Afternoon all since the Royal Engineers Gravity Enduro team raced at Llanfyllin Wales, those that could attend drove from the UK to Morzine in France. Here the team conducted 6 days of Enduro Mountain Bike Training for up to 8 hours a day in temperatures up to 37 degrees Celsius. It was arduous training over a multitude of terrains mostly developing our off Piste skills to supplement our race series in the UK.
Upon returning to the UK on Saturday 9th July after a 20 hour road trip to Newton Aycliffe from Morzine I rested for the evening. There was no time to rest to much, the bike needed to be serviced from being beaten up by the trails in France and had developed many a creak and squeak as a result. I conducted this servicing and readied the bike for its next Army race which was held at our very own local trail, Danny Harts Descend Hamsterley Bike Park on Wednesday 13th July.
An early start and drive in for registration at Hamsterley Forrest. A super-hot day with a very nice and mostly dry trail, perfect conditions some might say. The race was a 5 hour mash up over three stages. This means all of the runs are timed, you can do as many as you like and the fastest times will count for each stage. I managed 9 1/2 runs in total before I had to stop or I was going to fall off as my arms were hurting so badly from all of the vibrations. Myself, Vic and Tops started on stage 3 taking it slightly easier on the first run following the riders line. Second time through I quickly realised the outer lines felt smoother and faster. Third run we switched to Stage 2 and oh my was it big, technical and fast with lots of jumps, rocks and roots along the way. Almost running the whole trail at full speed or you wouldn’t clear the gaps, jumps or make it through the roots. The lower section was much more technical having to think hard about every movement.
Following a mechanical (derailleur stuck in the wheel) on Vic’s bike we decided to switch to Stage 1 so he could complete a run of each trail, even though it meant him running stage 1 chain less. Vic had to literally jump off of the bike mid stage and run up to the next part as he had no chain, what a guy. Stage 1 was super technical, pumpy and athletically driven with a couple of uphill sections included mid-way. By the end of the trail you just want it to be over and get all excited when you can see the finish line. Fortunately another rider was nice enough to help Vic out with a temporary fix so he could ride the rest of the session. I continued alone for a second run on stage 2 with a little more pace than the first and felt great, the shouts from the supporters really helped me keep driving through. I was happy with the run but I really wanted the drop off at the end that I kept overshooting unintentionally. Back up to run stage 1 again which again went well but reinforced that I really needed a break as I could barely hold the bars by the end. I took a quick lunch break to re-fuel for half an hour.
Returning to the circuit super chilled I hit the stages in reverse again. Stage 3 went clean with no foot plants achieving my fastest run of the day. Stage 2 went clean and I managed to hit the drop at the end achieving my fastest run of the day. Stage 1 also went clean and quick, really digging deep on the ups achieving my fastest run of the day. I bumped into another two of our team mates, Matty and Owen, who were having a great day and also running all of the stages clean. Unfortunately for Matty he was being hampered by a sticking brake calliper that refused to run freely. Wanting a little too much I went to run stage 3 again for a 10th run of the day. I quickly realised I was now gassed and but a passenger avoiding coming off on multiple occasions. I decided to call it a day half way down and was delighted to have stayed rubber side down all day long.
I believe this is one of my best race days ever on a bike and would love to thank all those people who have taken the time to assist with developing my riding style. The team members who attended placed as follows in the Masters category:
- 9th Aaron Durham 5 mins 53 secs.
- 15th Owen Townsend 6 mins 14 secs.
- 16th Mattew Airton 6 mins 14 secs.
- 17th Victor Fombo 6mins 17 secs.
If you are interested in following our team we are also on Instagram, you can find us by searching royal_engineers_ge
I have also been out training with our very own Newton News legend and up and coming Enduro Mountain Biker, who I shall be going to Ard Rock with next week, Paul Travis who can be seen on Top of Rosebury Topping when we rode there from Guisborough on Sunday 24th July.
