Tweedlove Intl Enduro course chat

Flats help a lot with the steep must stuff at golfie
Clipped in is better as long as you have confidence that your tyres will dig in for you when you need to turn

great thread, sounds ace. a few of my mates are on their way up today – wish i was now!

yeah I’ve been reading with envy. All the best to everyone taking part this weekend. It’s going to be amazing

any advice on whether the flats would be the way to go?

Why not make the best of both worlds and ride with one clipped in, one flat pedal?

In all seriousness, there is no right answer. Take both and ride whatever you think you will be most comfortable with after practice. I’ll be clipped in as always – that way, you don’t have to go back up the hill to get your bike when you take a tumble, you’re still attached.
Clever, huh? 😉

any advice on whether the flats would be the way to go?

If you need to ask the question, probably better to use flats…

Depends a bit on the weather tbh! If it stays halfway grippy then I reckon the only stage I’d really want to be on flats for dabby purposes, is jawburn. Maybe prespacker (not the steep bits, the traverse in the rut) Both have single greasy ruts where an occasional power-dab can keep everything moving nicely (don’t dismiss the power-dab, plenty of pros using it when they used these stages in 2014) Pretty much everything else is harder to ride with a foot out anyway so I’d want to ride it tidy and feet up.

But, I know all the trails pretty well, if you don’t then things are flappier.

Power dab requires to be patented Northy, along with Laser cock! 😆

I should write a skills article for bike mags, “Shit skills that totally work”. “Today, we’re going to learn about the Enduroscooter, and when to use it. Not to be confused with the Endless Dab, which we covered in issue 276.”

I can see it on the front page of WhatMTB – ‘shit skills tested – best shit skills for under a grand!’ 😆

Given the weather what tyres should I run?
Shorty on the front or leave my minion dhf on?
As for the rear my HR2 will be staying on unless it drys out significantly and the Semi slick can go on.

Cheers

it’s been dusty dry down there so it depends how much rain comes and how churned up it becomes, you could gauge on saturday how manky it might be sunday though. Purely looking at the weather I can’t see it turning into a mudbath but famous last words and all that…

TBH a little wet will make a lot of the trails grippier- give them some give and take away the crumble. Not sure what I’d use. Split the difference and go shorty/semislick, for maximum rear-wheel-overtaking-front action.

Reading the rules there are no tyre changes allowed either between Sat/Sun. I am going with Shorty/SS Semi Slick I reckon unless it hoofs down.

Reckon unless it properly shits it down today and tomorrow I’ll be going Minion DHF and DHR2. If it properly shits it down I’ll replace DHF with Shorty.

Having done Vallelujah the other month, if it shits it down biblically then I’ll stay at home. But looking at the forecast I’m hoping it’s gonna be good.

I’ve currently got Magic Mary’s on front and rear but will be bring my HR2s – will see how it’s looking. Would rather have extra grip when tired and a bit of drag I think.

Reading the rules there are no tyre changes allowed either between Sat/Sun.

That’s one of those unenforceables, to be filed alongside the ‘manadatory’ race briefing!.

Nobeerinthefridge – Member

Reading the rules there are no tyre changes allowed either between Sat/Sun.

That’s one of those unenforceables, to be filed alongside the ‘manadatory’ race briefing!.

True, all bikes should really be put in Park Ferme justto mess everyone up

im a serial dabber, really struggled with the cleats at last years King & Queen due to mud clogging up my pedals! the weather was diabolical mind.

reckon id be swapping pedals to flats on Saturday night if i were racing… is that even allowed?

Back to this mandatory briefing… is it really mandatory..?

It’s my mum’s birthday so plan was to head back to her’s (about an hour away) in time to take her out for a meal. I’m 99% going to stick with that plan- but don’t want to turn up on Saturday to be turned away or missing some key bit of information.

Stages 4 to 7 open for practice today. Dry fast and grippy says Abigale

tom.nash – Member
Reading the rules there are no tyre changes allowed either between Sat/Sun. I am going with Shorty/SS Semi Slick I reckon unless it hoofs down.

I’m running a Michelin Wild Mud up front and a Minion out back… Wet or dry.. im not changing 🙂

Brilliant fun today. Stages 4 and 7 are turbo rapid. I forgot how steep and techy jawbone is after the rock garden. Made an absolute pigs ear of pro spacker. Only consolation is everyone is in the same boat. Weather held up very well. Looking forward to tomorrow’s practice!

Nice chilled run down stage 4 today. The bottom section is rapid!

I started out late for practice on stages 4-7 yesterday (17.00). Noted the happy campers who had finished their practice with bikes looking like they had just come out of the garage and not a speck of mud on their tops. By the time I got to Stage 6 it had been chucking it down for at least half an hour – it was very slippery in places. Once I had ridden Stage 7, my bike looked like it did after Vallelujah this year.

Hopefully with it having been so dry, everything will have dried out again over night!

Anyone been down stage 3 today? If so what are the new bits like? Will be riding them blind tomorrow :-).

Abigale has rode it today. Says its very good. Muddy. Grippy. Roots a bit slippy. Bike isn’t as dirty as I thought it would be.

Any new cut in sections at GT or is it just a standard course?

Stage 3 new bits are pretty good, only really a new section cut into the matrix with a drop down in to fire road, it was running lovely at lunchtime. Ponduro/super steep was tricky in the middle section, as it always is. Everything else was running brilliantly. I expected broon troot to be a mess but it was really nice.

GT stages are very physical. That climb after brown trout is horrible. Sniper roots galore in BT. I barely touched the brakes and all of a sudden I was on the floor! Wish they had taken the end of stage 1 all the way to the bottom of deliverance. The big pedal section at the end is a real test.

Good luck to all you enduroists
Me and my son are going to watch at walk or burn and hopefully that bastard rooty corner near end of pro spaker !
I’ve been on leave this week and ridden all the stages and some yair stuff .it was on the whole fun !
So here my tuppence worth
All were pretty much bone dry except prospaker
The squeakybum time steepometer got me on the short section in middle of prospaker after I entered corner badly . Had to dab and walk/abseil down the next two switchbacks. Yes it is that steep it hardly walkable.
Jawbone and walk or burn was imho a lot easier than it was when used at EWS .there’s a rut at most of the bits I used to slide out on .
I was ecstatic that I cleaned jaw bone and walk orburn and have failed many times. So it’s defo easier .
So I find those sections a real challenge mentally and skill level wise so huge respect to all you boys and girls who will be racing them .
Everything elSe was great fun and highlight for me was the cresta run in the dry ! Just **** awesome
Enjoy

Was there anything important said at the briefing?

Was there anything important said at the briefing?

Yes 😉

Does anyone know what the exit of pie run is like – didn’t do pie run after brown trout today so haven’t seen how it’s taped. Is the drop in and/or is there a chicken line?

No chicken line, Julz!

Drop but it’s rollable

Managed to do stages 6, 7 and then 5 yesterday – 6 was a bit of a baptism of fire as our first run of the weekend having never ridden Inners before! Was tough but we all made it though and I only dabbed once. 7 was a hoot – very fast and some nice techy bits. 5 was great – had got in the zone by then and managed to ride it cleanly with a few whoops at times. Slightly nervous we didn’t have time to ride 1-4 but c’est la vie.

Good luck everyone – enjoy!

Good luck today everyone, it looks fairly sunny! I’m sat in Peebles Hydro trying to stop drinking coffee. 90 minutes until kickoff.
I’m at the slowest end of the G1 numbers, so I think I might be one of the first blokes off the start ramp this morning.

Awesome day yesterday, pretty tough in terms of pedalling on the first two stages, third was brilliant, I wanted to go back up and do it again!.

Nice to meet Tracey, Kevin and Abigale of this parish too.

OK own up, did any of you get caught out by the Stage 6 First Corner of Doom? All that peril and terror on prospacker but that root had the most crashes on the stage, including a couple of the elites 😆 And I got to watch, bonus!

Good to chat to Myopic and Boardinbob, probably a ton of other stwers that I spoke to for 5 seconds, hope y’all had a great day.

Well done everyone that competed. I got as far as Tweed Green both days. Stuck with the kids. The weather largely held off. Good atmosphere.
Hope you are proud of your efforts Northwind 🙂

I know little of the natural trails at Inners. Are any of the sections within the grasp of mere mortals that like things like the Ho Chi Minh, Zoom or Bust, or The Fort?