Who else is going?
looking like a big one 7? Stages
& It's gonna be hot!
Yep. Hoping the weather holds.
Yep, looking forward to it.
Although currently in Morzine and have a cracked frame, so what could possibly go wrong?!
No idea how it’s going to go. Did last year with a busted shoulder and broke my finger in practice. Results showed it.
Not carrying any injuries this year but barely ridden my bike.
Be good if they’ve got permission to go into hopcott this year.
First time on Exmoor for me, looking forward to it.
How do the stages compare to the other venues? I'm expecting steeper and more tech than Pippingford, but is it likely to be rocky?
based on last year, not very rocky
Pretty steep, loose and loamy in places and flat out woodsy singletrack in others.
theres plenty of rocky stuff on exmoor, just not in the venue unless they’ve found some other bits to race on.
Steep & loamy last year
Gonna be mint, but I'm seriously worried about the heat, did 2 hrs this morning before it got too hot & it was sweaty as ....
DrP and the sarf coast massif' will be there!!!
It looks like three world and his brother are all in hardtail category!!
I saw your name on the list kimbers... Will swing by and say hi!!!
DrP
I will be there trying not to be cooked alive or eaten by the course. I kinda feel sorry anyone who will be hitting trails later on down the other as the trail is going to get pretty blown.
Stupid.is they're pretty blown already! A bit of a shame the first race to use Quadzilla didnt tape the switchbacks and it got a straightline blown through the middle of them, it was such a nice bit of trail that.
If it stays dry then it'll be very dusty, i had a shorty up front last week and it was perfect in the thick dust.
I’ll be there, except, it clashes with the World Cup final...
so, it sort of depends how Wednesday goes.
I'll be there, although also dependent on wc final.
I'm in. The email from Scott mentioned that they are working on a way to show the football- and much as i'd like to see it, should we have a national interest in the game, loamy steepness, racing and camping take priority!?
I'll be there but due to a family commitment, I'm doing the Lite enduro instead of the full fat one. And I can't get there til Sunday morning so will be riding it blind...as enduros should be 😉
Hopefully see ya there Kimbers 👍
Saw the email today, no showers. How far is it to the sea to take a dip?
10 min drive, but it’s the Bristol Channel so you won’t get any cleaner...
I'm taking some Jerry cans and my worx hydroshot... That's my shower sorted!!
DrP
got some of the long range forecasts showing the weather breaking by the weekend...
I was book into the Lite version, however a week after booking it we found out that MrsBigman was pregnant with a due date of the 17th, pretty certain she isn't keen on me being over 3hrs away on my bike!
So if it is still possible to change enterants and someone wants an entry into the Lite enduro on sunday give me a shout.
I had to go to Minehead after work yesterday so took the bike and did my annual ride there to remind myself it's not as good as the Quantocks.
The trails are properly dry and dusty, and then there was the flies!!! I wish I'd taken a picture as on the climbs or whenever you stopped all 3 of us had a perfect halo made of flies around our heads.
Some of the trails could do with a few riders down them to knock all the ferns out of the way!
I can confirm the tracks are unbelievably loose, something like a shorty is a good shout. Hopefully the worst of it will get cleared off the tracks with lots of rider.
There will be at least 1 place to watch the football on site Sunday afternoon.
To late for entry swaps BTW.
good job I've ridden so little since winter I've still got a shorty on...
Currently I have a box of bits, with a frame somewhere between the Netherlands, Trek UK & the shop I ride for. If it turns up on Thursday, I will try and build it in the evening & inbetween 'working' from home on Friday & going to a wedding.
Worst case, I'll be on a borrowed bike. Either that, or I can run down the tracks, right?
Tyre choice is the least of my worries this weekend it would seem!
I find it had to believe you don't have 2 bikes, you need a fun(non carbon) hardtail.
<span style="display: inline !important; float: none; background-color: transparent; color: #222222; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I find it had to believe you don’t have 2 bikes, you need a fun(non carbon) hardtail</span>
I do have a HT, but it is also missing some bits currently!
Basically, i'm not winning, when it comes to bikes right now...
Hob-Nob.
You can use a T-130 if you want mate. You'll have to come to Berks to get it though.
@weeksy - Thank you for the offer, I've got a borrowed bike from the shop worst case, and i'd be far to worried about breaking something on someone elses bike!
I'm still hoping to have something built in the nick of time...
Well my decision on going and racing or not has become a lot simpler!
Missing practice for the losers final? 😉
Yay superfi, when you arriving, what you doing for food etc?
I'll be taking my mini BBQ
Screw the losers final lol!
I was planning on taking some bbq food and crash in on someone's bbq... 🙂 I'm going light, was just going to take a kettle, burner and coffee. I'm not sure what time I'll get there, got kid arrangements to sort out, will txt you.
It'd be nice to watch the DH world cup Saturday afternoon, Practice can wait for a bit.
Superfli/ Kimbers....
We’re coming up from Sussex with a couple of BBQs and such... keep an eye out for our huge green tent, a truck on stilts, and a really distinct grey Octavia....!
DrP
So who likes steep and tight then?
How the hell do you embedded something in this thing?!?
and that corner is way steeper than it looks there.
I look forward to a face first landing then!
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<div class="bbp-reply-content">I had to go to Minehead after work yesterday so took the bike and did my annual ride there to remind myself it’s not as good as the Quantocks.
The trails are properly dry and dusty, and then there was the flies!!! I wish I’d taken a picture as on the climbs or whenever you stopped all 3 of us had a perfect halo made of flies around our heads.
Some of the trails could do with a few riders down them to knock all the ferns out of the way!
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<div class="bbp-reply-content">I had to go to Minehead after work yesterday so took the bike and did my annual ride there to remind myself it’s not as good as the Quantocks.
The trails are properly dry and dusty, and then there was the flies!!! I wish I’d taken a picture as on the climbs or whenever you stopped all 3 of us had a perfect halo made of flies around our heads.
Some of the trails could do with a few riders down them to knock all the ferns out of the way!
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since had the littleun almost a year ago not made it back up to hopcott/dunster wood whatever people call it. agree quantocks better, but some nice quantocks trails - like the seven wells wood one are also a fight through ferns (this sat just gone).. fwiw the small pocket of trails at rowberrow beat the hopcott lot too..
So what’s the deal with seeding. Does that just determine the time you set off in the morning, or do we have a defined starting order/time at each stage?
fwiw the small pocket of trails at rowberrow beat the hopcott lot too..
I'm struggling to see what Rowberrow has that's better than the trails in/around Hopcott. But then I prefer Hopcott over Quantocks too. All good riding though.
Seeding is just to determine start order for race day, so you end up around people the same speed.
You shouldn't need to overtake mid stage.
I figured that was probably but I remember the enduro1 races where you had a defined start time for each stage and penalties if you were there late. It sucked.
Okay so I'm getting excited now. The sun is shining and the forecast set to fair. I'm not sure how I will cope.....
Did I see somewhere there was a kids track?
I've got to entertain my daughter all day tomorrow so might come down for a burger and do a bit of watching as it's not far away.
Keep an eye out for ticks, I pulled 4 off me after Mondays ride there.
Back home, bit scorched round the edges and my big toe is going a funny colour thanks to stage 2. Results weren’t great but good weekend anyway.
More portaloos next time, McDonald’s got a lot of visits on Sunday morning...
Had a good weekend, They were all pretty steep but St2 was a bit too steep for me.
I thought having seeding on Saturday evening was a really good bit of planning, it created a great atmosphere with everyone watching the wipe outs on the final corner.
Liked the nice little trail on the way to St3, a chance to get some confidence back after St2.
Downsides. Toilets were shocking by Saturday evening, was that awful music Saturday night coming from the tent in the race village or from someone camping?
Yeah was great fun, but yeah, toilets were looking grim!
reggae band on saturday night were great, drum n bass dj afterwards was a bit 90s ! 🙂
was excellent stages though, good mix, but I never found my mojo & the heat was seriously hurting me by the last few stages
next year Ill have to bring the family
are the results online?
last corner comedy
Haha, I went down that upside down on my back in practice, great event Bogs and Bass aside.
My mojo stayed at home too I think.
was that awful music Saturday night coming from the tent in the race village or from someone camping?
Were you the guy shouting about it about 11ish? Got put down pretty quick with a ‘it’s not a ****ing xc race’ heckle, made me chuckle.
I actually really enjoyed the weekend. Raced like a chump, but actually enjoyed the riding a lot. I found 4-7 flowed a lot better, but liked the mix of stuff overall. There were a lot of scared faces on 1-3, loved the steep stuff, but my 800mm bars probably weren't the one on the tighter bits.
Crossed the line in 8th, last time I checked I was in 12th so if I ended up anywhere round there, i'll be happy from a combination of not really feeling the racing and being on a loaner bike 🙂
The toilets were a bit special too!
can see a couple people i know were there via strava. the thing that kills me at that place is the elevation.. can anyone relate the stages to the trail names? i;m guessing doris-doris-doris was the steep one leegee entioned above? preceeded by the "coutour caper" (9not much going on a part from a single steep drop part way across it.)
not familiar with all the trails there.. (but am with others that werent used 🙂 )
stage 1 doesn't look like it has a strava segment
quadzilla was stage 2 (the steep one)
doris doris doris was stage 3.
car wash to snake was the bottom of stage 4, the top was newly cut in.
bumhole was stage 5
deerstalker was stage 6
stage 7 doesnt look like it has a segment
Stage 5 was mint come race day. My favourite, as there was multiple line choices in a lot of corners 🙂
and the nice one on the way to st3 was ranscombe contour caper (basically a traverse, quite nice, but pedally after the drop IIRC)
wish i could get up there again and explore some of the ones i've not ridden..will get the time eventually,,
think i'm right in saying the later stages that guy above said hob nob said flow better were built a couple years ago for this event.. by lee carter + crew... rest were already in place
Was not quite DFL, but came close. Any pointers on becoming not rubbish?
Still had a great weekend, love enduro, the also rans get pretty much the same experience as the good fellows.
Apart from the loos, horrific on Sunday morning when I could hold no longer.
I actually preferred the stages 1-3! Although I had a big pedal strike on 2 on the traverse, which sent me over the bars and bike flying. Gutted as that would have been by far my best stage. Couldn't get any flow on 5-7, but I've always had trouble with spotting line choices and lots of twists/turns.
Weekend was superb though! Race format was spot on, hardly any queuing and no overtaking due to seeding. The seeding run late Sat was great in keeping everyone watching the calamities of the finish line!
We camped over the road, in posh campsite (with 1 shower -luxury!), so didn't have to endure the campsite toilets 😉
Was a great weekend, I felt like I was riding well for once, and finally recovering after a bad year for injuries last year. Got 14th in masters, with one crash, and best of all 7th on one stage. Had a sketchy overtake on the steep chute at the bottom of stage 2.
The loos were poor, UK gravity enduros don't have any more, but they get them cleaned/ pumped out so they aren't that bad.
Big lesson learnt on the loos, 20+ next year and pumped Saturday afternoon. Bigger skip too.
Just rode/cleared all the stages they are running great and should be prime for the Ex if anyone is doing it(highly recommended).
Please be aware stages 4-7 are on private land and if lots of people ride them out of races it could have a negative impact on Southern Enduro and the Ex using them again.
Thanks everyone for coming and making the event successful.
Scott
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Southern Enduro </span>
What a BRILLIANT weekend!!
I didn't partake in the 90s D+B disco...but us Southern lot had a cracking time chilling by the tent, with 2 great days riding and racing.
Loved the seeding format - bar the odd outlier, it worked REALLY WELL, and us in teh HT category finished pretty much as the seeding run suggested...
Thanks for listening about the loos - a few more, and get them cleaned each day!
Loved the trails - proper good they were!
Tent up before most people arrived...
Hangin' off the back on section 2...
DrP
(doing the Ex too... is that going to be similar trails?!)
Sorry I missed you DrP, I thought we were camping in the event field, but my mates who brought my bike and tent (I was on motorbike), had other plans.
The EX covers party much all the trails on that hill plus some more on neighbouring hills. See you there!
Edit. Don't think s6 is in it
Coolio....
You heading up from Pompey to the Ex??
I'm heading from Worthing on my lonesome.... Happy to pick people up on the way?
DrP
Possible DrP. I'll message you closer to date (messenger)
'kay..
DrP
Came up for a quick razz in the Lite race on Sunday, stages 5-7 were as rad as I remembered from last year and enjoyed the new stage 4 too. Had a lot of fun racing blind and surprisingly finished 4th, which was nice.
Race report now up on my https://orena45blog.wordpress.com/2018/07/16/race-report-southern-enduro-championships-lite-2018-exmoor /" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blog if anyone fancies a read.
👍
One upside to the toilets, I now have 3 litres of finest beer based cat repellent.
I’m not sure how the skip was so full, I took home a small carrier bag of rubbish, most of which was recyclable. I did notice a lack of bins outside the food stalls.
Hopefully next year I’ll be less dependant on painkillers and further from last.
"More portaloos next time"
You would of thought they learn from last year!
Same thing, not enough & they where v bad Sat night Sunday.
“More portaloos next time”
You would of thought they learn from last year!
Same thing, not enough & they where v bad Sat night Sunday.
Yes fair point, we doubled them lasts year, lots more people camped this year and loads more spectators. probably because of the nice weather.
As I said lesson learnt, more and emptied on sat afternoon next year.
Chatted to the marquee people after the event and these are recommended so will look at getting some nicer toilets as well as more. https://exmoorluxuryloos.co.uk/
I avoided the toilet issue by being too dehydrated most of the time to need the use of one...
Loved the riding there, some of which I'd recce'd in the autumn, and loved the steep stuff, especially 2 and the last part of 5. Ironically, i'm fine on the steep stuff, but i need to work on keeping speed up on the twisty/rooty/loose/pick-a-line stuff. Happy with my lowly 49th in Vets though.
Thought camping was great, took the family and it worked really well, so hoping to do the same next time. More D'n'b discooo too, i was with the kids in my roof tent and they didn't get why i was bouncing around instead of sleeping!