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.
