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Highlights from the weekend. So much fun
What an incredible weekend! 9 hour drive up on Thursday afternoon (with a nice meal near Penrith) meant we were pretty tired on Friday so only managed to ride stages 6,7 and then 5 once each so we raced the rest blind (all first time racers and first timers at Inners!). 5 and 6 were the steepest stuff any of us had ever ridden so I'm pleased we got to try these once at least before the race.
Had a good first day on Saturday but was a little frustrated that we hadn't had chance to practice these stages, not necessarily to go much faster, but just because they were so much fun! The weather held up and we had a great first day. The second day was always going to be tough but the weather turned against us near the top of the climb as a hailstorm came in just as we started stage 4. It was great fun but the mud was going everywhere and again, it was a shame we hadn't had chance to ride it beforehand as it was a total hoot! When we got to the bottom, there was group who came down 10 minutes earlier who were all clean and dry who wondered where the hell we had come from! We heard later that the temperature had dropped 10 degrees in 30 minutes... Welcome to Scotland!
It was very wet and windy at the top of 5. No idea what happened but I managed to have a high speed off backwards into some trees on one of the fast traverses. Scared myself a little but nothing hurt so I hopped back up and had an OK-ish run through the rest of it. Clean through Jawbone but messed up a couple of the less tech sections when my brain switched off.
I enjoyed 6 - (Northwind - was that you who was giving us a pep talk telling us how short the stage was compared with the EWS version and that we should be thankful?!!! - If so, nice to meet you and thanks for doing such a great job along with all the other marshalls) - managed to ride the super techy bits cleanly but again dropped it a couple of times on the 'easier' bits including twice on the very bottom section once out of the woods crossing the stream!
7 was great fun - had what felt like a fast run and as I crossed the finish line I looked up to see my mate's bike flat across the track right in front of me. With hindsight I should've tried to ride over it but I grabbed the brakes and went OTB and managed to punch his chainring!! The GoPro footage is a little gory as my hand is stuck on there and leaves four clean teeth behind as I un-impaled it!!!
Turns out he'd hit the stump (possibly not the best thing to have in the middle of the track 2m after the finish line) and rag-dolled at high speed, thigh first into the tree.
One very dead leg and four perfect narrow wide holes in my finger but nothing is broken and we had an absolute ball.
I'll upload some GoPro clips when I get some time.
What a way to pop our Enduro cherries.. Unsure much else could live up to it with first class vibe, organisation, trails, marshalls and fun!
We'll be back...
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I think you might have caused the biggest laugh at marshal control ob1. One of the marshals reported a rider with tape on him = send somebody up to check for tape down. Ian at the stop of seven pipes up "he didn't have tape on him at the start so he must have picked it up on the stage". Thanks, that's really useful. Not sure why but we were rolling on the floor - I guess it broke the tension of a stressful day, which was nearly over !
hughjayteens - MemberNorthwind - was that you who was giving us a pep talk telling us how short the stage was compared with the EWS version and that we should be thankful?!!!
Aye, that was my recurring theme for the weekend! Lot of that at the bottom of stage 1 too, where usually you have to pedal it out all the way to the bottom through those endless up-down-right-hand-bends. Eddie Masters wasn't too impressed hearing he'd done the Lite version of the pedal 
Next day he comes up to me "Suppose you're gonna tell me this stage is normally longer too" "Well funny you say that..." "Aw **** off!".
Ob1 (& Hels) - i remember you! You were one of the last after repairing that section of tape umpteen times already, i was past caring for it. The original break was very early on - a guy came round at the speed only the winner got away with, hit the root, over the bars down the steep hill. Looked bad, he got straight back up...
As for you, not alone in hitting that tree and not having energy to heave your bike a foot backwards up the hill! Felt for you, you describe it well ?
Northwind - MemberNorthwind - was that you who was giving us a pep talk telling us how short the stage was compared with the EWS version and that we should be thankful?!!!
Aye, that was my recurring theme for the weekend! Lot of that at the bottom of stage 1 too, where usually you have to pedal it out all the way to the bottom through those endless up-down-right-hand-bends. Eddie Masters wasn't too impressed hearing he'd done the Lite version of the pedal Next day he comes up to me "Suppose you're gonna tell me this stage is normally longer too" "Well funny you say that..." "Aw **** off!".
Well we found the Lite version GNAR enough for our first attempt! Might be dropping you a line for some off piste trail tips or possibly some advice on local guides in September when we plan to come back for a weekend of non-racing!
They didn't take out any gnar really, just less pedalling! There's been gnarrerer days in the scottish series but mostly not really on purpose, more down to the weather.
Give us a shout any time, it's an excuse for a ride!