“Gravity Enduro combines the fitness of cross country riding and the technique of downhill racing… a two day event with optional practice on Saturday and the race only on Sunday. The course is approximately 25km long… There are five mainly downhill special stages in each event and the person with the lowest accumulated time [on these stages] is the winner. The perfect bike will be a mid travel full suspension trail bike. The descents are technical in places to justify having to pedal a 150-160mm travel bike all day. You will be able to ride safely down the course without doing any major jumps or drops, but this event is not suitable for beginners.”
David Furlong and I are fairly experienced mountain bikers at this stage but we hadn't got around to this Enduro lark so we reckoned it was time to give it a go. We talked about it endlessly for the last few weeks, we tweaked our bikes this way and that, resurrected or borrowed elbow and knee pads and finally rolled up on race day with no course inspection or practice done, and in my case, a completely unsuitable bike. David F’s bike was a bit better, but still on the light side for Enduro. “Sure we’ll be well able for it, how hard can it be?” Harder than we imagined as it turns out.
We parked up, readied the bikes and got to registration a mere 8 minutes late. “Sure that’s practically on time” we thought, “registration always stays open a bit later than advertised.” Apparently not at the Gravity Enduro. We were quickly put in our place by the registrar who gave us a withering look and observed that we were “very late”. Ouch! I was tempted to recommend a chill pill but I bit my lip. I’ve been in her shoes and latecomers are a bloody nuisance. We meekly accepted our race numbers and mumbled our thanks. If I’m honest, I was a bit afraid of her.
The Gravity Enduro series is promoted by Biking.ie headed up by Niall Davis, and it's one slick operation. Before we knew it our bikes were inspected, timing chips attached, and we pedalled up the big hill to the start Stage 1. We were accompanied by Gary Williams and Tom Fraser of the ML Syndicate. There was hardly any queue at Stage 1 so the starter got us lined up quickly and let us off one by one in 30 second intervals. Gary and Tom had been up for practice the day before and were most helpful with advice and descriptions of the course. Sadly there is no substitute for actual practice!
Within 10 seconds of starting the first stage I was in all kinds of trouble. I picked up a little speed on a straight section before the trail dropped left into the forest, a steep 50 metre mess of ragged line choices, festooned with slippery roots. I forgot every bit of advice the lads had given me, and I bounced/slid my way down the slope. I was a disgrace, like a ball bearing in a drain pipe as Gary eloquently put it. Luckily I managed to stay upright. More importantly, I don’t think anyone saw me! Eventually I righted myself, gave myself a stern lecture and carried on. Things got better. Muddy roots, natural singletrack, hard packed doubletrack, trail centre hardcore, a steep grassy slope and Bam! Stage 1 was over. Five minutes, felt like two. Heart pounding, adrenaline surging, exhilaration and relief. Survived! Just.
Ironically it was the vastly experienced Gary who had the big crash on Stage 1. Luckily he was relatively unharmed, and still much faster than any of us. We were on our way, grinning like idiots as we did the post mortem, then off we went to Stage 2. Needless to say, having completed one stage of our first enduro race , Tom, DF and I were now seasoned experts.
I won’t go through all the stages in detail, suffice to say every kind of MTB trail and trail condition was represented over the 5 stages, a true test of all round mountain biking skill. We had a fair idea it would be tough but the intensity and physicality of the stage racing took us a bit by surprise. The fact that we were racing blind didn't help as we couldn't relax on the bike. I had one heavy fall when a lapse in concentration led to a wipeout near the end of stage 4 but I got back on and finished the stage without too much time lost. It was a wake-up call, and I concentrated hard on the final stage despite the tiredness. We made it to the finish, tired, a little bruised and battered but very happy with our day out.
We didn’t place terribly well, but we were happy enough considering we had XC bikes, no prior enduro experience and no practice runs. Like Downhill, practice is essential if you want to be competitive.
All told it was a memorable day out. The event had a colourful, relaxed, slightly festive feel to it. Enduro racing is definitely the most popular MTB discipline at the moment. 350 mountain bikers and a million euro worth of bikes on a remote hill in Wicklow can’t be wrong! Personally, I remain more XC than Enduro, maybe it’s a lycra thing, but if I was in my 20s I know where I’d be for 5 weekends every summer! Well done Niall Davis and all at biking.ie, it’s great to see world class events being run so successfully on our doorstep. Next time I'll have a bigger bike and I'll be up on the Saturday!
Results - http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/201 ... llinastoe/
pics
Me: https://scontent-b-fra.xx.fbcdn.net/hph ... 8472_n.jpg
DF: https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/ ... 7934_n.jpg
