Last year only gloves and knee pads were mandatory

Anybody know where the information is about the rules for body armour / helmets etc…

They stated on the website no full facers required.
I can’t find the link though.

i never understand the rule about gloves to be honest

No full facers is good though

I’m in, a little bit scared, but quite a lot excited about it!

i never understand the rule about gloves to be honest

I’m guessing a high % of offs involve hand/ground interfaces, even minor offs. If you can reduce the need for medical attention due to cuts and scrapes then it reduces strain on medical support teams and limits the risk of a rider’s race being ended early

They said full facers strongly recommended iirc

I’ll be sporting a funky new bell super 2r

The descents include a lot of DH runs and some of the transitions and climbs are tough !

I was making dinner and forgot about it lol

For whatever it’s worth, day one last year was one of the better arguments for fullface in enduro that I’ve seen. I chose open face, sure I will do again but it’s a personal choice, quite a few of the pros chose fullface.

Emerald seems to be “helmet all the time but you decide” too.

Are last year’s stage routes still obvious on the ground? Looking at the maps some look like they would be clear, others less so.
I’m through Edinburgh next month – might take the bike up with me for a bit of calibration on what an EWS looks like.

you can find them on strava

All the stages are still there and easy to follow. The only one that would be almost impossible to follow was S4 on day 1 , “Inners Face”. Not that its been closed or blocked, it just crisscrossed so many trails its impossible to remember exactly where it went!

The technically challenging stuff is on the Caberston side. I’d imagine they’ll use trails over there again but guess they could go elsewhere

I couldn’t even follow Inners Face when it had tape down the sides! I don’t know if it was intentional but I think it levelled the local advantage a bit, I kept expecting it to go in different directions to what they’d actually used.

I think I might do an EWS Reenactment Day at some point, just ride all the stages as they were under the E1 timings and see if I die. No stop in the cafe for ice cream!

The technically challenging stuff is on the Caberston side. I’d imagine they’ll use trails over there again but guess they could go elsewhere

Cademuir could get a look in this year. 😀

There was a new ( I think) steep woodland section just before deliverance on day 2 stage 2 last year that I’ve been looking for ever since!!

There was a new ( I think) steep woodland section just before deliverance on day 2 stage 2 last year that I’ve been looking for ever since!!

Easy to find. On the boundary trail, you go through the wall after the start into a tree section. As you leave that tree section you start a short climb between the wall and trees. Halfway up there look right and you’ll see the entrance.

Yeah, I don’t know if five year plan is officially shut tbh but it’s easy to find. When we started it, there was a plan to make it part of the main trail network, but that’s not worked out (it’d need rebuilt tbh, we did it too rough and ready to deal with GT traffic). It was blocked off with brash at one point but it was the sort of blockage that you could think “If they really wanted us to not ride this, they’d do a better job”…

I actually did ask this question, and I have no idea at all what the answer is, because I’m basically a tard. I’ll try and remember tomorrow.

It was clear and open a few weeks back. Running really well.

i need to live nearer to glentress!

Cheers Northwind & BoardinBob, I could never quite remember how the stage started and the geography of that part of glentress always confuses me!

I think I might do an EWS Reenactment Day at some point, just ride all the stages as they were under the E1 timings and see if I die. No stop in the cafe for ice cream!

Geesa shout! sounds like a decent day out

Cool cool, will do. Won’t be soon though!

It was probably a good thing that the Whistler round sold out in about a minute. I think I felt as much relief as I did disappointment and not getting a place. I came to my senses too and avoided the wait list.

I got into Whistler again. Should be interesting….

Don’t suppose anyone has a note of the E1 transition time limits from last year? Just trying to gauge where I’m at in my training and I did a repeat of day 2 yesterday.

Went for a mince round last year’s stages 1 and 2 this morning. Christ.

From speaking to the (v sound) bloke in i-Cycles afterwards, turned out I took the wrong trail at the start of stage1, I rode repeat offender when I should have done the one just before it. Anyhow, assuming the one they used was similar terrain, I found it pretty hard – it was wet and quite slidey today, but do-able. Some practice and drier conditions (prays) I think I’d be ok on that sort of stuff.

The one that’s got me aris going was jawbone – the steep, rocky twisty section in the top half of stage 2. That is not in my bailiwick at all, v difficult riding. Reckon they’ll use that again? Cos if they do I’ll need a skills transplant.

They’ll probably not use the same stages this year but certainly expect them to be similar. You should have jumped over the other side and done Stage 3, ProSpacker….very interesting in the wet.

Was hoping to do that one, as it looked hard, but ran out of time as I was stoppping to get the map out quite a bit, and had to drive back down to Manchester.
I’ll try it next time – I think a weekend in the Tweed practicing is defo required, for me. There’s none of that sort of riding in the Peak (or if there is I’ve never seen it), so you lose touch with it.

I’ve not actually ridden jawbone but spectating the EWS there it appeared to be the hardest looking trail to ride, really steep loose rocks

Stuff pretty dry at the moment (hair dryer effect!)with great grip…if it doesn’t rain.

@Garry- I rode Jawburn for the first time in practice, in the epic pissing freezing rain, and bricks were shat 😆 Went alright on the day, very different conditions so I think it was actually my best stage, but I came pretty close to throwing the toys out of the pram on the wednesday. I think Peaty already had, he was sat in a van in the inners carpark moaning.

The only thing I know about this year’s stages is that we’re making a new one. But I don’t know where yet.