Ae Forrest Enduro – Anyone done it?

Has anyone done the Ae Forrest and Naughty Northumbrian enduros?

How does Ae compare? Easier or harder?

Thinking of a last minute Ae entry after the Naughty cancellation.

Cheers

Ae is easier / more straightforward than the naughty for sure. I mean either could be harder depending on the choices of the organisers, but normally it is tougher at the naughty.

Have done both (ae was a while ago Tbf)

But yeah Naughty is much tougher

Also considering Ae,!

Ae has a lot of potential but also means different events can take pretty different approaches, it used to be the absolute poster boy for “riding red climbs the wrong way is an enduro stage” and also “riding a really long way for no apparent reason” but equally there’s so much excellent offpiste and some of it and the dh can be taped up in a bunch of different ways.

So it’s basically hard to know what you’re going to get til you get there. But I’d be pretty optimistic for a good course for this one.

“there’s so much excellent offpiste and some of it and the dh can be taped up in a bunch of different ways”

I asked what the course is going to be last Tuesday, it wont use any of the existing red trails, it’ll be mostly the off-piste stuff (stumpy/red & blue rum, grazers, tttt etc), with an occasional bit of the black if they need it, but they are trying to keep the mainstream trails clear, so it doesnt affect usual users. That side of the hill/forest is pretty clear of the waymarked trails anyway. The Scottish Downhills was held there a couple of months back, that didnt touch on any of the waymarked trails.

Well I’ve signed up

Bring on the glorious dry trails!

the course map is out, 5 stages, 3 look to be the same as pmba ae last year (s2,s4,s6). see rider briefing

its nice and mixed up, we’ve got the long ‘climb of absolute f*cking… Hell’ strava segment split up (s1 & s5), last year they were stage 5 & 6 (252m 5.84km), so went up the same hill 4 time in a row.

could be a little wet 38mm rain due today and 28mm thursday, otherwise dry

I’d imagine they’d use full Scrambled Eggs and Quarry Trail as well as the trails mentioned already?

Not least ‘cos the climb isn’t so soul-destroying over that side, but they’d be good to race IMO.

yeah scrambled eggs s2 last year is s4 this time, quarry trail s1 last year isnt being run

looks like s1 has a fireroad sprint..

https://www.pmbaenduro.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/5-stage-final-champs-STAGES-550×778.jpg

Ah right, Craigshields will make a cracking stage too eh.

looks like s1 has a fireroad sprint..

At least it’s not a muddy uphill sprint like at Kirroughtree the other year :D

kev does like to test :0)  , i’ve only ridden AE the once so dont know that one,  i do like the fact you’ll be passing the car/van 3x in the ride. will be carrying very little, with a supply of food and drink bottles ready to go

i’ve only ridden AE the once so dont know that one

It’s a reasonably long, sort of flowy-techy trail that was salvaged from a clear cut hillside – the rest are all in the trees (apart from first half of Scrambled Eggs).

I haven’t ridden/raced there since 2015!   UKGE

So it’s pretty much all new to me, now just got to get my bike sorted

Are the trails all easy enough to find? I may pop by today instead of the planned Inners visit as I’m driving south from Edinburgh.

Yeah, if you have Trailforks.

Stage 4 is a bit different too this year- Toddy’s Ticker instead of Scrambled Eggs.

If I were going, I’d be praying for dry weather until Sunday, as section 5 was total mud, start to finish today. Some people are keen, quite a few there this evening trying out the routes.

27mm of rain due tomorrow then dry on my weather app..

Well there’s certainly some mud and roots and rocks, it’s a proper race

I’m way off the pace but it’s great

Currently in Dumfries eating the world’s least healthy pizza as while there’s a bar, there’s no food wagon at the race!

I survived, not my best result but I did beat my mate and is its the only race Im doing this year I claim 100% victory over him for 2024

Tough stages, I think Kev was a bit emotional, but he put on a great swansong, good mix of trails

Stage 1 was a bit rocky rooty, muddy, mix of DH track and fresh stuff long uphill fire road sprint midstage was brutal, I bottled the road gap but plenty were sending it,

Stage 2 was fun technical but good flow, not as muddy as practice but still energy sapping in places, another horrible fireroad climb

stage3 had some very techy rock stuff, saw someone with a  very smashed up face getting medic treatment in practice so took that one a bit too easy, but made it down with no crashes

stage 4 had a final very steep push up to it which hurt, then starts into deep slop that hadnt dried out and was , pretty physical all the way down, plenty of roots to catch you out

stage 5 the final climb was a monster long drag, but the stage itself was really fast and fun, still some mud in places and line choice was crucial in some bits and I totally missed a few ended up stuck in the wrong ruts

Really enjoyed it, crying shame Kev is finishing, but All Good Things…

Time and cash allowing,  Id love to do a bit more racing again next year, but only if all the races were as good as this

Breaking it down entry: £95, Fuel £80, food and race stuff £30, Id just fully serviced my bike, including dropper seals, all frame and headset bearings and air can and lower leg oil change, new tyre and wheel true, add all those things up its not cheap! a lot of people there on teams- forces have several, a lot of shop teams , if you can use that to take some of the costs its great, but for joe punter- Im probably spending £250 a race, now BITD I used to do the UKGE series, and while it was a bit cheaper, its never been a free hobby, you can see why race series are struggling now, with cost of living squeeze and ebikes adding in extra cost and making races less worth it (I know theres an ebike cat but youre paying the same entry fee top race the same route, just in a lot less time)

Good write-up. Any pics?

Pics on R&R

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event12386/2024-aug-18-hope-pmba-enduro-2-ae-forest/photos/

Yeah I never stop to take pics, which I always regret, can I add the cost of R&R pics to my overall bill for the weekend

Those are the trails we do on a Tuesday night. There are some far harder ones available (Rambo et al), I dont ride the harder ones, far too steep for me, in fact some of the Enduro course are a bit too steep for me. As for the Shredder, with the road gap jump, that isnt too hard, quite rooty at the top, then opens up and is just a fast trail.
I did the Red yesterday, I do like that, loads of climbing, I used to hate it, but my fitness is slowly coming back now, so its nowhere near as difficult for me now, in fact I caught a number of people on the 22 bends climb as they were heading up for one of the sections yesterday (possibly Craigshields?). I thought there would be far more people there, what was slightly annoying was the amount of vans in the normal car park, which shouldnt have been there, as thats why the 2 fields were rented out, to keep the normal car park available for the usual users. Also, the cafe was empty at 12 noon, did it get busier before/after?

22 bends climbs, the zigzags, it was actually a nice climb,

a great few days riding and racing (making up the numbers only ;0) )  my x2 shock blew on saturday so went into the bike shop to see if they could have a look, possibly the best service i’ve ever had in a bike shop, lent me a shock for the race, and when i got back mid afternoon sunday they had stripped down my shock and rebuilt, the problem , no grease on it, so seals had failed. (clearly the fox service centre warranty rebuild a few months back wasn’t done very well.)

no crashes but well off pace. a better tyre upfront would have helped, an assegai was useless on s4 and the top half of s5.

lesson learned….

Great couple of days racing, the stages ran well considering the traffic, and another vote of thanks for Kev, he puts a lot of work into his events. With a bit of luck he’ll be back.

The marshals and support were immense. A wee heads-up for the trail crew- they’ll have their work cut out getting some of the trails back in order!