Musette

Musette

Tuesday 30 January 2018

First Enduro taste!

I have had some great advice and encouragement from my good friend (and awesome MTBer!) Daniel Hansson over the last month or so while I've been researching about Enduro. He has been racing DH and Enduro for a long while, and is a pretty decent technical rider, who's enthusiasm for MTB (and life!) is infectious. About the same time I also started talking to another mate who I met over here, but is originally from deepest darkest Wales - Paul Jones. Paul is a bit of a DH legend, having been mechanic for world champions, national champions, around the sport since the beginning, and motorbikes before that. So you could say, what he doesn't know, isn't worth knowing!

Both had tipped me about a little group of guys who organise rides and little competitions through a closed Facebook group down here in Skåne. So I got the invite for the group, and then came the invite for a 'timed test event' at the end of Jan. No bike yet, but I managed to borrow a Banshee from John, a work colleague to give the Enduro format a first go! Got the bike the day before, so only really had time to set the suspension sag, adjust saddle height, change the brakes to UK spec, and ride up and down the road. Felt ok so far.

John's Banshee Phantom - 29" wheels, medium frame, 130mm fork and 105mm rear travel
Saturday, off to the secret meeting point bright and early to meet the others, I was met with a glint of sunshine through the trees as I neared my destinaiton..... This looked promising! Then, up and into the cloud for that wet, cold and unfortunately all too familiar winter feeling while we all got changed by the cars. But, the weather gods were actually on our side for a change, and the fog cleared to bright sunshine and blue skies. It was cold, but we were all soon pretty warm after some long climbs on gravel roads. After a good warm-up we reached the first special stage. The trails were pretty greasy and the roots and rocks wet. After a sketchy practice run it was time for my first timed run. Haven't been this nervous for a long time! The first run went ok, I got down unscathed - but it felt pretty slow.

That bright thing in the sky is apparently called 'Sun', or something.....
Some more uphills and on to the second special. Slightly more flowy this time, and not as steep as the first. Some muddy sections added to the fun, and I started to get a feel for the bike.

The third section was blind, no practice. It was short, but super sweet and really allowed us to open up the speed a little more.

Some more climbing, and a few people were now starting to feel the pace as we had climbed a good 700m by now. I was still enjoying the riding, and was pleasantly surprised by the climbing ability of the Banshee. It's obviously heavier than your average XC bike, and the geometry is slightly more biased towards going downhill fast than up. But still, the 29" wheels allow for good grip and a balanced feeling in normal riding too. The bike was set up 1 x 10, and I felt like an 11 speed cassette would have helped to allow a slightly higher cadence on the steeper sections of the climbs.

The fourth and last special stage was, epic..... Jumps, drops, mud, fast corners, slow corners, dry sections, super steep sections, and it was long too. Long enough for me to start feeling tired near the finish.

Prep time, and nervous chatting
After the last stage we all rode back to base nice and easy. Chatting was down to a minimum now as we all were feeling pretty tired. But I think all had a similar experience to me judging by the ear-to-ear smiles. I have to say it was probably the most fun I've had in along time with my clothes on. I must add a huge thanks to the guys who organised the day out.

I have definitely caught the bug for this part of our fantastic sport, and I look forward to some great training and racing with new mates.

1 comment:

  1. Nice one Wozza, enduro certainly gives a different view of mtb - adam buckland.

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