Forum menu
I am puggled. What a ridiculous yet brilliant day. Howling wind in the morning (jet assist down minch moor), gorgeous sun in the evening, quite a lot of near crash inbetween. Too long, too steep, too pedally, too muddy, too techy... Perfect.
Anyone else along for the ride?
Amazing weekend. Too tired to type anything further.
I ”did' it. By that mean, rode it Sat but couldn't not get my feet into my clipless pedals due to the mud. Brought some flats for race day only to snap my derailleur at the start of stage 2! Balls! By far the toughest, steepest, muddiest course I've ever done. Makes trail centres look like a piece of cake. Hmm... Cake...
Yeah I think a few people got a shock on Saturday and didn't come back for Sunday. Certainly one of our group did.
It made the double black at Ffesteringwog and revolution bike park look like a walk in the park and I feel pretty comfortable on both!
Stage 5, holy mother of god....
I wish I'd entered, thought it would be tricky with this wet weather and sounds like it was! what were the stages?
Stage 1 = Minch Moor descent
Stage 2 = Doggy Bag & Lower Quarry Enduro
Stage 3 = Cant remember!
Stage 4 = Start hut down push up path, Tunnel, Deerhunter, Pete Williams
Stage 5 = Not For Poofs, Jane's Lane, Lower Caddon Bank
Sounds a chunk harder than the enduro of a few years ago at Inners?
2 was a shorter doggy bag down a fire break of ruts into mince baby mince, I see strava has it as puppy bag
3 was all over the place, straight off the top fireroad onto one of the dh trails (cresta?) then 39 steps, then down the side of matador for a bit, and onto what I think was new trail down to halfway along the old xc climb, then a bit of fireroad, a bit of cresta run... And I don't know, something else must have happened but I don't know what it was. Classic innerleithen in other words. I did this one blind and got properly confused.
I'd not done that Pete Williams track before, bloomin amazing, I wasn't fast down it but what a cracker of a track.
@al- one of the hardest I've done. Not as hard as round 1 mind but only because the trails didn't dissolve when exposed to rain. But physically much harder, a big day and most of the stages had a good pedal in them.
The start of five was bordering on the edge of not being fun on practice day - I couldn't actually move the back wheel after riding it. Seemed to go better on race day though.
Other than that a cracking (and steep!) two days.
I couldn't actually move the back wheel after riding it.
I love that people still struggle with the big tyres not working too well with mud concept 😉 I didn't do this one but was there last year looking at various confused faces when their front/rear/both wheel(s) no longer turned.
Sounds like a good day out!
damn sounds good/mental, kicking myself for not getting in before it sold out. Sounds like there could have been some spaces available on the saturday after practice though
legend - MemberI love that people still struggle with the big tyres not working too well with mud concept
I wouldn't have wanted a skinny xc mud tyre tbh. I didn't block up, my mud clearance isn't ideal but it's adequate I suppose.
Just looking at times, turns out I was slowest (comparatively) on stage 1 and 2 and fastest on 4 and 5. It's all relative, still adds up to about 190th place 😉
where's the results?
Up on Roots N Rain
yes very good, tough course and tough weather all made for a great weekend
some familiar names -- Frazer NoFuss' lad in juniors. Also scary in a good way to see folk you know are very good in good placings but nowhere near the top !!
Just looking at times, turns out I was slowest (comparatively) on stage 1 and 2 and fastest on 4 and 5.
Same here. Stage 5 was my fastest stage and I would have sworn blind it would have been my slowest. After an absolute disaster at Fort William I took it slow and steady all day. Only had one minor off (on stage 5) and improved my position by a decent chunk vs my result at Fort William. Roll on Laggan and hopefully some dry trails!
More full facers being used at this one? Or is it just the photos I've seen that look that way?
Yeah I wore my full facer. So tight, steep and slippy in the trees that it gave me much more peace of mind and confidence.
Anyone know what happend with Joe Barnes? Saw him at practice but doesn't look like he raced.
Still did seem to be mostly open face to me. Then I was quite late in the day due to signing up late so maybe it was different at the pointier end.
Anyone know what happend with Joe Barnes? Saw him at practice but doesn't look like he raced.
Away to Chile for the EWS on Sunday. Only the 4 best of your 6 races will count towards the final result so he can afford to miss a round.
Glad you enjoyed it 😀 Sunshine and dry trails have been guaranteed for Laggan............
Mostly open face lids coming past me at the end of stage 3.
I did it. Probably about the hardest two days riding I've ever done, and the last hardest days riding I'd ever done was the day / night enduro there last November! Great stages, well organised, thanks to all the marshals. Still can't get over the steepness at the end of stage 4 and the beginning of stage 5. Covered in mud from head to foot. Full face definitely gave me peace of mind. Hope everyone else enjoyed the err challenge - makes pretty much all other trail centres feel like a nice leisurely blue run. Hats off to them for making it a challenge.
Really good race and pleased to confirm the course wasn't sanitised. Suspect a 34+ pound bike before the addition of 5 pounds of mud is never going to be the thing for a fireroad sprint. As ever need more fitness. Excellent weekends racing.
I was just properly cleaning my bike from the weekend, encased inside a massive lump of hardened mud was a very rusty brake disc bolt. Innerleithen: Where the trails are paved with wreckage. And mud obviously.
I still haven't been able to face washing my kit. So much mud!