[Closed] 2020 Enduro Racing Thread

Hoping to get in for PMBA, Ard Rock (prob the Sunday), already in for The Naughty Northumbrian. Would love to do Tweedlove but trying to be realistic with time and funds!!

Has anyone considered the Epic Enduro in Olargues, France? 115km, 10 sps and it's on the Friday before the EWS in the same location.

It's quite a special race ( stage 1 is a night stage) and really quite hard if you want to finish and ride it well.

I am aiming for a few long distance events, then some Southern Enduro's to keep motivated for a second go at the Megavalanche this year.

Will probably end up doing the Southerns again, although I did only do two this year.

I’ll end up picking and choosing other events, which will probably be some of the BEMBA’s, some of the WES at the better venues, etc. Basically I’m not really committing to any full series, as it’s so venue specific 🙂

Hopefully I will get out to a couple of the EWS’s again & we will put a team out for the Trophy of Nations in Finale as that looked great fun this year.

Waiting for annual leave to be claimed at work before I get my Naughty Northumbrian entry in. Tweedlove series all coincides with weekends off so will probably do that plus anything that Dunoon manage to organise.

I’m not really a racer type but like to do a couple each year, preferably in locations and on trails that aren’t available to ride outside the event. Southern Enduro’s at Milland is a great example.

I've been keeping an eye on events being announced to try and be a bit more organised and get more races in next year.

Below is what I've seen so far, hopefully the Excel format makes sense pasted into here.

Would be good if Bemba published a calendar with links to entries and results in a central location.

Date Series Location Event
21/22 Mar - Tweedlove - TBC - BNES / Vallelujah
29-Mar - PMBA - Gisburn
05-Apr - Welsh Enduro Series - Foel Gasnach
12-Apr - Southern Enduro - QECP
12-Apr - Manx MTB Enduro - North
26-Apr - Welsh Enduro Series - Dyfi
2/3 May - PMBA - Graythwaite
10-May - Manx MTB Enduro - Middle
29/30/31 May - Tweedlove - TBC - Tenduro
06-Jun - Welsh Enduro Series - Llandegla
6/7 June - Southern Enduro - Pippingford
20/21 June - PMBA - Lee Quarry / Havok
4/5 July - Manx MTB Enduro - TBC - 2 Day
18/19 July - Southern Enduro - Exmoor - BNES
01-Aug - Ard Rock - Swaledale
8/9 August - PMBA - Llangollen - BNES
15/16 August - Tweedlove - TBC - King of the hill
15/16 Aug - Southern Enduro - Triscombe
16-Aug - Manx MTB Enduro - Ramsey
23-Aug - Welsh Enduro Series - Llanfyllin
06-Sep - PMBA - Kirroughtree
20-Sep - Welsh Enduro Series - TBC
27-Sep - Southern Enduro - Milland
04-Oct - PMBA - Grizedale

ugh sometimes i miss not living in the Uk. Rarely, but some of these races look great.

I'd highly recommend the Manx MTB events. Great riding and entries are cheap enough to offset the cost of jumping on boat from Liverpool or Heysham.

Any feedback on the Tweedlove events? I've done Glentress trail centre many many years ago, but nothing else that direction. Are the three events all quite similar?

Same question re Welsh Enduro Series - what are their events like?

Boltby bash and Ard Moors for me, might grab a place off someone for a pmba and naughty nearer the time as well.

I'm hoping the series for Dad and lad continues again next year as we were both gutted to miss it due to injury.

Did anyone here do PMBA Llangollen last time?

I'm quite tempted for next year as it's somewhere I've not raced before but I watched the highlight video yesterday and whilst steep is fun, I got the impression it's basically one hill face with a few relatively samey 'scaletrix' tracks down?

I'd like to do the Naughty, but after seeing on the webpage that its 1 level down from the Pro EWS series I'm the slightly concerned I'd be completely out of my depth!
How gnarly is it??

Think I'm going to attempt another couple or rounds of the Welsh Enduro series again - probably the Llandegla round another one.
A mate at work is doing Boltby Bash and is trying to convince me to go.

I’d like to do the Naughty, but after seeing on the webpage that its 1 level down from the Pro EWS series I’m the slightly concerned I’d be completely out of my depth!

How gnarly is it?

The first year it was fairly gnarly, steep and slippery tracks. I'm told that in more recent years the most difficult tracks have been changed though. If you are comfortable somewhere like Golfie then you'd be okay.

BNES venues announced...

View this post on Instagram

So far only in for Ard Rock sprint, but tempted once again by WES. Boltby Bash might also be on the agenda again if I can get in. Hopefully will do better than this years efforts (out with injury after one race!)..

@olaf_hansen I rode the second loop of this year's Epic on Friday at tourist speed in the leaves and it was spectacular.
It wouldn't be my bag to do the whole course, doing Crêtes XL on the first loop in torchlight would be way outside my comfort zone!

Man, the Welsh Enduro Series looks cool but they really have a North Wales bias don't they? Would have been nice for at least one of the dates to be somewhere in the south at least.

Family committments making it tough to get many races in, but I'll probably do a few bembas & that Manx 2-day is intriguing

I’d like to do the Naughty, but after seeing on the webpage that its 1 level down from the Pro EWS series I’m the slightly concerned I’d be completely out of my depth!
How gnarly is it??

Naughty Northumbrian

1st year was pretty steep and very wet, 2nd year was pretty tame by comparison, this year was harder but better than the 1st year although it was very dry. Best weekend on the bike for ages, stages are very steep/ technical, quite short and as I heard many times ' nowt like ardrock'

Having seen the BEMBA venues the only extra race I’ll be doing of those is the Dyfi round, not going to be driving to Scotland 3 times to race.

If the plans come together, hopefully it will be 10-12 races next year. Bit better than the 6 I managed for this one!

for the national series is it that same as last year where you can drop one round?

Will try and answer a few of the points raised here, I'm BEMBA secretary and run the PMBA Enduro series so have a good overview on enduro.

BNES central entry page : working on it, hard with 6 organisers.
Best place to look for enduro's - rootsandrain and select type "enduro" - https://www.rootsandrain.com/event-calendar/filters/2020,gb,en/

BNES (and PMBA) You can drop one round but not the final

WES is a North Wales series - WGES covers south Wales

Llangollens 5 stages this year will have variety, they did last year as well. However the best variety is by doing the whole PMBA series - then you really get everything in the year with 6 venues and 6 totally different enduro's !

Dads and lads welcome at PMBA - we allow ages 11+ - under 16s need a chaperone for the transitions, and can be accompanied by a racer or non-racer.

MacAvalanche booked 😀

MacAvalanche also booked 🙂 Never done it before, looking forward to it!

Same here, should be interesting!

Enduro virgin here at 55 yo, but I have decided to give it a go, 2020 is going to be the year of the enduro for me. I have entered the Ard Rock sport event and am slightly concerned this might be a bit too much of a dive in to the deep end! Am I mad?

My fitness is OK at the moment for my age, but I'm not 100% sure my skills are all that. Just hoping to get round in one piece, not bothered about times.

I will try to do a couple of others before then, possibly the Welsh enduro series event at Llandegla and one of the FOD mini enduros. Not enduro I know, but I have done Heaven of the South for the last few years and will do that again in the Spring as additional "training".

Ard Rock sport event and am slightly concerned this might be a bit too much of a dive in to the deep end! Am I mad?

My fitness is OK at the moment for my age, but I’m not 100% sure my skills are all that. Just hoping to get round in one piece, not bothered about times.

Ard Rock is a long, hard day, with lots of big climbs. The riding isn't particularly difficult, but lots of people make hard work of it because they're so exhausted. It's also quite visually intimidating because there's often no margin to veer from the main line due to the large rocks littered all over the place.

Keep your fitness up and get comfortable riding fast, rocky trails (easier said than done) and you'll be grand.

Ard Rock is a long, hard day, with lots of big climbs. The riding isn’t particularly difficult, but lots of people make hard work of it because they’re so exhausted. It’s also quite visually intimidating because there’s often no margin to veer from the main line due to the large rocks littered all over the place.

Keep your fitness up and get comfortable riding fast, rocky trails (easier said than done) and you’ll be grand.

Thanks Mark, any advice is welcome. I've just finished the mtb fitness 12 week program so am reasonably fit at the moment. I am doing some follow on stuff to build and improve on that. I'm semi retired so have the luxury of being able to get in the gym and out on the bike a fair bit beforehand. Someone who has completed Ard Rock suggested to me that riding down Snowdon is good training for the type of rocky descents I will encounter. That was on the bucket list anyway, so I will aim to do that in the spring too.

I will try and squeeze some local events in before the Southern Enduro season starts. I will also go do a round of the Enduro Greek Series hopefully.

Snowdon is a fairly good shout in terms of rockyness, so is cadair idris top bit at least. A lot of lake district riding would fit the bill in terms of rocks too but yeah defo get used to some rocky terrain. I need to prepare my fella for the rocky riding as well so will be visiting similar spots with him before next year.

Esk Valley Enduro has popped up on my Facebook, what does anybody know about that?

@blokeuptheroad I did the Naughty Northumbrian this year as my first enduro. If you can handle the timed stages the transitions are just a case of keeping hydrated and your sugar levels up. It was a slog and a half but given I hardly get out I was surprised how I coped. If you get out on regular rides you will be fine.

@blokeuptheroad I did the Naughty Northumbrian this year as my first enduro. If you can handle the timed stages the transitions are just a case of keeping hydrated and your sugar levels up. It was a slog and a half but given I hardly get out I was surprised how I coped. If you get out on regular rides you will be fine.

Thanks SK, encouraging. I'm out at least twice a week at the moment and in the spring this will creep up to 3 or 4 times. In the NY I plan to focus on a mix of longer rides for endurance and throwing myself downhill to up my skills.

Will check on the Naughty Northumbrian entry situation once I've got more than two quid to rub together and may enter it. Would like to do some more races this year but they're so damn expensive!

I’m not really a racer type but like to do a couple each year, preferably in locations and on trails that aren’t available to ride outside the event. Southern Enduro’s at Milland is a great example.

We love Milland, its been a pleasure to build that venue from scratch.

Hopefully more races in the UK adopt the new EWS event grading system. I really like it: http://southernenduro.co.uk/how-does-the-event-grading-work/

Looking forward to the SW Kenda enduro series again, it was great to not have to travel far to get to some good quality racing and i've got a Hardtail cat title to defend...gulp!

Might have a look at the Minehead and Triscombe rounds of the Southern series aswell if the dates work.

Naughty booked last night 😀

Megavalanche booked again.

Best get fit

Right, some advice needed. I have two occasions his summer when I am free from work and family commitments.

12-19th June and 20th -30th july. I am looking for some enduros either in the UK or Europe . Any suggestions? Is there a website that has #alltheenduros in one place?

Thanks!

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event-calendar/filters/2020,eu,ie,gb,en/

Just bagged an Ard Dales ticket. Not really much of a launch for this event.