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Antur Stiniog
You're joking right?
One of the blacks, Y Du, is fairly steep and it certainly used to be rocky and loose. It's gradually got more sanitised over the years and it's been a few years since I went but I was always a good day out and the uplift was efficient.
There some silly steps Preston way,
What's this? Be keen to know what's available near Preston because that means potentially close to me and some more "local" variety would be wonderful!
Longridge Fell bud.
Antur Stiniog
You're joking right?
One of the blacks, Y Du, is fairly steep and it certainly used to be rocky and loose. It's gradually got more sanitised over the years and it's been a few years since I went but I was always a good day out and the uplift was efficient.
Antur is probably the tamest gravity focussed park in Wales, not knocking it too hard, but I'm not sure it would be good prep for Ard Rock.
I'd go Dyfi for the length. Do full runs of the reds and you'll start to feel the burn. The Dyfi forest rides are also really good.
Dalby OP is nothing like Ard Rock stages. You'd get more practice on the Dalby red pedalling flat out for a few minutes at a time on the longer, flowy sections.
Antur Stiniog
You're joking right?
One of the blacks, Y Du, is fairly steep and it certainly used to be rocky and loose. It's gradually got more sanitised over the years and it's been a few years since I went but I was always a good day out and the uplift was efficient.
Antur is probably the tamest gravity focussed park in Wales, not knocking it too hard, but I'm not sure it would be good prep for Ard Rock.
I'd go Dyfi for the length. Do full runs of the reds and you'll start to feel the burn. The Dyfi forest rides are also really good.
It has or at least when I went had got a lot tamer, had some pretty big rocky sections when I first went second time was basically a trail centre, don't get me wrong was still an absolute hoot but no where near as challanging.
Dalby OP is nothing like Ard Rock stages. You'd get more practice on the Dalby red pedalling flat out for a few minutes at a time on the longer, flowy sections.
Nothing is like the Ard Rock stages for obvious reasons, but at least linking the off piste together gets you distance, elevation and some decent routes to ride.
You might as well go for a road ride if you think the red is even remotely useful.
Dalby OP is nothing like Ard Rock stages. You'd get more practice on the Dalby red pedalling flat out for a few minutes at a time on the longer, flowy sections.
Nothing is like the Ard Rock stages for obvious reasons,
What are these obvious reasons because I know of tracks on the edge of the Moors which are very Ard Rock-like. Grassy, pedally, a few rocky drops etc. I'd argue that even the blue descent at Sutton Bank is probably more Ard Rock-like than anything at Dalby.
You might as well go for a road ride if you think the red is even remotely useful.
You're entitled to your opinion (and its wrong) but pedalling flat out on the Ard Rock stages, blowing out your arse is similar to pedalling flat out on a lot of the slightly downhill but flowy Dalby red sections, especially on the Riggs & Dales sections.
See I can definitely see the benefit of smashing round the red at Dalby for fitness and pedally sections.
But I can also see the benefit of sessioning the steep off-piste stuff, for me at least. 'Cos steepness is my weakness. If I can get good on that stuff, the skills have to transfer to the steep chutes at Ard Rock.
I'll skip the road ride though. Sooner go for a run.
Reading through this as someone who hasn't been in a few years (done the sunday sport twice now, both in the pissing wet).
Hour long queues are really not excusable. especially stage one, about a half hour's ride from the start. Organisers should have delayed people's start times (and adjusted the cut off/closures to suit) to let it empty out.
Also maybe some communication such as "cut off time for starting stage 6 is 1500 or you have to skip it" rather than the fairly incomprehensible and random mess many people have described above.
Its an expensive undertaking, to get randomly told you cant complete the course, which for a lot of people is a bucket list or big ticket item they've been looking forward to all summer, for circumstances beyond their control but entirely predictable from the organiser, is a bit naff.
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However, as a counterpoint and in defence of the organisers, and I'm going to come off as a bit of a bastard here I'm sure... enduro should be tough. If its sitting between the aerobic demands of XC and the dangerous features of downhill, then something needs to make it worthy of being a competition.
Something that try to bill itself as the UK's toughest enduro (true or not), and whether that is skill or endurance; should be especially tough.
Firstly, the downhills, seven stages each containing mutliple hard sprint efforts, plus the general beating you up of riding downhill hard. Whatever your ability, winning elite or just trying to survive the course, the downhills will take their toll. If you arent finishing tired, you could have tried harder and gone faster. Managing your fatigue throughout the day and through a stage is part of the game.
Secondly the ups. Yes enduro ups arent timed, that is the point of the format. Some sort of cutoff is needed for scheduling and safety. Even the pro/EWS/EDR have softened on this over the years. But some people seem really to take the piss on this. Unless they only ride uplift normally, I'm not sure how someone could claim to be surprised by the reality of being asked to ride up several large hills.
Reading through this as someone who hasn't been in a few years (done the sunday sport twice now, both in the pissing wet
I still feel bad about my Rock Razor recommendation.
Sounds like something went wrong this year.
But realistically
Fitness wise, you need to be able to do a day somewhere like BPW as a pedal up, on an analog bike. Hit the occasional tech black but mostly red.
I’m very much an old duffer, asthmatic over 100kg.
I’ve been swept once with a torn tear tyre. I think I’ve done 5 or 6 Ard Rocks.
I still feel bad about my Rock Razor recommendation
You offered me a spare tyre on the morning. I declined thinking it would be too much hassle to change. Stage 1 and 2 when attempting braking on the rear just locked it up and somehow increased my speed was… an experience.
it would have been a good choice for the Saturday race that year 😉
I turned up with a rock razor on in one of the wet years, did one of the practice loops, panicked, went straight to schwalbe stand and bought a big Betty! Didn't die so it was worth it
The ups are mostly just granny ring slogs, apart from the rocky bit up to 2, the push to 3 and the bit of 5 up to 6.
It feels like a big day out because of that boring ride to stage 4 from the pub. I'd rather skip that stage all together and have the Demo stage included that's at the top of the stage 1 climb. Stage 4 seems to be there just to make it a big loop.
