Amanda goes to the Isle of Man for the enduro and stays for the ice cream. Words & Photography Amanda Illustration: Beate Kubitz I find myself in …

By amandawishart

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Issue 145 komoot Classic Ride – Manx Power

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Quite tempted by the Enduro, never been to the IOM before.

I’ve not been for the enduro, but went to do a rather fabulous triathlon (before Covid fhecked things for 2+ years).
116 miles on the road bike with 10,000 ft of climbing. The route was great, seeing the whole island, inc the Mountain Road, the coast road closed to cars between Douglas and Port Sodderick. Tholt y Will Glen, and who can’t like riding through a place called Kronk-y-Voddy.
(Oh and a cheeky off road run after that from the Point of Ayre, along the shingle beach, up North Barrule and more). (The force 7 gale on the race day meant the swim was binned, and did spice up the ride a bit more too).

What can I say… except What a fabulous place. Several stunning beaches and bays to swim at. Soft and sandy beach at Laxey, gorgeous glens, and the driving Waaaaaaaaay more considerate than in England.

We’ll be back with more time and more bikes next year.

The ice cream at Laxey sea front was lovely too 😍

What a terrible article.

90% of it is about a poorly led ride by someone who clearly didn’t plan a suitable route or doesn’t know the trails – clearly not a suitable route to be linked to one of Komoot sponsored articles….

The route looks to be about 70% tarmac and appears to link together the closest thing that the Island has to trail centres.

Would you write a piece like this linked 3 of the 7 Stanes together on the roads??

Although i have never competed in the Manx Enduro, i understand from multiple riding pals that its one of the best and most challenging in the UK

The IOM has some incredible riding. As with anywhere in the world, the best riding is found by using some good local knowledge – surely if the route is rubbish, you would have focused on the Manx Enduro instead??

@jon_clucas I don’t disagree with you, and I would like to put a lot of emphasis on the ‘Why bother?’ section of this article. To be honest, Classic Ride is a sponsored feature that we can’t afford not to include, and on this occasion the only option we had was a ride from a holiday I went on in my own time, and due to reasons mentioned in the article, it didn’t go to plan.
The reason I/we didn’t just report on the MANX Enduro is because it’s not a Classic Ride and we can’t promote those trails with a route guide. We have previously covered the IoM in a Classic Ride so I’lll drop the link below.

@jordan It is hands down the best enduro race we have been to (we being my friends, I don’t speak for Singletrack). If the takeaway from this article is that you should add it to the bucket list, then I’m happy!

You should have tried to contact some of the locals , there’s always people out on any day of the week who could have shown you around . They may well have also advised you that you are not alowed to ride up South Barrule so it was not responsible journalism to put that picture in the magazine .

Always good to see an article on the IOM and yes we have an amazing amount of riding across here and local knowledge is indeed king to find the real gems. PS I think I rode part of the YD300 with Rhys the week before and he mentioned he was going to the IOM, so stoked to see the article. Don’t forget, if you come over as a foot passenger on the ferry, bikes are free and once here nothing is too far away!

I went last year to the Isle of Man and really enjoyed the place, the people, the beer and the cycling, we took this book

Mountain Biking on the Isle of Man

and this large scale map

Outdoor Leisure Map South – Isle of Man

there’s a north sheet as well as a south sheet, the one I bought had the whole island on the one reversible map, there’s also the excellent Harvey map

https://dash4it.co.uk/isle-of-man-superwalker..html

Plenty of great riding to be had 👍

cheers,

Keith

Glad you bought the book, I have the second one coming out any day now. More routes, more info!

fantastic @chapelbay I’ll look forward to it 👍

all the best,

Keith

So I’ve realised I have some holiday to use up at work and was thinking of doing a credit card bikepacking tour around the island in early November.

Any tips on must do trails/ routes to link up?

As a basis I’m taking the ‘the big long loop’ route off trailforks and adapting it to suit.

Will be on my full suss so can be fairly technical.

Prefer ‘natural’ trails, rather than the purpose built stuff although trails similar to Arrasey E2E, Otters Pocket, Glen Rushden Singletrack would be fine.

What’s the deal with riding cheeky, is it similar to England that it is frowned upon, but generally alright if you stick to rule 1?

Any areas that I should really avoid due to conflict, prohibitation?

Any other tips on things to see/ do on my way around the island?

I’ve had the Isle of Man on my radar for a bit, so looking forward to this

Bump

Hey Ricko

I would suggest using the guide book mentioned above or trying to hook up with some local riders – there are quite a few on this forum

Avoid the kamoot loop as its shi*te

In regards to cheeky footpath use – be respectful and you should be fine

Bring lots of waterproofs!!

What a terrible article.

90% of it is about a poorly led ride by someone who clearly didn’t plan a suitable route or doesn’t know the trails – clearly not a suitable route to be linked to one of Komoot sponsored articles….

The route looks to be about 70% tarmac and appears to link together the closest thing that the Island has to trail centres.

Would you write a piece like this linked 3 of the 7 Stanes together on the roads??

Although i have never competed in the Manx Enduro, i understand from multiple riding pals that its one of the best and most challenging in the UK

The IOM has some incredible riding. As with anywhere in the world, the best riding is found by using some good local knowledge – surely if the route is rubbish, you would have focused on the Manx Enduro instead??

I thought pretty much this when I read the article. I get that Komoot pay Singletrack – and that helps keep the mag profitable, and hence exist – to promote their platform with an article linked to a route, but this doesn’t reflect well on either.

I’m sure the author of the guidebook above rode some routes that aren’t worth repeating, but presumably he didn’t put them in the book, and went and found some others!

Thanks Jon

I’ve got a route sorted so all good