I could well be opening myself up to a torrent of abuse and heckling here, but such is life!

Currently race downhill (badly, I might add) and I’m intrigued by Gravity Enduro…but what’s the score with it? How does it work, what ‘kind’ of bike is required, is it ‘proper’ mountain biking as opposed to XC which seems to just be doing laps of a field, etc etc?

Any help in understanding how it works, and if it’s going to give me an adrenaline fix much appreciated 🙂

Cheers all,

Andy

It’s for people who can’t cut it at DH or XC races.

It’s racing that’s like the riding lots of people actually do, rather than riding round a field, up and down fire roads, or off a cliff.

Oh OK. Actually it can be pretty varied, but by and large it’s timed, challenging descents, with untimed links between them. Bit like rallying. Balance of fitness and bike skill, no place for a roadie on knobblies or for those dh kids that can pedal for 3 minutes then die. Oh and it’s really really good, mainly because it’s generally still fun if you’re doing really badly

Oh and for some reason it rains 95% of the time. Unless you hold one in May, when it ****ing snows.

Ha ha at northwind…. Sold

Jam bo and Northwind have summed it up nicely 🙂

As for bikes any old 4, 5, or 6 inch full suss will do, some people even use hardtails.

OP there are lots and lots of videos online, take a look. Events big and small, not so serious and moderately serious. @Northwind’s post sums it up really !

FWIW I have no interest in XC and not good enough / bouncy enough for DH but I’ll be having a go at some nest year, be warned they are popular and sell out quickly.

whens the next one in the UK?

Sounds like fun! Also sounds like I need to look at buying a full susser…damn shame!

Cheers all 🙂

Northwind – Member

Bit like rallying

Very true. Even more like a time card enduro, hence the name 😀

It’s racing that’s like the riding lots of people actually do, rather than riding round a field, up and down fire roads, or off a cliff.

– nice description.

Sancho – Member
whens the next one in the UK?

Sunday

Sancho, the next one is probably the FOD Mini Enduro next weekend.

Edit, didn’t know there was one this weekend 🙂

It’s just downhill racing but you have to ride to the top. I’ve done a few and enjoyed them but I don’t “get” it. There’s never enough uphill for fitness to make any difference so you may as well do a DH race, especially with the cost of the UK Gravity series.

I’ve found that, since they’re “the riding everyone does anyway”, instead of paying to do a ride I’d do anyway I just ride my bike somewhere the race isn’t on and the effect is much the same- rad trails, twiddle back to the top, repeat. They’re a laugh. Try one, lots of people seem to love them.

Yeah I guess people like to race without big **** off gaps taken at speed though.

I havn’t got a DH race bike these days, can’t justify it. But I can rip my Mega around trails that you could do on a hardtail but at the same time hit the majority of downhill tracks just a tad slower than I did on a race bike back in 2004/2005…. so I like sticking to the one bike as much as possible….it does everything and it’s about 9lbs lighter than my last downhill rig.

Also uplifts used to properly shit your bike up, I dunno what it’s like now but I bet the lack of uplifts makes enduro a lot more attractive to the organisers.

Most uplifts are pretty sorted these days. I remember packing loads of bikes into the back of quarry trucks and then packing out the edges with riders not so long back. Most have trailers now where the bikes don’t touch. But yeah, it almost feels like it’s a good way for organisers to offer the same races on the same downhill tracks, charge you the same money as they would with an uplift, but you don’t mind as it’s ‘gravity enduro’! 😉

It’s great fun though, and as mentioned, much closer to the mountain biking most do.

They don’t really use the same downhill tracks though, not the ones I remember anyway unless they’ve dumbed them down. Anyway I seem to remember loads of races like the Dragons started shutting up shop because of how ridiculously expensive they were getting. I seem to remember some of them couldn’t even get insurance for the uplifts.

Granted the British Gravity Enduro series is too expensive for me to care much for it.

And the fact that you need to ride up the hill means in general you can’t turn up with a 38lb 200mm downhill bike running a roadie cassette, instead it encourages people to turn up with their everyday hack bikes.

Enduro is a godsend really for many – gives a competitive purpose for all of those mega expensive ‘trail bikes’

If I can get a bit fitter want to give some a go next year…

@Tom, there’s been pure dh tracks at innerleithen enduro events that have been harder than the SDA usually picks out. Though tbh the dh stuff in inners events tends to be a nice break from the tricky slippy stuff 😉

munrobiker – Member

There’s never enough uphill for fitness to make any difference

Honestly I don’t understand why you say that. When people like Tracey Moseley are hammered by the end of the day, fitness is making a difference. If you can pedal the last stage like you’d have done it at 9am then you’re a better man than me!

munrobiker – Member
It’s just downhill racing but you have to ride to the top. I’ve done a few and enjoyed them but I don’t “get” it. There’s never enough uphill for fitness to make any difference so you may as well do a DH race, especially with the cost of the UK Gravity series.

I’ve found that, since they’re “the riding everyone does anyway”, instead of paying to do a ride I’d do anyway I just ride my bike somewhere the race isn’t on and the effect is much the same- rad trails, twiddle back to the top, repeat. They’re a laugh. Try one, lots of people seem to love them.

POSTED 21 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

Very strange thing to say about the fitness side of it, tbh I would say you need a lot more fitness on these events than skill although a good 50/50 balance will have you up there at the top. If you want more fitness then do a Xc race?

You go for a big ride and some of the downhills are timed. Unless you’re really crap at pedalling and arrive at the gates too late. Win order is based on accumulated times. Some add time for late arrival.. Attracts all sorts of riders and bikes and is right giggle.