bumped up after winning the PMBA seniors last year. Most importantly it had been another excuse to go ride your bikes down some proper tracks. A massive thanks to everyone that got involved for another flawless event, it takes a certain kind of organising team to run an event like that in such relentless weather. I’m looking forward to the next already.

Here’s the video: