I wonder if it’s because the stages were on open slopes rather than in trees so there was a different sense of steepness or “I’m heading down THERE!!! if I mess up”. Pure guessing there. A typical bombhole is only a few metres deep and after that you know you are starting to head up and out of the other side, stick the same drop &steepness on an open hillside with more descent or maybe just a short flat section after and it might appear different.

PS, I’ve ridden up most of Blue Pig, there were just a couple of short sections I failed to clean, damp caused one, lack of oomph the other. So I’d agree – not steep!

agreed with all the comments.

Still buzzing though. hope i can get out to see how other folks are doing on our Wednesday ride.

I think next year id go in for the sprint so i could properly hit the beers on the sat. tbh i can see why they had it the other way round before.

To the organisers – PLEASE don’t dumb down the stages!!
Us southerners pray for a ride on hills like this! Make it worth our while 😉

DrP

For me the difficulty of the course was pretty much spot on – I certainly wouldn’t want it made any easier next year.

There’s footage on the website which should provide an idea of the technical difficulty to allow you to make a decision on whether the event is for you or not.

I don’t think they’ll make the main Enduro event any easier. But I believe the Sprint/Sport event may have easier (less-technical) stages for next year. Hopefully that keeps everyone happy 🙂 Anyway, lets see what the organisers deem best.

As I said previously it’s a shame but some of the riders we saw on Sunday were way out of their depth. As in no idea of how to ride down loose rocky stuff and that was just on stage 1. As for the enduro hero on that linky that is class. All the gear indeed….

it would be a shame to ruin it for folks if it was dumbed down.

It’s interesting – The group and I that came from the south are all quite competent riders (not bragging, just, well, we are!).

We rode everything without much hassle – the odd flat tyre.
On sunday I wandered up to the mid section of stage 1 (where there was the bad crash and diversion) and I think, from a spectator perspective, it’s fair to say that some of the features are pretty hard – I think you’d need to be ‘better’ than a ‘fair trail centre rider’ to deal with them, TBH.

Though I can see how the walkers/stoppers can be annoying if you’re trying to ride the whole thing at speed, I can understand how some may have bitten off more than they can chew..

DrP

I agree there was nothing too difficult in isolation, but I would say it’s too much of a step up for those who have only ridden train centres. The steep sections had a loose surface and there’s potential for serious injury if you go off line. The off cambers and switch backs would also be difficult if you’re not familiar with that sort of terrain.

This video was posted to the Ard Rock Facebook. As usual it doesn’t look as steep on Go Pro, but gives a good idea of the terrain.

We went down on the friday, to do the sport on the sunday. We were hoping to get a practice run in but were told it was only for saturday riders.
We went in the tent for a look around and the organisers said we could practice so quickly got changed and managed to get a shot of stage 1 and stage 2 in.

Never rode anything so steep and technical as that before but totally loved it.
Only grumble we had on the sunday was not starting till 11.30am, we then had to wait in a que for about 20-30 mins to get onto stage 1, then another 30 minute wait to get onto stage 2 as there had been a crash at the bottom.

One of our riders then had a few technical problems with bike which also slowed us down by another 30 odd minutes.

By the time we got section 4 finished it was nearly 4.30 and one of the lads on the motor bikes said they were cutting people off from doing section 5 as they reckoned it could take between 1 half to 2 hours. So we just rode back along the trails from section 2.

Was still a class weekend, but doesn anyone know where i could buy a t-shirt from? Missed out on getting one as had ran out of money and no banks.

it would be a shame to ruin it for folks if it was dumbed down

Agreed Andy. Hopefully the multi-event format will mean that the main event won’t be in any way, but that there can perhaps be an easier sub-event for those who want a different level of riding challenge.

Some good ideas above. I do think the organisers need to perhaps emphasise that it shouldn’t be taken lightly, it’s certainly not a day out at the relative super highway that is say llandegella.

Calling it the Ard Rock is a bit of a clue of what to expect and the website does make it pretty clear it’s not an easy Poole out.

At all the ones I’ve been to (this, Boltby Bash and Vallelujah) I think the organisers have done an absolutely superb job of laying the courses.

The perfect mix of intimidating, testing but rollable, have flow and are harder to ride the quicker you go.

Personally, I preferred the stricter 20sec time-gaps given at Vallelujah, but I understand that they only had half the rider numbers.

As a pretty competent ‘average’ rider there was nothing there that absolutely terrified me, but the concentration of loads of those features one after the other into relatively short trails is what makes it so tough I reckon. Have ridden plenty of natural rocky steeps in Chamonix and The Lakes and nothing at ‘Ard Rock was tougher than those (rode (some of) the scree slope off Skiddaw for the first time last week and nothing on the course came close to that!) but factor in the perceived exposure and a race mentality and I totally understand less confident riders freaking out a bit – a couple of guys I ride with really struggled with some of the chutes on 1 and 2 and they are both OK riders generally (one did ‘Ard Rock fine last year but it got into his head on Saturday).

The Marshals are vital in this and should use discretion
But we are told at the briefing to keep riders flowing with 10 to 15 second gaps
But we cannot see if there are bottlenecks forming and have to rely on info from lower marshals

I mostly sent off riders at intervals depending on length of queue and how quick the preceding rider seemed as they disappeared over the top of 3

On the Sunday folks did not want to hang about up there with 50 mph winds and we’re happy to go at 10 second intervals after the medivac had been completed .
And I wanted you all off the hill asap so I could also get off the hill
But for most of sat and Sunday riders I let them choose their gap as never had huge queues
We did have one guy who was special and wanted the stages to himself and kept refusing my invites to ride
And folks kept jumping in front of him while he faffed about .

A lot of folks were with mates and wanted to chase each other so I had no problem with that
And some did ask me to hold the next rider a bit longer as they though they would be slow so had no complaints doing that

See you all next year probably at the top of three. I like it up ther

wish I hd swopped my marshall point saw naff all carnage 🙂

Much appreciated to you 2 and all the other Marshalls, I made sure to thank everyone I came across. Trouty- I was sat at table next to you outside the buck on Saturday night with my fellow Scots, wasn’t sure it was you, if I’d known I’d have had a blether.

on sat i saw a few slower people but no-one completely out of their depth just choosing their own speed to ride at. But on sunday some of the faces at the start looked a bit tense, there were a few lambs to the slaughter who had been lured into the trap of the ‘sportive’ name. sunday really drew the short straw for the weather too.

The course got a bit harder in places this year but as others have said its not harder than most lakes descents, easier than a black i think as theres nothing you can’t roll.

As a enduro virgin I spoke to loads of people who had completed the course on the Saturday to try and get a feel for what lay ahead. Loads of horror stories didn’t help my nerves and a couple of guys from my group were saying it was more technical than last year too, great.
My 10 year old full sus bailed me out more than once but I rode everything and didn’t think it too bad. Yes there where quite a few ‘moments’ but I stayed on, didn’t hold anyone up and had a great day.
Personally, I think it was about spot on difficultly wise. Yes i was out of my comfort zone at times but others in my group were having a complete blast.
Really enjoyed the competitive, head down charging descents and looking forward to next year. But definitely getting some training in first.

Nobeerinthefridge
ha small world yes you had section 1 2 3 start marshals trying as yourselves to get some decent scran after eating sarnies and mars \ snickers bars all day .

Yes we had some great banter with 90% of riders but some seemed terrified on sunday and some had the 1000 yard stare .

very strange observational skills from quite a few asking where the start was
when it was where I was standing

there is one gripe from marshals the start is where we are not 100 metres away for a flying start you risk the timing beacon not registering you .
and we cannot give you any info if you are 100 metres away

It was harder than any trail centre stuff but anything slightly difficult was one line and you got a good line of sight so should be less daunting. Nothing more challenging than any enduro like BES, UKGE, PMBA, SES, UKENDURO etc etc. In fact pretty easy by some previous races.

Too many people used to trail centres. If you want to race you need to get out of trail centres to properly develop skills.

I cant see why they would dumb it down right now. Not sure what the answer is as the course was fine. Dont want to discourage people but the last thing we’d want is it easier. Actually with the numbers it attracts racing is pointless anyway so whatever goes.

As Troutie says above we had a thousand riders to get through and only so much time, its a tricky thing to get right, and over takes are part of the game.

I was top of 2 so to those who got jammed up after the accident on Sunday, my apologies, I started off too cautious with a backlog of over 100 riders queued up, but over corrected by the sounds of it and you got clumped up.

There was a genuine concern for rider welfare that early in a long race keeping riders stood still in the cold wind for a long time. Some people were not properly equipped for Swaledale (no wind proofs, no extra layers, short sleeves etc).

And yes Mr Special I need the whole course to myself, well…. We all got him.

But everyone (rare exceptions standing) was sensible, responsible and understanding to the circumstances. We appreciated it, it made our job easier, and it made our day more fun. We do it cos we love it. It’s genuinely one of the highlights of my year marshalling the ard rock because of the fun vibe that fills the whole thing.

Personally I think the technical has been about the same every year. I think it’s all good rollable, rideable and enjoyable tech. But I build Stainburn i might be a bit skewed… 😀

So Mr trout sat as the top of stage three Sunday ….

Orange Halifax filing cabinet gag maker 🙂 Banter thank you ,had me giggling on the run down.

I must admit stage 1 had me a little nervous but fear soon turned to smiles as I chased the guy in front down, Please more of the same next year might even hit it on the hardtail 😉

I really enjoyed stage 2, still kicking myself for gambling on rain with Shorty and Magic Mary tyres, combined with Pro Core it was like pedalling in treacle. Saved my back wheel on stage 3 when I holed the rear though. Really enjoyed a swift pint at the Red Lion, helped with the climb up to stage 3.

Who ever it was in the campsite that decided 1am was a good time to start playing swing ball using a frying pan helped remind me of some of the reasons I hate camping.

Have to admit there was some right inconsiderate knob heads in the campsite this year. Who the **** needs to go in the side door of a van 3 times at 4 in the morning. Me and the mrs actually put ear defenders on out of my van on Friday night.

I had no issues with the marshaling on Saturday, they pretty good about gaps, for most of the race I dropped in right behind one of my buddies to have fun chasing him down it was great fun.

Marshall on the bottom of stage 2 recognised me from a race almost 2 years ago (probably because I stacked it at his marshall point) and had a nice chat with him.

Ques no worse than at PMBA races which are dealing with far fewer riders.

only question is when does registration open for next year – may be add in timed sections on the hill climb up to Stage 3 and the cross country section between 4 and 5 , the best bits of the route in gale force winds. May be some of the riders walking up the hills should look at electric MTBs .

Total respect to the marshals over the weekend – really appreciated 🙂

I really want to enter next year! Where/when can I register interest?

Cheers

James

Registration was 30th October last time.

May be some of the riders walking up the hills should look at electric MTBs

Why? Nowt wrong with a tactical push up now and again. If only the downhill bits are timed, why not save a bit of energy & enjoy the views whilst your doing it?

the cross country section between 4 and 5 , the best bits of the route

You have some strange ideas about the best bits! And it’s an enduro, maybe you should stick to XC racing.

I loved the climb from 1-2!!
Am I perverse?!

DrP

I really enjoyed the climbing as well – but not a fan of the huge firetrack section between 4 and 5

I’m with you DrP – that climb was ace!

Thoroughly enjoyed pushing hard throughout the whole route and really challenging myself on the climbs – we don’t get much like that down south!! 🙂

See you all next year probably at the top of three. I like it up ther

Bring your drum next time too 8)

May be some of the riders walking up the hills should look at electric MTBs

the transition from 4-5 was horrible. Id like to see the vid of you riding out of 4.

Drove up on Friday, didn’t get to practice as I broke down en-route but made it in time for the bbq and a few beers.
I was entered in the Saturday sprint as like most sprint riders we didn’t get in the main event, but I knew a couple of people who were but had pulled out so I went along to registration at 7am where, given how poor pre event communication has been, the organisers were happy to let me slot in and quickly change names etc.

We’re were due for a 12:30 start but now I was going out on my own at 8am, surrounded mostly by pros and sponsored riders!! Most of them took off and I didn’t really see a lot of other riders all the way round. Fast lads were resting at the bottom of stages, I’d crack on and they would come blasting past at the top of the next. I’d let them go and drop in right behind trying to follow lines but they were usually outta sight after the first corner!

Made it round in about 4.5hrs, warm sunshine all morning, no queues, nobody to overtake and nobody overtaking me!
Felt really slow on first 2 stages but loved 3, 4 and 5.

Got back just as my sprint mates were setting off, had a beer and a burger, went on a sticker haul then packed up and was home for teatime! extra kudos for this from the Mrs so win win! Top day out!

I loved the climb from 1-2!!
Am I perverse?!

Not at all, love a good challenge, me. Both up and down.

Did you clean it?

I even had some well-intentioned walker hold the gate open for me so no excuses 😈

Guys who entered this year, what would be your top tips for someone looking to train for next years event?

try and get 8 pints in at the weekend.

Practice holding a pizza and pint while eating or drinking.