Haha, only 17mins to go

I’d have taken a 6-pack up there with me!!

I wish I had, and a jazz cigarette. And a jazz mag come to think of it. 8 Ace and a copy of Razzle

Fun and 2 of the women have come through but big gap now. Hope everyone is ok

One of my mates stacked in practice and hurt his neck. He only rode st3/4 in the race.

Just had another look, quite a few non starters by the look of it. They were going down like skittles on stages 1 and 2 apparently. My hands are cold.

Was it harder than last year?

Apparently 1 and 2 were still really slippy so yep, sounds like it. 4 is super grippy though.

I watched the first 40 or so through stages 1 and 2 – I reckon about 60% came off on the steep switchbacky bit on stage 2! No one hurt though.

It’s a fine line to tread, with Fun/Sport/Pro , between challenging and too hard. I’m guessing the hard rain Thursday just tipped the scales a little.

I’m off the other end of the SDW, and we normally get axle deep mud for 6 months of the year, but our trails are perfect at the moment. In fact the recent rain settled down the loose dusty parts!!

Not long home from competing in the fun category.
Stage 2 was not nice at all, I was one of the 60% that came a cropper there, in fact I fell off twice within 10m in front of the baying mob 😆
Thursdays rain played a massive part on stages 1&2, coming back up the fire road after finishing 2 and we didn’t see anyone coming down the stage for around 3-4 mins, probably due to crashes on the way down.
Davosaurusrex were you the Marshall setting people of on stage 4?
Finally a massive, massive thanks to everyone who’s come together to make this such a superb event, from the QECP Trail Collective, all the sponsors, Marshall’s and all of the supporters. The whole thing from start to finish has been great.
Cheers

@bigshep thanks for the post, look forward to hearing more tomorrow

bigshep – not me, I was at the last fireroad crossing on stage 4 shouting “sharp right, sharp left” a lot.

Took some mediocre photos during practice but a few came out OK. Anyone interested let me know your race number and I’ll have a look through them

Awesome, loved it! Thanks to all the marshals, builders, organisers, etc, even Davosaurus.

Didn’t get any photos of you CGG, couldn’t set the shutter slow enough.

Enjoyed counting backwards from 10 400 times last night!

Quite a few people bailed after stage 1&2 which is a shame, as 3 was a beauty.

Looked like fun trails,hopefully I can get out later today and ride the course

1 & 2 weren’t hard to ride, they were hard to race though.

I remember the guy shouting on the last fire road on 4, prompted me to go back an try a more ninja enduro line.

Well, despite experiencing a total light failure on 3, and riding 4 with one left on low power, I still didn’t come last in Pro! 🙂

Not bad, for only my 3rd ever night ride.

Only a few guys came back for another go at it, there were a good few seconds to be saved. Were you in the white top Hob Nob?

Davosaurusrex, I don’t suppose you got any pics of 30,31 and 32 did you?
I was 32 but riding along with the other 2.
I bet you surprised quite a few people who didn’t practice the 4th stage and thought it went straight on as normal..
I managed top 10 in Fun on my first Enduro so really pleased with that considering all the time lost on my backside on stage 2 😆

I rode in the fun category – my first enduro and really enjoyable. Massive thanks to the QECP Trail collective in general and Scott in particular for all the hard work preparing for and running a really well organised event.

I hurt this morning. My 42 yr old body isn’t equipped to endure 6 offs in one evening. I think the most impressive tumble was on stage 2 where I did a large number of rolly polly’s, of which my children would be proud. The most painful was on the section of stage 3 just before you drop onto the fire road. Rode across some roots, just before the drop down, and whoosh, wheels slipped sideways from under me and my slightly overweight body thudded down onto the roots.
Bike was thrown down to the fire road in discust and I rode the rest of it like a pansy.

Most unfortunate thing was when my hired exposure light came loose on section 4 and suddenly I was blinded by the light as it swung round on the bars. Had to remove it and then put my back up light on, cost me 10 mins. Apologies to the rider who had my light glaring at them as I was trying to sort it, must’ve been annoying but no need to swear at me. Thanks to the one rider out of a bunch of them who asked if I was ok 🙂

On reflection it was a great event, well organised but outside of my skill set, I need to learn how to ride off camber!

Thanks to the guys who did all the hard work, the collective has done many top things at QECP and this is another example that should be applauded.

That would be superfli.. cranking out the Megavalanche music at the top!?

Caught me out.. (no.3 – first one down the hill as it turned out!)

Excellent event.. good balance of flowy and tricky, well done to everyone involved in organising and everyone who took part! 8)

Rode across some roots, just before the drop down, and whoosh, wheels slipped sideways from under me and my slightly overweight body thudded down onto the roots

I spotted that bit in practice and stopped to see if there was a high line around it – there wasn’t so I concluded it was one of those ‘hit it fast enough and let the bike skitter sideways under you’ sections. Survived it but I think it would have been carnage in the wet! 🙂

Having realised that I might stay on the bike around the A line on stage 2 but it wouldn’t be fast, I went way high after the first big corner, up between two trees, to smoothly drop into the B line. Marshalls got out of the way (thanks!) but my plan for quicker than mediocre speed was foiled by my lace getting caught around a pedal pin and having to stop to untangle them…

Was very pleased to manage the whole of practice and the race without hitting the deck, achieve supreme mediocrity (87th out of 174 starters – that’s high precision averageness that is!) and beat Hummerlicious. 😛 Roll on 2016!

I love these QECP races – so well organised and such a great vibe. And for a weekday evening warrior like myself they’re a real test to ride fast. Was much less scared by the steep bits than last year so I’m getting better. Standing at the finish with beer in hand I was itching to ride the whole thing again – started to wonder if it would be possible to enter in both hardtail and sport masters next time for twice the fun…

Well, my result was commensurate with my preparation. Second last (edit: just checked the results again. Third last! Whoop! Whoop!) in fun.

Massive thanks to Scott and the QECP Collective. That was loads of fun. You must have put absolutely loads of effort into cutting those trails and the organisation.

Special mention also to the hecklers at the steep bit on stage 2. I managed to mostly stay on my bike down there thanks to the “Hear that? They are cheering someone that just fell off!” incentive.

BigShep, your nickname is pretty accurate.

😆 Johnj2000 – thanks for that post, superb

News Flash! I came last in the fun category. This is an all time low for me, I have never ever taken last place in any physical event ever in my life until now. I feel this achievement should be marked by something significant, I need to go to the tip, think I willl chuck myself in the skip marked ‘Washed up old athletes, please remove all pride and self esteem before jumping in’

C’mon John, stop being so hard on yourself.
You lost 6-6.5mins on the final stage due to your hired light breaking, not your fault…
Anyway chin up, BPW next monday 😆

Too late for this I am writing to you from the bottom of a skip, I hear the crusher coming now, ahhhhhh the end is nigh!

BPW you say? *digs his way out of skip and jumps back on bike*

Results are online http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2015/QECPEnduro/enduro.html

Interesting to see how few people didn’t do all the stages – which is a good thing! Credit to the top runners – those stage times are impressive!

I’m off up there in a bit, so watch out for the blue Codeine!

Awesome fun. I managed 21st in Fun, which oddly enough would have been 21st in Masters based on times!
I was really nervous about stage 2 after practice but in my race run I just concentrated on staying on the bike.
stage 4 was my fave & I reckon those diversions should become the normal red trail route.
My wife did fantastically coming in 5th in Women’s in her first Enduro race. 4-5 weeks ago she thought stage 4/red final descent was tough so to be riding all of stages 1 & 2 including the drops and the horrible greasy off camber into hip on stage 2 was a mega achievement.
Her only moan (not a real one I should point out!) is that she’s been talking about doing a skills course & 6th place won one! She said she was almost torn between making the podium and being a little slower to get that.
Can’t wait for the summer one, alarm is already set on my phone for entry time.
Great work by Scott and the whole Collective.

Brilliant stuff from yourself and your wife Mattbee. Was it you I was chatting with at the start of 3? Bit of a beard? Think you must have been number 28 or 29?

Could have been me in the White top Daveosaurousrex, went and re-rode that bit 2 or 3 times in practice, definitely worth a few seconds that. I was in white top and white bike (with artistic black bits…) in practice, any pics of me (131) would be good to see if you’ve got any?

I was 28, and I do have a slightly ginger beard so probably, yes. RivieraBike Jersey & a red Transition Bandit.

Got quite a few of you lbj, think a few of them came out OK. Will have a look through them all this evening, pointing brickwork at the moment. The fun just never stops….

It was you Matt, I was number 30 and you were waiting for your wife to make an appearance from stage 2 :-). Nice to have met you briefly.

And you John.
Just trawled through the pics on Roots & Rain, but none of me on there 🙁

I was walking up next to you Matt when you were being as quiet as you could so as not to make your wife fall off 😀

I was the utter mincer on the white Prophet – number 18

Cheers for the comments guys. It’s a difficult line, when is hard to hard. We do have options, like fun cat not doing stage 2.

Anyway see you all at our summer enduro, with the new timing system I reckon we can we can change it up a bit 🙂

I wouldn’t change anything Scott, racing is about pushing yourself, and being competitive, otherwise people wouldn’t do it.