[Closed] Vallelujah - what to expect?

[i]what to expect?[/i]

double posts?

Yeah hit send post twice by accident... oops!

cold extremities

i think ive done the last 2 years and I always end up fumbling with numb hands to get my soaking wet riding kit off!

its not as long as other races there but the weather can make it feel tougher, so plenty of energy food you like (though they have good cake stops)

and yeah go and practice steep, muddy stuff, lots of it

Slop

Done it once before and planning to do it this year.

As above when I did it it was cold and wet but fun! Was some happy chatty types at the back of the pack.

I'm planning a few trips to the Golfie trails as prep this time.

Apart from last year which I missed and had lovely weather with people lying in the sun getting a tan, it's been cold, wet, windy, snowing, raining, did I mention cold?

Top Tip: Take more than one pair of gloves for when your first pair are either soaked through or covered in mud and too slippery to hold your grips. I went through 3 pairs but then I do fall off a lot.

Trails: natural, steep and muddy rather than trail centre although last year did include a lot of Glentress because of the logging at the Golfie/Cademuir.

Practice wise, I will be riding:

[b]Golfie[/b]
Repeat Offender
3G
Community Service

[b]Glentress[/b]
Five Year Plan
Ponduro
Zoom or Bust

But, I think this year they may be re-visiting Yair.

It was my first Enduro a couple of years ago. Great fun.

Nothing was too steep and the mud is surprisingly grippy up there.
They seem to set the course quite close to the event, so I assume they take the weather into consideration.

There were a couple of off-camber roots to catch you out, but tripoding through those kind of things should see you right and not lose too much time.

Weather was horrible, so we were glad of the Hydro afterwards on both days.

Of course, one man's steep is another man's mellow, so YMMV.

Noooo!! not Yair the last time they rode there, it took over a year for the trails to recover, a total shitfest.

The forecast for this year is much improved- starts out lava, with heavy AIDS showers later in the day, with wind from the north-west of Cthulhu's lower anus.

Thanks for the advice guys, I already paid a few days ago so I guess I'm just gonna have to suck it up no matter what it is! Sheffield based so won't be able to practice on nearby trails but very spoilt in what's available to me so plenty to go and do

Cold isn't too much of an issue, I'm going with guys faster than me so as long as they don't ditch me for being too slow I should be moving enough to keep warm. I'll take 2 pairs of gloves though!

Vid on youtube from last year doesnt look too bad - some steep stuff that I'll just have to hold my breath and send it on but it's complemented by a lot of mellower flowy stuff that I'm more than happy.

I've done the nan bield pass without any tripoding - I can see this'll be sloppier, but is it much harder/steeper than that?

If you can clean Nan bield you are a riding god, just stay off the brakes, speed is youre friend etc, it's a race afterall.

PS. Northwind you forgot the great flood, the sacrificing of the firstborn before the race.

Haha, cheers fergal, good advice, I just need to get out and ride more and it'll be fine. Thanks to all for the insight, I'm sure it'll be great once I'm there!

[i]Sheffield based[/i]

Go ride Wharcliffe. Not as long, but similar kind of slidey rooty rocky gunge. Learn to be loosely precise (or precisely loose).

If you can clean the [i]Harter fell approach to[/i] Nan bield you are a riding god.

FTFY.

Ive did all the vallehujah's , if you can ride the off piste at Gt you will be fine, what I would say theres a slight difference between just riding the off piste and actually racing it,suppose that goes for all the stages, possibly 3 different trails may be one stage etc, if I rememeber correctly Boundray trail, Hush Hush (5year plan) and Deliverence was one stage last year,quite tough going to actually race, if your just going out to enjoy the day and not looking for a top 10 finish you will be fine 😉

I've done the nan bield pass without any tripoding - I can see this'll be sloppier, but is it much harder/steeper than that?

Nan Bield isn't steep

The Golfie isn't really technical either, swings and roundabouts.

But it is steep.

doubledunter
If I rememeber correctly Boundray trail, Hush Hush (5year plan) and Deliverence was one stage last year,quite tough going to actually race, if your just going out to enjoy the day and not looking for a top 10 finish you will be fine

You do indeed. It was stage 2. I was timing marshal at the finish and there were a lot of tired riders at the end of that stage. Also a lot of punctures and a few knackered rims. Deliverance is tough on wheels at the speeds some of the riders achieve.

I on the other hand have never punctured there. 🙂

The Golfie isn't really technical either, swings and roundabouts.

You are correct, i was generalising, did think it was a pretty dumb thing to say after posting 😀 plus the fact that the faster you ride the more technical it becomes, i'm more steady away, pre jumping over roots into the steeps on the likes of Wolf of wall street is way beyond me, but the wads are doing this, i can only dream. Repeat offender at the other end of the difficulty spectrum, is more point and shoot to me, with more momentum all the little rooty drops balance out, riding well it feels great, rusty with little momentum and it's i don't remember this feeling so bloody awkward.

A lot of you are saying that it will be steep, last year was anything but, and the weather was amazing but the tracks have been getting tamer. Racing spooky woods, an 11minute black xc run with that long ending, The bitch, matrix ponduro was probably the most technical of the day and finished with Zoom or bust to one of the Janet's brae decents.

All in all I thought it was an XC race. Said it all when the announcer in the start village said he was surprised by the amount of XC circuit guys were there. It's been getting easier since the first year in Yair which was wild. If it went back there i'd be interested but not in what it has become over the last three years.

doubledunter - Member

if I rememeber correctly Boundray trail, Hush Hush (5year plan) and Deliverence was one stage last year,quite tough going to actually race

Did they run it all the way to the bottom? I was end marshall for the international when it stopped just at the wee bridge, one of the Masters brothers was pissing and moaning about how long it is, he didn't like it when I said he'd ridden the shortened easy version 😆 Love that stage, it can run down Mild Peril now as well.

And yeah it is The Glorious Five Year Plan, none of this hush hush pish.

It's been getting easier since the first year in Yair which was wild.

Only because of the conditions though, would’ve been fairly tame otherwise

I’ve done all of them and it’s definitely easier than say king of the hill but then that’s the whole point I think , it’s meant to be a good introduction to the sport which I think it manages pretty well .
I suppose with the wether we had for the first 2 probably affected the course choice last year but I thought it was spot on , yair was great but probably bit subject to conditions and I believe local politics, nd the second year was was one of my favourite days on the bike ever , although I’m not sure I would of said that queuing for stage 5 , not sure I have ever been so wet and cold .
OP you will have a great time , for prep if your comfortable with trail centre stuff maybe try and find some off piste stuff at your local one but other than that just enjoy it , and maybe start a what tyre thread 🙂

Did they run it all the way to the bottom?

Yeh, more or less, just back a bit from redemption climb..

It's been getting easier since the first year in Yair

I would say its been getting better since Yair, Yairs trails were a shambles and didnt hold up at all,mainly due to the weather leading up to the race ,an absolute lottery to ride, Yair trails were no more techinical than any of the other Vallehujahs

2nd year, Gt and Cademuir was a little more techinical than last year I would say, not helped by the horrendous weather conditions,

Have to remember its set out to be an easier day than K&Q and International but still be a challenge.

Yeah, I thought Yair was a bit of a failed experiment tbh. I love riding there but they'd had trouble getting good stages together (double decker was the only one that actually worked as a complete stage afaic though I don't know what the cancelled one would hve been like, it had no weather durability, and the locations were all really awkward

I actually decided not to race it- I enjoyed the practice day, especially the mud flume at the end which was just hilarious, but it just felt like so much [i]effort[/i], about halfway through I stopped thinking about riding stages and started just having fun doing short sections (like you'd usually ride Yair), and the tarmac slog at the end to get back was kind of the last straw. Still glad I entered though, it was a good day