Seemed like a good idea to enter all 6 rounds of the SES, so I did! I'm not particularly quick on climbs, but reasonable at descending, and it's getting it on my bike, so balls to it!
Is there anything you seasoned enduro-ers would recommend, kit, food/trail snacks, kit etc?
Ta
To answer a question with a question ; When you go out for a biggish ride, what do you normally take?
You will definitely need goggles. And make sure you dress in primary colours.
As I said, a normal ride.
Extra condoms to deal with all the extra attention you'll be getting from the opposite sex
Shortbread, no can do, it'll be dull kit only 🙁
Jimmy, presumably the usual kit will suffice, waterproof, spares, food/gels/liquid, pump etc?
Over an ordinary ride there are some differences. Even though your racing downhill your still sprinting, your more likely to get lactic build up and cramp.
Also with the SES you tend to do a lap Sat and practice all the stages, then the race lap Sunday - so its 2 days of riding.
I'm personally not a big eater on the rides, but do find some salts good in my drink on Sunday. And i dont mean table salt, you know the little potassium and mineral tablets you can get - those.
I carb out on Sat tea, and have a massive pan full of porridge with 2x banana and loads of honey for Sunday breakfast - stuffed to the point of almost being sick eating it.
I avoid sugar/gels on the ride, if I'm going to eat its carb based. I do carry a gels incase I completely blow but the same ones all the time live in my back pack.
Other people do it differently - you need to work out what is good for you.
Expect 20mins of racing at SES on average, although it does vary
Its good fun, there is usually 1 pedally stage and 1 super-tech stage and the rest somewhere in between. There will be a stage with a climb, or a long piece of fireroad - its not downhill, its a good mix of trail skills and fitness.
get fitter.
the fresher you are for the timed stages the faster you will be.
Mistake I made on my first Gisburn Enduro was riding too fast on the transfer stages and wasting energy, got around the course fast but too slow on the stages.
The next one was Grizedale, unfortunately I had my Canyon Strive stolen the week before and had to ride it on a Ragley Piglet hardtail, fell off on the first stage and had to push on stage 3, but got lots of Kudos off my fellow racers for my courage / stupidity riding a hardtail 🙂
Third one was Gisburn again, this time I had a replacement Strive with better suspension, practice went well, overcame my fears on the scary Gas to Flat stage and was feeling confident. Unfortunately I binned it in the rocks on the first stage (feeling tired and didn't want to dab) and smashed the rear brake master cylinder off and that was the end of that 🙂
Hopefully this year will be better, still lots to learn! 🙂
Tom