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Latest blog post and race report is up from last weekend's Vallelujah enduro at www.bramblescratch.com
If you haven't checked out the Tweedlove races before, strong recommend taking a look. The tracks are outstanding, although one of the stages did bite back! Good advertisement for MET helmets too....
Whoops.....
good right up mate.
was my first time up there, stages where that good i didn't even mind the fireroad sprints(not that much of a sprint in my case).
got my usual race finish posistion of about mid pack. booked on the other tweedlove enduro's and really looking forward to them after this one.
Cheers man - yeah we all found it a bit strange on actually race day the sprints didn't seem anywhere near as long! That's adrenaline for ya! I'll hopefully be there on king and queens but can't do the international unfortunately. I'm hoping I can get a better position than the last one if I can keep it rubber side down!
Good write up buddy!
How long was the total course? Have a mate who wishes to try this enduro nonsense but he's laughably unfit(not me, honest!)
Usually about 30km and over 1000m of climbing dumbbot. Issue with his fitness won't be the climbing, lots of folk push anyway, conserve energy for syages. it'll be being knackered during stages, folk catching up etc, unless he's one of these guys that can turn it on for the techy stuff.
Your first Tweed enduro is quite an experience!. 😀
Yeah this one was meant to be about 35km and a bit more climbing but they shortened a bit for the snow. Tweed isn't the easier to start on I reckon, I found the most challenging part isn't necessarily the long day, but more the long day's practice beforehand. It's worth doing a few back-to-back days riding in prep. Some of the shorter ones like the Mini Enduro series at FOD and BPW are a pretty decent start, or if you're lucky enough Ard Rock do some shorter rides rather than the full 45km route.
I know a couple of people that maybe lack the out-and-out fitness for long days but are super quick on the descents so more than make up for it. You can also make sure you check in super-early on practice day which not only gives you a few more hours recover/pub time, but also means you can get a much earlier start time on race day. It sucks to get up early, but takes some of the pressure off if you're (ahem your friend) is a bit slower on the transitions.
my strava reproted 22 miles and about 4000ft climbing each day.
we weren't seeded but did pretty much stick to our stage start times. there isn't that much spare time to be had to avoid penalties if your riding seeded although we didn't rush transistions as neither of us are quite as fit as normal yet.
agree on the back to back days riding, my first 2 day event i found it really hard to get going on the second day but once you've done a few it gets easier. june will be tough with it being a 3 dayer.
nobeer - i find it harder work to push, much prefer to gently peddle up unless it gets really steep. apart from the short climbs towards 1 and 2 at vallelujah where it was wet and muddy i rode it all and don't think i saw anyone else pushing anywhere else
Yeah agree with what you said there to the letter. Getting going on the first couple of stages feels like a bit of an effort but actually once you're going, I actually felt in better condition than on the previous day. I presume it's a very small version of what goes on with bigger multi-day events. You just settle into it and keep it steady. Keep all the watts for the stages!