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 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

x

Welsh Gravity Enduro - Afan, 24th May 2015

The great Afan Forest offered us all some technical climbing between stages for the second round of the Welsh Gravity Enduro Series with the first big climb up to stage one. I was lucky to have ridden the stages the day before although most the lines were fairly straight forward with being on existing trails. 

Stage one was the first of three pedal-like-a-demon stages it was great fun and ended with three small jumps however it was here where I was caught up by the rider behind me as I wasn't pedalling hard enough and my cold wasn't helping! So with a little bit of course marking tape wrapped around my bars (don't ask!) I crossed the line with the aim of getting my times up on the following stages.

Stage two was downhill from the finish area of Stage one which was a pleasant surprise enabling my legs to have a well deserved break. This stage had a freshly cut muddy section put in the top which linked to the main trail and this was followed by a track strewn with rocks, it was basically balls-out with a few short climbs which meant you could not loose your momentum or you'd stall. I had a clean ride down here, my Orange Five quite literally ploughed through the rocks and I made good time, very happy with that.

Stage three was the longest stage that I have ever ridden, to get to it you had a 45 minute climb back up the technical ascent. As soon as I got to the top I was set off straight away to complete the stage, the route was another pedal-fest down an undulating rocky track and I was grateful for my tubeless Michelin Wild Rock R2, no punctures for me and I took the third in Elite, hoorah!

My next races are Cwmcarn and Grizedale in June, bring it on!

Robyn.

You can follow The Development’s shenanigans on the team’s Facebook page: The Development Racing.

One Industries Mini Enduro Round 2, Forest of Dean, 26th April 2015

After a two week long touring bike fest under the gorgeous Spanish sunshine I was excited to be railing my Orange Five through the Forest of Dean's relentless twisting and turning trails with the One Industries Mini Enduro Series.

The race stages were looking full on and challenging in practice, the dry conditions suiting my riding style perfectly. On top of that I had two good friends racing alongside me this weekend as well, Gemma Ingall and Hazel Townsend, we all a great day practising the stages.

Stage one was my favourite, it involved a steep start straight over a fallen tree followed by tight twists and then a steep root-strewn section which lead into a drop at the bottom. I nailed the start but on a sneaky fast line dropped my chain, I’ve become pretty rapid at putting it back so thankfully didn't lose much time.  You need to keep a level head as you can't let these things make an impact on the rest of your runs.  I’m also excited to be race-testing a prototype Rideworks Enduro chainguide soon too, watch this space, good times! 

Stage two felt like the longest with a mixture of fast stretched out pedal-as-hard-as-you-can sections at the top with some rocky berms keeping you in check and a twisty woodland section at the bottom.

Stage three was amazing, I felt like I was flying as my Manitou equipped Orange just soaked up the terrain. We started off on a slight descent where keeping a good cadence up was key, the hardest part was further on where a fresh line had been cut through what I can only describe as a ploughed field!  Despite all of my hard training over winter I really had to keep psyched up for this section, it was hard.  The second half of the trail was sensational though, I really felt like I was flying and my line choice was perfect, well it was until I took a sharp right hand turn too late resulting in me taking the corner on the floor!  It wasn't pretty and the stage is never over until you’ve crossed the finish line, everything in equal measure, ahem!

I was feeling apprehensive on stage four, it was with regards to a long traverse through the forest which went on for a fair while and by this point I was feeling a little fatigued.  Over-psyching myself on the start line resulted in me pushing too hard through the first couple of turns, I took a wrong line and came off the bike. This lost time was made back up with a gutsy push down the straight section towards the end though, move over boys!

Once the times were tallied up I was relieved to take second place in a closely finishing field but also felt frustrated that I didn’t get a run in where I felt a 100%.  With Enduro racing it all needs to come together on the day and I was a little out of the zone for this race.  All of that aside it was great to see so many friendly faces from last season too, I've missed you guys!

Thanks to the organisers, all of the marshals and competitors for making it a top event.  See you all at the next one!

Robyn

x

One Industries Mini-Enduro Round 1, Bike Park Wales, 14th March 2015

Photo copyright of e11evens

*Alarm Buzzing* 

It was an early 5:30am departure, tunes on in the car and cruising to Merthyr Tydfil just next to the Brecon Beacons for the exciting planned stages at Bike Park Wales. I have had a great winter of riding and cross training, as the 2015 race season begins to kick in I am feeling privileged to be riding for The Development Racing Team. There have been a few races this season already and it seems that everyone is picking up their standards, pushing that bit harder on the stages and challenging for every second!

After signing on and picking up my number board I pedalled off along the trails to ride the entire course before my first stage time of 2:41. The scenery was beautiful with the distant snow-topped hills glittering in the sunshine, I was pleased to have my layers on however soon warmed up during the forty-minute climb to the top.  I always like to know what is on each stage to plan changes in seat height and gear changes, optimising my performance.

After completing the course and having two hours to spare (and trying to keep on top of my nerves, it has to said) I sat in front of the fire at the wonderful BPW café reading The Mountain Bike Magazine and chatted away with a few other competitors.  It’s a joy meeting new people at races and hearing about their own adventures.  With time now ticking on I re-fuelled and checked the bike over. One of the hardest things about multi-stage racing is keeping on top of your own psychology, you want to be performing at an optimum and from this I mentally break everything down into the individual stages.

Messin' abahhht......

Stage one was the black route ‘Dai Hard’, this trail was awesome, full of roots, mud and tight turns. I would have to be in the zone on this stage to make a good time and was pleased with how well my 27.5 wheels were eating up the course, they were a boon and I was hopped and popped down the trail.  Despite over-shooting the track into the wooded section it was a pretty clean run, no chain drops or flat tyres but best not tempt fate.

The second stage was a mixture of the ‘Wibbly Wobbly’ and ‘Rim Dinger’ red routes, this was the longest stage of the day and as their names suggest it involved a pedalling section into wind at the top and then down through the rock gardens, which were no problem for my Orange Five Diva I shall have you know. I had another clean run however suffered with a bit of cramp during this stage, I’ve decided to ride clipped in this season and it’s a challenge but I’m gaining confidence with each race.

By the time I was on the final stage I had climbed the hill six times in one day and despite the fitness my legs were beginning to feel fatigued.  Despite re-fuelling 15 minutes into my riding I was suffering from a fair bit of cramp and it was exceptionally painful at times, in hindsight I think my knee pads were too tight.  

Top spot, get in!

I was delighted to take the first position in the women’s category, very closely followed by Beverley Barnes and Anna Walter.  It was another great day on the bike, Bike Park Wales is a brilliant place to race with excellent marshalling, a top-notch first aid team and the eclectic bunch of riders I got to know on the climbs.  Looks set to be a great year of racing, see you at the next event.

Robyn.

(Note from Lee: Hi, unfortunately action photography of this event's female riders have been very few and far between which has been both disappointing and a great shame especially considering how many photographs were taken of the male riders.   Hopefully this issue rectifies itself before the next enduro event).