Racing! On a mountain bike!
I'm off to Ae Forest this weekend to compete in the first of the UK Gravity Enduro series. This is a brand new series of races, mostly to be held at trail centres across the country over the summer. Organised by Steve Parr, who used to organise a lot the downhill races a few years back, the series takes it's cues from euro-style "enduro" racing rather than what "enduro" has tended to mean in the UK.
This isn't a 100km endurance race.
The format takes that of rally special stages. Basically... pootle along and up the climbs... take your time, you aren't racing here. Get to the top. Wait for your allotted start time. Rag yourself silly downhill in the shortest time possible. Pootle to next start point. Repeat. Your final time = the cumulative total of all the stages.
I've done a two of these style races in the past. The Avalanche series has come to the UK for the last two years. Kielder Forest was the venue in 2009, Ae held the racing in 2010. I love the format. It really lends itself to the kind of sociable, relaxed, competitiveness that feels quite unique to mountain biking. You get to ride your bike much more than with UK downhill racing, and you can use your everyday trail bike.
So... 2011. Different race series, but same venue as last year. Looks like many of the stages are similar to last year, and broadly follow a loop of the red route, but also uses Shredder and the DH track.
I'll be riding exactly the same bike as last year... my trusty On-One 456 singlespeed. In "look at me" pink. It's fair to say that this is not exactly the perfect tool for the job. I had been hoping my Nukeproof Mega would be built and ready to roll by now, but delays at the factory have meant the frames haven't arrived on these shores yet.
On the plus side:
-Singlespeed gives me niche points
-And an excuse
-Hardtail isn't a massive disadvantage on some of the stages
On the downside:
-On the flat out, pedally sections, I spin out too quickly
-Hardtail is a disadvantage in terms of pure speed (and therefore time)
-Minimal "skill compensation" when I inevitably mess up a line
But, in the spirit of run what you brung, I'll have just as much fun, and to be honest, I'm nowhere near as skilful as the downhillers who will be racing, so it's not like choice of bike is going to be depriving me of podium places or anything. Still feels somewhat like bringing a butter knife to a sword fight however.
Weather forecast is, er rubbish. This is because we are camping. Very tempted to look into B+B options, if only to guarantee another sun-kissed weekend.
***Wuss update... B+B booked... Wuss update***
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