G-Form Enjoyro – “for have-a-go enduro riders who might feel slightly intimidated by the perceived commitment, technical difficulty or length of normal enduro races…”
Yep. Sounds like me!
Name: Rhian
Position at TweedLove / Hillside Outside: Event Manager
Has been riding for: approx. 2 years
Bike: Whyte T130S (love it!)
Race experience: Lite SES at Ae in October 2016, and Highland Perthshire Cycling Dunkeld Enduro last weekend (April 2017). N.B. I survived both, but was definitely just ‘riding-my-bike-in-a-race’ and not actually ‘racing’… Tough days!
I wish that Enjoyro had been around last year when I decided to enter a race. I thought this when we first began talking about it in the office, and now that I’ve ridden the route I definitely believe that an entry-level enduro like this is really what I needed. And I’m sure there are plenty of you who feel the same way!
So, sending me off to ride the route seemed the logical thing to do. Equipped with my G-Form knee pads, I headed off to Glentress, (hardly even noticing that I was wearing knee pads, so comfy!)
The final route might change a bit due to Forestry operations, but it will be very similar to this:
Transition 1
From the Event Village on Tweed Green, there’s a wee pedal along the cycle path, then a pretty slow but steady fire road climb up Janet’s Brae into Glentress, then a further wee bit of fire road climbing to reach the start of Stage 1. As far as transitions go, this one’s really not too bad! And it feels great once you’ve made it up to into Glentress. The views climbing up aren’t half bad, either!
Stage 1 – Berm Baby Berm and Electric Blue
Stage 1 breaks you in gently to the G-Form Enjoyro. The stage starts on one of the most flowy and fun trail centre trails at Glentress, ‘Berm Baby Berm’, followed by a short (really short!) uphill pedal into ‘Electric Blue’. Once into Electric Blue, a bit of pedalling here to keep the speed up is good, but not totally necessary if you don’t want to puff yourself out on Stage 1! Stage 1 is fast, flowing and FUN!
Transition 2
Stage 2 – Blue Velvet, Ho Chi Mihn, Zoom or Bust, and a wee bit of the Glentress Seven route
Hope you’ve brought your strong legs and lungs for this stage! It has loads of variety and stays interesting start to finish. First third is pretty pedally, second third is a wee bit more techy, and the third section is more of a let-it-roll-and-flow. The super smooth end section is definitely a reward for the pedalling at the start. Pin it!
Transition 3
Shortest transition of the course. And it’s really pretty. Bonus!
Stage 3 – Horse trail, and into Falla Brae red/black
Drop in to Stage 3, and away we go! Nice roll down into the woods.
Pedal if you want to. Or not if you don’t! Cruisy first section leads in the more techy red Falla Brae route. Speedy wee stage this one! And a really nice mix of terrain.
Transition 4 (or escape route home!)
There’s an option here on race day to either go on to Stage 4, or to return to the Event Village.
Legs were feeling a wee bit tired by this point, so the option to head back to Event HQ here was a very nice option! Buuuuut we cracked on and climbed back up to Stage 4. And caught some cracking views on the way! For the race you have to complete stages 1-3, with stage 4 as an option. It doesn’t actually make the distance any longer, but does add some extra climbing. And some extra sweet single track descending! Some of this stage was used recently in the Whyte Hallelujah race, and for a lot of riders it was their favourite stage of the weekend, so proper hand cut enduro territory here.
Stage 4 – Green Trail, sprint section, Dave’s Trail
So much flow in this stage – and Dave’s Trail is definitely now my current favourite trail at Glentress!
The lower section of this stage, Dave’s Trail, was probably the bit I enjoyed most from the whole course. With some steeper and more technical sections (and options to avoid them if you want to!), it’s almost impossible to ride this trail without smiling.
G-Form Enjoyro definitely brought the enjoyment into enduro for me.
As I mentioned before, I’ve ridden in two enduro races previously. Both of which were super long days (for me), and by the end of them it felt as though I was really just trying to survive – I couldn’t ride all of it, and definitely couldn’t ‘race’ any of it! Came away from both races feeling as though racing maybe isn’t my thing.
But the route for G-Form Enjoyro was perfect for me, and if this had been my first enduro I would definitely be coming back for more! A great length – still had energy to get up and down the last few stages. An awesome mix of trail centre, natural, bermed and flat corners, few wee rocky sections, some roots (for a rootin’ tootin’ good time!), and chicken lines on all of the potential intimidating bits of trail. I actually felt like I could ride the whole thing, and even ‘race’ it!
I wonder if the boss will let me enter…
The G-Form Enjoyro is on 9th June as part of the Tweedlove Festival. Click here to find out more and enter.
