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23 minutes, and I was riding pretty much on the limit (well, as much as you can when you know you have to drive home) how in the world are those guys doing 17mins!!
what? really? 😯
Watching Liam's lines through the bottom of 2 was something to behold. Even if the course is the same as last 2 years, being able to do that blind-ish is something else.
Mind you, Guy and his daughter's line wasn't far off, through wheelbase-necessity!
I had a great weekend marshalling, top banter from the riders , but it killed me not to be riding this year. My own fault for being tardy with entries. A mistake I'll not repeat next year!
Lots of people praising the organisation. Having seen first-hand how much Joe and the team put into it, it is no fluke!
Road the rock bridge and most of the rocks out of Stage 4 until it got too steep after the second stream crossing.
That was the point of the event wasn't it?
Opted for the sport on the saturday as ive never done anything like it before, had a poor finish overall due to a crash but really enjoyed the event and will be back next year.
Stage 2 - 3.20 (28th)
Stage 3 - 15.54 (99th) crash = punture/bent rear mech
Stage 5 - 3.07 (37th)
Seems like an old riding mate won the masters, well done Dave.
They didn't impose the 5:15hr embargo I'm glad to say.
I went out with 3 mates who all had problems on the route which ended up with us doing a 5:45hr lap, even though actual ride time was only 3:40, but I still got a podium 😀
i did apallingly..!
lower back gave up on climb 2.. foot gave up on climb 3.. 😯
and trudged round like a snail and got passed by the worlds population (including the awesome nicolai tandem!) on every climb..!
i heard a few people talking about the cut off time..
I don't think it meant 5:15 hours.. i think it meant 5:15PM? given that in the description it said 'you can expect to spend about 5 hours riding' or something like that?
and the prizes etc where supposed to be given out at 5:30?
despite it nearly killing me im already thinking about entering again next year... and hopefully my mate wont dislocate his shoulder just before the event next time and ill have someone to ride/suffer with!
Looks like the majority of the Phots are from the grassy bank on stage 5.
I was hoping to see myself launching that slab drop on Stage 5
There was a photographer right on it who must have take. Some impressive stills of the fast riders winching that.
Are there any more Phots to go up or is that the lot?
Great event this really enjoyed the sections. I did manage to use my face as a brake on S1 which ended up taking me nearly 10 minutes by the time I had a few minutes to re compose. Effectively ruined me for posting a time (that's my excuse)
Will give it another go next year.
There's a steady stream of photos being uploaded on Roots and Rain, Bob.
I don't think it meant 5:15 hours.. i think it meant 5:15PM? given that in the description it said 'you can expect to spend about 5 hours riding' or something like that?
I think that's A) to make it clear the level of fitness needed, and B) so they can do the presentation without waiting for the last man back.
That said last person back always gets my admiration. It's got to be a hard slog, but each year they haven't abandoned but dug deep and made it round. Should be a special prize for them IMO. This year no exception.
I thought it was a great event again. The trails seem to flow better every year and the weather this year was good. I do feel a bit short changed that you could only practice 2 of the 5 stages on Saturday. It meant racing the 3 stages 'blind' on Sunday. Granted they weren't too different to last year's stages. I know it makes it physically tougher to practice the whole thing and then race it the next day but I'd have enjoyed the 'blind' stages more if I'd know where and when you can commit to blind drops/crests etc.
Saying that, the only place I crashed on Sunday was stage 4 which I'd ridden 3 practice runs on Saturday!
Us sport riders didn't get a chance to practice anything! I still managed to post the 19th quickest time of the day on stage 2 though. However I think it was through fear of touching the brakes and sliding into oblivion mote than owt else 8O.
Highlight of my weekend may have been winning one of the spot prizes 8)
It meant racing the 3 stages 'blind' on Sunday
I just accept that reading terrain and racing blind is one of the skillets being tested in and Enduro event. Likewise the ability race when tired from pedalling round a big loop.
It was probably a bigger advantage if you rode them last year so would have a vague idea at what was coming up!
Loved it, gave me a taste of how difficult these things can be. Fitness wise I felt happy with my performance in sunday. However my stages were shocking. Worst being built bottling one of the long steep chutes for a good 5 minutes before going down. Left me 779th overall.....at least it's easy to improve on.
Sorry, I wasn't complaining about the lack of Saturday practice thing, it was a comment about how it had left me feeling. I hadn't really realised how much I enjoy the practice part and picking and trying different lines....then trying to remember all the lines and putting it all together in a race run after cycling a big loop. I accept that riding a stage 'blind' is just another challenge to throw into the 'enduro' mix, I just don't think I enjoy it as much as the 'usual' practice first type events. That make sense?
The only thing I didn't like was the bottleneck the the beginning of the All Mountain race. It was a bit of a pain having to wait for it to all clear and having practice riders joining in the scrum for position. I could have been better if they asked the practice riders to avoid that bit of the course to ease the congestion at the beginning of the race. In last years All Mountain event I think it was a staggered start? I cannot really remember but it worked better than the 13.30 mass start anyways.
Surely if you start 20 mins after the first group its not a race is it? staggering it would then make it a solo effort, and the whole point of being in a race is to get in front?
If everyone has a chip its a race, everyone will have individual times. Hence no need for a mass start. The start can be spread out over 30 mins or whatever to avoid a bottle neck.
I really enjoyed this event. I drove up from Brighton and it was defiantly worth while.
I clocked up a time of 18:44.10 on the Sunday. A double lap of the practice loop and a good helping of beer the night before might have hindered my performance a little... or helped.
I was surprised about the amount of pushing going on the hills! I can understand a few strategic pushes on the link stages in the race... but people were pushing on anything and everything that went vaguely uphill! I thought you northern folk were supposed to be hard as nails and used to riding in terrain with 'real hills' 😉
The only thing I didn't like was the bottleneck the the beginning of the All Mountain race.
That would be the challenge then that isn't a race, that was mentioned time and time again in the briefing before they sent us all on our way. Yes it was a slight inconvenience to wait for the bottle neck to clear but an ard rock steward was soon in there sorting it.
smatkins1 - Member
I was surprised about the amount of pushing going on the hills! I can understand a few strategic pushes on the link stages in the race... but people were pushing on anything and everything that went vaguely uphill! I thought you northern folk were supposed to be hard as nails and used to riding in terrain with 'real hills'
Without sounding like a nob, it surprised me as well. I rode past one chap pushing and he made some sarcastic comment about 'being in a ****ing rush'. Not really, I was on a bike ride, hence riding my bike.
Again not meaning to sound like a knob there was loads of pushing. Even on the first climb I was called a "****ing hero" for peddling. I genuinely couldn't believe people were pushing on the tarmac bits.
meh, the tarmac bits were steeper than the trail itself to be fair, going up to stage 4 before the right to the trail up to the start quite a few folk were suffeing quite badly with cramp.
Fremington edge up to S1 was an absolute bastid, i pushed that.
Admittedly the push out of the gully after S4 was emotional but if you cleared that you require sponsoring.
I rode with a chap for a while along the dirt track to S4 from the Tarmac and he had recently had major abdominal surgery, he was struggling a bit. But he was there and he was taking part.
I guess you do what you need to do to get round a 25 mile loop with some pretty challenging techy downs and some grinding, loose, steep ups. Some people were walking the chutes and drops. No need for the sarcy comments though if they were meant to be derogatory. I thought most 'banter' on the way round was pretty good natured and fun.
My mate and me had a great weekend Marshaling the top of Section 3 for 2 days
The banter from all the riders was fantastic even after the 2.5 mile inverted downhill to get there
Must try harder to get an entry next year
Was it your birthday Trout??
Trout: Were you drinking beer with a big '60' birthday badge on, whilst standing near the the S3 start gate?
I was a bit jealous of the beer, I might have said I thought you were a dwarf, but it was just the hole you were stood in....
Great event.
Yep that was this old bastardo
the dwarf comment was cracking I was just hiding from the wind
Fathomer Yep 🙂
Best bike related weekend with out riding one Though did get to ride a few of the sections on the sat evening
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was better weather on the sat
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and the awesome rainbow on the sat night
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I did say yesterday, as I guess most others did, but many happy returns 😀
thanks for the Drink of your beer Trout.. got me down the stage that did!
(I was the second cheeky person to ask.. 😆 )
I said it on Sunday but I'll say it again Trout, many thanks and top marks for marshalling the windiest, bleakest bit of the entire course. And happy birthday too! 🙂
Dwarf? What Dwarf?
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...Happy Birthday Trout and thanks for your part in a great day!
Ha Ha great piccy and thanks to every one for the lifetimes worth of birthday greeting
Trout, I particularly liked your approach to setting riders off:
'Reckon you'll catch him? [Watches rider sketch around first corner] Yeah, you'll catch him. May as well wait a bit longer.'
That bomb hole you were in or at least your brolly was in, lashed down with rigging lines would have offered great protection from the wind in what must have been the most exposed outpost on the whole route,
Thanks for helping make this a great event.
Are any of the stages (or bits of them) available to ride normally? Looking in strava theres some activity but that could be just mates of the Rafferty's.
Great day out, the stages were brilliant! Fitness wise I felt crap, and was walking up most climbs after stage 4...
Binned it in the woods on the first stage, then again on one of the tight hairpins on stage 4. Other stages went ok, but the pedally bits were painful.
S1 - 5:46
S2 - 3:16
S3 - 4:36
S4 - 3:56
S5 - 2:33
Total - 20:09
Quite happy considering my mishaps!
Thanks, Trout! Awesome marshals all round really.
Great atmosphere at the race. I loved that fact that there were no start times or transfer times, it made it seem like a fun ride with your mates and other like-minded people rather than a race. Got 24th in masters with a dropped and tangled chain on stage 1, pretty happy with that. Will be back next year, well worth the 5 hour drive!
What a great event! Amazing atmosphere with some friendly banter. I really enjoyed the whole weekend.
Kudos to the top riders - I totalled a very average 25:32 as a Veteran and although I really thought I was fit before the event, I soon realised that I wasn't - my limiting factor to getting a better time was how knackered I quickly got once I tried to open the gas on the descents. I also found myself pushing up a lot of the road climbs (sorry... 🙂 )
Will definitely enter for next years event, just need to think about how I prepare better fitness wise, as well as learning to stay off the brakes more.
The staggered starts seemed to work really well. I found that the stage starts were usually free as you reached them, I'd expected big queues, but there weren't.
Thanks to all the marshals, organisers and everyone behind the scenes who put the hard work in to pull this off.
Are any of the stages (or bits of them) available to ride normally? Looking in strava theres some activity but that could be just mates of the Rafferty's.
Not out of events, but there are other events, Ard Rock spin offs and the Nutcracker use 1 and 5, or variants there of.
Just looked at my results slip and I see that the transfer from Stage 4 to 5 took me over 92 mins!! I was hanging by then and any uphill was a real challenge!
The energy conservation tactic of pushing on quite a few of those final climbs must have helped though, as Stage 5 was my best of the race with 308th fastest time - looks absolutely sh!t now that I've written it down though 😳
That's my 4th Enduro of the year and 7th ever, and I have to say it was the best - hardest by a mile, but definitely the best.
Brilliant fun and even though my legs are still sore I have a sneaking feeling that I'll be in it again next year.
First Enduro, had a lot of years of school boy & adult moto cross & have to say the buzz of the event was superb loved it brought back great memories.
Grand Vet's class 8th overall couple reasonable results, I got held up on stage 1 & 2 a lot, tried to leave big enough gaps before entering the stages but rightly so the marshalls have to keep the flow going, st5 was ace the speed of the stage & drop of right at the end was superb.
Definitely be back again but fitter next time.
8th 419 Mark Steele M50+ 20:25.13 +1:17.45 5:47.86 (8th) 3:23.58 (8th) 4:32.46 (5th) 4:01.00 (8th) 2:40.23 (4th)
Something around 82nd equivalent in the seniors so I'm a happy old geezer.
Top marks to Trout, that surely must of been a long day up on the fell.
A delayed response but really echoes all the above - what an event!
Soured slightly by my mech exploding towards the bottom of s2 meaning I had to zip tie it together but the chain jumped off at every opportunity - led some some balance bike-esque scooting along on some stages but still managed a 203/323 in my category IIRC. Reckon with the time it lost me I'd have comfortably been in the top 50% which would be a massive achievement for me.
Roll on midnight on whatever day the next years entries go live - flippin brilliant (also helped by great weather and great friends!).