Race Report: UKGE Round 2, Innerleithen, Scotland

We made the 4 ½ hour trip up, myself, Luna (one of Chris Roberts’s timing girls) and Will, the young talented video guy, 6’4” tall, always in shorts and hired by Steve Parr to do the videos for the series. Friday saw nice weather on arrival to the field, one I had parked in so many times before during my early DH days of the late 90’s. Everyone was setting up around Friday lunchtime in the pits, as I got myself kitted out and headed up on my Jack Jones to check out the stages. After talking to a few riders who knew where stages were, it became apparent that they were all close to each other and a push up the ‘DH push-up track’ was enough to pretty much take you to the top of all the different tracks, whilst not doing the official transitions

Normally I like to do a separate description of the stages, but to be honest there is no point this time, as these words describe them all; rocky, rooty, steep, tricky, rough, testing with virtually no pedaling! That was stages 1 to 4 and then there was stage 5, holy shit that was a real wake up call, imagine all the other stages, but on a much steeper bases and you’re there, it really was insane. So when it comes to comparing it to last year, there really is no comparison, as it was so different, just 5 gnarly DH tracks, as technical as you can get, just pure skills and balls tracks; some scary shit! During that day, as always, I latched onto some other like minded riders, as we went from stage to stage and I tended to suffer from things which have never been a problem for me before at an Enduro. My first problem was that of arm and hand pump from the sheer severity and harshness of the terrain, it was evil, making my hands and triceps almost lock in pain, something I hadn’t experienced since my early DH days. But the thing that really wrecked me was the pure burn in my calves from the long, steep walks up the hills to reach the starts, I hoped this would not be the case on the following days, when official transitions had to be followed.

I had a great day, we had all been waiting for some gnarly stuff to race on, and and now we had it in one large dose, top DH riders were just buzzing with excitement, XC riders must have just wondered what the hell had hit them, and as for the riders down the lower ranks of the running, I think a few of them knew they were in for a mental weekend, especially if it rained. It was over the bridge and into the small town for me, to stop with Cotic’s Chay Granby and mates for the weekend, Chay’s a real character and has treated us to this fine bit of head-cam footage from the crazy stage 5 (it’s steeper than it looks, believe me!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_atsmICQHe4&feature=youtu.be

Saturday morn and the weather was still holding up, the pits were buzzing, a real hive of activity, looking more and more pro from one event to the next. Among the pit collection was the likes of Exempt Clothing, Intense, Pod Designs, Shimano, Sram Mavic, On One, Marin, Whyte Bikes, Cotic Bikes, Twelve50 Bikes and Sick Skills Coaching. The best of all the pits was the new Enve/Smith Optics blow up huge gazebo you rode through after your Stage5/Seeding run, double the size of all the others and really giving the event that pro feel.

I decided to practice stages 1, 4 then 5 for the day, with 5 being ridden again in the afternoon for qualifying. I did the straight up walks again before seeding, which were a calf killer and the weather held up during the day, my suspension was softened off and I started to get into it a bit more, the tricep pump gone and the hands easing off steadily. Seeding was upon us, with us old boys hitting the tracks around 3.30 and heading up the correct way through the proper fire-road transition. It was nice to just get on the bike, sit down and ride for the first part of the transition, that is, until the final walk came into play. This is the only bit of the weekend that got some racers (including myself) having a bit of a whinge. It was firstly a 200mtr extremely steep un-ridable trudge up alongside the forest, followed by a nasty longer more open push (or ride if you were mega-fit) up towards the top of stage 5 and stage 2. It was pure evil, my calves were on fire and it just sapped all my energy. For any riders with dodgy knees it was a real sting in the tail, but some didn’t seem to mind. I personally would much rather have a longer ride up and skip the walk, lest face it, who trains for big bike pushes? In track designer Charlie Williams’ defense I think it was unavoidable though. The alternative would have been n extra 16k ride around twice and parts of other red routes and Tweedlove riders would have had to be stopped, which just wasn’t an option.

Anyway bitch over and seeding was underway. I hit all the trickiest part of stage 5 well, only to bin it twice on an easier bit, my kneepad came down on impact and a bruise was imminent. I got going and came down to a very disappointing 11th, oh the joys of racing! We were the lucky ones, as whilst watching the seniors come through the last section of wood with my old mate James Richards the heavens opened and things started to change. No longer were all riders coming through holding lines, there were crashes and slides like wacky races and when the Elites finally came through it was amazing to watch how all the top riders just seem to be able to give it death and still find the grip from somewhere. French Team Cube rider Nico Lau made it look so easy as he (like a few other EWS racers) were here for the whole ten days getting some much needed Scottish terrain riding in prior to their big race. Nico managed 2nd, with the amazingly fast Gary Forrest pipping him to the top spot, giving Gary the confidence for the following day’s racing.

Race day was upon us, and it had pissed down during the night, not really what you wanted for such tricky gnarly tracks, but it is the same for everyone I suppose. Rain was on and off during most of the day and the walks up got no easier on the legs. All riders were riding among their categories and you just knew if you were going OK or not. I personally never seemed to be able to get my toe down and attack, riding too steady and suffering real bad again all day with hand pump. I had a tyre go down at the start of the 3-4 transition, changed that and nearly killed myself trying to catch up so as not to be late. The tube then started going down slow throughout the day needing constant attention, my riding shoe decided to start falling apart around the cleat and I just ended up wanting the whole thing to end. After riding 1-4 steady but clean I hit 5 and spat myself off, only for my other kneepad to come down and a big rock put a hole in my remaining good knee, unbelievable, I got down and had to have some moments on my own for a while, sometimes racing can be a cruel bitch! As we waited the racing was halted, it turned out a rider (Si Ward) went down bad, he was suspected spine or neck damage, and unmovable for ages, so the elites stage 5 times had to be ditched, they came down like drowned rats after getting caught waiting in a big rain storm. Fortunately Si is OK, but has still suffered a broken C1 vertebra, heal fast dude.

Racing in the women’s field was Enduro Mag contributor Rachael Gurney. To get the race from the ladies point of view, here’s what she thought of the day:

”Ladies categories always set off first at UKGE, We started at 09:07 in the dry, quickly becoming caked in mud and wet through. Stage 1 was greasy and I felt worryingly slow. Talking to the girls at the top I realized I wasn’t the only one struggling to remember all of these long stages! Waiting for stage 2 we were met with a downpour of rain and hail, with little to no cover I got soaked! On the plus side though, this stage with the river running down it, turned out to be the grippiest all day! After seeding in second place on Saturday I was battling it out with Nicole Mallet from Twelve50 bikes all day, managing to catch her in stage 1 and 2.

It was a tight transition to get to stage three on time, with only five of us ladies making it on time, even a rider from the elite category was late! This stage was my worst, Nicole beating me by 8 seconds here. Stage 4 went past in a blur, I was starting to feel tired by now. After a mammoth push up (I agree with Jim here, I would much rather slog out a long climb on the bike than push) it was time to start stage 5. On any other day, just riding with mates, there is no way I would have even attempted stage 5 feeling as tired as I did, knowing the steep technical track that lay ahead. After all that though I had a blast down five, only taking a foot off the pedals once and putting nearly 40 seconds into Nicole and being faster than 4 of the elite ladies! As you know, stage five was discounted, but I still took the win by 28 seconds. Nicole took second and Rachael McDougal the third place.

It was an amazingly physically and mentally draining day and definitely the toughest yet, I am always helped by the support of the other girls I race against, spirit of enduro is definitely here!”

So racing was all done, some of the riders ended up with penalties for late starts, due to the rain making the slippery walks up a bit slower and harder, but this is how it all panned out. Winners were Stephen Collins (Grand Vets) Marcus Jones (Veterans) Ian Austermuhle (Masters) Joe Taylor (Seniors) Leigh Johnson (Under 18) Rachel Gurney (Women) Helen Gaskell (Elite Women) and Nico Lau (Elite Males)

For full results click here.

Big thanks goes out to Steve, Charlie, Chris and crew for putting on another fantastic weekend with the most challenging tracks ever. The lads at Saddleback for the Smith goggles (forgot mine!) Pod Boys for the pain relief, Chay Granby and crew for the hospitality and as usual Doc for the top pics. See you all in Afan for a complete opposite of a track!

Here’s Will Sanders cool video of event.

Words: Jim Buchanan

Pics: Doc Ward, Jim Buchanan

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