[Closed] Tweedlove International course - any tips?!

It's not radically different to past tweedlove enduros.

The highlight will probably be S4 unless it tips it down (it's not long recovered from the EWS 2years ago) or S2. That 'Long Black' stage 3 is going to be a lot of pedalling!

Relatively straightforward course tech-wise considering what they could have used. Nothing really scary, but as usual plenty of stuff that's hard to ride cleanly at speed. Should be fun! Not racing this year, good luck to everyone that is.

Stage 1 is Flat White, nice and flowy. Short too so no holding back needed.
Stage 2 is a bit tech, particularly in the middle section after the fire road when you'll be knackered.
Stage 3 will be really physical. There's a new section of trail in there I've not ridden or seen, could be interesting. Long stage.
Stage 4 is a bit tech, but some work has been done on that trail and was running really nicely last week. Slippy when wet.
Stage 5 looks to be Zoom or Bust followed by a sharp climb, then one of the fort trails after a long traverse.

Been a lot of rain in Edinburgh today, more due tomorrow, but been quite dry lately. It'll be muddy once a few hundred riders have been down the trails. I'd be leaving the DHF on for practice but packing the Shorty and calling it as late as I could.

Have fun!

Thanks ehrob. Sounds like it should be a fun weekend!

I've given up the idea of practising now, as it generally means taking a day off, I'll still never beat the local guys, and I can never remember lines on multiple stages anyway.

Rode the recent Dunkeld enduro blind, I'd never even ridden there, and loved it.*

*Until I flatted right at the start of stage 2! 😆

Stage 2 looks like what we did at EWS last year, if so it's lumpy as hell and brutal on the upper body unless you're a lot smoother than me.

Looks like some nice physical stages. Could be rather slippery when wet.

I'm bringing the Michelin Wild Mud 🙂

looks like it could be a tad wet. hopefully it'll blow through quicker that forecast says

I swapped my Shorty for a DHF last week as it's been very dry

So this monsoon is all your fault! Although I went to a High Roller so may have to take some of the blame. Shorty will be back on this weekend I think, I'm not racing though.

Odd race, thought the International was supposed to be a bigger race? That just looks like a course they'd use for the King/Queen or Open?

What happened to the EWS, was it something to do with the trails not being world class, or something else?

fergal - Member
What happened to the EWS, was it something to do with the trails not being world class, or something else?

Plenty of world class trails there of good length!

Was it a bit of dummy spitting after the last EWS round in TV, lots of complaining about a mahoosive long pedally stage, then pretty much event destroyed by gales?

gutted wont be up there this year

that said im still not able to ride at 100% after hurting my hand at WGES champs 3 weeks ago

Or was Chris looking for an excuse to leave for richer shores? As a local he was in position to ensure that race was a success more than any of the other rounds

Oops, when I said EWS last year, I meant BES last year. Which featured zero in-stage pedalling. Which is why I was almost last. I have high hopes for some pedalling in there this time.

Chris Ball doesn't run EWS races, it's down to a local event organiser. Tweedlove in the case of the Tweed Valley EWS.

I honestly don't know but I suspect putting on an EWS race is a massive hassle, expense and risk compared to a national level Enduro.

Or there could be something else. Who knows.

Judging by this years EWS events, it wasn't moved for the weather!

Stage 4 will be akin to the controversial woods section from FW at the weekend if this rain doesn't stop, which it won't 😆

It was an absolute quagmire in the 2015 EWS, and I'm guessing the completely new section they've been building is after Plan B and they're going down the new section rather than Fairy Liquid?

Other than that it looks fairly tame. Golfie stuff will stand up well in the wet as will the rest of the GT stages though Dave's Trail will be like ice in the wet!

I accidentally booked a trip to London this weekend before realising it was Tweedlove so no race for me this year. Looking out the window at the rain I'm not that upset now.

Yep I remember what is now Stage4 from the EWS, it was a nightmare. Took longer to de-clag the bike at the bottom than it took to 'ride' the stage.! I'm pretty sure it hadn't been raining as much as it will have been come Saturday back in '15 either...

I'd imagine EWS is run as a business rather than a charidee and potential race organisers would have to make bids, and I can't imagine it's very easy to make any money in UK enduro racing or offer much to EWS.

Here's stage 1

Most of 2 apart from the bottom sections

Was stage 4 from the last EWS the one that went down B Side? That trail has seen quite a lot of work since then and should hold up in the wet better than it did in the EWS.

Not sure if we're supposed to really talk about the details of the new trail we've been building but it has been given its name - Mild Peril.

I'd be fairly sure the reason it's not an EWS any more may well be financial - it costs a lot of money to host an EWS.

I'm due to be racing but broken arms a while back still aren't well enough to do it. Stage 4 when it was ran the first time was my favourite ever bit of a race. Keep the wheels rolling and truck on down.

I'm a bit disappointed with the course this year... This is the biggest Enduro is Scotland, so the stages should match that with regards to technicality and how tough they are. What they've come out with is a bit underwhelming, especially compared to the SES. There's making the stages physically tough and then there's an XC stage that isn't fun or rewarding... Stage 3 is the later IMO. They could have quite easily put some longer, better stages together.

Stage 1: I personally don't think Flat White is a very good race stage because there's no real place to start or lose time. Either way, it could easily have started on Old School DH and finish after Final Fling, making a much better stage.

Stage 2: Pretty much the perfect race stage as far as I'n concerned. It's physically tough, but through a full-on trail, rather than needless climbs.

Stage 3: The trail centre isn't fun or rewarding, as the berms haven't got enough support to carry your speed and the surface/lack of gradient also makes you lose it. There's putting a climb in and then there's constant pedalling with 3 decent climbs, for a minute of proper trail near the end (and more pedalling after). A much better stage would have been Boundary Trail > Hush Hush > fire road sprint to the new one.

Stage 4: Great trail to race but could have easily added near enough a minute to it by going straight into Fairy Liquid.

Stage 5: Not very exciting, but necessary and it's a decent fitness test without being an XC race.

Just my opinion...

Oh, and on tyres it will be a Shorty on the front job for sure. I've got a 2.5 Wide Trail Shorty, which is amazing and not too bad on the boring trail centre too. The only time I changed to a 2.4 Minion DHR2 was Vallelujah.

Plan B is pretty much down to hardrock now, no way will it ever be as bad as 2015 EWS, that was just as waste of time that day :/ ...still be tricky in the wet though I'd imagine

I agree with getonyourbike. Not sure what they are trying to achieve but marketing it as an 'international' enduro (the hardest they put on, a step up from Vallelujah/KaQotH) with those stages is odd.

Plan B and B-side are very different... #planB is the last section of stage 2 at Golfie, while B-side is off the mast at Glentress.

And the new trail (Mild Peril) they've been building at Glentress drops into the end of Deliverance from just off the black trail.

Are you allowed to spectate anywhere on the stages?
We'll be in Inners this weekend and wouldn't mind watching some of the action.

Pete, all this talk of xc is making me hard. And I remember you at Neil's xc races, no use denying 😉

Take your point, but for me BES last year was too much gravity and not enough pedalling. Horses for courses innit. See you there, coming up with Ben and Ceri...

Are you allowed to spectate anywhere on the stages?

No probs, it's Scotland mate, ye can go where ye want.

Yes, I can do XC, but it doesn't mean that it's the right thing for an Enduro race!

I put together the course for the BES. Proper Enduro! Waterworld and Repeat Offender were physical but physical isn't synonymous with pedalling...

No probs, it's Scotland mate, ye can go where ye want

Waterworld and Repeat Offender were physical but physical isn't synonymous with pedalling

That's the problem for me (among many others). I can pedal but that first stage killed my entire body straight off!! So stage 2 this weekend is a different track off the moor then?

But don't get me wrong, Pete, BES was brilliant, best tracks I've ridden anywhere by far, challenging but fun, I just need a bit of pedalling to give me a chance of mid table mediocrity 🙂

I was going to buy a shorty last week but thought I'd save the money and use my dhf. Kind of wishing I'd ordered one now.

Me too, I was trying to save some money so I can allot it to another device but I guess I just doubled the cost by not ordering one. ;-(

Thanks for all the input. Will chuck the shorty in the car and see how the Minion works on Friday.

What's the midge cream of choice in the Tweed Valley?

I was going to buy a shorty last week but thought I'd save the money and use my dhf. Kind of wishing I'd ordered one now.

Nip into I-cycles in Innerleithen, pretty sure he would have one if you need it..

What's the midge cream of choice in the Tweed Valley?

Never been bothered with midgies in the Tweed Valley

markcurry PM'd you re: a maxxis shorty

fergal - Member

What happened to the EWS, was it something to do with the trails not being world class, or something else?

Politics, nothing but politics.

BoardinBob - Member

I'm guessing the completely new section they've been building is after Plan B and they're going down the new section rather than Fairy Liquid?

The big new section is in the Long Black- it cuts the top off Deliverance. I haven't ridden it yet but I think people are going to like it.

What's the consensus on tyre choice? I only did the Caberston trails today. 2.5 Minion up front and thought things were a tad slippy on stage 2. What were the GT trails like mud wise?

I'm really surprised that stage 4 is just b-side, we built it specifically to link into the trail below (inexplicably called Fairy Liquid now, we didn't build it! Great name though, wish we'd thought of that for B Side) That adds a lot of variety and not even much more pushing/climbing back out.

Kind of surprised they didn't fireroad sprint somewhere after flat white too, like the airmaiden enduro was going to. 3G is ace but I am nostalgic for the climb of nightmares up the fire road. It feels like not an awful lot of golfing, really, considering the extra embollocksment of racing over 2 hills and that bloody awful transition to GT... but hey, I'm not racing, so who cares 🙂

Full boundary is pretty cool, they ran it alone as a race stage in the original king and queen and it really works well. Pedally, sure, but still Proper Mountain Biking. And then piling that into Mild Peril and down deliverance, that's one for the good tactical riders. It's not like it becomes an XC race but nobody who can't pedal is going to do well in this.

I had Minions on at GT today and they were OK but I've fitted the shorty for tomorrow. Did 4 and 5 twice today - loved 4 but 5 is very pedally and will be a tough end to the day I'm sure.

Going to do 3 tomorrow morning and then 1 and 2 in the afternoon,

Am suffering badly with my shoulder which is very annoying - went to see a local Chiro this morning who told me I shouldn't be riding but after an 8 hour drive up I'll listen to his advice after the weekend!! That's the excuses done, now time to ride!!

New trail what we did for this race. Seems like it's OK!

Mild Peril - what a trail! Did it first thing this morning and LOVED it! Unsure who 'Grumpy Auld Git' is from here on the Strava group, but I was only 1 second slower than him on my first run down - was flying this morning and confidence was high after a sluggish day yesterday and my shoulder is better now I'm dosed up on painkillers.

Good work Trail Fairies! Thanks

Lots of others involved too- Tweedlove did a lot of publicity for us to get more hands in and also some of their team came along, including mr tweedlove himself. And the FC rangers did shitloads outwith the fairies sessions, quote Mark who loves digging trails, "I'm fed up digging trails" 😆 First time for that after years of "I'm fed up pissing around in carparks and unblocking drains" Other volunteers too, I lose track. Great joint effort.

No skidding it or we'll bury it again

Good effort by all involved, going to try and have a look later this week. Inspired to try and get down and lean on a mattock myself again.

Can I just say Mild Peril is a fantastic addition to the Glentress network. It's great if this is the way new trailbuilding is going to go here.

So how was it?

Good! Tough, but definitely good!

Was just saying at the weekend, I need to stop going past GT to Inners and try all the off piste stuff there instead....

It was OK but not great. Couple of really good tracks, couple of stinkers, not enough gnar for me, especially given what is in the area.

Not happy that the first feed station ran out of cake, and the second out of water...

there was someone stopping people fro, using the first feed station after riding out from peebles to 1. can't believe people would use it then

It was OK but not great. Couple of really good tracks, couple of stinkers, not enough gnar for me, especially given what is in the area.

Not happy that the first feed station ran out of cake, and the second out of water...

It was a fun few days but tough. I thought the stages were a good mix of reasonable gnar (but much tamer than some of last year's) and good fitness tests, which to me is what Enduro is all about - it shouldn't just be mini DH.

We didn't practice stage 1 as I rode it last year and remembered it being pretty tame - big mistake! I came off on the third corner and then again 20 seconds later! It was much looser than I remembered and I went off way too hot. Knocked my confidence a bit and I had a stinker on stage 2 too and came off again. Gave myself a good talking to on the looooonnnng transition to 3 and very much had a race of two halves. Looking at the stage times I was 112/121 on Stage 1, 42/121 on Stage 3 and 30/121 on Stage 5, so if there'd been 20 stages I might have been leading by the end!!!!

Slightly sore all over today but had a good time and am pretty sure I'll be back for more next year, even if it's just so I can ride Mild Peril again!

Feed stations running out of food is really poor, and has happened before. I'd say that this is a combination of greedy riders taking the mick, and Tweedlove - who know what happens and should have provided more for the later starters.

However, as someone who rides there most weekends, my main moan is that unless policy has changed, no responsibility whatsoever will be taken for the damage done to the trails during the event.

Don't worry. We were pretty much the last riders through and the tracks weren't trashed, just nicely worn in 🙂

It was a bit tongue in cheek - I'm sure the trails are fine from last weekend as conditions weren't so bad for the race - but that's not always how it goes. It'd just be nice to see organisers putting something back in if they could spare the money.

Whether they can or not I have no idea, I appreciate they have to make a profit. The fact that they have to is perhaps the real problem.

I'm pretty certain they get the permission of the trail builders.

Partly that and partly that most of the builders see it as all part of the complex unwritten non-arrangement that allows all that mad stuff to exist in the first place.

Frinstance, when the forestry work was happening at the bottom of Flat White, a lot of people assumed it'd be destroyed- but actually the contractors were told to give it the same consideration as they would an officially built trail, and that's mostly because it's been "adopted" by the FC due to being used in a race. It takes about a thousand races to do the same damage as a harvester driving down a trail. Pretty comfortable it's a net-positive, seeing the trails ridden inspires people to dig and maintain too.

ehrob - Member

It'd just be nice to see organisers putting something back in if they could spare the money.

They do. Neil Dalgleish came out and stuck mattocks in the ground with us on Mild Peril and has done a lot to promote and encourage people to come out and help. After that you get into "tweedlove volunteers", like Scott from Trail Perfection who did much for Ponduro and Zorro, or Ewan Sandison, who likewise worked with us on MP but was out doing stacks of other stuff, and no doubt loads more that I don't know about. None of which is "tweedlove" but "tweedlove inspired" if you like, the lines get very blurred. (I've done tweedlove-specific digging for the GT7 route but I still think of it as trailfairy work rather than tweedlove volunteering, because I did it :lol:)

Also there's the politics- Tweedlove events have been great defeaters of objections in the FC, a lot gets done and a lot of issues overcome because of it. It's hard to say what really adds up to what but the legitimisation of unofficial building definitely owes a lot to it as does the growth of new off-piste and the general "five year plan" redirection of FC effort at GT that's helped give us B Side, Five Year Plan, Mild Peril, the GT7 links, and aided the embracing of Ponduro, Mud and Roots and the Fort descents. It's all very intermingled... But on balance, I've no doubt the valley trails and riding benefit from Tweedlove

(I cannot understate my own contribution, I just talk shite and lean on mattocks)