EWS, who's excited ?

I think it’s all seeded and placed- according to the race notes, it goes by EWS placing then random. 8am start for some poor bugger!

Just read that the riders briefing and dibber pick up is on friday evening, i had no intention of being around on the friday 🙁

Yah, that’s a pain. It was similiar last year, I had to scrounge time off work. Might be worth speaking to the organisers?

Yep i will have a word during practice days, the more i look at it there is no way i can make it on Friday due to family stuff. Hopefully there is a bit of flexibility 🙂

Yeah. Annoying having to register/pick up timing stuff on Friday. Two hours of sitting in a car (and having to take an afternoon off work) would suck.

I reckon 21:10 is the perfect time to finish rebuilding your #EWSpoon. Since the thread’s dead slow, show us your rides

Just packed up the van, loads of food and and dry clothes 🙂

So about 22:00 is about the right time to start looking at my bike to see how messed up it is.

Been hitting mine with various implements all week. Mostly ended up reaching for the hammer on all occasions but she’s ready!

Van’s packed, bike is sitting in the hall. I’m betting I have the 8am start!

Butcher control Tyre at the rear 😯 I know you know what you are doing but a spesh control tyre and EWS does not compute with me. Did you get rid of the pikes? not many would choose Lyriks over them…

spesh control tyre and EWS does not compute with me

I’ve used control casings for years at Inners and Glentress with no problems, they aren’t paper thin like schwalbe.

@frosty, you have uncanny eyes. I’ve been using the butcher rear for ages without any bother, including all this year and last’s scottish enduro series, last year’s EWS… (where the tyre proved tougher than the frame) Probably helps that I weigh 10 stone and am not the fastest mind, but it’s not fragile. (Control carcasses aren’t all the same, the more XC ones are thinner)

And yeah, just never gelled with the Pikes so decided to sell them while they were still worth something. Weight aside I much prefer the damping and coil. But then to put the weight aside, you do need a crane.

So rode the imbers golfie stages today

Was great to see Barely, Atherton, Mae’s etc carefully choosing their lines and making it look effortless

The stages weren’t too bad, some really good stiff on there and only 1 crash for me on 4, conditions were excellent, perhaps a bit too dusty in places! But the rain was coming in as we did the last stage so I’m sure it’ll be a lot trickier on race day

By contrast I just did the Inners DH side two, all good, dusty and fun but roots starting to slick up as the rain started. Some nice new loamy bits on the classic. The DH one could be pretty slippy in places if it is wet. Some pretty confusing changes in direction on that one, nearly went through the tapes a couple of times. Might give waterworld a look on friday.

And yeah very odd and very cool seeing all the famous faces on the same bit of trail as you. Their speed is unreal.

I wonder if the ambulance I saw was for Gary Forrest, that’s a shame. Callaghan and Barel also crashed today I overheard.

Gave 1-4 a whirl (I need the practice) pretty happy all in all – sure I’ve ridden v similar stages to 1 and 2 on an old Innerleithen enduro – rode nicely.

There’s a nasty shute through the stream on stage 3 (through the stream twice then down I think) – good chance I’ll be traversing that on my ringpiece, but if that’s the hardest part of the course I’ll take it.
Full hit of repeat offender was tiring – get a pie down ye 30 mins beforehand.

Course all this was in the dry – finshed up just as the rain came in. Forecast not looking too clever 🙁

It’d have been nice this morning, based on how dry the trails were last night. Bet they’re slippery now (still raining a bit further up the valley).

I was down pretty late, the dh stage is as slippery as I can remember that stuff- not muddy at all really, just super greasy. Have to admit I don’t like that stage much, all the wide taping, multiple lines and some kind of awkward/counterintuitive direction changes just confuses the crap out of me, I’ve got an unerring eye for the crappest line 😆 I was the same last year mind so blatantly it’s me not the stage! But I ended up really just trundling down on the defensive. Might need to do it again on Friday

Loved waterworld, had a nice chat to fabien barel halfway down, I had to pretend I too was planning a really clever line, when I was actually thinking “Yeah I’ll basically just fall down there and hope I come out in the right place”. What a fantastic trail, I thought it was too short for a stage but I reckon I was just wrong.

Nice to see all the love the classic’s had too, some fantastic wee tweaks.

I like Repeat Offender but it just seems a less fit race stage to me than 3G and jawbone last year, just a wee bit straightforward and repetitive. Think you could put this year’s top and bottom onto 3G to tweak it? But then variety is good, it’d have been a bit safe to just vary last years stages.

I think all the trails work in the wet though. Except, possibly, Bside… Guess we’ll see about that! We were spoilt last year, let’s be honest. For riding, not too bothered personally, for the day out, rather be in the sun. For the whole world series package though it’s a shame to have a wet weekend to show the world.

Loving the updates guys.

With it supposedly being dry + windy till Sat evening the Inners trails should be dry. Sunday at GT is another kettle of fish..

You must have watched a different forecast from me, chickenman, but I prefer your version!

I look at XC Weather; always optimistic unlike the Beeb.

Yeah the Inners DH one is pretty confusing, some random direction changes and a lot of line options. Not good with my lack of short term memory!

Not sure I have the kahunas to manage waterworld without tripoding but it was all very wet when I rode it.

The forecast for the next hour is beer and 2 entire boxes of tesco finest biscuits. Fab told me it’s the best prep

Agree with Northwinds description. Finished up at Inners about 9pm. Was greasy and dark.

Lots of line choices for stage 2. Stage 1 is far better than it was for SES this year, all the work the lads have put in is amazing. Its loam, with a little touch of grease.

I doubt conditions at Inners will be any worse than this evening, thin layer of grease over hardpack was entertaining.

Lots of wind and general dryness should get it in good shape.

E1 start times are up.

http://tweedlove.com/onthehillside/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/start-times-day-1-Sheet1.pdf

Well why wouldn’t it snow?

I spent literally all day saying to people “we built that.” “We built that”. Except for stage 6 when I say “Yeah, we built the good bits. I accept no responsibility for the rest”

Bonkers weather. I’m certain I got sunburn and frostbite today. S6 is brutal!

What’s stage 6 like then? How long are you on pedals for? I’m hearing many a bad word about it! Don’t want the race win on just this stage

superfli – Member

How long are you on pedals for?

FOREVER.

It starts at the mast, uses the new trails to go over to the singletrack climb to spooky wood, then down the pushup, along shallow grave, down spooky almost to the end then up to the blue, down that to the new line that was cut for the king & queen, broon troot, which has a new section cut to take you further up the hill but still leaves a bit of redemption climb, then down the walker’s path/shortcut, and ends with pie run and mushroom pie. So there’s a lot of pedalling and some of the actual “descents” are pretty damn flat, really Broon Troot is the only time you’re not hammering.

Nothing wrong with a pedally race stage, at this level competitors should be able to pedal a big stage. I just don’t feel like it shows GT off well, very nontechnical apart from the troot. Last year it was nice to silence the “gt will be pedally and flat” critics. Five Year Plan/Boundary was way better IMO.

But that’s sounding a bit harsh, it’s not like it’ll spoil the event or anything and it does have some class riding in it.

Hard day today – guess the transitions are a little bit steeper at Glentress.

Stage 8 will be tough – long, pedally and last. Made a bit of a show of myself on that drop near the end but rode it a couple of times eventually.
Some great riding – just stage 5 I wasn’t really keen on. Mainly down to pedal issues – bit of a mudslide and wasn’t great in XC pedals and shoes, compacted with mud in no time.

Feet up tomorrow for a certainty.

Didn’t practice stage 6. Plan is just to try and hold back quite a bit on Spooky Wood and the blue. No idea if it is a good plan but i’ll see.

Stage 5 was ace. Not that I was elegant down it, but ace non the less.

Good luck to everyone riding the ews this weekend. Hopefully the weather is kind.

Gutted I’m not there to at least spectate the enduro/enjoy the tweedlove week.. Plans afoot for next year!

How long are you on pedals for?

The short version they used in the K&Q race last year took me 8 minutes. I reckon this longer version will be almost double that for me

I think boundary>5 year plan> brown trout would still have less pedalling overall despite the longish climb. I’m going to be running on fumes at some point this weekend anyway!

Finished up at 7pm today and the mud was pretty nuts on the last stage, wheels were clogging up in the frame. Still haven’t warmed up yet, 8C on the car thermometer on the way home, gotta feel for the riders used to sunny climes!

Good luck everyone. Looking forward to watching. Had a shot down stage 8 last week. Like the new sections at the bottom of Ho Chi Minh and Jenny’s Brae.
I am supposed to be singing in a choir on the green just before the medal ceremony. Can’t wait.

@bigjim, I had the heaters up so high in the car, I seem to have ****ed up my eyes 😆 And possibly burned my derriere with the heated seats. Totally worth it. Must have been 200 degrees in that thing by the time I got home

Anyone know why the event village isn’t up and running yet? Last year everything was in full swing on Wednesday morning. Turned up for registration yesterday and there was one solitary tent. Went back today at 4pm and nothing was really open 😕

Looks like its not just STW grade mincers that don’t like S6 😉

https://instagram.com/p/3O-X3zHXvs/