Racing - Escape to Gisburn

Chris Lazenby brings us the Borderline Events Escape to Gisburn Enduro race report.

It always seems more worth while getting up early when you set off on your journey and the sky looks free of clouds as the sun rises. This was today, clear skies all the way to the race, getting the day off to a good start. Having never been to Gisburn Forest, before I wasn’t too sure where I was going but it soon became clear near the event due to the long line of vans and cars with bikes on the back/roof.

A quick change, bike out, sign on and it was time for practice. I was kept on the right path all day thanks to National Champion Howard Stuttard, thanks for that (and for feeding me as I’d left my lunch at home!). I had heard that Gisburn Forest is pretty ﬂat and not the best for the more gravity focused riders. It might not have the biggest hills but there are some brilliant sections, rocky, rooty, and very tight in places.

Stage one was trail centre top and bottom with a small section of ﬁre-road in between. It was taped quite tight but with a few line choices in there and a some cheeky lines to be had. Unfortunately I lost my Garmin GPS somewhere along the off-piste top section of stage two during practice; potential reward for its return! This section was mostly good and rode well but as soon as it turned right into the trees it was very dark and very hard to keep your speed across the ruts, everyone likes a challenge though. The second half of stage two was trail centre again and included what could possibly have been the undoing for the unﬁt, a rather steep but short climb followed by another short climb a bit further on. Rather bizarrely this was my strongest stage according to the results, I wouldn’t have put money on that. This might be due to the amazing line near the end that Jan Czugalinski spotted which involved almost running the marshal over. Stage three started with a sprint down the ﬁre-road into a left hander which could be taken by going over a large bank to straighten out the following corner, thanks to Jan again for that line.

The stage was less tight and, as a result, faster than the others but included lots of tiring little uphills and apparently a single root that caused some people issues, although I wasn’t aware of it. The very end of the enduro was particularly mean with a lung busting pedal up to the ﬁnish line.Come time for the race and there was a huge queue to leave the start area. Riders were being stopped from leaving all at once, going in bunches of ten instead, to try and separate the riders out and prevent queues at every stage start. I was initially skeptical about this but it did work out well in the end after a brief queue at stage one. I wasn’t aware of any big hold ups during the race and the ‘run in the order you arrive’ format worked well for me. The long stage two seemed to go quickly which just left a short pedal to the last stage before completing the day’s riding. I was impressed with the print out sheets of your times when handing over your timing card; this initiated some good banter with your mates. A quick change, bike in the boot and a can of Monster from Howard for the journey home.