State of UK Enduro Racing: Dyfi

Round 3 of the Welsh Enduro Series took place at Dyfi over the weekend. Here’s Aran’s fourth report of his enduro race season.

Thanks to two Welsh Enduro rounds, a personal trip riding here and Red Bull Hardline earlier in the month, I am really getting to know Machynlleth and its surroundings. On a weekend trip with some mates in late March we made the pilgrimage to Dyfi BikePark and also took time on the Saturday to check out the off-piste in the woods at Dyfi. Needless to say, I was very keen to see what racing Adrian and the Welsh Enduro Series crew could present to us for the 4th round. 

Overall my expectations were met. Yes, there were some pretty minging sprint sections and some really tight and gnadgery tree slaloms, but there was also a great deal of flow to be found on some rutty, rooty and – in places – steep and shaley singletrack.

Though the stages were fairly short, the physical challenge was not missing. The racing felt like a constant battle with little time to think between the rough sections of track. A really good set of stages that managed to balance accessibility for a wide range of riders and technicality to challenge riders at the top of the field. 

Stage 1

After a fairly brutal 650ft climb to start the day, S1 began with an equally punishing open moorland section which involved some serious pedalling. A lot of this pedalling could be lessened with a more delicate, speed-carrying approach to the corners. Mercifully once the stage entered the woods the riding changed to some very fun, fast and loose steep rooty corners. Despite the scorching weather there was still a bit of grease to be found in these woods, but with well supported corners this section of the stage was a highlight for sure. 

Stage 2 

S2 was shorter and provided a nice antidote to the pedalling of S1. Tight, steep and rooty are perhaps all the words you need to explain this stage but I will try and elaborate anyway. The stage started fairly tight with a good amount of line choice creating a bit of a maze through the trees. There were a few sneaky outside and inside lines on this section but essentially the aim here was to just stay smooth and widen the corners as much as possible. The stage then finished steeply into a nicely supportive catch which you could pretty much hit at any speed you like. 

Stage 3 

A steep incline out of the bottom of S2 provided a challenging climb for the e bikers and a brutal push for pretty much everyone else. The top of S3 once again provided something new with fast open moorland riding leaning into narrow ruts to hold your speed on a fairly flat section. This once again gave way to some really tight riding picking a route through the trees with just a little steepness added in to up the stakes. 

Stage 4 

S4 continued this dance of balancing speed and smoothness yet added in a pretty disgusting sprint. What made this sprint all the more challenging is that it was on some pretty rooty singletrack so you had to pay attention and couldn’t just put your head down and embrace the pain. After this sprint subsided there was a decent amount of fun to be had weaving up and down trying to link ruts together to spit you round the trees. 

Stage 5

For me and I imagine many others S5 was a clear highlight for the day. Technical, fast and loose, S5 began with a fast rooty section which gave way to the by now familiar tree dodging game. There were some really nice shaly fast and steep corners that brought this stage out into the final grassy speed tuck/ desperate pedal to the finish.  

Line of the Day

While S2 seemed to boast the most in the way of creative lines there were plenty of options that separated from the main line throughout the race. My favourite of these was a high set up on S5 which not only straightened two corners out but widened up a really tricky right hander on the exit. To get this nice you had to pull up left avoiding a deep-cut, two-corner channel and onto the bank. The risk here was that this less ridden banking was really difficult to get slowed down on and a touch too little caution on the run in could lead you too fast into the last right and in turn off track. 

Results

Dyfi feels quieter than the other rounds this season (summer hols jmaybe?), but the lack in quantity of riders has clearly not been echoed in the quality of the riders.

Carl Walker (U40 E-Bike) took the fastest time of the day by 3 seconds. With times good enough for 5th and 6th overall on stages 2,3 and 5 his dominance on the pedally stages of 1 and 4 clawed him back to the green. Toby Cash (U40 E-Bike) took 2nd overall with a more consistent set of times all within the top 3 apart from the pedally stage 4 where he lost nearly 8 seconds to Walker. Something in stage 4 seemingly cost Cash the win here. The final podium spot overall was taken by Jack Sunderland (Male 30-39) where some good times on stage 1 and the technical stage 5 saw him join the e bikers on the steps. Jack Sunderland was not only the fastest man on a non-electric bike but also did the whole weekend in a pair of tight denim shorts (it’s worth venturing to roots and rain to see this spectacle). Although, he did admit that he was cheating by wearing padded shorts underneath.

The Hardtail category provided a good battle between Tomos Brickley and Rob Loomes who were the only two brave enough to race with a rigid rear end. The two riders traded blows with Brickley taking the first two stages and Loomes taking the latter three. In the end Brickley took the win by just 0.6 seconds after a day of racing. 

As for the women, the categories themselves were unfortunately not very busy, however overall the battle between Abi Miller (21-34) and Sarah Morgan (35-44) was fairly tight. Similarly, to the hardtails Miller took the first three stages with Morgan clutching some time back in the final two. In the end Abi Miller was the fastest woman of the day by 13 seconds. 

The youth categories are always worth a mention. This time round Stirling Ford took the win in U15s by 7 seconds. Charlie Baker took the U18s category by an impressive 10 second margin with a time good enough for 4th overall! 

As for myself, after a decent start taking the fastest time in category for S2 I had a brief excursion into a hole on S3 which saw me off track for an unpleasant amount of time. I managed to make up a little bit of time on the technical final stage, taking the fastest time in the category again here. In the end I was pleased to sit 3rd in the (21-29) category behind the consistently quick Lewis Brown (1st) and Louis Joseph-Meade (2nd).

Round 4 of the Welsh enduro echoed the other rounds we’ve had this season. A good amount of variation between the stages provided interesting competition where riders had to be both fit and technically strong to perform. I always think it’s good to ask the question “if this wasn’t a race would these tracks have been any fun”? At Dyfi the answer is clear: rough, rooty and definitely fun.