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Finished 80th in Masters which was a shade outside where I'd like to have finished (top 40% at nationals). Loved the stages, loved the free beer at the finish line. Didn't love having a stupid OTB on the very first practice run though..bruising is coming up nicely now!
I finished 9th in Masters, really enjoyed the course but I wasn't comfortable pushing hard on the roots. After I finished racing felt like I was gaining confidence would have been nice to do another lap to see if I could improve.
Impressive seanr!
Oreana how did it compare to last year's?
Nice one guys!
Strava tells me a depressing story - I was significantly slower than 2016 and 2017 (based on stages 3/7/8, which were unchanged). Need to confirm it with the times on R&R o course.
The roots are all nicely polished now but I know I'm not riding to the same standard....
The roots where much more polished than 2017. 2017 was amazingly dry in comparison.
Anyone got a boltby entry surplus?
I didnt have the best weekend at Graythwaite. I managed to faceplant the ground hard enough in practise (stage 6) to write off my bell Super9 and give myself the worst concussion iVe ever had. Im still not feeling 100 so dont plan to ride at all this weekend. Hopefully Ill be Ok for the next round at minehead, as I loved it there last year.
9th in Masters is a great result! I was aiming for a top 20 but would have been happy with a top 30.
45th in vets, would of liked a little higher but reasonably happy with that. move into grand vets next year so am at the wrong end of the catergory. no issues riding, just took it to steady making sure i stayed upright and fitness let me down in stage 8, had nothing at all left by the time i got to those little up bits near the end of the woods and barely made it up that push up near the end.
SES at innerleithen next.
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kimbers
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<div class="bbp-reply-content">Impressive seanr!
Oreana how did it compare to last year’s?
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Well that's annoying - posted up a longish reply yesterday but seems it didn't actually post (or I didn't press 'submit')!
Summary - didn't do last year but did Champs there two years ago; nice mix of flowy and fast vs tight and techy; as above, lots of polished roots and greasy corners in the woods; 'only' 15 miles and 1,100m of uppy/downy but still felt it at the end!; new stages were good fun; final stage is still very much a love/hate stage!
Great result @seanr!
@blackmountainsrider - take it easy with the concussion and don't rush back.
@bigfoot - also a good result! I'm in a similar position but in my last year of Masters this year. Keeping an eye on Vets times to see where I might fit in next year 😀
So glad I signed up for QECP Day/night enduro
took the family- which always makes things hectic, but its great having them there, everyone had a great time, good arena, bike demos, nice food stalls, trails were perfect, weather was great, was quieter than last time I did it, but still brilliant fun.
Shagged for work this morning tho!
Bring on the southern champs
I really need to do an Enduro one day.... but expense troubles me along with lack of ability... I worry i'm going to have about a dozen riders being held up screaming at me to get out of the way as i'm destroying their time !
One like that though with family etc sounds great.
There is usually a fun category if you're worried about your pace, but it's generally not a problem,I had to let a few faster guys past me this weekend.
If you're near swinley then swinduro is a good shout, not too technical! & this year they are having camping & kids races, as well as xc & dual slalom it seems !
Edit there's even a gravel race. & An old skool MTB race.
Actually had no idea so much was happening at swinduro, Tristan is taking on a lot, there's only one way to find out if it will be Glastonbury on bikes or Fyre festival, gonna sign up!
Plus one on the QECP day and night enduro being a fantastic day out. Now wondering if I can manage another couple over the summer.
Came with a mate and bagged a top ten in masters in my second ever race and first time outside of Fun. Me and my buddy finished less than a second apart (Thank god I snuck in the win, he was on a Hardtail vs my enduro spec beast!)
Give it a go if you are on the fence, start in Fun and then move up to the main categories once you have a good idea of the speeds.
Picking the right event is definitely the best way to enjoy it. Sure if you mention location plenty of people will advise what events are less serious and more fun to get the most out of it.
Swinduro Sounds ideal! Consider me booking up on payday for me and my lad.
For dipping your toe in the enduro water the Swinduro is about as tame as it gets.
If you're worried about pace, just enter fun, or grade yourself (I think they ask when you enter to put yourself down as 1-5, 1 being fast, 5 being slow) & be observant to faster riders. You will know after the first stage if you're likely to be caught.
If you're the catching rider, you can always leave a bigger gap at the start too, but the stages are mega short anyway.
I don't think i'm terrible.... but I'm no Sam Hill either... Looks likely though that me and my boy are in for it 🙂 Trying to rope in a couple of others.
Thanks for the info lads.
Nation series standings:
https://www.rootsandrain.com/series1083/2019-bemba-national-enduro-series/standings/
And some info about round 3:
http://southernenduro.co.uk/champs2019/
Questions?
No seeding on Saturday now?
FML, the entry list is stacked. 😆
No seeding on Saturday now?
No 2 reasons:
1. Main reason not enough day light for 600 riders.
2. None of the other BNES rounds have seeding.
Looks like I have got into the main event on Sunday which is great!
My question is therefore when can I practice stage 1,2&3 on Saturday as I am also doing the Lite mash-up? Timings say I can from 15:30-16:30 so is this enough time and what happens if I want to hang round for the Lite podium presentation?
Cheers.
Practice stage 1,2&3 in the morning before the mash up, you can d them in under an hour.
Ohh exciting. Pics appearing on Instagram from Exmoor and the sun is out. Oh and it looks like @scottfitz has double downed on the bogs this year.
Only doing the lite and my first mash up. Anyone got any tips on how to best approach them?
Well that was fun! Managed to stay upright for all seven stages but stage 2 wasn’t pretty(or fast)! It looked like the medics were busy all weekend. Hope everyone was okay.
Had some unintended lie downs in practice on the Stage 2 A line coming out of the left-right kink whilst trying to get it right. Got through it fine on my race run but followed it up with another unintended lie down on Stage 3. Topped it off by dropping my chain half way down the final stage so final time wasn't what I hoped for.
But, huge fun as always on those trails. Gotta love that loam!
Did the lites on Saturday and it was brilliant. Stacked it into a tree on stage 4 had time to put one run on it but was way off pace. Great laugh.
Well done @scottfitz it really was the best organised event I've done
It looked like the medics were busy all weekend. Hope everyone was okay.
My mate went down on S1 in practice and broke his collar bone. After the (excellent) medics and marshals got him down we managed to get him up to Bristol and BRI A&E sorted him out. I wasn't racing as already have a broken shoulder.
Marshals and medics did a great job, it was super dry and loose out there.
Cheers to everyone that came 900 racers was a real challenge. And 100 ladies between the 2 races is incredible.
Marshals and medics did a great job, it was super dry and loose out there.
Cheers to everyone that came 900 racers was a real challenge. And 100 ladies between the 2 races is incredible.
Thanks for a great event, first race of the year for me after throat surgery. I went for too draggier tyres (given my lack of fitness) and my legs were destroyed by the end of stage 1. By stage 7 I struggled to walk up the transition.
Brilliant fun though
great weekend & great trails
results were definitely not my best but spent a great 4 days camping with the family at a brilliant campsite down the road, kids had a brilliant weekend
top work scott, crew & all the marshals
kids play area was great idea too,
Had a great weekend, and mostly lucky on the weather.
Saturday riding was fun, and given the number of riders it flowed pretty well. The beer also flowed a bit well on Saturday night.
Reflecting on race day, frustrating result yet strangely pleasing. I had an off course excursion on stage 1, another on 3, far too sensible on 4 as I thought the rain would have affected it & a good old crash on a fresh corner on 5. I ended up 21st, but only 20 seconds off 10th place, which is the frustrating bit. The crash on 5 alone cost me a big chunk of that - that's racing though!
Hopefully you all enjoyed Gary the Enduro Unicorn heckling you 🙂
my kids loved the unicorn
Was a good weekend. Thought the trails where a nice mix that everyone could ride and enjoy which I guess showed in the entry. Think it closed the times up a little bit. Didn't feel like a pushed quite hard enough but that's racing.
Another round of the Welsh Enduro Series done. Conditions were perfect and the trails at Llandegla running fast. 32nd out of 74 in Masters was a big improvement over the previous 2 rounds for me but I have to admit to being a little disappointed. My runs were all good for me, maybe lost a handful of seconds through little errors but nothing significant so it’s a little disheartening to be 54 seconds down on the Masters winner. Still, I’ll be in Vets next year so maybe it’s not so bad - would have been 23rd of 55 Vets, but still 45 seconds off the winner. Despite the slight disappointment, another great day out. Looking forwards to Round 4.
Still a great result so well done! Ironically I had my first proper ride yesterday since tearing my ACL and MCL at Foel. I think Llandegla would have been much more my cup of tea!
Cheers Tim. Definitely a different kettle of fish to Foel, certainly playing to my strengths more. Hope the first ride back went well and you’re healing up.
Has anyone else entered the Naughty Northumbrian?
BNES 4 rounds done 2 to go, standings so far:
https://www.rootsandrain.com/series1083/2019-bemba-national-enduro-series/standings/
Yup in naughty northumbrian, wife is doing the gravel thing on the Saturday. Barely ridden this year and nothing that steep around here so not expecting a good result but should be good day riding.
Hey, I’ve got a couple of entries for Ard Moors Sprint, if anyone is interested in taking them off me? They cost me £130.20.
Entered bnes/wges dyfi next weekend
Not done much racing this year so should be good, hoping the weather holds !
Pmba Kirro and fair city left for me this year . Had a mixed one this year , had my best result and one of my favourite days on a bike for ages at dunkeld then a nightmare practice day at tweedlove last week which ended up with me not racing on Sunday . Looking forward to the 2 left as they are good days out .
BNES/WGES for me too next weekend. Think weather is looking good at the moment.
Final race of the season the week after that with the last round of the South West Kenda Enduro series at my local, Grogley Woods. Gonna be great having proper racing there again!
Was planning on doing the Eastridge round of WGES the week after that, but don't think I'll bother now as it's too far for me to go for a one dayer!
What a top race, hats off to Charlie, loop wasn't massive but stages were all great
Big dump of rain on Saturday night turned sections & the whole of stage 2 into a mud chute
I crashed a lot!
Great fun tho
I did the WGE on the Saturday, brilliant event (thanks Charlie and Co) with great stages especially 5.