So I was lucky enough to win the competition in MBUK a few months back - giving me the pleasure of free entry into the Pirelli triple crown series at tweedlove. I had to miss the Vallelujah last week due to family plans so this coming weekend will be my first ever enduro.
Any tips or advice on what to do/not do?
I've not entered any events since the MTB marathons down in Selkirk - probably 2010ish?. I'm carrying a bit of extra weight but think I've managed to get some basic fitness built up over the last few weeks. I've entered the "short course".
Is it worth doing to whole course the day before? Or just a few stages to get a feel for things? Any other do's or don'ts?
Aim for fun, its less stressful and knackering than trying to aim to win.
Crashes hurt and slow you down, the whole skill is riding 99% but never over the top and crashing.
If you’re sitting down on shorter courses you aren’t going fast enough. Pedal more.
Practice is useful for identifying big features or any bits you’re not good at, but you’ll never remember lines or much of note. Big features are normally signed anyway.
Pedal more.
And definitely enjoy it. You aren’t going to win so you’re only up against yourself. Never worth stressing about it unless you’re aiming for the podium. 😀
You want to know the features, so ride or walk as much as you can the day before, if not just take it easy on the blind ones that may have unknown big features.
Reality is it’s a slow day, lots of waiting and queuing to do stages, then over in two minutes and a slow ride to the next wait, worth sampling but not really as much fun as an uplift or the likes.
Don't worry about position
I was 32/36 a couple of weeks back, however I was perfectly ok with that!
It's always worth practicing the whole route unless you know the trails well- and even then you can get caught out. Thing is you're not just looking for fast lines or the tricky parts, it's often more useful to figure out the general shape of the stage, where to go fast or slow, when it ends, where the bloody fireroad sprint is, or the 180 degree corner that makes your previous sprint pointless... Sometimes it's the easiest trails that it's most useful because that's where you carry more speed.
Similar, don't obsess too much about best lines or single sections- it's one thing in a single downhill stage to try and memorise everything and to shave seconds that way but for most people it doesn't really work... and also it's so easy to obsess over a little thing here, or to forget that you'll be arriving at the section tired and breathing out your arse and probably faster than you expect. Basically I want to be able to ride everything tidily without needing to be perfect, if there's a particularly hard part I'll pay it extra attention, if there's a line that's just massively faster I want to know about that but it's all pretty general. If I make some plan that requires riding a section perfectly, chances are I won't.
And have fun! Don't sweat mistakes, even the top finishers will be screwing up. If it's seeded, too bad but if it's not, speak to the people around you, it can help tons with holding up/being held up (which is mostly about getting stressed out rather than the real effect on the race, but it can feel horrible at the time.
checklist before each stage
Check gearing, not too low or high, on the stage are there any sharp climbs you may need to drop a gear
Check suspension open
Check glasses / helmet / bag / gloves / pads are on in place and zipped up
Don’t forget to breath in and out and look well ahead
Avoid setting of in front of a train, if they catch you up and you move over then You are waiting for each rider in said train
Enjoy
Go fast, don’t die.
Stay rubber side down 🙂
Thanks all. Some great advice as always. I have no ambitions other than making it round in one piece and within the time limit. Slightly nervous about the steepness of the descents and the amount of climbing over two days, but I'll try to enjoy it 😉
There was a thread on this here only a couple of weeks ago, quite a lot of advice - it'd be worth you trying to find it.
Save energy for the stages, even if it means pushing climbs you'd usually grind out. And as said, enjoy and dont worry about time.
Assuming it's the King & Queen Enduro.. Street Pigeon MTB on YouTube should have a course preview up this evening so you can get a feel for what to expect.
Get out early on Saturday, so you can spend a leisurely practice day plus ensure you eat/drink well.
Any idea where it starts/finishes so we can avoid it?
If you're not used to fresh cut stuff get some practice in. I did my first at Grizedale being a relatively confident rocky technical rider. Spent most of it on my arse, quite demoralising! However practiced a bit and went back the following year and....was almost as crap, but not quite.
Basically, quite a steep learning curve so don't panic if you're rubbish, keep going and finish, just see it as exposure to the format and take that learning into the next one.
But then if you're used to loam you might smash it! In which case "bones mend - press send!"
Loads of good tips above
Make sure you get plenty of rest & sleep the week b4hand
Personally I'd say get there early for practice
Ride it all (or at least until you're too tired)
Make sure you keep hydrated & snacking all day because a deficit will hit you on race day.
As northwind said don't try & memorize the lot, just give yourself an idea of what's on each course
When you've finished down a recovery drink
Have a good stretch, get bike cleaned up & lubed, shower have a good meal (plan what/where you'll be eating)
Lay out clothes for next day etc
Get a good night's sleep
Next morning stretch well (I'm old stretching is important)
On your race, chat with the folk around you, everyone is nervous and usually friendly!
Whatyadoinsucka's checklist is a very good one, easy to get nervous at start of stage and make those errors.
I'd add make sure the front pad of your helmet isn't loaded with sweat, you don't want a bead of sweat stinging your eye on the very start of the stage
Between stages have a gel/banana/etc to keep energy up
On the runs don't go crazy, look a turn ahead to help keep your speed up & always go for the highline!
Just have a laugh, you won't win, so don't beat yourself up trying to ace it all.