Perth Fair City Enduro 2014

Last year the Fair City Enduro in Perth was my first ever enduro race. This year I returned to event organised by Muckmedden feeling bit more prepared. I knew this was going to be pretty relaxed compared to most of the races I’d done this year but I still wanted to do well. 

I set off in the very first wave of riders which was good because we got round the whole thing while it was still nice and dry, and the sun even came out a bit. It started with the same long climb as last year and then the first out of the 6 stage was a brutal uphill sprint again. It was pretty hard but it wasn’t as bad as I remember from last years race. 

The downhill stages were mostly through the woods with a few tricky sections and slidy roots hidden under all the fallen leaves to catch you out, and they also had some punishing uphill sections in them. The downhills were quite a bit easier than the other Enduros I’d done this year but they were super fun and fast. It was pretty hard having to ride it blind though and not really knowing where the course was going. Quite a few times I got caught out in the wrong gear or went way to fast into a sharp corner and clipped a few trees.

My favourite stage was 3 which started in the woods down some twisty steep-ish trails and then down the bike park jumps and drops which were awesome fun.

I was the only under 18 girl competing so I won that category, but I was really pleased to have been 2nd overall woman behind Fiona Beattie as well. I was also pretty surprised to have won three of the stages and some pretty cool prizes.    

                  

King and Queen of the Hill Tweedlove Enduro

After a pretty bad crash had put me off the bike for a few days and knocked my confidence quite a lot; having only just come back from holiday and missed a few days of training due to travelling to and from France; and having not ridden my enduro bike for about 3 weeks, I wasn't feeling very prepared for this enduro and wasn't really sure what to expect.

I wasn't feeling very good on practice day and was struggling to keep up with people I could normally keep up with. Although the riding and trails were awesome, I wasn't really enjoying it and the fact that there was a time limit for the race- which at the pace I was going I wasn't sure if I was going to make- was constantly playing on my mind. 

The night before the race I ate a big meal and I ate a bigger breakfast than I had before the practice day which included some protein. I also filled my camel back up fuller, brought an extra bottle of water with me, and made my food more accessible so I could eat it while cycling. And I felt so much better during race day. Not wanting to miss the cut off time of 4 hours 15 mins for the whole enduro I went quite fast on the uphills but I felt I had enough energy to do this and I was still able to enjoy the downhills and really push it on them too. 

There were 4 stages in total. The first two were rooty, muddy, slippy, quite steep in places, but super fun. I made quite a few mistakes on these stages but I was still happy with my riding and I know I just need to build up the confidence to not dab my foot when I feel I’m about to slip out and to stick to my lines. 

The climb up to Stage 3 was pretty long one- from Peebles right to the top of Spooky wood at Glentress. Stage 3 was on some trail centre berms and jumps with a natural section at the end- a nice fast and flowy stage. But it had quite a few short uphill sections which I struggled a bit on- my legs didn't feel very strong on them.

Stage 4 was a downhill I’d already ridden in the Enduro World Series that was there and one which I really liked. The top section was quite rocky but really fast and was my favourite part of that stage. However this stage also had quite a few very punishing climbs, a bit longer than the ones in stage 3, and my legs were very sore at this point. This was the longest stage- from the top of Glentress right down the Peebles- so was quite tiring but it had a lot of variety which I liked. On the bottom section through the trees a stick got in my disc and stopped my front wheel moving so I had to stop and pull it out, but other than that I was quite pleased with how it went. 

Well done to Roz Newman on a well deserved win. I ended up 4th woman which I was happy enough with because before the race my goals were just to finish within the time limit and not get any time penalties, and to enjoy the riding, both of which I did. And I was the only junior girl competing.  

Scottish Enduro Round 3- Laggan

I was really looking forward to the Laggan Enduro- racing on trails I knew and in the dry! And after an awesome practice day getting some coaching from Emma Guy and Tracy Brunger, I was feeling quite good for the race. 

However I hadn't really anticipated just how hard stage 1 was going to be. Being down the black climb, up onto the old red, and then down a natural section to the bottom it was incredibly pedally, and full of lots of uphill sprints and rocky sections. I could feel I was quite slow on this stage as my legs were feeling quite tired and didn't have much energy to sprint. 

The next stage was funner- but still quite punishing- as it was down the black and then a natural cut through at the end. The black was flowing quite nicely, but then a silly line mistake and an over the handle bars lost me a bit of time. I really liked the natural section at the end though. 

Although the first two stages were really good, I much preferred the two stages over the other side on the newer, more flowy trails through the trees that were actually quite dusty for once. Even with missing the dibber at the end of stage 4 and having to run back to get it, these and the last stage down the orange with jumps and loose berms were the stages I did best in against the women- coming 3rd overall woman behind Tracy and Emma.

As I was the only Junior girl there I won that category, but I did place better against the women than I had at the previous rounds which I was quite happy about. 

Here's some video from some of the stages:

Scottish Downhill Championships Glencoe 2014

As I descended down the dry, dusty track on the Saturday practice day, it looked like we weren't going to have to race in the wet for the first time this year. But with dry also came loose and very skiddy, so the course wasn't without its challenges. My practice runs were going quite- I was gradually getting faster as I learned the course and I finally got the gap jumps. I was feeling quite good, but the course was very punishing on the body as it was so fast and rocky and after 5 practice runs my arms and legs were getting really tired, so I decided to stop there and rest up for the next day.

First race run

I was really nervous on the Sunday morning because I knew I did maybe have a chance of winning if I did a good run and got all my lines right. But I was also really looking forward to the race. I wanted to get a safe run in on the first run and then on the second run I could really push it. So on the first run I really focused on all the lines I wanted to take, and getting the corners good, pedalling wherever I could, and going as far on the gap jumps as I could. When I got to the bottom though I was really surprised to see that I had got the fastest time, beating the next Junior girl by 6 seconds. And then it turned out that it was the fastest time of all the women so far. I knew on the second run the other girls would definitely be stepping it up to try and beat me, but I had a good time down so I could afford to ride more on edge on the second run. However this lead to me making quite a few line mistakes on the top section and then by the bottom my arms were so tired and I went too fast down the rocky staircase and straight over the berm at the bottom. 

Luckily none of the other girls- or women- beat my first run time. So I came away with a Scottish Downhill Champion’s jersey, a trophy, and a massive cup- not bad really. 

Here is a video of some of bits of my practice runs and first race run.

Tweedlove Enduro World Series

I had done a number of rounds of the Scottish Downhill Enduro series but had a feeling that this was going to be a whole different ball game and I wasn’t wrong. For a start the race consisted of 8 stages spread over 2 days and a huge amount of climbing in between. To feel at all confident I also had to practice all the stages on Thursday and Friday. So I knew I had 4 very tough days ahead of me. Things were not helped by the weather, it poured down on Wednesday night. And just to make things extra challenging I only received my new bike- a Banshee Spitfire from Basecamp Bikes- on the Wednesday so I hadn’t actually had time to ride it. I should say a big thank you to Lindsay and Ben at Basecamp for getting it ready as my Mondraker would definitely not have coped on these trails.

The first practice day was hard technically and physically. It was so muddy and steep and my Hans Dampf tyres weren’t giving any grip at all. Somehow I got down the first two stages and then up the huge climb to Minch Moor. I thought once we hit stage 3 things were then going to get easier and for a while they were. I was just starting to feel more confident when the trail suddenly pointed down hill steeply downhill. Again it was really slippy and muddy and if I stopped I just couldn’t get going again. Neither was it easy to walk down. Crampons would have been better than my Five tens. It was also at this point that I realised I was totally knackered and that if I got this tired in the race I was going to have big problems. Eventually I got to the bottom of stage 3 and ground my way to the top of stage 4. I had really had enough and was seriously doubting I could do this. Fortunately stage 4 was a bit easier just being down the normal downhill tracks. That evening I decided E1 would probably be too much and it was going to be hard enough without the tight transition times. Fortunately I was able to change to E2, which made me much less nervous for the race and meant I didn’t have to do stage 3 which was a really hard stage, that I had a bit of a mental block on. 

The second practice day saw us on the Glentress stages. Fortunately they were a bit easier. More rocky fast trails, and less mud which which was a relief. I did stage 1 and then 4 which took me all the way down to Peebles so I could register. That was the first time I saw the event village. It was massive. All the big manufacturers trucks were there just like the Fortwilliam downhill world cup. I was starting to get excited and pretty nervous. A quick shuttle back to the Buzzards nest carpark and then I practiced stages 2 and 3 which were both pretty cool. Fortunately that night we managed to borrow a Mud tyre for the front wheel and also the weather was improving so things were starting to look up. 

Changing to E2 meant I had a later start time which was good in that I could have a lie in but not so good in that I would have the E2 men around me. They were quite unpredictable on the stages: pushing to get by me then crashing or holding me up on other bits. 

The bike felt a bit alien still and I kept thinking the front fork was diving but it was just me not used to the longer fork. The first two stages were a bit drier than practice but still so slippy and difficult. I was pretty anxious and struggling to relax into my riding. All things considered stage 1 went ok but stage 2 went pretty badly, as it was so slidy and steep and I was struggling to get into a rhythm. Then we had the big climb up to stage 4. As I was in E2 I didn’t have to worry about missing the cut off but instead I had a really long wait at the top before I could ride stage 4. Stage 4 was ok but still not feeling totally comfortable and struggled with remembering where I was going. I would be following the trail and then it would suddenly be taped off in a different direction. Getting to the bottom of stage 4 was a big relief and then I just had the 10 km ride back to Peebles. That night we looked again at the suspension settings and realised we had the pressures way too high front and back. So whilst I survived day 1 I was looking forward to going faster on day 2. 

Day 2 started with a huge climb from Peebles up to the Mast at the top of Glentress. Surprisingly after 3 big days my legs were feeling okay, and I was starting to feel quite positive. Stage 1 went pretty well but I was stuck in my little chain ring because the front mech wasn't working properly and I knew I could go faster. I was looking forward to stage 2 the suspension was feeling a lot better and I decided I was going to really to push it on that stage. There were quite a lot of pedally bits on stage 2 so I took a bit of time at the start of stage to recover from the climb. I went through the start gate and was finally getting up to speed, I was getting the feel of the bike and riding well. Unfortunately it didn’t last long, my chain came off and got jammed between the frame and the chain ring so I had to stop and try pull it out and spent ages trying to get it unjammed but couldn’t. The rest of the stage was pedally and so I had to walk to the finish. I was pretty  annoyed and upset that I had lost loads of time and any chance of a podium in E2 had gone. Just when I was getting into it. I was thinking there wasn’t much point in carrying on but eventually decided I wouldn't give up. Stage 3 was good: quite steep and slippy in places, but had a nice flow to it. I was still quite disappointed as I climbed up to stage 4, but as I passed all the E2 men walking up the hill I started to feel a bit better. Stage 4 was really long: basically from the top all the way back into Peebles. I started off fast feeling still quite strong despite all the riding I had done. I wanted to show what I could do and was starting to fly but then again my chain came off, I was gutted. I didn't want to lose even more time stopping to put it back on so I carried on not being able to pedal. Then to make things even worse, at the end of the stage there’s a steep chute onto a road and a really tight corner and I crashed at the corner just before the end gates. I wasn’t hurt badly which is more than can be said for the guy being stretchered off to hospital when I crossed the line. 

I wasn't very happy with my result: 4th E2 woman. But I realised it was a really good experience and a great atmosphere taking part in such a big race, and I had ridden further than ever before over 4 consecutive days and on harder and more exciting trails than I have ever ridden on. I now know I can make the transitions and with a bit more practice I can cope a bit better with the super steep mud slopes. I know what I need to do for next year to be able to compete in E1, and I will definitely be going back. 

Dunkeld SDA 2014

Possibly the hardest downhill track in the 2014 SDA series and I was racing it as only my second ever SDA in probably the wettest and muddiest conditions possible. Over the two days of practice and racing I think I had more crashes than most of my other races put together. When I rode the course for the first time I was pretty scared by the look of a steep rock drop with an off-camber roots run in, into a muddy rutted corner, but once I did it I actually found it one of the easiest parts of the course. After the Saturdays practice I was feeling ok but I knew it was going to be a hard race.

However a crash on one of the steep shutes on my practice run on Sunday, knocked my confidence a bit and also quite hurt my leg. I was pretty scared to ride that bit again but I was really happy when I made it down the whole top section cleanly in my first race run. It was the bottom section that caught me out. After the fire road I got stalled on a rock and ended up stuck in the mud so I had to get off and run to the top of the rock drop and then get on my bike. But then after the drop I skidded out on some roots and couldn't get going again in the mud so had to run up the little hill and then get back on to go down the steep muddy section where my feet weren't clipped in yet and I slipped out and when over the handlebars hitting my leg in the same place as practice. After that I was a bit shaken so I just tried to get down without falling again. I decided not to do a second race run as my leg was really painful riding on the bike.

The fact that 4 women and a few juvenile boys pulled out of the race after Saturdays practice, and out of the 5 junior girls who did the first race run only 2 completed the second race run, just shows how tough the track was. As nobody had a perfect race run, I ended up coming 3rd which wasn't my best result but I wasn't too disappointed with it given the conditions and I was pleased that I managed to face my fears. 

Scottish Enduro Round 2- Innerleithen

In the week leading up to the Innerleithen enduro I was ill with a cold and hadn't been able to get out on my bike much so I knew it was going to be a hard weekend. When I woke up on the Saturday morning I felt alright and I thought that maybe my cold had gone, but I realised I was very wrong as we started pedalling up the first hill and I was already finding it hard to keep up. I began to feel quite sick as my lungs struggled for air and my legs struggled to keep turning up the hour long climb to stage 1. It was a pretty frustrating day as I felt like I was putting so much energy in and not moving anywhere: like I was pedalling through treacle and as the day went on that treacle got thicker and thicker. 

There was a bit of a reward after the massive climb to the top as I enjoyed stage 1 which was down a man made trail with some drops and rock steps. Although it was quite pedally it was nice and flowy and you could carry quite a lot of speed. Then it was up a super muddy climb to the top of stage 2 which was probably quicker pushing up as cycling got you nowhere. Stage 2 was so slippy and it was impossible to keep your momentum with roots and ruts everywhere to throw you off.  It wasn't very steep either so it required a lot of pedalling through mud and pumping through holes and round corners which was very tiring. The climb up to stage 3 was mainly pushing as well as the gradient was just way to steep to even think about cycling up. Pushing up to stage 3 my legs were already burning and I couldn't make them go any faster. I was so hungry but I’d run out of drink after stage 2 and I already had a really sore throat. I found stages 3,4 and 5 all really quite tricky and they’ve all kind of blurred into one in my head: steep, muddy, slippy, rooty, tight corners, trees to hit on the way down, crashes, burning arms and legs, and fire road sprints. There were some bits that were quite fun and some bits that were really not especially after the massive uphills and lots of pushing to the top of each stage meant that I was really tired for all the downhills. The last stage was the worst because all the mud and stones and sticks got clogged up between my frame and my tyres and stopped my wheels from turning which meant the bike kept suddenly coming to a halt and throwing me off and I had even more resistance on the fire road in the middle. 

Race day was just like practice day except there was an added what felt like constant headwind and the downhills seemed to go even worse than the day before. I ended up winning junior women because I was the only junior girl racing on the day, but I was mainly just pleased to have completed it. It was possibly one of the hardest two days of riding I’ve ever done with overall 52km, 2400m of climbing, and about 8 hours of riding on some really technical trails. 

Scottish Enduro Round 1- Fortwilliam

As I set off up the hill in the cold wind and pouring rain I knew this was going to be a hard day. My legs were hurting before I'd even started stage 1 as I'd already done a full days practising the day before and the hill to the top was pretty long and steep. Stage 1 was down the worlds champs xc course all the way from the top; there was a lot of pedalling and my legs were hurting a lot but i think it went quite well. Then it was all the way back up for stage 2 which was down a steep, rocky, rooty, extremely muddy natural trail. It was impossible to keep momentum as the mud was so thick: I think I spent more time off the bike- on the ground, sliding down the hill, or trying to run because it was impossible to cycle- than actually on my bike. I was dead at the end of stage 2 as it was such hard work in the mud. Stage 3 wasn't much better, but at least there was a river at the end so I managed to remove some of the mud from my bike. It was a really long way from stage 3 back to the car park and then up the hill to stage 4, but stage 4 was nice and short and relatively less muddy than 2 and 3 so I quite enjoyed it. Although I was super tired by stage 4 and it turned out that actually it was my worst stage. I was really pleased to have won junior girls in the end, even though there was only two of us in the category, because the other girl is a really good rider. 

Innerleithen SDA 2014

This was my first ever SDA and I was feeling pretty nervous but also excited: I liked the track at Innerleithen and I was looking forward to trying a new discipline. After 3 practice runs on the Saturday and 1 practice run on the Sunday morning, it was time to race. Getting to the top took quite a while though as we had a 2 mile cycle along the road to get to the uplift buses, and then when we got to the top we had a further 10 minutes of pushing to get to the start of the track. The course started on some muddy, rooty turns and then went onto some gap jumps which required a lot of pedalling. After that it was more steep muddy turns with a very steep shoot into a tight corner, some log drops and lots of roots.  My first run went pretty well but my feet kept slipping around on the flat pedals and my pedals kept hitting the ground when I was sprinting which was a little annoying and slowed me down a bit. When I got to the bottom I was quite surprised I had the fastest time with 4 mins 34 seconds; but second place was only a mere 0.93 seconds behind so I had to try and improve on my next run. However the second run didn't really go to plan though as I went too fast into the corner before the gap jumps and skidded out so I didn't have enough speed to completely clear them all. I finished the second run 2 seconds slower than my first, but fortunately my first run time wasn't beaten by anyone so I won the junior girls and I was also 3rd fastest woman overall which surprised me a lot. I really enjoyed the weekend though and the race had a great atmosphere to it; I will definitely be doing some more SDA's this year.