X-Fusion Enduro1 – Round 3 Swinley Forest

Swinley forest isn’t the first place I would think of holding the final round of the Enduro 1 All Mountain Enduro Race series but the Sat Nav said that I had arrived, the signs said that I was in the right place, and the usual suspects and friendly faces were starting to arrive so I got my best race socks on and tied my number to my bars, I was ready to go.

Coming into this final round Ryan Bevis had a narrow advantage over Charlie Williams for the overall title. Whoever placed higher today would take the title. The weather was definitely on the brisk side of Autumnal, but the sun was out and a 15mile muddy loop was marked out and ready for 160 riders to do battle.

A short first transition gave little time to warm up and sprinting into stage 1 was the first real opportunity to get warm and crikey what a warm up! A fairly flat start led into a steep rooty climb where stalling wasn’t an option. Stalling here could see you sliding all the way back to the bottom with a difficult push back up (if you were wearing summer riding shoes). Back on the gas there were some nice techy rootysections and some noisy supporters! These guys spurred me on and I thought the stage must be nearly over. How wrong I was, this stage just kept on giving! I was definitely warmed up by the end of this stage. Ryan came out of the blocks hot and won this stage by 1 second from Aiden Bishop.

After the lung buster of stage 1, stage 2 was even longer! Again a bit of an XC climb to start before some cool root infested technical sections and a long Kamikaze style fire road drag to a more DH style track and a final sprint for the finish. Aiden won the stage with Tom Fenton and Ryan less than 8 seconds behind.

The connector to stage 3 took in some of Swinleys excellent flowing, bermed trails which pump their way around the forest. Stage 3 started on the trail centre style trail then continued along in an undulating flowing trail. It was Charlie’s turn to keep Aiden honest on this stage with only 4 seconds between them.

Stage 4 had a proper DH feel at the top with a racing line well off of the normal trail before a bit of a drop which could be avoided for a more direct line. The wide trail gave riders the option to choose which side of the trees to go before smashing some good old downhill turns. A sharp left and a steep climb did its best to wear you out before dropping into a gully which the trail traversed up and down like a natural half pipe. There was probably a nice straight bushwhacking line down the middle but since the stages were largely ridden blind most riders probably took the safer option of following the rollercoaster. Ryan was the nearest rider to Aiden on this stage.

The next transition took in the excellent labyrinth trail which pumped and flowed forever with only short climbs to prolong the fun. Riding in close formation with other racers through the tight berms resulted in everyone arriving at the final stage with a smile on their face. The final stage started with a log hop, a greasy flat left turn and 2 drops, the first of which I landed to flat and got a proper nod on! The rest was downhill all the way with a final section through jump gully. Aiden Bishop stamped his authority on this stage too giving him a combined time of 13 minutes 52 seconds. Ryan Bevis and Tom recorded identical times on the final stage but Ryan had already done enough to secure second place ahead of Tom Fenton in third.

This result meant that Ryan Bevis won the series closely followed by Charlie Williams and a strong third place overall for Chris Ames. The top placed women for the series was Anna Buckingham. Chris Waddup did his best to show up the young guns by taking the top senior spot and the overall team prize went to Sketchy B Team, with Fetish in second and Sketchy Scorchers in third.

Finally I’d like to say a massive thank you to Carlos and his team for a successful and fun race series. I’m sure the series will continue to grow next year and although the skills sections were absent in Swinley the word on the trail is that they will return for 2013. This has been a fantastic entry level series which is a perfect introduction to mountain bike racing no matter if you are an XC or DH rider. See you on the start line next year!