[Closed] Do I want to Enduro?

Vallelujah is the easier of the three, though still tricky.

Champs and King & Queen are at the very hard end of the scale

edit: you'll need knee pads btw. They enforce this. Mate rode all the way to the start of S1 in Vallelujah and was promptly DQ'd by the marshall as he'd forgot his knee pads!

A flavour of what the british champs will be like (as it's been the "international" for the last two years

I'll happily ride red or black at GT and will occasionally point down some of the easier DH trails at Inners. I've never ridden an Enduro but am curious.

All of them are a fair step up from that (as above, Vallelujah being the easiest). Have you tried any of the off-piste stuff at Glentress or anything up the Golfie?

I'll happily ride red or black at GT and will occasionally point down some of the easier DH trails at Inners.

Edit. I'm sure someone on here will be happy to show you around some of the trails commonly used as enduro stages to get an idea of the broad difficulty level.

IMO I wouldn't suggest entering the Tweedlove/British Champs unless you're comfortable going down [b]any[/b] track you'll find at Inners/Golfie.

Have a look at the Muckmedden events, a fine intro to enduro.

https://www.muckmedden.co.uk/our-events/

I've done the Fair City Enduro and can recommend it.

Or maybe the Selkirk Enduro, looks like a nice intro too

http://www.bordersbikefestival.com/selkirk-enduro.html

The worst that can happen is you take a couple of tumbles.

Thee usually a few at the back taking it easy and having a good time if you do sign up even for the more extreme tracks/events. Always been really friendly in my experience.

Just had a look at this and noted that there's a short course option too. The Selkirk event looks alright too.

As anyone who has been stuck behind me in a race knows... I'm no expert.

As others have said previously, you would need to be happy riding everything at GT including all the natural stuff (eg Ponduro, Trailfairy Plan etc) and Inners (except Prospacker and Too hard for EWS) and most of the Golfie (Repeat, 3G, Community, Aussie Rules, Boner, Jawbone, The wolfs) before entering K&Q.

For the champs I expect anything is game including Prospacker and stuff like Nae Spleens (I will NEVER do that drop of doom on a corner straight after the rock garden) and the Big boys entrance to Splash N' Dash which is insane although looks slightly easier as my riding progresses.

Vallelujah is the easiest but still hard work as the weather is always foul and the trails are just slippery mud. I think this year was mostly GT trails and fairly tame compared to previous years due to limitations on what they could use elsewhere.

But there's no better way to push your riding than entering an event where you know you are totally and utterly out of your depth and have to pull your finger out and push yourself. It's what I did. And you can always go at the back so you don't have to pull over every 20 seconds and let yet another rider whizz past you while you stare wistfully and wish you could ride half as well as them.

Or is that just me?

Racing local DH's made me a better rider, trying my hand at local enduros has made me realise I'm nowhere near fit enough!

If you live near the Tweed valley then you'd easily sharpen yourself up in time for Vallelujah IMHO, if you wanted to.

By sharpen yourself up I'm not talking about getting fast or good, more like getting to the point where you can ride the tracks with a bit of control and confidence so you can enjoy the event. It's a very big step up from something like GT red or black, but you might surprise yourself with how quickly you get your eye in. Plus it's not like the whole event will be an eyeballs out ball-shriveller - plenty of trail will be rel straightforward, just that the fast riders will be down it at warp speed.

What makes things more difficult is if you don't have much testing riding in your locale, so it turns into a bit of a pilgrimage to ride anywhere good. Need some commitment to the enduro dream to make this work.

For what it's worth I had the same dilemma earlier in the year. Threw myself in the deep end with Laggan as my first enduro, followed by Dunkeld. By no means a brilliant rider and I found some of the stages beyond my current level, but really enjoyed them and the different challenges that they brought. I also went on my own to both and met decent guys that were helpful and encouraging, so it's not all serious and competitive like I thought it would be.

The way I see it there are two distinct types of Enduro eventist.

1) The racer - There to try and get a good result.

2) The event goer

I don't really understand option 2. Not while £55 still gets you 2 cases of decent beer and a Kebab.

that sounds like a conveniently simplified view to support an opinion but I'd suggest that both the 'experience' & 'competition' elements are important to everyone, serious or less-so in differing proportions. 'A good result' means different things to different people, might mean a podium spot to some, or just getting round. Chances are there's still a desire to test yourself against others and if you can do it as part of a well run event then why not?

Anyway, OP - have you entered or not? 🙂

hedley - Member

Vallelujah is the easiest but still hard work as the weather is always foul

Yup- never plan anything else for vallelujah weekend either, it'll piss down. Or snow. It's a couple of years since they've had a sharknado at least.

[quote=Northwind ]hedley - Member
Vallelujah is the easiest but still hard work as the weather is always foul
Yup- never plan anything else for vallelujah weekend either, it'll piss down. Or snow. It's a couple of years since they've had a sharknado at least.

Glorious wall to wall sunshine at Vallelujah last year. Probably the driest conditions I've ever raced in.

Was it really? I'd built an underground bunker to survive it and didn't go outside til monday.

I think I got a bit of a tan sat on the grass outside the Hydro this year. I try and forget last year.

I've done plenty of the Tweedlove Enduros in the past. If your not used to the Tweed Valley type of off-piste trails, they can be a rude awakening especially in the wet. Thankfully as the trail network has become more established, the well used trails are starting to hold up better in the wetter conditions so I think the Enduros are gradually getting a bit easier. I think if you haven't ridden anything similar it'd be wise to try before you buy and sample some of the trails used in the past events. Also if you don't have some big volume mud tyres, get some!

The events last year were a bit less popular and didn't sell out to till nearer the events. Vallejuah and KoH are unlikely to sell out for a while if last year was anything to go by so you may still have time. That said you never know.

Pads were not compulsory at this years King of the Hill when I was marshalling so I think they changed there minds on this one as it had been in the past.

edit: you'll need knee pads btw. They enforce this. Mate rode all the way to the start of S1 in Vallelujah and was promptly DQ'd by the marshall as he'd forgot his knee pads!

AFAIK: Knee pads have never been compulsory. This is from the 2017 Vallelujah Riders notes:

You must have the following:
• Helmet (open or full-face) HELMETS MUST BE
WORN & FASTENED AT ALL TIMES WHILE
YOU ARE RIDING YOUR BIKE.
• Mobile Phone with charged battery
• Bar end plugs

Strongly Recommended:
• Knee pads
• Elbow pads
• Gloves
• Front mudguard
• Full body cover and waterproof jacket if
conditions cold/wet
• Suitable backpack
• Emergency blanket
• Innertubes/puncture repair kit
• Multi tool
• Basic, well maintained first aid kit
• Food and fluids
• Eye protection (glasses or goggles)"

And 2015 K&Q:

"Gloves, and pads for elbows and knees are strongly advised"

If I was your mate I would be fuming.

[quote=hedley ]edit: you'll need knee pads btw. They enforce this. Mate rode all the way to the start of S1 in Vallelujah and was promptly DQ'd by the marshall as he'd forgot his knee pads!
AFAIK: Knee pads have never been compulsory. This is from the 2017 Vallelujah Riders notes:
You must have the following:
• Helmet (open or full-face) HELMETS MUST BE
WORN & FASTENED AT ALL TIMES WHILE
YOU ARE RIDING YOUR BIKE.
• Mobile Phone with charged battery
• Bar end plugs
Strongly Recommended:
• Knee pads
• Elbow pads
• Gloves
• Front mudguard
• Full body cover and waterproof jacket if
conditions cold/wet
• Suitable backpack
• Emergency blanket
• Innertubes/puncture repair kit
• Multi tool
• Basic, well maintained first aid kit
• Food and fluids
• Eye protection (glasses or goggles)"
And 2015 K&Q:
"Gloves, and pads for elbows and knees are strongly advised"
If I was your mate I would be fuming.

It was 2015 at Selkirk. The marshalls were ridiculously strict. We stopped at the feedstop, I undid my helmet strap and pushed my bike over to the feed table only to be warned by a marshall about my helmet not being secured 😆

It was 2015 at Selkirk. The marshalls were ridiculously strict. We stopped at the feedstop, I undid my helmet strap and pushed my bike over to the feed table only to be warned by a marshall about my helmet not being secured

Ouch. Won't catch me being "that sort of marshal". More likely to come over and blether about the trails.

Northwind marshalling priorities:

Not swearing over the radio
Avoiding dying of exposure
Making unhelpful comments
Hoping nobody dies on his stage
Not getting Eddie and Wym Masters the wrong way round again
Drinking coffee and wearing massive amounts of clothes and waterproofs while being generally unsympathetic to cold wet people in the queue who're paying money to stand in a queue being wet and cold
Trying to remember what Proutster looks like

Kneepads and such are quite a long way further down.

Really enjoyed the National Champs that the PMBA hosted earlier this year so based on that have entered next years event up in the Tweed Valley. The Trails at Grizedale and Graythwaite are definitely at the very top of my capapbilities as a rider so how do they compare to the trails up there?

Graythwaite is on a similar level to some of the golfie trails.

It's maybe more consistently steep at the golfie, but also a bit easier to stay on track.

Very physically demanding on the upper body.

OP - those muckmeddon events look a good place to start enduroing

Cheers chakaping. nice to have a bit of a basis for comparison. definitely need to work on my confidence on steep terrain over winter.

To be truly at home on one of the Tweedlove enduros you'd have to be confident riding down stuff so steep you'd struggle to walk down it. That said, the previously used stages are all on Strava etc. so you can easily find them and see what they're like.

Also I think the Tweedlove events allow you to drop out and get a refund less an admin fee, if you decide it's not for you. There's a time limit though, can't drop out on the day and expect a refund! They always have waiting lists so someone will take your place