[Closed] Enduro-1 Race 2.......

I'm in Team Sledgehammer Manwolf!

Yes going it's goner be wet and muddy, starting near the front so should miss the mud feast

Yep

Going again. Loved round 1

Is Salibury going to be a mud fest then?

Swampthing will be looked out (again)

hmmm might have to dig out some more appropriate tyres, i crashed about 4 times on the last timed stage of round 1 !!

I'm in for this, didn't do round one.

I guess my Aspen/Larsen combo from BBF last Saturday will not be ideal by the sounds of things then 🙂

Quite looking forward to it, although in don't really know quite where this sits on the 'sunday-pootle-to-gnnnarrr-its-just-like-the-mega-don't-you-know' scale.

Luckily our team (SussexMTB) will have the benefit of 120 riders nicely bedding the trail in before we're set loose...looking forward to it 🙂

Anyone looking for an entry? I can't make it sadly - start time 12.36.
Free to a good home!

Phil56 - still available?

we have a space in our team 1145 start if anyones interested.......

now taken by Chris

Cracking ride, again!
Nice and sunny, and the timed sections had drained well - but what about the sloppy slidey linking section!!! Nearly lost a mech in there!
Oh- the last section was a bit, erm, "peddly through a field!"

DrP

I've never done an Enduro type event before, so it was certainly interesting.

When do the results get posted up? Looking on my Strava (groan) trace I probably should have been in the competitive class rather than sport, still I got good at overtaking people by the end of the day 😉

It was fun though, although i'll stick my neck out and say riding DH tracks blind, some with some reasonable sized drops/stepdowns/gaps probably isn't ideal. Maybe a time buffer should be allowed on some stages to at least walk the track if you wanted...

great ride today

although the signs from the main road going missing meant it took 40 mins to find the car park!

the muddy liniking section was emotional and the 3 stages on the dh track were scary fun!

Hob Nob, I agree it would have been nice to check out those three runs beforehand as they were much harder to ride unseen than those in race 1 at FoD (hence a catalogue of unrailed berms and unsent drops are taunting the back of my mind...) Kimbers, which of Team Stoned Fish were you? I was on the orange Soul in the dayglo yellow helmet. Another great event overall though!

Round 1 at FOD was excellent, today was ok and I expect round 3 to be very good.

Round 2 was always going to be the least exciting as the venue itself has its limitations but overall i enjoyed it and think Carlos did well with what was available.

Agreed that it was tricky riding sections with drops etc blind and getting some flow was difficult and a little frustrating.

My main gripe was the fact that I missed the bombhole on the first stage and had to turn back once I realised, the marshal was stood in the trees to the right in camo gear... WTF...(I am blind in the right eye so maybe my fault but felt a bit miffed) so I lost somewhere in the region of 40 seconds... a lot of training and prep out the window straight away and the sense of having let my team mates down...

Overall, a fun series with a good vibe and some good sections... price is reasonable too.

hi chiefgroove i was the guy discussing with you how there wasn't much mud right before the swamp !

Great event really glad i filled in for missing "Team Stoned Fish" member. 🙂

Stages were good fun, Bit of signage before the big drops and gaps would have been good. 😐 Re: the website signage: http://www.enduro1.co.uk/raceformat.php

Tidworth Freeride looks good too, will be going back when they sort out there lease thing. 😉

All the stages were mud free which was a bonus.

Looking forward to Race 3 now.

Really good day with nice folks and much better than expected weather... Morning DrP I was no. 16 so we spent quite a while together. Cheers all for being so chatty and nice 😀
I agree that some of the advertised signage on the 3 DH sections would have been useful, however that may have made it all feel worse than it was, at least we all rode it 'blind' so all (I think) had a healthy respect for the unknowns over each drop/roller!
Only real disappointment was not getting a 'proper' number... With all the names on the sponsors list decent numbers shouldn't be too hard to sort out?

Morning all,

Myself and moonboy both rocked up to a reasonably sunny morning, and looked forward to hopefully being reasonably competitive having bashed out a 20th in the 12hr Team last week in BikeFest.

Off we rocked to the start, and got ready. Only for moonboy to snap his chain in the bombhole, and for me to do EXACTLY the same as MBNut - I went directly left into the trees and didn't drop into the bombhole - again, a significant loss of time. Really rather annoyed #1

I made it down the rest of the track and moonboy and I faffed to try and fix his chain once he arrived.

With moonboy still trying to get a new chain fitted, I rushed off to Stage 2, which having fitted a CrossMark to the rear, I instantly regretted such a choice and dabbed all over the shop.

Still no moonboy.

Rode off to Stage 3, and arrived. No moonboy. Just as they announced his his 1 minute call, he appeared on the horizon, and pedalled flat out, to arrive 8 seconds before his off!

I then set off a minute behind and had relatively quick run UNTIL THAT SODDING BEND WITHOUT DECENT TAPE! I, just like pretty much 50% of others whom went through there, went off the the left totally confused - completely screwing up my run, losing probably 30 seconds or so. Would it have been so hard to have applied a bit of common sense to the taping there? It was awful. Annoyed #2

Stage 4 was uneventful, and Stage 5,6 and 7 and absolute riot - although I was pretty confident on the drops etc, I do agree with everyone else that perhaps putting such extreme obstacles into a blind run was a little brave - there are quite a few newbies on a range of bikes (I saw one dude on a 29er!) and a big 6 ft ladder drop isn't probably what they're expecting...

However, I did enjoy my day overall, and although very annoyed at the marking of the course in places, just as MBNut feeling miffed at all that training and preparation being thrown out of the window, I felt that it was a good event in hindsight.

Absolute credit must go to the army boys whom were absolutely professional and gave up their day to help us moan all day. Some were absolutely hilarious in their banter!

I'm going to write an email to Carlos to thank him for the event, and the army's help, but also point out that taping needs to be carefully considered - it's very annoying when it isn't or is confusing - it happened at FoD last time, and it's quite critical in order to keep a race series alive...

I really like the idea of these events, and would like to give one a go, but it seems they need to standardise the terrain a little! If they were 'trail centre red' grade trails (as I thought most were generally marketed as) they sound great, but 6ft ladder drops? WTF!

It seems some are just the down hill parts of XC races, whilst others are basically marginally easier(?) DH races!

Absolute credit must go to the army boys whom were absolutely professional and gave up their day to help us moan all day. Some were absolutely hilarious in their banter!

6ft ladder drops did have a chicken run round it as did all the big jumps and drops. (apart from the drop with the sand bags after it)

Guess the issue though is that if you've not pre-ridden/walked the course you don't know there's an obstacle that one may wish to avoid!

Yer i see what you saying but i just ask the Tidworth freeride guy running the stage what was in the trail Any gap/drops 😉

The challenge for someone of my skill level was that everything bar the 6' drop was within my ability if I'd had some time to walk the course but riding it blind there were so many moments of "WTF! Where's the line? Over or round? Aarghh, not carrying enough speed, etc..." Then again I'm not that experienced on gnarly stuff so I suppose it's fair that the inevitable mincing cost me time compared to better and braver riders - it isn't meant to be easy!

The warning signage options aren't actually very logical because the last thing you want to do before a drop or gap is slow down. Where there's a chicken run option (of which there were quite a lot on stages 5, 6, 7) a sign pointing one way labelled 'chicken run' and another sign pointing the other way labelled '6 foot drop' or '5 foot gap' would have been nice and allowed a bit more flow.

Yer i see what you saying but i just ask the Tidworth freeride guy running the stage what was in the trail Any gap/drops

Which to be fair, I did - and to be told everything is 'rollable', which quite frankly was b*llocks. On stage 7, the drop was a good 6-8ft if you hit it at any sort of pace, and the double after was a good 15ft to the lander. Hence my point about riding stuff blind.

Now me being me, I hit it anyway and the double, but a less than confident rider who was told similar could have done themselves some serious damage.

It's not about having the cahoonas to hit stuff, its about riding what were essentially DH trails, completely blind with questionable information given out.

I'm agreeing with chiefgrooveguru and Hob Nob; the point is not so much that they were there, it was more that 6,7 and 8 were a bit 'in yer face' with regard to everything coming up so quick and you would go around a corner to be faced with the 6ft ladder drop (which in itself was actually dead easy, but to a newbie, it would scare the shit out of them) and a huge 15ft fast double (again, easy, but you needed to know to carry speed).

The fact that often you didn't know where the trail went, and thus, where you could get around the chicken run, was where I think there is a few grumbles.

For the more competitive riders such as I, I was more narked at getting into the flow of a run and then all of a sudden not having any idea of which way I was supposed to be going - which is chuffing annoying when you're against the clock.

One mans easy drop in is another man's scary beyond belief drop in.

Considering some of the bikes that people were riding (some hero was riding an old skool GT Zaskar!) certain sections must have been frightening!

Moonboy and I were both agreed, part of the fun is that it IS unsighted - if we knew the runs we'd go so much faster - but then that defeats the whole object of the day.

I guess the difficulty is finding the right balance.

ps, I was number 32, Moonboy was 31. Just sayin.

some hero [u]was [/u]riding an old skool GT Zaskar!

He broke it at the bottom of run 6!!
Snapped the wheel and ruined the retro V brakes!

DrP

Bloody hell! I did sort of wonder, it's a hell of a bike to rattle down on; I did the FoD on my Charge Duster hardtail and found that I bounced around a lot (although loved it).

Anyone know the old dude on the retro Giant full sus? He seem to be really enjoying himself!

ps DrP was it you I was in front of at FoD last time? Shame I didn't see you yesterday!

I'll tell Jase he's a hero! He does have some 100mm SIDs and a disc brake on the front now, so not entirely old school... 😉 Another of our group (Sledgehammer Manwolf / BrightonMTB / SussexMTB) was on a fat-front Jones Spaceframe.

I asked the marshall at the top of stage 7 about how big this big drop was and he indicated that it was about mid-thigh height. On further questioning about the landing he said it was to a downslope but you needed to clear some distance to reach the proper smoother landing spot. Fortunately I took a wide line round the corner and ended up on the chicken run, thus depriving the teenage spectators of what could have been the most epic fail of the day if I'd had a freak-out going over the edge.

I really wanted to ride 5, 6 and 7 again and do them properly (especially the quasi-pump track at the bottom of 5) and I didn't feel like that at FoD. All came down to visibility really.

ps DrP was it you I was in front of at FoD last time? Shame I didn't see you yesterday!

Wasn't me! I was on a white/green VIP meta 5 at the FOD, and a blue meta 5 yesterday.

DrP

Ah, so there were two GT Zaskars! Jase didn't break his though a teammate mangled a front wheel coming short on a small gap and rode the final two stages with it looking way out of whack despite some percussive maintenance. The only bit where I missed having rear suspension was the 'bunny heads' section on stage 1 but I did take a fair few chicken runs to my shame... Dr P did the new Meta survive uncracked? 😉

It sounds like the tape markings werent up to scratch again, or at least got removed. This happened on their 1st event last year - very annoying to get sent off in wrong direction. Each section should be ridden carefully before the 1st man/woman down the section just to ensure tape hasnt been removed.

Riding the trail blind is a good leveller. Chicken run (but slower) options should be considered at each major obstacle though.

Thought it was an ok event for the money, good trails for the timed stages, even some of the linking stuff would have made for good timed stages.

Thought the hill climb was abit of a non event and maybe the stage before it could have gone directly into it???

Maybe the details on the website about it being ok for "novice once a week rides" to enter was a touch misleading?

The only other negative that i was alittle cheesed off about was, when I asked the sexy blond at the finish, when the results were going to be posted, she said errr wednesday!!! (i was expecting "oh in half and hour" or something like most events... I think use of a dibber system like sportident or simular would have sorted that problem nicely...

Keen to try one of the Steve Parr enduro's now and see how they compare.

and to be told everything is 'rollable', which quite frankly was b*llocks

Good looking set of DH trails they got there, Some of them berm/bowls were amazing.

Got to say I thought is was another great event and made the most of the area

Stages 5, 6 & 7 were definitely a challenge 'blind'. I am fairly confident in the air so not a huge issue for me, but certainly had me buzzing hitting large drops purely on trust. Would love to have walked them before hand but at the same time half the challendge is riding blind.

The marking does need a bit of sorting. Very glad to hear I was not the only one to be tonking it down stage 3 just to go straight on / left at the end and cost myself 30 plus seconds. More tape and a big right turn pointer would surely be an easy fix?

I messed up stage 1 as I aimed for the wrong gates at the and had to circle back. As I waited for my mates and looked at the tape / markers it was so obvious that I only have myself to blame on that one.

My mate also got 'lost' on stage 1. Still not sure how TBH (Was not at the bomhole)

The link from stage 1 to 2 seemd to create a widespread sense of humour failure.

The rules of the no dabs stage should be clarified. What I though was 1 dab cost me 4 as I manouvered my bike to get started again. Really wish I had known that.

OK - need to end on a positive note. It really was a great event and with constructive input will just get better. I certainly plan on going to Aldershot. 🙂

scottfitz, im keen to go back and ride there free ride club spot. The marshal on stage 7 said once its up and running proper they will put on some push up races..... Mind you it was quite a nasty push up wth a trail bike, never mind a DH bike after a morning of practice...

Agree with xterramac. Being suitable for 'once a week novice riders' is clearly very misleading and potentailly dangerous.

I think the timing delay is a pity. From stage 5 onwards I waited until my 2 mates came down and we comapred times recorded by the marshals. As most folks I only really care about how I did versus my mates.

But hopefully as the event grows the timimg sophistication will also.

I wound be up for some mini DH race there, only 1h12mins drive. yep not the easyest push up but all push ups are hard 🙁

Kimbers, I have it on good authority that the mud was already there before we starting chatting about how surprisingly dry it seemed to be, it's not our fault! It's a shame the times take a while to sort out but at least I have a vague idea in the meantime thanks to Strava. Those berms were perfect - god knows how fast you could ride them if you knew them. At least with this round I haven't gone in with unrealistic expectations of my speed - I got owned by the like of Mr Bolton last time (also on a hardtail) so now I'm just hoping to edge up the field a bit. I'd forgotten how boring pushing up on your own is - bloody teammates not waiting for me - ending pedalling up half of it instead. And finally it was nice to see some photographers on the course, I have no visual evidence of round 1.

I thought it was a great event again; I had no issues with the course marking you have to look ahead not down, as for the 3 downhill sections they were pretty tame and had chicken runs around all the drops, riding blind adds to the fun, I have also rode Steve Parr enduro's which are 2 day events you get to practise on the Saturday Then do a seeding run that sorts the running order out of each category for the Sunday, The stages are longer and a lot more technical, Both events are great and they will get bigger and better next year. Much more fun than riding around a field for 12 hours?

Deffo a lot more fun than riding round a field for 12hrs and i would personally say more enjoyable than an off road endurance ride, eg crc 25/50/100km series....
Not sure how to perpare for riding blind into decents, other than going off and riding blind into decents, hummm could end quite badly i think.....

For the FoD round I stuck some white tape on my bars and wrote 'look way ahead!' and 'get low and flow' on it. Wish I'd kept those motivational messages on there, despite the difficulty in seeing way ahead on some sections however hard you looked!

Hopefully it'll prove a successful and growing format, it's so much more like a good ride with added pressure/excitement/competition than a grind yourself into the ground with pain XC race.

That was my first attempt at enduro, not competed since downhill days over 10 years ago.
For the first few stages I was thinking this isn`t much fun but the downhill stuff and the trialsy bit made up for it.
I actually enjoyed the muddy section through the woods, pretty funny sliding all over the place, laughing at your mate as he slipped into another deep rut, only to do the same. 😀
Some of the linking up went on for what seemed an age, especially getting to the last one, definitely wasn`t prepared for so much xc stuff.
Totally knackered at the end, but really enjoyed the whole experience.
Good to chat and ride and get to know people.
Would like to do another.

Its a shame it wasnt a touch on the FOD one but as mbnut says it never was going to be.

I was dissapointed with the 3 DH sections, personally thought they failed to test the endurance of a rider, they were far to short and physically undemanding which is what a gravity enduro should be. For example some of the transition stages could have been used in the race. Stage 3 could have continued up past the skill climb stage up onto that wonderful little section down the open hill, that would have been a longer more demanding stage. If we had been able to pre walk the DH runs then we would have been able to push that bit harder on them making it more physical, riding them blind you just couldnt do this with the doubles and drops on them which also made the flow dissapear and enjoyment with it.

Saying that it was a good fun with some fantastic people and i definately would do it again. Looking forward to the next one.

Anyone know what type of riding can be expected at Aldershot?

Anyone know what type of riding can be expected at Aldershot?

Yep did the event there last year, its alot like swinley. sandy, singletrack in pine trees. some section were in heath land. nothing that steep but good flowy trails.

Any other questions?

I find the 'enduro' races a format that I really enjoy - the banter/ability to chat on the linking sections makes them seem like a 'good old ride' rather than a race, with the heat put on for the timed sections.
They seem much more social out on the trails, as opposed to XC races/endurances being social 'in the pits' - if you see what I mean?

I too felt that some of the linking sections were 'better' that the special stages (stage 8 was a bit 'meh'), but TBH i think i rode them just as fast (read;slow) as the timed stage, and enjoyed them just as much too!

I'm keen to do some of the other Enduro series - it's just getting the time to fit them in!!

DrP

As Markhw, I have ridden one of Steve Parr's events too (Fetish Enduro Rd 2 @ CyB)and it was much more physically demanding (apart from being nearly hypothermic by the end!)
I feel that there is a place for both events in the scheme of things. This one would be better for the first time racer, whereas the Fetish Enduro could suit anyone. The Saturday practice is useful so you know what is round the next bend, but with stages upto 8 minutes long, it was still very easy to forget. Also the seeding run was fun (despite snapping off my rear mech and running a large part of it!) and starting only 20 seconds apart meant you could occaisionally see the rider in front giving you that extra boost.
I agess also with the marking of the course, but I only found it confusing on stage 5 where the logical line (and some old tape) leads you one way, whereas the newer tape leads you another...
That being said a great day and being able to be done for lunch was a bonus. As I'm not in contention for a prize, etc. I don't mind waiting for the results, but for the boys and girls going for the win a few days wait would seem to be a shame...

Thanks Scott

So more like stages 1,3 & 8 from Salisbury?

Never ridden at Swinley so cannot use that as a reference.

Daft question is Swinley forest where the race is held? Was actually hoping to meet up with a mate from London and he suggested Swinley as a 'half way' point. Could be a good recce ride

Swinley forest where the race is held

1 & 8 no.

2 & 3 yes.

its here: http://binged.it/NG9XPN

Cheers Scott

Will get myself signed up then 🙂

Results are up:

Spent the first few minutes wondering how the hell I was a minute down on the fastest on Stage 1 until I twigged that I'd got sent the wrong way on the bomb hole and lost loads of time; in the region on 30 seconds or so. That and the same thing on that ruddy berm on Stage 3!

All in all however, I'm pleased with 21st in Comp out of 70 ish - especially considering all that time lost on those two stages - shows I'm not over the hill yet and the riding legs are returning slowly.

Maybe perhaps I might even come back next year even fitter and properly challenge the top boys...

I wonder what happened to Stage 2?

Ssssssh.

😉

I did dab twice but I didn't land on my head (like the three riders after me!) 😉 Pretty pleased to have ended up in the middle of the pack (compared to 3/4 of the way down last race) despite time lost in mincetastic confusion at a few of the larger features.

Quite pleased with that, although I was 2nd in sport, I had a time that would have put me in 13th in competitive, all with a flat on the first stage & an impromptu lay down on the last one after getting an impressive tank slapper coming out of the flat muddy puddle.

I think they cost me about a minute, which is frustrating, as that was top 5 territory.

Might have to do the next one now!

Guru - Stage 2 explanation from the site:

"Full race report to follow tomorrow but read this first.

Sorry, stage two has not been counted although we will publish them in a couple of day’s time just so you can compare. The Army lads did a great job but unfortunately did not manage to control you well enough to place you in a start position after you had dabbed. Lack of time to train them to blame so not their fault and also it does not alter the standings as the leaders all went clear. The clears and one or two dab people will be correct but the maximum penalty people will not be.

The teams have been placed in order of how they faired on the day but for the ones which have no series points next to them they have either had too many riders changed from the original team or started with only three riders so their placing’s do not go forward to the series points which is a shame but it is all about team work and team commitment at the end of the day.

So for the series points the correct placing’s are as follows along with the scores from the special test they had to undertake which has been deducted from their final score already. I have to say there were some exceptional teams and individuals who took control of the task so special mention goes to both Sandhurst teams and to Brighton MTB!

1st Fetish Bike Company 10 sec special test bonus

2nd Sketchy Scorchers 20 sec special test bonus

3rd Sketchy B 20 sec special test bonus

4th Sandhurst A 20 sec special test bonus

5th Sandhurst B 20 sec special test bonus

6th Brighton MTB 20 sec special test bonus

7th 26 Engineers Regiment 10 sec special test bonus

MBR mag 10sec special test bonus

Stoned fish 10 sec special test bonus

Sledgehammer 10 sec special test bonus

Sussex MTB 10 sec special test bonus"

It's a shame they screwed up that little skill bit after the slog through the mud 🙁

Especially as I did actually clean it!

Yes, quite a few lessons to be learned I think.

As I mentioned, being sent the wrong way on stages lost considerable time - and when you're at the upper echelons of results, those lost seconds can make a significant difference to whether you're 21st or 10th. Mind you HobNob, I would have been just behind you with 3rd in Sport if I hadn't decided to move up a class this time. I would suggest that you might perhaps consider it; that's a significantly faster time than the rest of the field!

However, it's made me even more determined for September - the training is clearly making an impact and I need to sharpen the skills a little to get me back to how I used to be many years ago.

And then, hopefully with a bit of luck, I might have the perfect runs and get a top 10.

ETA: Learned/Learnt - I can never remember.

Yep, I actually took a last minute space going, so couldn't be swapped out, hence the sport catagory - having only ever raced DH before I wasn't too fussed as I didn't want an egg on face scenario by going into competitive & being smashed by everyone..

If I do the next round, i'll go into competitive, and try not to crash, regardless of my little incidents though, even with clean runs the top 5 guys still put some hefty time into me, mostly on the longer stages where i'm clearly not fit enough.

Ah, that makes sense. Well if you like, let me know if you do, and we'll get you placed with me and moonboy so you have someone to ride/banter with.

I've already paid, moonboy is about to.

Should be a good one 🙂

Willdo, I probably will do it, as it's reasonably local & I quite fancy doing some more of these gravity enduro type events.

Hob Nob - what was the technique for cleaning the first skills stage? Went for the low gear and winch approach here and had a traction fail!

I watched a few guys go low on the gears & run out of speed on the 2 short, steep climbs.

I went about 3rd from top of the block & on the first climb & basically maximum attack after you cleared the previous corner & use the speed to carry you up it. Same for the one over the little log feature. Stopped & steadied, then honked on the pedals as hard as I could.

That's certainly the right technique; I did the same, but unfortunately there is only so much grip that you can extract out of a Maxxis CrossMark on the rear. Henceforth, rushing at the first bit worked, until I hit the damp chalky bit and span the rear wheel. Dab Dabby McDab.

You'll see why I wasn't too bothered that Stage 2 got dropped 😉

Stage 4 was easier as it was drier - the technique there favoured full sussers and a sat down and grind approach, where tyres are less of an issue.

Third from the top as in third biggest sprocket? Was that on your middle ring? I was on 32 front 36 back and wasn't pedalling anywhere near fast enough on the approach.

Third from the top as in third biggest sprocket? Was that on your middle ring? I was on 32 front 36 back and wasn't pedalling anywhere near fast enough on the approach.

Yep - exactly that, I'm 1x10 on the Nomad with a 34T front ring & 11-36 back.

Neil - agreed, they should have made 4 harder by making it zig-zag up the hill, that was way too easy, just pedal like nuts & that was it.

Quite impressed how quick some of the top guys went, i thought id gone alright on stage one and seven but still got schooled.

Things that can be taken from the event in prep for the next one for me are,
1, try to get there early and look at the stages before hand or practice riding DH courses and single track blind and flat out....(may not end well)
2, ride more tech'y trials type stuff on the enduro bike.(or try doing next one on a hard tail)
3, work on fitness so that i can arrive at the stages in some sort of shape to ride them well, maybe even dare i say it, interval training!!! (or just do it for fun and carry on drinking beer and eating junk and riding when i want too)

anyways, does anyone know if there are any pics online from the event?

Cheers Maccas

Warning this is long!

Ok there seems to be a lot of groaning and moaning about not being able to pre-walk the course because if I could of done that I would of done this better blah blah blah. Read the rules guys and read the website. This race series follows motorbike enduro rules where there is no practice runs just like a lot of French MTB enduros. I quote from my website “This will show your skill as a rider at reading and negotiating new terrain at speed." This is why all the courses are a closely guarded secret as I wanted a more level playing field between the locals and outsiders so that those who travel a long way at least have a fighting chance and why I use either venues and trails that are unknown. This was the case even at the well known Forest of Dean as I made up the routes using very old tracks and even changed the route for the only trail anyone really knew being Corkscrew. Check out the review of the race on Bike Magic and the link to the interview with Jerome Clementz if you want further clarification.

To build in time to walk the course would mean a longer day for the volunteers and me and realistically, when I used to race motorbike enduro you never had a chance to walk the course either. Good riders that know their capabilities just get on with it. The novices would never even attempt the scary stuff, it is the ones who don't quite have the ability but have the excuses who seem to be the most vocal and this series was always aimed at being rollable which it was and always has been because the most soul destroying action is to have to be constantly getting off your bike to push over obstacles It just puts them off ever wanting to come back which is not what I want. I do not want to spread the race over two days as it will cost more money to hire the land and therefore higher entry fees.

No, the 6ft drop was not rollable put the chicken run was and everyone I saw doing that section didn’t even look at the drop they just went straight into the chicken run without hesitation. The sand bagged drop read caution slow, drop. Now if you are a good rider your not going to slow for the drop because it says a drop is coming and it was a small drop but the novices need a warning to slow if they are no good on drops! Funny how the leading guys you don’t ever hear a peep from just hammered those sections even beating the two local riders times who were the only riders who knew those 3 runs as it was impossible to hide it from them. I will say that again, they rode it blind and beat very fast locals who knew the course!!!!! Roo Fowler did it on a 29r and caned the drops blind! So you got to ask yourself am I good enough yet? Further the Tidworth Freeride boys are a little embarrassed with those tracks being labeled Down Hill as they clearly are not as technical or knarly as a proper downhill course! They are red grade with elements of black, which is what I have always stated the stages would be and that you must ride within your limits. Oh, and by the way the marshals counted seven of you that did the drop and I know three of them.

This is a Southern UK race series aimed at novices. Enduro is not just about the length of the stage it’s about your ability to be a self sufficient rider who can keep on the pace during the transitions and be able to deal with any mechanical problems that occur. If you gave 100% to all those stages you would of felt it and plenty of the riders did even the fit ones. Use your loaf this is the South of England and you are not going to get 8min DH runs! I could make them 8mins, hell I could even make them 16mins but you won’t thank me for the amount of climbing you will have to do. If short runs are not your bag then don’t do this series go and prove yourself on Steve Parr’s excellent race series.

The trouble is I wanted to have a race series held only in the South so that people in the South had somewhere to go and try this format without traveling miles and also without the associated costs involved in traveling long distances and attending two day events. The problem I let myself in for is that the amount of land in the South that can hold this type of race and get in at least a 25-30km loop are sadly few so this is always going to be a compromised 'Gravity' type enduro due to the lack of Southern elevation.

Electronic timing. Guys do me a favour and go and ring the timing people and tell them your running a race like this and get a quote for 5 timed stages. 2k is around the price! Now don’t get me wrong I am very grateful to all my sponsors but the sponsorship is for prizes only and a couple of sponsors I have to pay for the prizes at trade price; they do not give me cash! Nor would I be likely to ever get someone to pay for timing as this is a very low key event. If I had to pay for electronic timing then I would not make any profit to pay myself for the time and effort in putting this series on and I would certainly not be doing it for the love of it that is for sure! Plus, I don’t really want to take more than 180 riders on a day as I always intended to keep it small and friendly. If you want electronic timing and are happy to pay say £55 an entry then email and let me know as if enough of you do and then subsequently commit to entering then I will pay for electronic timing. Bet I can guess what happens to that suggestion.

I agree, there are some cracking trails on the transition stages but unfortunately if you bothered to look at the OS map then you will see they are crisscrossed with footpaths and are the most heavily used by walkers! You will not believe the trouble we had with people ripping down and trying to move signs to send you in the wrong direction as it was. Someone even carried a pole and direction marker from stage 5 a good 1.5 clicks over to the stage 2 route in a period of time from me putting it out at 10pm Saturday night in the dark and the motorbike marshals finding it, moved tape and even a road barrier blocking the route by 8.30am the day of the race! That was only one of several instances as well.

It took me long enough to persuade the MoD to give me permission to use the footpaths for some of the transition stages having to argue they are not raced which is a lie as technically they are. During the transition stages you actually cut or used footpaths 10 times and it was stated on my license and I was warned they needed to be marshaled at each crossing which would of required 11 extra marshals which I did not have; I just took the chance and crossed my fingers nothing would go wrong. I actually nearly cancelled the race as it was only two weeks before they gave me permission to use the three down hill tracks, which are actually designated out of bounds for being dangerous! Salisbury plain was always my weakest venue and I had to make a silk purse out of a sows ear with it and without the use of those tracks it would of been a very poor venue.

Stage three. Again the fastest riders of those stages looked well ahead and saw the tape marking out the right hand bend and railed it! What went wrong with most was the shouting by the other riders and marshal and in hind sight I should of moved the queue up the hill away from the track. My mistake there. Plus when have I ever finished a stage at the end of a queue of riders? You don’t stop until you go through the poles where a marshal stands.

Stage 2. Wow you not getting even close to how upset it I am that we had to drop stage 2. Time clearing it out, building it, working out the route, marking it out etc, etc. This is why I need volunteers who can give me time to train them! You all still had something to test yourselves on at least.

Stage eight was originally designed to snake you down the vehicle track along the top and the day I worked it out it was hot and had been for a few days and the stage rode really well with nice flow. Unfortunately when I rode it with my friend to prove the course and do the timings it was raining and boy what a difference! My nice flowy down had become a grind with the mud stopping all forward momentum. We made a decision to re-route the course to the side of the track on the Saturday as the vehicle track was still wet and the grass was the area of least resistance, hence the grass run. I also took you out of 1.5 km of the woods single track for the last transition to stage 8 because it was so wet and put you onto fire roads which is why you had so much time to wait for the stage 8 start.

Stage 1 bomb hole. You were shown a diagram and explained to about what was going to happen. Yes he was in uniform the marshal that guided you into the bomb hole but also wearing a nice orange florescent vest. Again the leading riders spotted it and understood it was the part they needed to go into the bomb hole and did it. There is a big difference between being a good rider and a good racer.

Results. Sorry which part of the statement ‘results will be posted at the latest on the website by the following Wednesday after each race’ did you not understand? It can be found on the website homepage halfway down. If you don’t like waiting for the results….DONT ENTER the race!

Finally, no injuries so everyone must have ridden within their limits.

Right, either suck it up or realize you’re too good for this series and go and do another. Rant over, lets crack on to race 3!

P.S Because I can’t afford electronic timing we have made a mistake with the team times so go over and check the new results!

I for one love riding the course blind. As I said before, its a great leveller. Like you say carlos, it encourages the rider to look further ahead. Plenty of signage on the more extreme obstacles will help prevent some spills.
People do get upset when lack of tape marking the course causes mistakes, its a simple thing to resolve so at least that will gain praise.
The courses always sound like they are excellent, and although I've missed the last 2, il definitely be on the next one. Good work Carlos, try to sort the quick wins, and it'll be a great series!

Carlos, thank you for your reply.

This'll save me the email, so I'll say this, and repeat what I said earlier: The only grumble I have is a lack of clear taping on the more confusing sections of Stage 1 and 3.

Stage 1 had me with a marshall jumping out at the last minute pointing at me to go left, to which I duly did - right into a bush. A little taping on the left would have helped hugely here.

Stage 3, you're absolutely right, people should look up, and other competitors shouting at you to go a particular way certainly DOES confuse the hell out of you. Again, as you say, lesson learnt.

None of the other stages struggled for taping, they had natural lines to follow. But I do get the point that some say regarding the drops - they did come up a bit quick on occasion - I might point out I did the drops and big jumps.

However, as you rightly say, the game is to ride these blind - one of the key reasons why I like this series - it's a great leveller of riders.

However, I would respond to your rant a little in so far as whilst you do get the odd moany bugger, you might find it counter productive to come along having a return rant - I find it a little insulting to be told to put up or sod off having talked up this series to many people. Yes, the quick boys DID get the quick times, but you'll find that there were many many people at the stages moaning about taping, quite likely one or two of the quick boys (maybe I can count myself in there, seeing as I got 21st even with going the wrong way on S1 and S3).

However, as for the muddy in between bits, well they were ace fun. As for everything else, including the wait for the times, we're not bloody idiots, we know that it's volunteers working manually to put together the results - but don't let the one or two moany gits end up making you piss the majority off. It certainly annoyed me reading your rant, until I thought it through a bit.

We're all human, but we're also not all stupid.

In short, my only gripe was to make sure the taping is a bit clearer in places - as SuperFli says, people do get funny about it - I've been to many a DH race where organisers get torn a strip for a tape being out of place - and rightly so if someones trained and trained for that race to have it wasted by a mislain tape (even if it wasn't your fault).

As for people moving the signs, I can well believe it - but I think most of us all know it happens - and I don't remember anyone moaning.

Carlos, we fully appreciate you defending your position - and we all really appreciate the hard work you and your team put in, especially the volunteers - but try to keep us onside 😉

I think Neil is fairly spot on there!

For what its worth... my own view of the day was it was a lot of fun and definately like to do some more of the same. In the end while I had a top day I had a totally shite race after snapping my chain during S1 and then spending soo long sorting it out that I was pretty flustered the rest of the day bimbling round. Hey ho, these things happen. (thanks to the guys who helped me out BTW)

I thought the course was fun, hats off to the volunteers for doing their bit (and having some good chat on the way round) and overall its a pretty good value format. I entered this because the gravity enduro's at what £55 or something are just too much. The route seemed to make the best of the terrain and the linking parts were fun to ride, what more do you want? I liked the fact it was a bit more tech than a XC race, surely thats what enduro should be.

However ... would say the taping was a shame. Not a major moan and trying hard to come across as a whiny little biatch! I am not one of these boys 'who has been racing since the 90s dont-ya-know' but have done a fair bit. I think this was my 5th race this year alone. And I've done stuff organised by Nofuss, Brechfa Bike Club, Bikefest, XCracer, out in the Alps all sorts, and I have never gone wrong like I did into the bombhole at the top of S1 or not realised where the end was like the end of S3. If thats my fault for being a bit shit then there you go but seem to manage ok every other time!

As I say, really liked it. Massively bruised ego of being at the bottom of the times and want to do myself justice next time 🙂

I do think Carlos' post is a little 'punchy' to say the least so please read this in the way its written - praising a top day out and a new series that I'd like to do more of.

Stu

I enjoyed the event - my first organised race. I think it represented value at £35 - electronic timing is a bit unrealistic for this kind of money I would have thought. I enjoyed the downhill sections 5,6 and 7 - though on my rigid Jones - I did take it a little slower than the fullys! i never felt out of my depth on these runs, negotiating the sandbagged drop was a blast and somehow managed to clean it. I did use most of the chicken runs as they were easy to spot and didn't cost much in the way of time. Perfectly happy with the 'ride it blind' setup too.

Ash

Hi Carlos

I think if you read the tone of almost every post on hear you will see that they are overwhelmingly positive . Your post does come over as being a bit defensive. I guess if I had put all the effort in that you have obviously done maybe I would be defensive as well 🙂

This is a new series and it does have some teething issues (no surprise there). I think in a nutshell some folks had routing issues on stage 1 (I did not). Stage 2 had to be cancelled to many folks frustration (not least yours) Stage 3 had some marking issues at the end (I also went straight on at the end like many others did)

I agree timings can wait at the price. No issues for me there at all

As for the ride it blind - great concept and great leveller.

I for one will be at Aldershot and will continue to tell folks that this is a GREAT series. I will introduce myself in person if I can

Thanks you so much for the effort to pull this together. Love having a southern gravity series

This was my first Enduro too so not much to compare it to, but I really enjoyed it - pretty much what I expected, challenging in the right places but rewarding. A few things stood out for me:
1. Army volunteers who did a great job - much appreciated!
2. I thought the timings were really well done, just the right amount of recovery time before each timed stage. Someone did a lot of work here.
3. The "DH" sections were exactly as expected - challenging and requiring a fair bit of skill and experience to make the most of, but in no way dangerous.
4. Carlos just about made it with the race results on the Wednesday 🙂
5. Our team (sussexMTB) did ok - beat the team from some second rate MTB magazine 🙂

I can see how electronic timing is currently too expensive, but who wouldnt want instant results. But when start times are spread over more than 3 h i guess there can't be any traditional presentation ceremony etc?

But overall, great job Carlos - I'll be back for Rd 3!.

Photos from the end of Stage 8 and race report up here: http://www.enduro1.co.uk/race2_2011.php

Team times still a bit awry but nothing that'll change the podium positions!