Looking at entering the EWS race in Scotland this year and just wondering what the format is over the weekend? Is it literally race one course Saturday and another course Sunday? What distances are involved/average times?
Thanks-in-advance
2014 race info.
yes
but you can practise from wednesday
4 stages saturday 55k
4 stages sunday 35k
lots of climbing
cant remember the times but i made all my cutoffs and im not the fastest, was hard tho!
It basically felt like 3 days of practice then 2 races. I think a lot of people took friday as a rest day.
I did two days of practice and two race days. 100 miles and 17,500 feet of climbing over that.
Different stages across the two days.
As long as you can manage +25 miles and +4000ft climbing [b]per day [/b]you'll be fine. 🙂
Did you find the practice essential (in light of you prob knowing the Tweed trails in general?) Would love a dig a this year's one (entries permitting), but would be restricted in getting up there earlier in the week for some practice.
Northwind - MemberIt basically felt like 3 days of practice then 2 races. I think a lot of people took friday as a rest day.
Posted 59 minutes ago # Report-PostBoardinBob - Member
I did two days of practice and two race days. 100 miles and 17,500 feet of climbing over that.
Did you find the practice essential
I rode pretty much nowhere else in the months leading up to it and I had a fair idea of what would be used. I wouldn't say that made it easier but at least I knew what was coming and I was happy I'd practiced on that type of terrain. The pro riders got a real shock but I wasn't too bothered by what they'd picked. Practice was very useful to get a look at other riders hitting lines, and lines developed over the 5 days. Plus the whole atmosphere across the week was just mind blowing. I still get a bit teary eyed thinking about it.
Conversely my two mates that had entered rode 50%+ of it blind with no practice, and they kicked my arse on pretty much every stage but they're two of the most naturally gifted riders I know.
if you can get up and ride weds/thurs then rest friday itd be good, but still very tiring!
Wed done ukge at inners teh weekend before and I had the family, so only managed wednesday practice (stages 1-5), then family rides on thursday, friday before racing
i was a mess on the following monday!
I'll be firing an entry in for this years tweedlove EWS. Got a couple of other things planned but I can give this a real go as I live a couple of hours away. 5 days is just brutal. Pacing your riding will be key.
I knew all the GT trails (built some of them!) but I actually hadn't ridden all of the golf course stuff. I could have ridden all of it blind but it'd have been very different, I'd have been surviving on the hardest ones at best. I can't say as I learn the trails in practice, I've not got that head for detail that you can see some folks do, but I know the general shape
And it makes such a difference on the pedallier stuff, knowing where you've got to blast it and where you've got to hold back, I felt like a fraud beating people in stage 1 just because of good management not good riding. But a smug fraud.
So just like any other enduro really, but more so.
Well as a southerner who's visited glentress maybe 5 times and never visited the Golfie trails I took a pounding from the terrain, no matter how many laps of swinley I put in, I'll never be prepared!
But despite the humiliation and pain I'll be back again for 2015
Thanks everyone - all this is excellent information
When is the entry out btW?
[i]Well as a southerner who's visited glentress maybe 5 times and never visited the Golfie trails I took a pounding from the terrain, no matter how many laps of swinley I put in, I'll never be prepared![/i]
Yep. It was a shock to my system too a couple of years ago when we moved to the Tweed Valley from the south. One of the first rides I did was the Golfie..., in full XC mode (fixed seatpost and spd's).
We're going about this all wrong, with these encouraging noises, we should be trying to put everyone off. The golfy stuff was all impossible, the glentress stuff was all pedally and boring, and riding back into the arena high fiving kids before being handed your victory beer definitely doesn't make you feel like a rock star. All in all it was total rubbish and I definitely wouldn't suggest anyone sign up for it this year, at least not til I've got my place
Entries go live on 29th Jan 😉
I went up on Thursday night last year having not ridden any of the trails. Spent Friday practicing the steepest trails (Saturday's stages at Caberston and Inners) and did Sunday on-sight. Seemed to work fine in terms of my results, I would have been exhausted if I'd tried to fit more practice into Friday. Glad I pre-visited Caberston though, it convinced me to take a full-face for the Saturday!
I'd raced the UKGE at Inners the week before but had to travel back to the NW for work, got up to Peebles Friday afternoon, then raced Sat/Sun completely blind.
After speaking to mates who stayed up and practised from Wednesday I got mixed feelings about the worth of practise, some got spooked by the severity of the tracks (The bad weather didn't help) and others were knackered from riding.
I was aprehensive about racing it blind but had no choice and actually really enjoyed it, picked the brains of a few riders about important bits to try and remeber but it was refreshing to ride it without knowing what was coming, just difficult to pace yourself throughout a stage.
I bagged 11th in the EWS2 (Still don't know why I entered 2?) so clearly something went well.
Best race I've done (Better than the Mega) for the sheer camaraderie, trails and spirit within the pits and Peebles as host venue.
Planning on re entering again this year.