UK Gravity Enduro - Dyfi, 19th & 20th September 2015

It's the Dyfi race weekend, HUZZAH!

It's Robyn here, I completed the big Dyfi loop on the Saturday prior to completing the seeding.  Having got myself back onto flat pedals for a couple of rides prior to the weekend I was feeling a lot more at home with the bike. From the start you could see for miles, it was a great grassy track with natural jumps over rocks as you descended which give you the opportunity to just let it all hang out on the bike and have fun.  I really enjoyed the slalom style section at the bottom and clocked in one of the better times of the season on my Orange Five.  Couldn't fault my bike set up at all, the Manitou Revox rear suspension came into its own element on the big rock jumps, so smooth and supple.

The stages throughout the races varied from freshly cut steep mud to rocky trail centre affairs. The Michelin Wild Rock R2 enduro tyres really are absolutely incredible on the rocks and roll really nicely, I haven’t had a flat running tubeless on these all season.  Later in the day I few off the bike moments as fatigue set in and was pleased to complete stage five completely clean after a long 5 hours out on the bike!  I came in 19th courtesy of my off the bike moments, I'm happy with that though as the whole weekend has been fantastic.

Dyfi hosted a superb finale to the UKGE series2015. It was a great opportunity to race against a fantastic set of rides. The food from The BillyCan was delicious – lentil soup is perfect before heading up to seed. Steve, Charlie, Liz, Chris and all their workers have put so much into these events and I’m already excited about the return to gravity enduro racing next season. Before I finish my year I have one more Welsh Gravity to complete and then I will start thinking about the 2016 season.

Robyn x

UK Gravity Enduro - Ae Forest, 29th to 30th August 2015

The UK Gravity Enduro at Ae Forrest was a Bank Holiday bonanza of riding, it was a total barn stormer with mammoth thigh-busting pedal-to-the-metal sections in between! Round four had everything!

Arriving early on the Thursday meant that I had plenty of opportunity to ride the course before seeding on Saturday. It also demonstrated to me the amount of work that goes into this kind of event, a LOT, big thanks as always to everyone who makes these events happen – they've all been rad!

Now, the stages:

Number 1 was a typical trail centre type course with built up berms and jumps leading into a gnarly freshly cut section which twisted back on itself a couple of times before hitting a tight right hander and then plummeting down a steep descent into the finish. My Manitou suspension really soaked this up and the track was pure delight to ride, you picked up some good speed and really felt it on your face when swooshing around the corners, brilliant!

2 came along with fresh thick mud, roots and a sneaky few bumps and lumps which caught out the unwary, including myself, which wasn't very pretty I admit!  You then flew out onto the fire road for a fairly long sprint until reaching the red trail centre section and then hitting it in reverse. This meant a fair bit of pedalling which tested everyone's fitness. I could see the rider in front of me down here but just couldn’t quite catch the speedy Sally Evame!

Number 3 was a blinder, wow, this is the stage everyone had been talking about. Should I ride it again? I practiced this stage once and once only from the top to the bottom it required skills, flare and guts taking you down through steep muddy twisting switchbacks.  Once I had unclipped I found it impossible to get back into my pedals and fell awkwardly into a massive bush just past a lovely photographer who was shouting messages of encouragement to me, whoops!

Stage 4 came along and proved to be another absolutely epic stage; tight trees, mud galore, few steep drops before flying out onto a nice flowy trail lined some great cheering spectators, it was time to get a bit of stylish air time on my Orange Five!

Finally stage 5, the seeding run and the final run took place on the Sunday and what a mint trail it was!  It had everything, steep loose rocks, rock gardens, fresh cut loam and a great arena to finish into.

Each climb took at least 50 minutes totalling up to a long day on Sunday, five hours on the bike! This took a lot of guts, however we all fuelled by the great encouragement from fellow riders and all of the spectators, it's an amazing atmosphere.

Many thanks to everyone who encouraged me and cheered me on through the rounds, I ended the weekend further down the field that I would have liked after the mud got the better of me, still had an awesome weekend though.

See you all on the hills,

Robyn x

UK Gravity Enduro - Hamsterley Forest, 1st & 2nd August 2015

Hurrah, it's my summer holiday and race time all at once! 

Heading up to the North-East is always a pure delight and having raced at Hamsterley earlier in the year I knew what I was letting myself in for. It's a mint place to ride catering for both families and professional riders with its plethora of graded trails, you won't be stuck for ideas with advice from the forest's friendly bikers to guide you on your way.

The event, with its 20km loop taking in five stages plus the extra seeding time added from Saturday, had some people thinking it was too short however I disagreed. The transition times were tight and a shorter loop really levels the playing field for the riders who could only make it there for the weekend.  Having said that though, I was lucky with having a bit more time to spare, a plus side of being a teacher, and got some good practice in on the Friday which meant I could have a couple of warm-ups on the seeding runs. 

Seeding and Stage 5 - Despite its deceptively gentle appearance it's a long trail that demanded hard pedalling to ensure that you put in a decent time. There was a freshly cut section at the bottom of the trail that I hit too hard and came off my Five, thankfully I didn't lose too much time. Speaking of times, fair play going out to Elliott Heap who put down the fastest time of the day whilst still in the junior category, wowzers! 

During Gravity Enduro events riders seem to favour one or two of the trails over the others and for me these were Stages 3 and 4 which were slap bang next to the Descend Hamsterley Bike Park, the full-bore downhill side of the forest!  Here, it normally costs 5 quid to ride and you can book on the uplift system too, it's a really rad day out with friend and I recommend going!

Anyway, back to the racing, both of these stages really challenged my riding where you needed to be really switched on and focussed in order to rail the best lines, keeping up the pace.  Despite all of my stages going smoothly I wasn't up to a full-on race pace due to the onset of fatigue and this was reflected in my times, onwards and upwards to the next event.

Robyn

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Will Olson 1975 - 2015

Edit by Lee: The weekend was over shadowed as news came through that a fellow mountain bike brethren had passed away following a tragic accident during the Enduro World Series at Crested Butte in the 'States. Through respect to the rider and his family the event was cancelled and in honour of his memory his number 139 has been removed.  Lee and all of the team's riders hearts go out to Will Olson's family, a fund has been set up in his memory if you wish to donate: The Will Olson Memorial Fund.

UK Gravity Enduro Series, Grizedale, 27th - 28th June 2015

Grizedale, it is always with great excitement that I approach any kind of race in the Lake District, the scenery there is nothing less than sensational.

I spent nearly seven hours practicing on the Saturday including my seeding run, most of the riding this weekend was across terrain which had been cut in much earlier in the year. The UKGE guys work tirelessly on these races and they deserve real credit for the great effort creating such challenging stages.

Stage five was the seeding run which led down into the finish arena, it started off with a fast pedal over some freshly cut ground which was a gutsy all out push for the first thirty seconds. From there it progressed rapidly across increasingly technical terrain which included a cool drop into a tight right hander the exit speed of which got you straight up and over a long rooted section.  With no time to rest on your laurels you hit some tight twisting tree-lined turns which then spit you out into a full on pedal towards the finish arena. My seeding run went really well, I came down clean and crossed the line with a huge grin on my face. Awesome!

The sun was doing its best to bake everyone in their full face helmets however this was compensated by the scenery on the climb up from Coniston Water which was magnificent. I was with my good friend Gemma Ingall on the practice loop, riding with someone whilst checking out the stages made it all very sociable.

Race day:

Rain was predicted on Sunday for most of the morning; which was soon proved to be correct when it came down in abundance! This made an already challenging course extra difficult where not only were the stages unpredictable, the climbs were more mentally challenging.

Stage one started with a small drop followed by some tight twists across nice slippery roots where I kept as loose as possible on the bike and was certainly being aided by my Michelin encased Sun-Ringle 27.5" wheels. The fast middle section over some drops saw me miss a line and I wasted time struggling to get back onto the track. The stage concluded with a very slippery rock garden which I thankfully managed to glide over to the finish line, I was relieved to have completed the first stage!

Onwards and upwards, quite literally, to stage two. It was here where I was settling into the race having looked forward to this stage's mud, roots and fire road sprints. I really enjoyed it and had some fun on my Orange Five which was flying with aplomb, despite a little wipe out further down, ahem!

Stage three was rocky with the longest of fire road sprints where I stayed strong and finished well. Stage four saw me take a wrong line at the start and headed into the course tape, which was rather clever, I know! After unpicking myself I got the cadence back down to get some time back. For the last and indeed long transition I employed the ‘This Girl Can’ philosophy keeping a positive frame of mind and started to pedal up to stage five, by this time I had been out on the bike for three hours! Yes, this is one hell of a great bike event and it was here where I was blessed with a vista across Coniston Water, breath taking. 

Arriving safely at the top of the stage with a couple of minutes to spare the rain began to ease off.  I went out on a hard 'all or nothing' push from the start however my fatigue was showing with a couple of silly lines in the loose rocky sections at the bottom.  With that said I crossed the finish line in eighth place completely exhausted but happy.

Robyn

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