Doing my first enduro at the PMBA Graythwaite event at the end of the month.
Does the Singletrack hivemind have any tips/tricks they could share from past experiences? E.g things to take to make the weekend easier from a comfort/camping point of view? Things to take that I might not have thought of? Or just any general advice?
Thanks!
go fast, don't crash.
Don’t burn yourself out doing the transitions quickly. IIRC there’s no time limit for the PMBA ones (or there hasn’t been on the ones I’ve done.)
Bright colours and matching googles, for the win.
Premier inn or at least sleep in a van unless you are a very heavy sleeper. Personally I hate waking up cold at 6 am on race morning and queuing for a stinky bog even if I haven’t been woken at 2 am by loudly whispering drunks.
Race-wise, there’s a lot of pushing up to stages there. Make sure your calves can walk up hills.
If you lack natural insulation like me, take enough warm clothing for the hour-plus waits at some stages.
If you have a decent level of fitness there's usually no need to put too much effort into the climbs. Take it easy and save your energy.
make sure you eat lots on the ride. Tend to have a gel before each liaison so I don't bonk (no coming back from bonking).
You probably wont learn where you're going after one day of practice so just relax and take things as they come. They're usually rideable blind. But when you do practice, take note of bigger features like drops etc.
There's usually no need to take everything and the kitchen sink in your bag. Strap a tube and CO2 to your frame, multi tool in your pocket and a take a bottle if you want to do it bagless. They should give you an idea if there is a feed station.
Graythwaite is steep and technical with lots of roots and can be very tricky to ride in the wet - and also if it's very dusty.
I would take a couple of front wheels/tyres, if conditions were uncertain.
Earplugs and an eyemask for sleeping.
Be well rested, get a few good nights sleep the week before, make sure your bike is ready well before hand
Earplugs are a good shout, plenty of snacks
Dont destroy yourself on the practice lap
Just try and relax and enjoy the riding,
Grippy tyres as its more steep and technical.
Take your times on the transitions.
Eat real food and Drink lots of water all weekend.
Dont destroy yourself on the practice lap
I can identify with this advice re. Graythwaite.
Get yourself a wee routine to check just before you start each stage, check goggles, helmet, pedal position, no loose clothing, suspension not locked out, in th right gear, seat at correct height etc etc. Just about every enduro I've ever done, I've done something stupid on a (usually early) stage.
And ride smooth, don't hammer into corners etc, smooth is fast.
Book an easier enduro to start,
To add to nobeers comment, ensure your bag is zipped up and properly fastened on, I’ve ridden through the contents of a camelbak at one event
right gear is a good one, too easy and you can spin out, too high and it’s a very slow set off or worse a chain snap
If you normally don't run a chain guide, get one for the race. Sods law your annual dropped chain will be mid race run.
Second Nobeerinthefridge's smooth comment, its easy to over egg it into corners because you're aware it's a race.
go and do a few rides between now and then that invole a lot of pushing back up to the top, thats the hardest part about graythwaite.
it sounds like this years is going to be the least technical and more flow than normal as kev's put in a rule about only full runs in practice to avoid people congregating on features in the stages.
its going to be very differant from last years very wet and muddy mess which i don't think will suit me, i'm doing the rain dance every day.
I did a feedback day last week for kev only managed 2 stages before I bust my bike...
But stage 1 is sublime.
Tips...
Dont get leathered the night before
Pack your bag carefully and lightly
Dont blow your self apart on the 1st 2 stages.
Hydrate
Have fun
For the first one, it's just riding your bike tbh, there's a lot to learn and you do it by doing it...
For practice, you'll see people obsess over the perfect line, or that one feature. But in reality, you'll arrive at that same feature breathing out your arse, and there'll have been hundreds of bikes through it since you practiced it so the trail might have changed anyway, and frankly most people can't remember all of a stage in that way.
So ime other than "I need to pay attention to this one bit because it's super hard and I might die" it's way more useful to have a sense of the whole stage- where you can pedal like hell, where you should cruise and conserve energy, where you'll be fast and slow. Riding one line perfect makes you, what, a second or two? But riding a stage with a reasonable conservation of energy can make a ridiculously big difference. Riding the whole day, even more so. Big picture is good.
When you're on a stage, keep moving. If you have an off, assuming it's not catastrophic, get up and get moving quickly, even if it means running with the bike for a bit until you can get back on. Don't stand around trying to work out what went wrong.
Aye, I don't have a good enough trail memory to even attempt to memorise lines, pointless!
Some good advice here 🙂
Remember its known as the toughest in the UK, so if your feeling its hard remember your not alone. Special note for stage 2 - this even makes good riders feel they aren't riding well with its tech onslaught. Just be happy to ride down, Stage 3 will remind you that you can actually ride.
http://www.pmbaenduro.co.uk/graythwaite-epic-ews-qualifier-bnes-2021/
hope you haven't tamed stage 2 to much, its usually one of my better stages. agree about not always feeling like you've ridden it well, then the results show you didn't do to bad really.
i sometimes get pissed of with the amount of time the lads i ride with spend looking at lines, occasionally its worth it but most times not. racing in scotland once i was so obsessed with getting on the line we looked at in practice i had a big crash trying to get on it instead of just riding where the bike was taking me, probably cost me about 30 seconds.
Graythwaite... keep your chin up and keep going. Don't fuss over line choice too much - you can spend ages analysing your options but then you'll not notice or being in the wrong place when it comes to race time.
IMO practice is for identifying the "features" that you are comfortable with and judging whether you're going to hit them in your race run. You're lucky that Kev is a good chap and will mark features of consequence appropriately. there's not too much of that at Graythwaite anyway. There's a drop on Vinnie's Divorce that I decided against and has the final drop been dropped form the final finish? Good riddance! 🐓
Other line choices (that might save 1-2 seconds)... maybe you'll manage to commit one to memory but mostly you're riding on instinct, bravado and luck.
Pray for dry conditions.
If you have a full face and elbow pads, consider taking them for Graythwaite. Kev's guidance to riding/walking the transitions is reasonable. A fit and skilled rider could ride more. On race day most people will be walking more than he estimates, so feel comfortable to ride the lot with a FF and take it off for the walks. Don't ever ride without a helmet 🚴♂️
Jon (veteran????) of 3x Graythwaite Enduros and probably my favourite.
S2 now starts lower down the hill, after the little climb. Missing all that start that had gotten so awkward. And missing the view - but also in 6 years the trees have gown and its almost hidden the view of the Old man of coniston.
Stage 1 (new) also starts close to here, so that first bit of Scorpion is now a transition to S1 & S2.
Agree on lines, my technique is to remember the worst bit of a stage only, or sometimes where a section doesn't "read" well as you approach. General overview of the stage, and what sort of terrain, length (for pacing) or where you need some effort to get up a climb are the sorts of things I try and remember for a stage, not the mm perfect lines you would try for in a DH where you may do a dozen runs in practice down a 2.5min run.
I'll be there too - from my past experience....I won't be trying to 'race', I can never remember the stages after practice, I'll just try to relax and ride each stage as smooth as I can
Last time when I did try to go fast, it felt like I'd forgotten how to ride a bike and crashed on the first corner of every stage 🙁
I will do the practice lap, but mainly to get a feel for it and make note of any big features (to avoid)
Agree with the advice not to obsess over line choice and just ride, but coming from the less-skilled end of things I would prefer to practice anything I was finding hard so I at least knew I could ride it. Some uncertainty is fine, like you're ragged AF over it, but if something was properly challenging me I'd need to get it ridden - I'd find it stressful starting a stage with a 50/50 move which is its own self-fulfilling prophecy. If you're at a more skilled level then this is prob not a consideration.
Definitely agree with others saying not to stress or over-analyse if you come off or make a mistake - it feels like a big deal but unless you're right at the sharp end it isn't, really. Just reset and get going.
I'd say the most important thing, of any race is to finish.
Otherwise you're the one left out, not part of the in-crowd. Sit alone eating your post race bbq burger.
Forget times, forget winning or placements. Forget falling off and hurting yourself. Just finish and live the aftermath.
Yup... cheers dude!
PM me if you want in on this race! 29/30th May 2021... I got the kiddies, and they're rubbish at enduro!!
DrP
it's yours.. have PM back..
DrP
can't advise on graythwaite as not done it, but form the very limited experience of a few years of racing enduros (all be it a few a few years ago now), the best advice i was given was ride at 75% of your capabilities. less likley to crash, more likely to rdie smoother, less likely to shag yourself on stage 1 and be knackered for stage 2 - all of which will likely deliver a more enjoyable day and a quicker time
oh, and get your bike set up as you want it in plenty of time before, make any small adjustments after practice and don't start messing with settings & air pressures while in the queue for the stage - i had a fairly miserable afternoon at grizedale PMBA a few years ago by last minute putting extra PSI in the forks and then did my own head in messing around with it before each stage!
Cheers for the replies people! 👍🏻
How did everyone go?
I really enjoyed the event, good mix of stages and I had an OK ride. Struggled with 1 - had a complete mind blank and couldn't remember any of it, then a stupid crash on 2.
I felt really unfit and I ran out of water so was completely wiped out by the end.
Not a fan of the no stopping practice format, for those of us riding there for there first time there's definitely some sections worth looking at before trying to race. Also made it really hard to remember key lines (time to but a go pro).
Not a good race for Abigale, she crashed in practice and a rock sliced through her kneepad and gashed her knee. She decided to race anyway with it strapped up but it was very swollen and sore. She did finish but was way off her usual pace.
She has gone to the minor injuries clinic this morning to get it checked over so fingers are crossed.
Hope she's okay Tracey.
Thanks I think she is more concerned on the swelling rather than the cut
take enough warm clothing for the hour-plus waits at some stages.
see the pic of queues at some events, that alone is enough to not do one. A whole day to do 4-5 stages, no thanks
see the pic of queues at some events, that alone is enough to not do one. A whole day to do 4-5 stages, no thanks
Cool, thanks for your input.
Cool, thanks for your input.
No problem, thanks for reading 👍
Good news is that the x-ray isn't showing anything broken, they said it should have been stitched on Saturday and not the Steri strips she used. Should have let her dad glue it like he wanted to 🤔
Yay ! great news for you both.
I was up there too and thoroughly enjoyed it - cracking event! I've done a few enduro's before but I reckon this one was a step up in terms of how techy on the downs were, and steepness of the transitions (push ups)..... Some mega quick riders there too!
Would have preferred to have been able to have a proper look at some of the features during practice (KS drop in particular) as I bailed on hitting them blind and potentially ruining my race run for the sake of gaining a few seconds. Guess everybody was in the same boat though....
Was aiming for top half in my category (masters) - just missed out and got 94 / 179. Still happy with that though for a first attempt!
Cheers to Kev and the team for putting on a top event, despite the current restrictions etc!
Agreed @sih27 I had a blast!
A brutal weekend but good fun. Stages 1 and 2 were pure survival for me but really enjoyed the others, stage 5 in particular was superb however got a front flat at the top and ended up running down with the bike 😂🙈
My aim was to not come last in my first enduro and I didn’t so I’m buzzing, will definitely be entering more in the future.
Huge thanks to Kev and the crew for putting it on it challenging times!
race day didn't start to well for me, put 2 holes in my front tyre about 15 seconds into stage 1. lost a massive amount of time and it was still bothering me in stage 2 so didn't ride that well. i actually thought the taping in 1 & 2 was very hard to follow.
really enjoyed 5 & 6 and managed 9th in both even with a crash in 5(grand vets so the slow old men, although some of them are still bloody quick)
being local we had a walk on 1,2 and 6 on friday evening, i'm not so sure it actually helped much, everything looks totally differant when you come at it on a bike, possibly helped with a couple of lines but most features i know from past races there.
need to work on my fitness though, it was a tough day