[Closed] QECP Day Night Enduro and cyclefest, who's going ?

Agree with Hob Nob.
I know I keep banging on about my missus but she only pushed her limits & rode stage 2 because she 'had' to.
It was hard, but like most of us she made it down and regardless of time or placing the rewards of making it down stuff at the edge of your comfort zone is fantastic.
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with for the summer.

Good to see Nick Craig's name up there - nice to see xc/cyclo cross legends can go down as well as up!

Mattbee - was your wife dark hair & specs? She was bricking it at the top of stage 2 & said she normally rode stuff with her husband.

I'm glad she enjoyed it though, we tried (not [i]that[/i] hard) to ease her mind at the start!

I think we will go for one start area in July but look at mutli end locations like the day and night 🙂

That was her Mork, she said that the marshals at the top were really good at helping calm her nerves.
I'm knackered, she's absolutely buzzing!

mattbee

Another fantastic weekend, how do we do it with the weather, its starting to look like voodoo magic 😆
Nick Craig is a legend and a thoroughly nice bloke. He well enjoyed the enduro and will hopefully be back next year, hopefully on a more competitive bike!
I'm knackered and I stink. Best have a shower!

I had a bit of a nightmare to be honest .

I am a member of the collective and dug some of 1 and 2 , so sorry if it didn't float your boat.

Friday night spent 4 hrs taping stage 3 ( the best one imo ) , Sat did practise and thought I was ok on the notorious qecp root / chalk /loam combo . My Hans Dampf and Ignitor combo didnt really offer enough grip so i minced my way round 1 and 2 in practise pretty much hating every second and crashing every other second.

Then rode ~3 and it all sort of came together and decided to actualy 'race' .

1 went OK I thought , 2 got owned by Charlie mort from this ere place , 3 caught the rider in front as he had a stick in his rear mech, 4 didnt practise and faffed my way down really slowly.

DFL in Vets out of those who started and finished all stages. I have told myslef no more racing if this ever happens. So thats my first and last gravity race. Its more endurance than enduro for me from now on .

150 / 163 overall says it all really. I did enjoy it, and unless you have a go you never know . getting up for work at 0630 sucked though .

You can't give up because you finished last ! You can only improve 🙂

@john the clear solution is to buy some new bits for the bike.

I feel sad I missed it but the greasy conditions don't sound too much fun in the dark. Not sure at 52 I could cope with 6 offs in the dark, even if the body survived I suspect the attitude would not

Wow what a top weekend

Camped over with the wife and kids

Got there 3 on Saturday, tent up family sorted quick tour of the stalls was just about ready for practice eby 5!,

1 and 2 were tricky for sure but great fun, 3 and 4 pedally and fast

Started up for another gp at 2 as I'd had a big tumble, but halfway up the road thought stuff that, back to tent fire up the BBQ, set up lights stuff down some sausages then back on it

1 was going well till I span out just b4 the finish
2 had me crashing in a different place but just right for the hecklers!
Stage 3 was fine by 4 my legs were dying, only the cheers from the arena spurred me on, big skids round the last corner to grab my free beer at the finish line 82nd wasnt as good as I'd hoped for but had a great time
Drininkg till 130 was great at the time... until 6 am when the kids woke up bouncing round the tent
Nice chilled day with the family, now home , wrecked

Awesome weekend, cant believe how the QECP guys manage to put on such a great event, good work Hargreaves and all the trade and demo stands, ben from bird for showing me some tyre love and whoever it is that sorts out the weather

Oh and ardents + off camber slick stuff = pain

Just going to add that we (...and I'm going to speak for freeridenick off here who I did it with) loved it...very well run and great stages, all of them. Good chatty atmosphere amongst riders added to a great day...really can't fault it.

Oddly Stage 1 & 2 i did alright on (ie stayed upright) but binned it on 3...finished it with most of a hedge on my bars 😐

Can we do it again next Saturday? I can't wait a whole year!

Too broken to do it again next week sorry; we'll be back in July.

Add my name to the list of all those saying thanks. Build some nice trails in some lovely woods and then show some strangers around with a good loop throwing in some nice downhill runs and add some timing to make you try a bit harder than normal. Great evening, thank you all for your efforts.
Apparently, not so Fast Eddie.

when are day enduro entries live??

30th May

Nice.

Apparently, not so Fast Eddie.

Of ladder drop fame?

Ha ha, not sure what that makes me then Fast Eddie as you were way quicker than me!

Did enjoy having a good chat with you on the transitions though, even if Chiefgrooveguru did end up taking me for 17 seconds 🙁

Next time, next time.....

I arrived Friday at 3pm.

I can't believe the campsite stayed so empty!

Anyway, team Big Bike Bash had a rider in fun category, and he finished! Top work 40MPG 🙂

The rest of us had a few ciders, chilled out, did a bit of riding, went to the pub, chatted to loads of happy people and had an ace weekend 🙂

Thank you all QECP, you guys rock 🙂

Oh, and I got to ride my fatbike [b]through[/b] an [b]AMBULANCE![/b] In the side door, out the rear 🙂

Pictures tomorrow!

Important life lesson - don't pitch up to these things early to chill, only to fall asleep in the sun. I now have sunburn on one side of my face and neck, and look like a deformed baddie from a low budget superhero flick 😳

Event was fantastic though. I never would have ridden stage 2 A line if it wasn't for the heckling. Totally out of control, somehow slid the right way into *that* corner still upright but ended up stood behind my bike. Don't know how that happened. Got to the bottom of that section to see tumbling green/blue/green/blue heading towards me - my mate rolling with the bike down the hill. He nearly overtook me!

Loved stage 1 - just the right mix of steep tech and fast blast - although I totally minced down it. 3 & 4 were great sprints through the trees.

I did all 4 runs in practice so was knackered for the race proper! Still got up Sunday morning and went for a cheeky run down 1 again and a spin round the blue. Proper aching today!

Hats off to the QECP guys - excellent job well done 😀

I know its a shameless plug so I will do it twice!!

First, The QECP Enduro is on the 26th July but the important date is when it goes on sale as it will sell out quick. 30th May at )8:00 Here: http://www.moredirt.com/event/1166

Second, we have a DH race at QECP in a couple of weeks (Some of it will be used for the enduro too) Sun 7th June and it is on sale now:
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/details/133136/Gravity-Project-Honey-Series-2015-Rd4#entry

Piggybacking on the DH Race will be the UK Hardtail Champs so if you got a HT grab your mates and come a bit of fun in the HT champs. The track won't be any harder than stage 2 in the dark 😉
(Remember to sign up in the Hardtail category)

It would be great to get 30+ hardtail [s]competing[/s] having fun!!
More info on champs:
http://www.qecptrailcollective.co.uk/2015/04/uk-hardtail-dh-champs-7th-june-2015-at-qecp/

Scott, anyone who puts on an event so consistently brilliant should be allowed to plug as much as they like!

Are you sure you don't fancy an autumn/winter night/night enduro? Or even a day/night that starts in the afternoon and finishes in the early evening? Go on, go on, go on, go on!

Anyway, as promised, Ambulance riding 😆

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Ah, Mr Sport, I slipstreamed you and your fatbiked associate back to the car park just before practice started. I like how the tyres growl like a tiger who is allergic to tarmac!

@cider excellent 🙂 @chief you need to copyright that line !

Ah, Mr Sport, I slipstreamed you and your fatbiked associate back to the car park just before practice started. I like how the tyres growl like a tiger who is allergic to tarmac!

Slipstreaming makes it sound like I may have moved fast! I'm sure I didn't 😉

And yes, there was a little growl. I had some rather low pressures (5psi) that was ace out on the trails, but rather crap on hard stuff 😆

i feel bad for singletrackmind. encouraged him to do it even though he was knackered and now he regrets it. not enough tyre. i think loads of people underestimated amount of tyre needed? this is great STW subject. i was also slow as s*** from setting up and getting too excited on 1&2, nothing in the tank for 3&4... still won the "best alien lights" maybe? 😉 also cheers for the comment on Stage4.

^ fatbike made sense on S2?

i said on our forum but everyone please check for ticks i got 3 small ones taping S2 & S3, really small.. you might need a "friend" to help look 😯

The story from Team Bean was one of the funniest things i've heard, yes those were carrot chunks on S2, be glad it was dark!

winter night/night enduro

Just another shout of thanks to Scott, volunteers and the QECP collective in general! Loved the developments of the course from last year and the growth in numbers. I reckon the 'field' in general was much more competitive too- I was nearly 2 minutes faster than last year in the dry, but further down the overall. (A morning mis-spent on Roots and Rain looking at stats...)

Pretty happy with my 15th in Vets, especially as I took a wide line into the steep section on stage 2 and ended up with a little branch stuck in my rear wheel/mech/chain- a slightly random way to lose time...

Bit of a reality check when Nick Craig, on the fatty, came steaming past on stage 2 practice as well!

Edit: +1 for an autumn race! -i'm always on holiday for the summer one, there must be other spots locally to do a 'falling leaves' enduro!?

i think loads of people underestimated amount of tyre needed?

smoooth plug Scott 8) you know when a minion looks weedy something is up.

Ollie and Francie both looked fantastic right?

Francie was flying been load of the locals boys. I remember when she did here first race a couple of years ago on a bike she borrowed from her brother 😉 He was at the BDS at Fort William this weekend finishing 9th in Expert! Not bad for a local.

Come to think of it his first race was a QECP Mate race in 2012, He was 4th and no I didn't beat him, I was 5th 😉 http://www.pinkbike.com/photo/9052227/

During practice I pushed back up the side of the switchbacks on Stage 2 and had great fun watching a couple of dozen people ride them, with varying degrees of success. The guy Francie was following in practice seemed to have forgotten his brakes, just carved the first turn and flicked round the nasty switchback, and she followed a little less quickly like it was easy. Then Nick Craig went by on a fatbike. Just before them a couple of the ladies dismounted and climbed down. And a load of my mates variously ballsed it up and fell down the hill or made it look as difficult as it was. Hence my excellent and beautifully executed (until my lace entanglement...) high line into the B option...

I'd have liked a full spike up front for stage 1 and 2 but even a cut spike would have been a bit squirmy on stages 3 and 4. Wheel swap halfway? 😉 During practice my DHR2 and Trail King clogged up on the loose stuff but once the clock was ticking and thus the brakes off and wheels spinning they were fine.

I reckon the 'field' in general was much more competitive too- I was nearly 2 minutes faster than last year in the dry, but further down the overall. (A morning mis-spent on Roots and Rain looking at stats...)

Ditto! I was over three minutes quicker than last year but further down the field though my time was closer to the fastest overall and in my category. Once again just a few seconds behind Kimbers, dammit!

The guy Francie

[i]The guy Francie was following..[/i] 😆

Oops OK that's Benjamin he is quick, 4th in pro!!

chiefgrooveguru- I did the same pushing up move on the switchbacks, which was probably the hardest work of the evening! I would have been down on the middle part of stage two, (after the first fireroad) trying to work out a way of slithering round a tree when Mr Craig came past me... Not hanging around!

Great event! Loved stage one, loathed stage 2 but pleased to make it unscathed, was enjoying flying on stage 3 and got a bit over excited I think and had a massive crash, lights went flying, bike on my head, picked up by a by stander, lost 5 mins or so, adrenaline kicked in and stage 4 went pretty ok considering. Pleased to finish but most annoyed at the time lost but on the plus side I got the spot prize Matbee's wife was after!

Now that I am in front of a computer and have had some time to gather my thoughts, here is a bit more on the event. A view from the bottom of the results table, if you like.

Excuses out the way first. For various reasons, Saturday was the first time this year I have ridden a bike. I also got the dates wrong, and thought I would be out the country when the race was being run, but when I came to cancel, I realised I would be here, so decided to give it a go anyway. It's just like riding a bike right?

After the rain on Thursday, it was a welcome sight to see the wind pick up and the sun come out on Saturday. We were visiting friends just up the road from QECP and rolled in just before 3pm to get signed on and pitch the tent.

With the recommendation at registration and at the riders briefing to ride stage 1 & 2, and listening to the crowd, it was evident that this was going to be the challenge of the day. So I headed up the hill knowing that I needed the practice, but also weary of the energy I would expend in getting round. After a steady climb to the top of the hill, and a bit of a scratch around to figure out which stage was which, I braced myself and dropped into stage 1.

The next hour or so is a blur of mashing on the brakes, white knuckle death gripping, wheels locked, sliding down the fall line and more OTB hurdles than I have achieved in years. I was just not prepared for the off camber loam fest, and went to pieces. At the end of stage 2, with my shoes full of dirt, and my confidence in pieces, I had an earnest discussion with one of the Vets about running the stage being faster than riding it. I climbed back up to ride stage 3, and found it quite sensible by comparison, which was a relief. I called an end to practice at this point, as I was running out of time before the start, and needed to head down and get some food.

A friend of ours saw me at the start line, and said to me, "are you as worried as you look?". I thought I was pretty relaxed, but my nerves were obviously showing through, looking back my thoughts probably were cycling (geddit?) through: stage 2 - will I be getting in the way of the other racers? - I'm too young to die - I'm not fit enough. The starter set me off, and I climbed to the top with plenty of time to spare. Waiting in the queue to start, everyone was chatting, mainly about stage 2, and the nerves settled down.

The stages went as follows for me:

Stage 1 - Much better than practice, still woefully slow, but enjoying it lots more. Managed to stay on my bike until the big x-shaped root into berm spat me off, and I promptly got overtaken.

Stage 2 - A line, B line? Who knows what line I took? All I remember is a spectator standing further up the course saying, "Hear that? They are cheering the bloke in front who just fell off", and I emerged into the baying hoard. Which really helped, as I stayed on the bike, slid down the hill into the berm to shouts of encouragement and stayed upright until the next right hander, where I found myself stuck on the inside of the corner and a "why did you take that line?" from a spectator. The rest of the stage was generally sliding off the course, I was overtaken, and then by the second time the course crossed the road, I was blowing out my arse so hard, I stopped to collect myself, and promptly got overtaken a again.

Stage 3 - As I climbed back up the transition, my legs were starting to complain, and as I got onto the jeep track at the top, the cramps started. A bit of stretching stopped it, but I could feel the pedals were getting harder to turn. I set off on stage 3, and just couldn't pedal to make up time at the top, and was overtaken not long after crossing the road. I managed to stay on my bike for the whole of the stage, but I wasn't carrying speed. Luckily I didn’t get caught until the last bend, and with a last effort stayed in front until the end of the stage. I still haemorrhaged time, but felt like it was coming back.

Stage 4 - Unridden, so no idea where the top of the transition is, as I cycle past the rider in front pushing up, my right leg seizes up with cramp. I'm off the bike and grimacing. Great. Push on up to the top, and gratefully accept the offer of Jelly Babies from number 19. I am riding the stage blind, but decide to give it one last effort, and see if I can avoid being overtaken again. The legs aren't there, but it isn't until the last right hand berm that the rider behind me pulls off a blinding overtaking move on the inside line. We race to the finish, where I am handed a beer, and asked how I got on and I breathlessly babble something along the lines of "yeahgreatsohardimknackeredbuthatwassomuchfunwhooo!". Number 19 and I clink bottles in recognition of his overtake. And that's it, my first race ever is over.

Over to the tent to hand in my timing chip and meet my girlfriend who had been waiting for me. Get my timing slip, look at the results on the screen, and come to the realisation that I really was that slow. However, stage 4 was the best result of the day for me, so the rustyness was wearing off.

Reminder is set for the 30th so hopefully can get some tickets for the next one. That's if they will have me back, and I promise I'll train this time around. I hope I didn't get in anyone's way too much.

http://ride.io/news/qecp-day-and-night-enduro-race-report/

It blow away by Oli's race report, what a nice guy!!

Nice, few too many product plugs for me but that's the way of the world

Scott can we ride the stages this weekend, any traces on Strava ?

Not an official answer in any way here.
Prob best not to ride Stage 3 as some of it is Red route but backwards, some is Blue trail and rest cuts through parts of the park that are very busy with families and dog walkers at weekends. I'd save that one for night rides when the walkers etc won't be around & the lights will give away people on the Red bit riding it the 'right' way.
Stage 4 is essentially the last descent of the Red so I suppose it's fine.
Stages 1 & 2 would probably be ok as they are in a nice quiet bit of the park, in fact I'm likely to continue riding them as I really want to be able to get down 2 with more conviction and less mincing. He only thing I'm wary of is that the reason Bermie (Stage 2 from last years race) was closed is that someone had a nasty crash on it and had to be ambulanced out, the park authorities had turned a blind eye to its use up to that point but then had to close it, presumably for boring liability issues.
Basically, if you crash & hurt yourself please crawl/ drag your broken body onto the nearest fire road before calling for help! 😉

Scott can we ride the stages this weekend, any traces on Strava ?

Understood, (I think scott), anyway plan is to ride Sat am following a dry week and before the rain is due. If wet-ish I will wimp out and do something xc style elsewhere I think 😳

Oli didn't show much respect to the legend that is Nick Craig did he?! Coming through!

Great event. Managed 9th in the Vets after crashing on first 2 stages and then 3rd on final stage to make up some time! Loved the atmosphere, range of trails and brilliant organisation. Cheers Scott

My first Enduro event, I shall be back for more!

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all show some love to Rupert, Spencer and Jesse too please, those guys do loads. Scott only gets the mic because he has best beard 😉 😛

we could probably use a few more marshals and tapers next time make yourself known to any of those guys, even better at a dig 🙂

it blows my little mind that Ollie can ride all that in ~11 minutes, took 16 man hours to tape just S3 lol. both numbers are nuts.

also Karl (on podium), Tim and others who bench cut S2 more late Friday without them loads more probably would have fallen off the stage.

afraid position of park for 1+2 is same as Bermie, was talking to ranger on Sunday about that..

to the guy with the dislocated knee are you ok? i found you on the sideways drop on S2 in practice, you were being pretty cool about it. worst accidents were in Demo not race well done racers.

everyone new to racing or not a dh-er who got over their fear and rode or tried S2 well done i wouldn't have wanted to show up cold to that, it's not the Alps but for Hampshire pretty full on.

everyone new to racing or not a dh-er who got over their fear and rode or tried S2 well done i wouldn't have wanted to show up cold to that, it's not the Alps but for Hampshire pretty full on.

The day/night and the enduro will sell out as they are seen to be fun and manageable. The dh doesn't as it's not seen the same way.

fair question. using the "would Alex ride it" rule i thought it was scary visually but ok already, then we benched some more, then chicken line was added around hardest bit (B line could have been less penalising maybe). everything rollable so not really DH standard? it rained on thursday and loads of roots came through so it got harder.

a few people Tim said were getting to end and going "f*** that", in a nice way. not sure, maybe should do a questionnaire or something. who (that was there) thinks it was too hard?

like Scott said probably less dangerous than 3+4 because so much slower.

i like that everyone had diff favourite stages though, something for everyone?

like Scott said probably less dangerous than 3+4 because so much slower.

all show some love to Rupert, Spencer and Jesse too please, those guys do loads. Scott only gets the mic because he has best beard

Hopefully we made stage 2 hard(Slow and technically challenging) to ride but not to hard.

Was that wise in the dark ? Not criticizing you understand just asking ?

The day/night and the enduro will sell out as they are seen to be fun and manageable. The dh doesn't as it's not seen the same way.

I think that from a difficulty point of view, Stage 1 was fine, just a few awkward corners and the loose drop in to the last section that were a bit nervy.
Stage 2 was pretty nails, but mainly due to the greasy chalk & roots, in the dry it would have been much easier. I think it was more mentally difficult than physical, you just had to let go of the brakes to get some traction on the corners and off camber bits and trust that it would be ok. In many places (like the off camber bit before the hip jump) it seemed far easier to ride than to walk. Both me & my wife rode all of both, not quickly but if we can do it (I was smack bang in the middle of fun class) it must be doable by most! The hardest thing must have been to ride it quickly, hats off to all those who got down it in a good minute quicker than me, no idea how!
Stages 3 & 4 were a welcome change, a chance to burn the legs and lungs with just enough tricky stuff to keep you in your toes, especially with wobbly legs and blurred vision from pedalling so hard.
There were no big horrible double jumps or un rollable drops, I found the taping pretty generous on some of the techy bits and the transition times gave me a good rest at the top before each stage. A thumbs up from me & the missus. We'll be online bright and early next Sat hoping to get an entry for the summer race.
As for riding the stages, I noticed yesterday when coming out of Lumberjack into the Blue that the line into NPS was pretty well strewn with big logs which I assume have been put there to block the line. Obviously won't be riding that & stages 1/2 (certainly not in normal park hours anyway) as much as they are awesome fun I don't want to jeapordise the relationship you guys have with the park. Wouldn't it be lovely if they could be adopted as official trails, even if they have to be 'black' graded to deter those who would be out of their depth...

Wouldn't it be lovely if they could be adopted as official trails, even if they have to be 'black' graded to deter those who would be out of their depth...

So who had the biggest lights out there then?
Can anyone top Phil? 3 OMGs, each @ 3800lm 😆 You could almost hear him humming!

smiff, I believe we rode (pushed) quite a few of the transitions together, assuming you had the full-face on and were no. 151. I was on the stealth Banshee and my (faster) mate on the green Capra in his quasi-full-face.

Funnily enough I found stage 1 and 2 much less intimidating once it was dark and I could only see what my lights were pointing at - less distraction from the tumbling/plummet potential... However I do about half my annual riding in the dark and have nice Exposure lights so I'm probably more comfortable with it than most.

Mattbee, I felt that it was stage 1 which had all the roots to catch you out (and a few bits on stage 3) whilst stage 2 was just very loose - grippier in the race than in practice. I really want to get back over to join a QECP night ride before the weather turns and it gets famously slippery but I've a hectic few months ahead...

Does anyone know how to embed photos from Facebook into here? It used to work...

CGG- that just shows how it's all down to perception.
A forum night ride would be pretty fun I reckon.

Official QECP day&night enduro race video

" Im not doing it , I'm going home"
Should have done , would have saved me coming dfl in Vets

That was my favorite bit after Tim dancing like a loon. Next year you can do sign on with me, you'll be older and your bathroom still won't be finished 😉

Just the bath screen to fit , and box in the random array of pipework along the back wall.

Then its details , bog roll holder, blind , bead along tile tops ,repaint door and window sill. Should be done by Xmas.