British Enduro Series – Dyfi – Race Report
It was a tough one. Dyfi was the venue for the second round of the British Enduro Series and the weather didn’t play ball. Oli Carter loaded up with energy bars and headed out
Who invented Enduro?
Who set out the ground rules?
Questions that are often heard deep into a discussion started by wheel size and industry standards….
In my eyes Enduro in the UK is still trying to find its feet, especially since the UKGE pulled the plug last year.
Who better than to step up to the challenge than Mr BDS…
We headed to round 2 of the British Enduro Series in Dyfi forest to see what Si Paton and team had conjured up.
The rumour mill was lit up on Friday saying it was a 55km loop each day with a shed load of vertical…. Bring it on I say, this is a national series and it should be testing.
What we hadn’t ordered was the weather… On the hottest weekend so far this year we were stuck racing in a wet and humid Welsh valley. This wreaked havoc on the trails, the majority being natural and in the dry would have been amazing. It is a shame and totally out of anybodies control but at least all the riders were in the same sloppy, sinking, muddy boat.
With the format differing from the first round and reverting back to the UKGE’s tried and tested practice/Quali on Saturday, race on Sunday everyone was keen to see what stages had been set for this monster loop.
Practice
Heading out at 9am for a full days practice is not normally needed at a UK event but with the first stage being 8 miles from the race arena we got a good crew together and got on with it.
It was evident after going through the tape on the first corner of Stage 2 that the ground was slick and unforgiving, racing this terrain is really tough…. Push to hard and your down, to little and the tyres start clogging… The Loam had all been skidded and washed away on the natural sections, leaving polished roots and deep ruts to contend with.
Every stage had a crazy mix of natural, physical and technical sections, enough to put even the worlds best on the deck.
The hot topic of the day was the top section of stage 3. Freshly cut for last years UKGE and then pulled from the race due to bad conditions. Would we race it this year with conditions being even worse!?… Si made the call and it was staying in…
Qualifying
Held on what would become stage 6 on Sunday, qualifying was a good eye into how Sunday’s race would turn out. With the track being cut in especially for the race it was a fully natural affair with a load of pedaling chucked in for enduro measure. The ground conditions couldn’t have been much worse on Saturday with the mud clogging wheels to a stand still, keep moving and off the main line was the game plan. This was the only stage near to the finish arena, finishing right in the centre of the action allowing spectators and riders to catch the last efforts of riders sprinting to the line and stopping the clock. Unsurprisingly Enduro World Champ Jerome Clementz took the win, but only by an ants whisker. Welsh lad Nicki Whiles put in a blinder of a run that left him sitting in 2nd 0.9 sec back and well in touch with the EWS champ.
Race Day
After a big day of practice it was up early and off out to do it all again… this time at race pace. I was feeling surprisingly fresh and looking to improve on my Quali result… The weather was looking up and the sun even decided to show face.
The Humidity rose quickly and by the first stage of the day everyone was hot and bothered before even hearing the start beep….beep….beeeeeps.
The first stage was possibly the best of the weekend, steep natural terrain linked by fire road sprints, the perfect enduro track.
At the bottom of the stage was where I started to notice a few cracks in the race that sadly grew throughout the day. Spectators were gathered on the fire road wanting to watch but not knowing where or when, they had just missed everyone on the stage trying to find it.
We headed on to stage 3… This was the biggest transition of the day, right up and over a small welsh size mountain, leading to the barely ride-able stage 3. keeping the stage in definitely put the message across that this is an elitist series, good for the smaller majority of elite riders but a bit of a nightmare for everyone else. It was a case of survival, not racing. I got down the top section surprisingly without a crash, then hit the middle pedal section and my wheels wouldn’t move…. totally clogged with mud…. it was a painful stage to race! Not all bad though, the bottom few corners were awesome!!
By the bottom of stage 3 everyone was feeling the mileage in the legs and with the humid weather, water supplies were running low… I took 1.5L with me, intending to refill on stage 3 at the water station, but that water station was a mere 50L tank, and with 200 riders passing before us it was well and truly empty.
With the focus of this race being on how hard it could be and how many flags could be put up in the race arena, I think some small but important details were missed. Water at the bottom of each stage as an example, it doesn’t really cost anything and there are timing cars sitting there with empty boots that could be filled.
Onto stage 4, another big transition…. on which I saw people drinking out of streams. Not a good sign when there are sheep on the hill above those streams. We got to the top and asked the medic for water. They kindly gave us there personal bottle, it wasn’t much but it did the job. Thanks guys!
With a delay on start timings, the marshal was letting riders go when they liked, causing more confusion and ultimately some time penalties as we discovered when we got back to the race arena.
After the struggle through stage 3, stage 4 felt like learning to ride a bike again which by the bottom flat out section was good fun!
Stage 5 would usually be the boring trail centre stage of the weekend but the joy of hard pack dirt and rock had never been such a sight for sore eyes. It was great to get back up to speed and ride an awesome bit of trail. I think everyone loved it and only the 5 mile pedal back to the race village for stage 6 to go!
Spirits were lifted as people started to realise they were going to make it to the end of the race and we had a good laugh riding in a Peleton to stage 6, everyone sharing stories of the battle we had just won against the dirt.
A much needed stop at the van to refuel and it was off to stage 6, the climb seemed like nothing after the days riding and with the sun out it was all set for the grand finale.
Although the track had other ideas… it was in worse shape than when we raced it for Quali’s, most of who I spoke to just ‘got down’ although when JC came through with a time only 5 seconds slower than his quali time, he obviously had other ideas!
This race was certainly a test of physical and mental strength, I’m all for it…. It’s why we train hard and adds a great sense of adventure to the race. But I think if the terrain is going to be that testing, the other aspects of the race need to grow in size too. More info on course from the marshals, more medics on course in the right places and official water/feed zones. If all of these step up a notch then the average Joe would have a hard but still enjoyable race.
We need an Elite level series in the UK that is accessible to all, as it is all about having fun…right?
It may not seem like it but I still had a shed load of fun this weekend racing, with a good bunch of mates… Some of whom I only met for the first time but as proved time and time again in our small MTB world we are all brothers and sisters, that relate to the one greatest thing…. Riding Bikes.
Find full results over on Rootsandrain.com, such great tool to use for comparing times to your mates and the pros alike.
My long termer Banshee has been more than up to the job and despite the conditions it was still a joy to ride.
