If anyone lost a watch on the chute off the fireroad of stage 1, I have it.
Apparently the organisers are looking for a few more marshals for the weekend.
Scoob, it's the squiggly one. They've taped it pretty tight in places, looks like I picked the wrong week to fit my 780mm bars 😆
Just in from the GT stages, absolutely soaked... Really good route, I'm particularily pleased with the one I helped build 😉 Horrible liaison from 1 to 2 though. Things got pretty slippy after the rain started properly, watching Crawfy doing his best to end himself right at the bottom of 4 put things nicely in perspective too. Took it pretty steady all day, there's a couple of bits that caused some oooshits. It's going to be a great day
Off to innerz tomorrowz.
Good thread. I'll be coming up from the Lakes on Thursday night so watching this with interest as we'll only have Friday to practice - I'm thinking of practicing 3 stages and riding the other 4 on-sight 😮
BOARD IN BOB i agree with you i rode 1 and 4 at GT today as the other two i have done before and there great fun but cant belive im using this word "tame " that is in comparison to the day 1 trail which i "tried to ride " yesterday 🙄 .
massive kudos to all the guys and girls who gave up there time to cut those new trail great fun at gt today but i have to say jawburn stage two on day 1 is just on another level imho i managed fine today with the exception of the drop off near the end just above peebles hydro .in comparision i felt way out of my comfort zone at caberston and it took me 20 mins to walk down a trail that the local guys on strava are doing it in 5 mins !
cant wait for the weekend
im heading to the top steep section of jawburn on day 1 to watch as i really think it will be carnage !
DAY 2 I think i will head to the bus stops on stage 1 to watch
good luck to anyone of the stw racing
the kettle im no expert but everything at gt was comfortable on sight but imho i would use your time riding stage 1 and 2 at caberston and last stage at innerleithen imho
scoobmw drop me an email (it's in my profile, couldn't see yours) with your number if you fancy meeting up for ride tomorrow.
Is anyone able to say what the score is for spectating? I was thinking of heading over to watch some of the carnage on the first couple of stages but are there areas that the organisers are happy/unhappy with you watching from, or is it a free for all?
It's been pretty wet today, be interesting to see how things are holding up by the end of the week....
the ews handout in all the shop in tweed valley advertise spectator hot spots . imho you could do worse than park at caberston cafe in walkerburn and just walk a mile or so to jawburn stage 2 of day 1 . imho
Cheers deetrackdoctor, that was a vague plan for starters, then taking things from there involving maybe catching some of the lower stuff in traquair later on.
Been raining pretty much since lunch further along the 'valley', still raining now (10pm).
yes i agree that theres time to nip along to the last stage and see some action on the DH trails . jawburn looks imho to be the most challenging to ride at speed 😀
I'm hoping to be heading up to spectate on Saturday. Anyone got an idea roughly what time the racing will start on each of the day 1 stages (Stage 2 Jawburn in particular)? Ta.
I guess the start time at stage 1 will be the only start time, I'm sure once they start arriving at other stages they can go rather than wait for another start time? could be wrong though.
Thanks bigjim. Do you know the start time for stage 1?
Anyone hazard a guess on likely stage 1 completion time and transition time to start of stage 2? Don't want to miss seeing how the best riders do it 🙂
yeah if one of the competitors here could post the start time that would be great!
They were crazy/stupid to hold this race in May. Still, the footage will be hilarious.
says 8.30 am start here
so bit of a ride to the stage before they start
they'll be letting spectators up the fire road climbs also used as transition stages won't they? don't want to pedal there then get turned back...
Ah, missed that schedule page!
Caberston stuff is carnage. Saw a French guy dislocate his shoulder on jawburn. Tracks are torn to shreds over there. Inners stage 4 wasn't too bad. Some tricky bits at the very bottom though. Should provide some quality spectating
Sorry to hijack the post but,
If anyone is looking for accommodation, i've a booking at the Tontine that i cant use...
u03kjh(at)yahoo.com
Cheers,
Kev
JCL - Member
They were crazy/stupid to hold this race in May. Still, the footage will be hilarious.
It's a race in Scotland, weather is a big part of the challenge
Well I've been down all the stages now. Nothing overly gnar. Slidey and muddy. All perfectly doable on a hardtail.
Not ashamed to admit Jawburn's a bit much for me, in its current state- quite a few bits I'm pretty much falling down instead of riding 😆 Think I'm pushing my luck a bit too much. Interesting to see what shape it's all in by the time I get down it!
Walk or Burn used to be quite a mellow trail by Golfie standards, but since non of these trails have been dry since last September, this (and Pumphouse) is one that has got way harder with them being ridden over the winter when they were soaking.
Jawbone has actually got easier! The boulder field has been tamed, the horrible left-hander near the end banked up plus the mental drop onto the road no longer has a lip to it!
Maybe with the current dry weather things will improve.
For someone who struggled with POC KOTH Cademuir S4 how does Jawburn compare? I'm not foolish enough to be riding EWS but have entered KOTH again and it may feature.
Jawburn is insane! Rode it this afternoon...
Hearing a lot of people moaning about the trails. Surely they didn't enter expecting groomed trail centre stuff? I was doing the climb up to caberston s1 today alongside Hannah Barnes. She met someone riding the opposite way that she knew. He had just ridden s1 and decided to drop out as he didn't want to race on that kind of trail. Heard another guy on the phone to his girlfriend saying he was pulling out and was going to ride the red trail. Poor show all round. I know a lot of people who didn't manage to get an entry and they would have loved these trails.
I was chatting to a couple who'd got to the top of splash and dash and were looking at the easier entry and going "that's too hard". I didn't have the heart.
I often figure with these things, I'm pretty much exactly the worst rider that should do them. Here I think I'm clearly not good enough to say that! But no doubt there'll be a bunch of people in even further over their heads.
It's a weird race series the EWS. Ordinary punters wouldn't try and get themselves into a WC DH or XC event, but they can and do get into the Enduro equivalent?
It's a weird race series the EWS. Ordinary punters wouldn't try and get themselves into a WC DH or XC event, but they can and do get into the Enduro equivalent?
Which makes it good in my book, but I don't know why people would enter it without expecting a high riding ability required. If I'd been able to have a chance to practice I might have liked to have taken one of the E2 places being dropped now the excitement has got to me, but the golfy is the upper limit of my comfort zone and i wouldn't do it blind.
How do the trails compare to the dudes of hazzard enduro last year?
Heading up tomorrow morning and I can't wait!
Hmm, I suppose there's similarities with the early bit of sooks pipe... But the rocky stuff over on the mamore lodge road is just totally different really. Man what I wouldn't give for a load of rocks!
It's a race in Scotland, weather is a big part of the challenge
Well I guess if riding through never ending slop is a challenge I guess so.
Some of the trails in the pics I've seen look about as much fun as washing dishes.
Yeah, trust me, you've formed a very wrong opinion based on some photos.
Well I guess if riding through never ending slop is a challenge I guess so.Some of the trails in the pics I've seen look about as much fun as washing dishes.
I hear that the Glentress green trail is nice and dry
Latest shipment just in... Ideal for moaners and whiners..
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Yeah, trust me, you've formed a very wrong opinion based on some photos.
I honestly hope that's the case. I know the area could put on a brilliant race, I just wouldn't want to see it turn into a gong show for the sake of being one month early.
It's actually not that sloppy or slippy. It's rough, rooty & steep. Some big ruts getting cut in but they help enormously in the corners.
I was too late to get an entry when they first came out (way too late!) Would find it a bit gutting if lots of people are dropping out due to low skill levels/lack of cojones leaving lots of spaces that others could have used.
I'm not wanting to willie wave but I accidentally rode some of the Caberston stages on Monday and regularly ride the trails in Caberston on a 130mm hardtail, while challenging they are nothing a competent mountain biker shouldn't be able to ride (fall)down.
People shouldn't be entering events like this if they don't have the skills or balls, just get on with it you woosies, on your 160mm mince tanks.
[i]I'm not wanting to willie wave but I accidentally rode some of the Caberston stages on Monday and regularly ride the trails in Caberston on a 130mm hardtail, while challenging they are nothing a competent mountain biker shouldn't be able to ride (fall)down.[/i]
Hmm, lets say VERY competent mountain biker.
I live and ride in the Tweed Valley and have ridden/walked down pretty much every thing the EWS is going down. A guys I ride with who've entered are very good and will have no problem getting down at a reasonable pace, but these guys ride these types of trails every week. Good weather and bad, daylight and darkness (yep :-))
Anyone that entered and expected groomed rocky singletrack only had to have ridden (or just read about) one of the many Enduro/DH events put on in the past few years in the Tweed Valley to know that it wouldn't be the case.
IMO It'll be hard, tough and way beyond most folks skills, even before you factor in that it is a race.
To be fair it was a similar situation at the UKGE last weekend. Stage 5 used a chunk of the IXS cup track, and there was a few steep bits, but nothing outrageous, the amount of moaning was pretty impressive. I guess people just don't expect it.
That said, riding something, and racing something are very different experiences.
BoardinBob> not sloppy or slippy? Have you been down stage 1 at glentress?
I honestly hope that's the case. I know the area could put on a brilliant race, I just wouldn't want to see it turn into a gong show for the sake of being one month early.
May can be one of the driest months of the year, pot luck as always though, if we hadn't had that heavy rain last weekend and midweek this week it would be pretty different even though it's not been a particularly dry month.
