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.