I figured that was probably but I remember the enduro1 races where you had a defined start time for each stage and penalties if you were there late. It sucked.
Had a good weekend, They were all pretty steep but St2 was a bit too steep for me.
I thought having seeding on Saturday evening was a really good bit of planning, it created a great atmosphere with everyone watching the wipe outs on the final corner.
Liked the nice little trail on the way to St3, a chance to get some confidence back after St2.
Downsides. Toilets were shocking by Saturday evening, was that awful music Saturday night coming from the tent in the race village or from someone camping?
I actually really enjoyed the weekend. Raced like a chump, but actually enjoyed the riding a lot. I found 4-7 flowed a lot better, but liked the mix of stuff overall. There were a lot of scared faces on 1-3, loved the steep stuff, but my 800mm bars probably weren’t the one on the tighter bits.
Crossed the line in 8th, last time I checked I was in 12th so if I ended up anywhere round there, i’ll be happy from a combination of not really feeling the racing and being on a loaner bike 🙂
can see a couple people i know were there via strava. the thing that kills me at that place is the elevation.. can anyone relate the stages to the trail names? i;m guessing doris-doris-doris was the steep one leegee entioned above? preceeded by the “coutour caper” (9not much going on a part from a single steep drop part way across it.)
not familiar with all the trails there.. (but am with others that werent used 🙂 )
and the nice one on the way to st3 was ranscombe contour caper (basically a traverse, quite nice, but pedally after the drop IIRC)
wish i could get up there again and explore some of the ones i’ve not ridden..will get the time eventually,,
think i’m right in saying the later stages that guy above said hob nob said flow better were built a couple years ago for this event.. by lee carter + crew… rest were already in place
I actually preferred the stages 1-3! Although I had a big pedal strike on 2 on the traverse, which sent me over the bars and bike flying. Gutted as that would have been by far my best stage. Couldn’t get any flow on 5-7, but I’ve always had trouble with spotting line choices and lots of twists/turns.
Weekend was superb though! Race format was spot on, hardly any queuing and no overtaking due to seeding. The seeding run late Sat was great in keeping everyone watching the calamities of the finish line!
We camped over the road, in posh campsite (with 1 shower -luxury!), so didn’t have to endure the campsite toilets 😉
Was a great weekend, I felt like I was riding well for once, and finally recovering after a bad year for injuries last year. Got 14th in masters, with one crash, and best of all 7th on one stage. Had a sketchy overtake on the steep chute at the bottom of stage 2.
The loos were poor, UK gravity enduros don’t have any more, but they get them cleaned/ pumped out so they aren’t that bad.
Big lesson learnt on the loos, 20+ next year and pumped Saturday afternoon. Bigger skip too.
Just rode/cleared all the stages they are running great and should be prime for the Ex if anyone is doing it(highly recommended).
Please be aware stages 4-7 are on private land and if lots of people ride them out of races it could have a negative impact on Southern Enduro and the Ex using them again.
Thanks everyone for coming and making the event successful.
Came up for a quick razz in the Lite race on Sunday, stages 5-7 were as rad as I remembered from last year and enjoyed the new stage 4 too. Had a lot of fun racing blind and surprisingly finished 4th, which was nice.
One upside to the toilets, I now have 3 litres of finest beer based cat repellent.
I’m not sure how the skip was so full, I took home a small carrier bag of rubbish, most of which was recyclable. I did notice a lack of bins outside the food stalls.
Hopefully next year I’ll be less dependant on painkillers and further from last.
Same thing, not enough & they where v bad Sat night Sunday.
Yes fair point, we doubled them lasts year, lots more people camped this year and loads more spectators. probably because of the nice weather.
As I said lesson learnt, more and emptied on sat afternoon next year.
Chatted to the marquee people after the event and these are recommended so will look at getting some nicer toilets as well as more. https://exmoorluxuryloos.co.uk/
I avoided the toilet issue by being too dehydrated most of the time to need the use of one…
Loved the riding there, some of which I’d recce’d in the autumn, and loved the steep stuff, especially 2 and the last part of 5. Ironically, i’m fine on the steep stuff, but i need to work on keeping speed up on the twisty/rooty/loose/pick-a-line stuff. Happy with my lowly 49th in Vets though.
Thought camping was great, took the family and it worked really well, so hoping to do the same next time. More D’n’b discooo too, i was with the kids in my roof tent and they didn’t get why i was bouncing around instead of sleeping!