Simon/Mugboo - I think its the company that made Ard Rock back in the day so good as well 😉
Definitely👍
However both of them raced the non-ebike class, yet neither of them has been disqualified unlike the others who did the same.
Josh has a ebike category win on R&R while Peat has no listing.
I don't get the ebike entering the proper bike race when an ebike race is available. Seems to just be a narcissistic (and youtube view hunting) way of overtaking loads of people on transitions and uphill parts of the stages, and possibly blocking people on the descents. Just another "look at me, look at me, won't somebody please look at me!"
I don’t get the ebike entering the proper bike race when an ebike race is available.
The way I read it was that he (Tom) was invited to the event by the organisers and neither side considered which category he would actually be riding in.
@ayjaydoubleyou the bosch ebike race only came out a few months back, so long after people had entered/paid
late 22..
has anyone seen the clips of the ebike race, they stopped for afternoon tea at a lovely house with expansive views of the moors, a full spread / banquet with mini beef/gravy yorkshire puddings, tea coffee, toilets et al.
those ebikers are a real pampered lot.
i appreciated the water/ote cerial bar/jelly babies at the bottom of three and a yearly dose of redbull between s5 and s6
it seems the results are going through amendments as peaty is now showing 118/301 in 40-50 age, yesterday it showed him as N/C
Josh has a ebike category win on R&R while Peat has no listing.
2 completely different races. Bryceland and Peaty raced on the Saturday on their ebikes in the non-ebike race. Bryceland then raced again on the Sunday in the ebike specific race.
Is it really the "UK's toughest enduro" as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?
I haven't done it, but I thought it was just a decent day out with moderate technicality?
I'd be more daunted by something like the PMBA epic at Grizedale/Graythwaite.
I thought the hike a bike transitions at Ard Moors made it a tougher day out than Ard Rock.
Some of the stages I've done in the PMBAs at places like Grizedale have been far more tech than Ard Rock stages... Ard Rock is, no doubt about it, a big day out. The transitions are big and the stages are generally pretty long but apart from the odd feature, as you can see from the video, they're not techy.
Tom Cardy... dull as dishwater.
I would say Ard Moors is a harder/bigger day out than Ard Rock.
Both enjoyable mind!
Well that guys a bit of a walloper! Plus it's a transition, not a transit!
'Ard Rocks a great and fairly big day out but the stages aren't techy really, they're a bit sketchy in the wet with it being limestone.
I've not done them but PMBA Graithwaite and the Naughty Northumbrian are both supposed to be a good bit harder riding.
This
When you enter you tick an ebike box. Maybe if you don’t tick it no one actually cares and your result stands with only your mates to call you out.
You were allowed to ride the Saturday Enduro on an eeb if you ticked the box. It was clear you'd get a n/c result.
Whether what you actually rode, is what you said you would ride when you ticked/didn't tick the box, is neither here nor there.
I rode the Saturday Enduro on my Amish bike and yep there were plenty of eebs around...but it created no problem whatsoever from what I experienced.
I'm not sure why people are getting upset about it???
Regarding Tom cardy not sure why he's getting so much flaming. He seems like a nice guy who really can ride a bike. A bit boring at times, but I'm not offended by him in any way shape or form.
all IMHO (top midpack)
UKs toughest enduro, for an amateur like me, no its not, but it depends what you are used to, if you ride 60+ miles and 6k feet a week with back to back days, fairly fit and enjoy big weekends/days out in the pennines/peaks/lakes then ardrock will be easier.
if you ride steep tech woodland/loam, then other enduros will be easier..
pmba G&G lakes was far tougher for me, techier and difficult to ride stages, and numerous push/carry bike transitions, i found pmba AE tougher, again steep techy , but fairly easy (but long and tiring) transitions (x4 fire road).
tweedlove vallujah is again another level of difficult, as i see Naughty northumbrian.
ardmoors, the transition are far tougher especially 3-4 and 6 back to finish. i'd say the stages are easier though as it has far more flow than ardrock. was chatting to a top10 rider at ardmoors who said that kev duckworth doesnt like flow. i'd tend to agree, although clearly the top riders find it..
as for guy kes, anyone riding a tandem would find it difficult :0). i've tagged a few pics from the weekend
https://www.rootsandrain.com/rider10742/guy-and-freya-kesteven/photos/filters/venues632/years2023/
I’m not sure why people are getting upset about it???
I think I'd be a bit miffed about it if I'd done the race on my keep-fit bike but multiple people on e-bikes had ignored the e-bike specific category, raced in the keep-fit category and come higher.
Is it really the “UK’s toughest enduro” as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?
Nope. It's a big day out, of course, but from a technical point of view, it's fairly straight forward. I'm comparing it to the tougher PMBA rounds here and many other enduros I've done.
el_boufador
Full MemberI’m not sure why people are getting upset about it???
I think anyone that gets overtaken by an ebike has pretty good resaon to complain tbh. If I was racing it and someone caught me and I knew it was an ebike, they can **** off about getting let past, but even then having someone on your ass is distracting. Having the bikes mixed in is a terrible way to run a race, does anyone else do it? (except for exceptional cases, like, I know tweedlove has had some people with disabilities on ebikes but they were also on instruction not to interfere with the other racers- they were "riding the race" not racing)
Seperate ebike races are the only way to do it.
chakaping
Free Member
Is it really the “UK’s toughest enduro” as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?
I've done both and the Naughty Northumbrian is another level compared to Ardrock, stages are shorter and a lot steeper, its definitely a harder day out all-round and everyone i know thats done both has said the same
Very singletrack POV but why on earth are people allowed to do Ardrock on e-bikes?
It's long and hilly enough that last year I was riding past ebikers on the climb to the 4th stage who had them turned off as they were worried about battery life. Pushing a 25kg bike up the hill after stage 4 didn't look much fun either. All enduros should have at least one transition that's unrideable on an ebike to make them suffer like the rest of us.
I think anyone that gets overtaken by an ebike has pretty good resaon to complain tbh.
Okay, maybe I'll qualify it a bit.
If you are at the pointy end competing with Fergus Lamb and that lot then maybe, yeah, it would be cause for complaint if an eeb gave an unfair advantage or impeeded you in some way.
But for a general mid pack punter such as myself (100th ish out of /300 ish vets), I personally don't see a problem... unless you're the type to take your own mediocrity a little bit too seriously 😜
And as above, nobody on an eeb was breaking the rules if they ticked the box correctly and got an n/c result.
I had to stop a few times to scrape mud out of my eye balls. I reckon all those softies with goggles on should be docked a couple of minutes, then I might have come 103rd instead of 113th 🤣
@Mugboo thats why we all picked this weekend just gone to have afew days in the Tweed Valley, great riding with much less faff (better weather too this year!) That said I still want to ride Ardrock again, but the size of the event sets my anxiety off no end TBH
Having watched a few things from his and Karas channels, she comes scores as quite genuine and watchable but inexperienced and learning, he comes across as a total throbber constantly way too close to her when following such that she complains about it on camera and keeps doing those really crappy little skids to “whip” the tail out on trails for no apparent reason. So none of this comes as a surprise for me!
Matt Jones he ain't.
What bugs me about him is he is so condescending towards his girlfriend, never letting her have a say, and doing her down cos "it's difficult"
He never says anything that might help me improve my riding, it's always all about him.
Was really surprised to see that Tom Oehler had sold out to Haibikes, and to see him on insta getting welcomed to the haibike family by Tom cardy and kara seemed like Oehler had made a bad call
What a tool. Definitely in my top 5 MTB arsehole influencers, maybe top 3.
I’ve done Ard Rock a few times. I’ve ridden bikes for years. I’m not really on social media, you lost me here…
Was really surprised to see that Tom Oehler had sold out to Haibikes, and to see him on insta getting welcomed to the haibike family by Tom cardy and kara seemed like Oehler had made a bad call
el_boufador
Full MemberBut for a general mid pack punter such as myself (100th ish out of /300 ish vets), I personally don’t see a problem… unless you’re the type to take your own mediocrity a little bit too seriously
I'm a total mid-packer but even so, I'm not racing against the pointy end guys, I'm racing against myself and my fellow mid-packers, usually against my mates who're also mid-packers. At some point, though, there's a line between racing and not racing and throwing e-bikers into the midst and then saying "yeah but they're not actually racing, they get an NC" is just not an answer, when they're in there with everyone that is. And the second you say "well if you're an also-ran why does it matter if you lose 20 seconds", you're saying to them "why are you even here? Why are you paying us money when you're not really racing"? At that point I think I'd finally agree with GW and folks who say "just go and ride the trails on another day"
The categories seemed like a right dogs dinner this year, having to pull over and loose time for someone on an e-bike isn’t cool.
As for hardest, some of the Tweedlove stuff makes Ardrock look like flat.
Kara gets a LOT of online stick because she is sponsored by Haibike, TSG and a couple of other biggish name brands, but is seen to not deserve it as she only got the deals because she's "going out with a Pro who's Sam Pilgrims mate" and "still a beginner" - after 5 years. Not to mention the many super talented riders that could really do with a helping sponsorship
I've met both of them at our local Bike Park, they're a very nice couple. Always chatting to the youngsters etc. Although a bit dull - he is actually a very good rider, but does seem to spend more time pushing Karas channel and her "progression" than his own. But, if it works for them....
The categories seemed like a right dogs dinner this year, having to pull over and loose time for someone on an e-bike isn’t cool.
Kara Beal put her on video up on YT yesterday. She was absolutely crawling along, but was then having some clearly very good riders overtaking her. She was less critical of the people over taking her than Tom was. I thought most people who over took her were very courteous, maybe with the exception of 1 person.
Does appear that something went very wrong that they put her in with much much faster riders. Not fair on her or the other riders.
I haven’t done it, but I thought it was just a decent day out with moderate technicality?
I'd say it's a big day for most folks. I've done it twice, and the weather on the second trip made it pretty hard work. The route's fairly exposed the whole way around, so it can feel full on and while the stages aren't woodsy-tech like a lot of other enduro events, they are quite long by comparison and some are over loose and off-camber. It's easy for it to go wrong quite quickly, add to that long transitions and everyone's cooked at the start of every stage.
Is it really the “UK’s toughest enduro” as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?
I haven’t done it, but I thought it was just a decent day out with moderate technicality?
No.
As above, even their own event Ard Moors is 'harder'.
Does appear that something went very wrong that they put her in with much much faster riders. Not fair on her or the other riders.
I always thought there was some management of start times to avoid this kind of thing, or does that depend on riders being honest about their ability?
I think the difficulty is that Kara is a pro sponsored rider, so a pretty valid assumption would be that she can ride.
The blame lies with Kara and Tom. It really isn't hard to research the event and assess your own ability.
I agree that issues were compounded by ebikes. Isn't the solution simple, ebikes race on another day and aren't allowed in the enduro full stop. None of this n/c stuff
Does appear that something went very wrong that they put her in with much much faster riders. Not fair on her or the other riders.
I always thought there was some management of start times to avoid this kind of thing, or does that depend on riders being honest about their ability?
So I've only ridden Ard Rock once, but except at the pointy end of the 'pro' race on the Saturday (where people are going to be putting down their results at other races) it's all self assessed as you your level. And that's all gone to pot after a couple of transitions if people are riding those at different speeds anyway.
I found a few other people who were riding at a similar speed to me when I rode and after the first few stages we regrouped and set off around each other which meant most of the time we weren't catching people up or getting caught. Adding e-bikes to the mix is going to throw all that out as eeb's are going to transition faster and catch people on any stage with climbing. A shitty idea to allow them to mix with other riders.
Re the difficulty it's a big day out - the climbing and distance were pretty much what I'd do in a regular day out on the bike, but I was much more exhausted at the end of Ard Rock than I'd be normally.
I’m a total mid-packer but even so, I’m not racing against the pointy end guys, I’m racing against myself and my fellow mid-packers, usually against my mates who’re also mid-packers. At some point, though, there’s a line between racing and not racing and throwing e-bikers into the midst and then saying “yeah but they’re not actually racing, they get an NC” is just not an answer, when they’re in there with everyone that is. And the second you say “well if you’re an also-ran why does it matter if you lose 20 seconds”, you’re saying to them “why are you even here? Why are you paying us money when you’re not really racing”? At that point I think I’d finally agree with GW and folks who say “just go and ride the trails on another day”
Agree with everything NW says here. When I've done Ard Rock I'm more racing against my mates than aiming for the podium and so it does matter if you lose 20 seconds. Look at what 20 seconds difference makes at Ard Rock finish times...
Reading on the 3-Peaks rule change thread where they're boiling stuff down to being prescriptive about the types of axles you can run on your bikes... its really not difficult to have a seperate category for e-bikes and fire off those who can't be arsed pedalling early doors with real bikes going afterwards. Turn up to ride the non-e category on an e-bike and get turned away. Creates a far more even playing field when you have e-bikers chasing down other e-bikers etc. Just removes any aggro with a very simple change.
Do they let the eebs in with the normal bikes so that friend groups can ride together?
i had the misfortune to watch the ladies video
guiness world record for the most 'oh god / oh my god' comments in a 2hr video, although its under 10 mins..
such a shame she has got all those sponsors when their are so many talented kids and females who are much more deserving.
She was absolutely crawling along, but was then having some clearly very good riders overtaking her.
Just a guess, but from the vid they posted it was possibly because they both set off up the climb to the first stage with their ebikes on turbo/boost and caught/passed a lot of fast racers that weren't on ebikes. They then started the stage with said riders behind them and probably p****d a lot of people off by holding them up
At that point I think I’d finally agree with GW and folks who say “just go and ride the trails on another day”
They're all on private land and not really accessible outside of the race. The organisers specifically ask people not to ride them outside of the race to help maintain the viability of the event. I rode it last year on the Friday with no intention of racing, just to get round and enjoy it. There were a few clearly racing but I didn't see any conflict or people behaving like dicks. From spectating on the Saturday there were far more people taking it seriously alongside people who were really struggling to ride the stages.
Good luck to both of them. Lots of haters on here just jealous. Not watched the video in question but seen plenty of others without negative judgement. Seems ironic being criticised for being dull by middle aged middle management overweight IT guys on a forum 😉
Agree does though seems like their approach to the race was poorly thought out and planned.
Maybe look at Kara's sponsorship from marketing perspective? She started with no skills and now jumping better than most people on here, surely good for women to see, also encourages male partners to get their OHs involved.
I quite enjoy Tom & Kara's videos. Sometimes they can get a bit heavy on the "sick"s and "insane"s and other gnarly bro talk, but I find them very relatable, especially Kara's struggle with fear management.
I only see her Vids on Instagram and i have them on silent... i had no idea who her partner was and still don't, apart from his name lol.
That said, i think she's ACE in terms of progression and jumping and having the balls to hit certain things that clearly scare her. I don't care if she's fast or slow or whether she 'deserves' the sponsorship... i like her clips 🙂
Karas videos are quite good - relatable and sending out good role model messages. It’s nice to see a channel that’s not just a pro making things look easy. He makes various appearances on them and usually shows himself up by riding like a bit of a dick and talks down to her a lot.
