Tom Cary at Ard Rock...do some prep mate!!!

Maybe he does it ALL, including the mistakes/underestimation, for the Youtube views and likes?

Yup I agree @JAG just another YT clickbait. His next video will be that him and his step mother accidentally booked a double bed instead of a double room.

Maybe he does it ALL, including the mistakes/underestimation, for the Youtube views and likes?

OMG...have it...have i... been duped?

I dunno - no water on his bike..nil on his GFs... No back pack...

I'm going to maintain my innocence here and believe it all to be true!

DrP

can't stand his videos.

I think he does it as part of YT and it’s an excuse when he doesn’t do so well, seen it in other vids too

Anyhow it’s worked hasnt it

In an illustration of how little influence he/she/them/it 'influences' me (I hate that term) - WHO ?

WHO ?

Tom CarDy, not Cary.

This the guy who rides 3mm from the back wheel of his partner in a lot of videos?

Is DrP only just coming to realise that we're surrounded by idiots?

Tom Hardy was at Ardrock!?!?!?!

Anyhow it’s worked hasnt it

indeed it has ;o)

no water on his bike..nil on his GFs… No back pack…

Was that part of the required kit list? Or just something all weekend warriors believe they need?

He must have been gutted to have raced so hard only to find out after the finish that being on an e-bike disqualified him 🤔 😂

Was that part of the required kit list? Or just something all weekend warriors believe they need?

Kudos for you if you are happy to ride the whole of Ard Rock without food or fluid!!

Is DrP only just coming to realise that we’re surrounded by idiots?

The more I work...the more I frequently realise this!

DrP

Couple of lads asked for directions back to the start near the bottom of stage 2 because they'd found out the the transition to 3 was a bit long so they were binning it.

Surely they knew it was a 40km ish day when they set out.

I just found it quite amusing!

I’ve just figured this out…

DrP is Tom Cardy!

Maybe?

He must have been gutted to have raced so hard only to find out after the finish that being on an e-bike disqualified him

He wasn't alone. 73 riders on ebikes riding in the non-ebike categories, which seems monumentally stupid given there was ebike specific categories

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event10867/2023-jul-23-ard-rock-ard-rock-swaledale/results/

Surely they knew it was a 40km ish day when they set out.

What's the elevation? Cos 40km is not much is it 😆

Tom Cardy was at Ardrock!?!?!?!

Get Louis Theroux it!

Tom Hardy was at Ardrock!?!?!?

With his girlfriend Jude I heard.

Lay off him..... He's from Essex* so not likely to have much experience of any hills or big days out.

Danbury, anyone?

*so am I, but had the foresight to escape as soon as I had the chance.

Here's something interesting

Peaty and Bryceland both raced and Pinkbike has done "rig checks" for them in the past couple of days, both of which showed ebikes.

However both of them raced the non-ebike class, yet neither of them has been disqualified unlike the others who did the same.

R&R pics show them both on ebikes

https://www.rootsandrain.com/rider1004/josh-bryceland/photos/filters/events10867/

https://www.rootsandrain.com/rider994/steve-peat/photos/filters/events10867/

Well he's not known as cheaty peaty for nowt is he?

Very singletrack POV but why on earth are people allowed to do Ardrock on e-bikes?*

I’m not (totally) anti e-bike. They’re a great training and sessioning tool but Ardrock is meant to be a physically challenging race. Zooming up the transitions in turbo mode seems to be rather contrary to the spirit of the weekend.

*exceptions obviously made for those who require e-bikes for mobility purposes.

He's famous and I assume matey with the organisers so I guess he's allowed to do whatever the hell he wants? And Pinkbike lap that kinda stuff up too by doing a bike check of a standard looking e-bike with some stickers and, coincidentally at the end, some Peaty products... I had a read of it last night thinking there might be something interesting but tbh, I think people would find a bike check on my own bike would be more interesting...

Glad I did Ard Rock a few times when it was a much smaller do...

Very singletrack POV but why on earth are people allowed to do Ardrock on e-bikes?*

Its the future :S

Sadly judging by the ‘Valley’s Enduro’ round I did at Brechfa it’s the only way they make any money so I suppose that’s the answer.

Was there an ebike catergory for the Sunday race? Doesn't seem to show on Roots n Rain

Very singletrack POV but why on earth are people allowed to do Ardrock on e-bikes?

When I were a lad Enduro racing (Ard Rock)  was called XC, and you rode up them 'ills and down em as fast as you could, no big suspension to help you get down, or motors to help you get up.

Them were days.

Just out of interest and my old age forgetfulness. What did the XC race used to be called that covered most of the good DH sections that are now 'Enduro'

Funniest bit of the Tom Cardy vid was him saying Ard Rock in a southern accent

Why are people allowed to do ardrock on analogue bikes? So slow and old fashioned, clogging up the transitions and getting tired. Can't be much fun. Do they arrive on a horse and cart as well?

Ardrock is meant to be a physically challenging race.

I always thought it was meant to be a big money-spinner for the organisers, from the frequent feedback on here about pricing etc. and the massive volume of entrants.

I always thought it was meant to be a big money-spinner for the organisers

thats my thoughts too, given the organisers used to do an XC race on the same hill on the same DH sections.

Cut out XC and put the Word 'Enduro' in there (which gives people an excuse to push their bike up hills looking at the TC vid) then you get way more people turning up.

Can't stand that fella, if I had to describe him as a beverage I'd say he's like a cup of decaff instant coffee but with steamed milk to make it seem a bit more fancy but still has no substance.

Was there an ebike catergory for the Sunday race? Doesn’t seem to show on Roots n Rain

Scroll down

https://www.rootsandrain.com/event10867/2023-jul-23-ard-rock-ard-rock-swaledale/results/filters/group1/

Can’t stand that fella, if I had to describe him as a beverage I’d say he’s like a cup of decaff instant coffee but with steamed milk to make it seem a bit more fancy but still has no substance.

I completely get what you mean, but almost a bit harsh.

Hes just a normal bloke with a talent for riding a bike. Its interesting watching how his career has gone compared to Sam Pilgrims. You almost see now that Sam has distanced himself from Tom.

Tom and his GF have put all their eggs in one basket, and I hope it works for them, but their vids are always a bit cringe as they both dont look comfortable in front of the camera, and everything is just a bit too sick/awesome/stoked for my liking.

However both of them raced the non-ebike class, yet neither of them has been disqualified unlike the others who did the same.

When you enter you tick an ebike box. Maybe if you don’t tick it no one actually cares and your result stands with only your mates to call you out. The pros presumably bring a haul of bikes and just pick whatever takes their fancy / they get paid to ride.

those on ebikes had been marked as N/C on roots and rain results, presumably non competitive.

i noticed peaty and danny mac both have 'n/c' on their placing as do quite a few hardline riders who raced on the saturday.

i also noticed on sportident results, joe barnes was in 4th place, so i was surprised to see him on the podium

love the riding, even without pedal assist. and the event is great,

they need more showers and water access for all camping fields, nearest water source for us was across the road, which isnt on..

ps its been called the ard rock enduro since 2013, was it an XC race before then

I’m not (totally) anti e-bike. They’re a great training and sessioning tool but Ardrock is meant to be a physically challenging race. Zooming up the transitions in turbo mode seems to be rather contrary to the spirit of the weekend.

Also - it seemed rather unfair that tom CarDy was also ripping past non-E riders on the stages with a bit of climbing....

Anyway - I'm all for E bikes (I don't ride one, but the OH and my son do so we can ride together) but it's getting annoying now that certain events are going E bike ONLY (the Ex in 2024, for example!!)

DrP

Glad I did Ard Rock a few times when it was a much smaller do…

@DaveyBoyWonder very much this. Had some good times Ard Rock, think I did the full Enduro five years in a row, the last being '18 when just felt to have grown to big.

Much prefer Boltby these days.

Also – it seemed rather unfair that tom CarDy was also ripping past non-E riders on the stages with a bit of climbing….

Southern Enduro guys have learned this lesson and the Eebs are now the first Cat out... So by the time the manuals are headin up the hill, the Eebs are already out of the way and on stage 2 for example, therefore they're never overtaking all the manuals

This has the added bonus that all the Eeebers seem to stand around after their races and heckle, cheer, jeer and laugh and shout at all the manual riders, which makes for a very enteraining atmosphere at times 🙂

yeah...but... Cardy was entered in the NORMAL race, but took an eeb...

Hmmm...

DrP

just watched the video, never seen the lass before but she says everything were shouting "kara move over", she DNF'd after s1, he completed in just under 25 mins,

i should be proud i was only 5 seconds slower on a normal bike

i dont get ebikers using full power, i've only ridden an ebike up a big hill and even in the lowest setting they race up, with minimum effort

@ simon, agreed, its got too big and basic facilities showers and water have not grown with the number of riders.

ended up jumping in river for a cleanoff, as the showers were too far away with queues..

we keep saying we'll have a year off, but the riding is fun and new riding friends want to get involved.

boltby gone the same way, first few times i rode that it was great, but thats at least doubled in size the last few years

Yep, I'm also in the category of glad I did it a few years ago, along with Boltby, etc. That said, these things are still worth doing once for the experience, surely.

We had a two dayer at Dyfi and BPW recently, just 5 of us, great riding, no queues and the campsite had showers and water too. Thats more my thing these days or a good Scotland trip 🙂

Weird that you have him among the main field interfering with legitimate competitors on the pedally sections, not to mention obviously being much fresher because he can just casually spin up even the worst bits of the transitions. Even complains about being held up at one point...

Simon/Mugboo - I think its the company that made Ard Rock back in the day so good as well 😉

Definitely👍

However both of them raced the non-ebike class, yet neither of them has been disqualified unlike the others who did the same.

Josh has a ebike category win on R&R while Peat has no listing.

I don't get the ebike entering the proper bike race when an ebike race is available. Seems to just be a narcissistic (and youtube view hunting) way of overtaking loads of people on transitions and uphill parts of the stages, and possibly blocking people on the descents. Just another "look at me, look at me, won't somebody please look at me!"

I don’t get the ebike entering the proper bike race when an ebike race is available.

The way I read it was that he (Tom) was invited to the event by the organisers and neither side considered which category he would actually be riding in.

@ayjaydoubleyou the bosch ebike race only came out a few months back, so long after people had entered/paid

late 22..

has anyone seen the clips of the ebike race, they stopped for afternoon tea at a lovely house with expansive views of the moors, a full spread / banquet with mini beef/gravy yorkshire puddings, tea coffee, toilets et al.

those ebikers are a real pampered lot.

i appreciated the water/ote cerial bar/jelly babies at the bottom of three and a yearly dose of redbull between s5 and s6

it seems the results are going through amendments as peaty is now showing 118/301 in 40-50 age, yesterday it showed him as N/C

Josh has a ebike category win on R&R while Peat has no listing.

2 completely different races. Bryceland and Peaty raced on the Saturday on their ebikes in the non-ebike race. Bryceland then raced again on the Sunday in the ebike specific race.

Is it really the "UK's toughest enduro" as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?

I haven't done it, but I thought it was just a decent day out with moderate technicality?

I'd be more daunted by something like the PMBA epic at Grizedale/Graythwaite.

I thought the hike a bike transitions at Ard Moors made it a tougher day out than Ard Rock.

Some of the stages I've done in the PMBAs at places like Grizedale have been far more tech than Ard Rock stages... Ard Rock is, no doubt about it, a big day out. The transitions are big and the stages are generally pretty long but apart from the odd feature, as you can see from the video, they're not techy.

Tom Cardy... dull as dishwater.

I would say Ard Moors is a harder/bigger day out than Ard Rock.

Both enjoyable mind!

Well that guys a bit of a walloper! Plus it's a transition, not a transit!

'Ard Rocks a great and fairly big day out but the stages aren't techy really, they're a bit sketchy in the wet with it being limestone.

I've not done them but PMBA Graithwaite and the Naughty Northumbrian are both supposed to be a good bit harder riding.

This

When you enter you tick an ebike box. Maybe if you don’t tick it no one actually cares and your result stands with only your mates to call you out.

You were allowed to ride the Saturday Enduro on an eeb if you ticked the box. It was clear you'd get a n/c result.
Whether what you actually rode, is what you said you would ride when you ticked/didn't tick the box, is neither here nor there.

I rode the Saturday Enduro on my Amish bike and yep there were plenty of eebs around...but it created no problem whatsoever from what I experienced.

I'm not sure why people are getting upset about it???

Regarding Tom cardy not sure why he's getting so much flaming. He seems like a nice guy who really can ride a bike. A bit boring at times, but I'm not offended by him in any way shape or form.

all IMHO (top midpack)

UKs toughest enduro, for an amateur like me, no its not, but it depends what you are used to, if you ride 60+ miles and 6k feet a week with back to back days, fairly fit and enjoy big weekends/days out in the pennines/peaks/lakes then ardrock will be easier.

if you ride steep tech woodland/loam, then other enduros will be easier..

pmba G&G lakes was far tougher for me, techier and difficult to ride stages, and numerous push/carry bike transitions, i found pmba AE tougher, again steep techy , but fairly easy (but long and tiring) transitions (x4 fire road).

tweedlove vallujah is again another level of difficult, as i see Naughty northumbrian.

ardmoors, the transition are far tougher especially 3-4 and 6 back to finish. i'd say the stages are easier though as it has far more flow than ardrock. was chatting to a top10 rider at ardmoors who said that kev duckworth doesnt like flow. i'd tend to agree, although clearly the top riders find it..

as for guy kes, anyone riding a tandem would find it difficult :0). i've tagged a few pics from the weekend

https://www.rootsandrain.com/rider10742/guy-and-freya-kesteven/photos/filters/venues632/years2023/

I’m not sure why people are getting upset about it???

I think I'd be a bit miffed about it if I'd done the race on my keep-fit bike but multiple people on e-bikes had ignored the e-bike specific category, raced in the keep-fit category and come higher.

Is it really the “UK’s toughest enduro” as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?

Nope. It's a big day out, of course, but from a technical point of view, it's fairly straight forward. I'm comparing it to the tougher PMBA rounds here and many other enduros I've done.

el_boufador
Full Member

I’m not sure why people are getting upset about it???

I think anyone that gets overtaken by an ebike has pretty good resaon to complain tbh. If I was racing it and someone caught me and I knew it was an ebike, they can **** off about getting let past, but even then having someone on your ass is distracting. Having the bikes mixed in is a terrible way to run a race, does anyone else do it? (except for exceptional cases, like, I know tweedlove has had some people with disabilities on ebikes but they were also on instruction not to interfere with the other racers- they were "riding the race" not racing)

Seperate ebike races are the only way to do it.

chakaping
Free Member
Is it really the “UK’s toughest enduro” as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?

I've done both and the Naughty Northumbrian is another level compared to Ardrock, stages are shorter and a lot steeper, its definitely a harder day out all-round and everyone i know thats done both has said the same

Very singletrack POV but why on earth are people allowed to do Ardrock on e-bikes?

It's long and hilly enough that last year I was riding past ebikers on the climb to the 4th stage who had them turned off as they were worried about battery life. Pushing a 25kg bike up the hill after stage 4 didn't look much fun either. All enduros should have at least one transition that's unrideable on an ebike to make them suffer like the rest of us.

I think anyone that gets overtaken by an ebike has pretty good resaon to complain tbh.

Okay, maybe I'll qualify it a bit.

If you are at the pointy end competing with Fergus Lamb and that lot then maybe, yeah, it would be cause for complaint if an eeb gave an unfair advantage or impeeded you in some way.

But for a general mid pack punter such as myself (100th ish out of /300 ish vets), I personally don't see a problem... unless you're the type to take your own mediocrity a little bit too seriously 😜

And as above, nobody on an eeb was breaking the rules if they ticked the box correctly and got an n/c result.

I had to stop a few times to scrape mud out of my eye balls. I reckon all those softies with goggles on should be docked a couple of minutes, then I might have come 103rd instead of 113th 🤣

@Mugboo thats why we all picked this weekend just gone to have afew days in the Tweed Valley, great riding with much less faff (better weather too this year!) That said I still want to ride Ardrock again, but the size of the event sets my anxiety off no end TBH

Having watched a few things from his and Karas channels, she comes scores as quite genuine and watchable but inexperienced and learning, he comes across as a total throbber constantly way too close to her when following such that she complains about it on camera and keeps doing those really crappy little skids to “whip” the tail out on trails for no apparent reason. So none of this comes as a surprise for me!

Matt Jones he ain't.

What bugs me about him is he is so condescending towards his girlfriend, never letting her have a say, and doing her down cos "it's difficult"
He never says anything that might help me improve my riding, it's always all about him.

Was really surprised to see that Tom Oehler had sold out to Haibikes, and to see him on insta getting welcomed to the haibike family by Tom cardy and kara seemed like Oehler had made a bad call

What a tool. Definitely in my top 5 MTB arsehole influencers, maybe top 3.

I’ve done Ard Rock a few times. I’ve ridden bikes for years. I’m not really on social media, you lost me here…

Was really surprised to see that Tom Oehler had sold out to Haibikes, and to see him on insta getting welcomed to the haibike family by Tom cardy and kara seemed like Oehler had made a bad call

el_boufador
Full Member

But for a general mid pack punter such as myself (100th ish out of /300 ish vets), I personally don’t see a problem… unless you’re the type to take your own mediocrity a little bit too seriously

I'm a total mid-packer but even so, I'm not racing against the pointy end guys, I'm racing against myself and my fellow mid-packers, usually against my mates who're also mid-packers. At some point, though, there's a line between racing and not racing and throwing e-bikers into the midst and then saying "yeah but they're not actually racing, they get an NC" is just not an answer, when they're in there with everyone that is. And the second you say "well if you're an also-ran why does it matter if you lose 20 seconds", you're saying to them "why are you even here? Why are you paying us money when you're not really racing"? At that point I think I'd finally agree with GW and folks who say "just go and ride the trails on another day"

The categories seemed like a right dogs dinner this year,  having to pull over and loose time for someone on an e-bike isn’t cool.
As for hardest, some of the Tweedlove stuff makes Ardrock look like flat.

Kara gets a LOT of online stick because she is sponsored by Haibike, TSG and a couple of other biggish name brands, but is seen to not deserve it as she only got the deals because she's "going out with a Pro who's Sam Pilgrims mate" and "still a beginner" - after 5 years.  Not to mention the many super talented riders that could really do with a helping sponsorship

I've met both of them at our local Bike Park, they're a very nice couple.  Always chatting to the youngsters etc.  Although a bit dull - he is actually a very good rider, but does seem to spend more time pushing Karas channel and her "progression" than his own.  But, if it works for them....

The categories seemed like a right dogs dinner this year,  having to pull over and loose time for someone on an e-bike isn’t cool.

Kara Beal put her on video up on YT yesterday. She was absolutely crawling along, but was then having some clearly very good riders overtaking her. She was less critical of the people over taking her than Tom was. I thought most people who over took her were very courteous, maybe with the exception of 1 person.

Does appear that something went very wrong that they put her in with much much faster riders. Not fair on her or the other riders.

I haven’t done it, but I thought it was just a decent day out with moderate technicality?

I'd say it's a big day for most folks. I've done it twice, and the weather on the second trip made it pretty hard work. The route's fairly exposed the whole way around, so it can feel full on and  while the stages aren't woodsy-tech like a lot of other enduro events, they are quite long by comparison and some are over loose and off-camber. It's easy for it to go wrong quite quickly, add to that long transitions and everyone's cooked at the start of every stage.

Is it really the “UK’s toughest enduro” as this lad and Guy Kes both say on their video titles?

I haven’t done it, but I thought it was just a decent day out with moderate technicality?

No.

As above, even their own event Ard Moors is 'harder'.

Does appear that something went very wrong that they put her in with much much faster riders. Not fair on her or the other riders.

I always thought there was some management of start times to avoid this kind of thing, or does that depend on riders being honest about their ability?

I think the difficulty is that Kara is a pro sponsored rider, so a pretty valid assumption would be that she can ride.

The blame lies with Kara and Tom. It really isn't hard to research the event and assess your own ability.

I agree that issues were compounded by ebikes.   Isn't the solution simple, ebikes race on another day and aren't allowed in the enduro full stop.  None of this n/c stuff