A beginner’s Guide to Enduro Racing – My Top Ten Tips:

Firstly, a disclaimer. Throughout my life I have always been around bikes, so why then am I calling myself a beginner? From a young age I toddled along to watch my Dad race cross country for Pearce Engineering Cycles and grew up with the odd visit to trail centres. My first trip to the 7 Stanes consisted of me on my mum’s rickety old bike using two fingers on brakes that didn’t work and these funny bar ends to help uphill. On my 21^st birthday I was gifted a beautiful lightweight XC hard trail and on moving up to Aberdeenshire I started riding more and more. In 2017, my first year of racing, I was only averaging one ride a month. When I started racing, I was not a beginner to bikes; I could comfortably manage a red trail centre but hadn’t attempted blacks or much natural terrain. So, this is a guide to racing from a race beginner but who could just about handle herself on a red trail centre. Just.

So, what type of racing did I decide to do?

Enduro racing. What’s that? Well it was first described to me as a similar format to a car rally with stages… maybe that helps you understand but that went right over my head. Enduro racing is a format by which you have a route to do but only sections of it are actually timed and count to your position. For example, you have a 30 km route to do which is made up of five 2 km downhill sections and the in-between bits are your transition. Each downhill section has a timer/sensor at the top and a timer at the bottom and you race down. You start the ride with your friends and ride relatively gently to the top of the first stage. You then get set off in say 30 second intervals and you race down the hill getting timed. At the bottom of the hill you re-group with your friends and ride to the next section to then race down again and so on. Most Enduros have a format where you practice on Saturday and race on the Sunday. Does that make sense? Or have I just confused you further? A picture paints a thousand words, right? Although it looks like a three-year-old could have drawn it… Oops.

In 2017 with a ride on the red trails at some of England’s Super Six; I entered the Ard Rock Enduro Intro race. This was one of 4 events as part of the awesome Ard Rock mountain biking festival in the Yorkshire Dales, a weekend of bikes and live music. What more could you want for your first race! I was on my lovely little hard tail and got a bit of a shock on the rocky loose terrain so here’s tip one:

1. Ride an introductory Enduro – Prior to Ard Rock I’d only ridden predictable trail centres and suddenly found myself racing natural and in some places technically difficult terrain. It was unlike anything I’d ever ridden before. And that was the introductory race – thank God I didn’t get in to the full Ard Rock! I’d recommend starting with a race that has a ‘lite/intro’ category or one specifically designed for people new to racing like Enjoyro by Tweedlove.  I also wish I’d started with a race on more familiar terrain. For example, if you are used to blue and red trail centres, I’d probably start with something like Hopetech Women’s Enduro which is on Gisburn’s red trails. These kinds of races will ease you into the world of racing and take some of the technical stress out of it for you!

Ard Rock Enduro – my first race! Wish someone had told me to drop my post!

Towards the end of 2017 I also entered the Women’s Hopetech Enduro. This is a grassroots enduro specifically for women in a no pressure, just for fun environment. The Hopetech enduro is fantastic and I’d definitely recommend it. The atmosphere was full of anticipation and there was a whole swarm of excitable women who were just as new to racing as me which was super encouraging. This is where tip two comes in:

• Everything is better with friends – the best thing about the Enduro format is that you can ride with your friends in the transitions and share the experience. I did the Hopetech race by myself and am a bit of a nervous-nelly when it comes to meeting new people but I was instantly sucked into the fun atmosphere with rad women all around me. I think going to some of the other Enduros like the Scottish Enduro Series or Tweedlove triple crown races by myself I’d of felt scared and out of my depth. If you are going to race one by yourself, I’d recommend one like the Hopetech Women’s Enduro.

In 2018, I was riding more and more and improving my confidence on natural terrain. I entered the Ard Rock Intro again and was raring to go for it. For some reason, I thought I might actually do quite well…! Yorkshire’s rocks had other ideas for me though and I was caught out on the first stage with a puncture. URGH. Tip three!

• ‘Trust me, I’m a mechanic’ – Enduros are tough on the bike and its common to pick up ‘mechanicals’ along the way so you need to be able to do basic maintenance work and carry essential tools. As a minimum you should be able to repair a puncture, but I’ve also had issue with my gears and brakes in races so knowing a wee bit about these is useful.

The blue baby was struck down by Yorkshire Limestone! Thankfully a trusty marshal came to my rescue to help me pump by tyre up!

• Proper Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance– most races have a kit list like a warm top, essential tools and a first aid kit. You’re also likely to be on the bike for several hours so having water and snacks is a must. Have a go at practicing riding with your race kit. For example; are you going to wear a rucksack or a hip pack, are you going to wear knee and elbow protection, are you going full face or half face helmet? And most importantly, what’s going to be the snack of choice!?

The Fair City Enduro in Perth was my first taste of Scottish Enduros at the end of 2018 and was a bit spicier. To access three of the stages we did the same climb over and over which at the time annoyed me as I was more in it for the’ journey’. In hindsight I was just tired and stressed about the inevitable techy, scary, survival mode descents which I’d be met with at the top of the climb. I wasn’t really used to technical terrain, so this race was a great introduction and eased me into what was about to be a full on Scottish race season.

As 2019 dawned I’d raced 4 Enduros and had significantly increased the amount of natural ‘technical’ trail riding I was doing. Feeling confident, I entered the Vallelujah Enduro at Glentress, naively thinking natural Tweed Valley trails were now within reach. Vallelujah hit me like a brick wall.

• Just keep pedaling – Although I was riding more frequently, my rides were still short; rarely over the hour. So Vallelujah at 25km and 1100m of ascent, with 4 hours elapsed time, floored me. And that was just the practice day! The evening before race day, I was a grumpy, stressy mess. Lesson definitely learnt to improve fitness and stamina in preparation for a weekend of racing!

The face of exhaustion after practice day at the Vallelujah Enduro at Glentress. Thankfully I had Scoobie the dog to look after me.

• RIDER – In an attempt to save you from the heart stopping panic which ensued when someone screamed RIDERRRR at me really loudly during a stage and caused me to fall off; the shout of rider is when someone is asking you to pull over so they can overtake. The first time it happens can be super scary and the panic can lead you to stop in really unsafe situations. I now try to stop ASAP. For example, i’ll just get through the techy bit I’m on and then pull over. I don’t want to ruin their race and my timing probably isn’t as important as theirs. To reduce the likelihood of getting caught up, I tell the marshal at the top of the stage that I’m super slow and ask if they can leave a bigger gap between me and the next rider. Hope that tip helps you too!

The races following Vallelujah became total survival mode and threw me into the deep end of technical riding. I was holding on tight for dear life in the lite category of the Laggan Scottish Enduro Series, crashing constantly in the slippery death trap that was Dunkeld Enduro and praying for survival at the Transcenduro. These races were unbelievably exhilarating and have done so much for my riding but at the time they were terrifying. At Dunkeld I crashed 20m into stage one and hit my face on a rock, spending the rest of the day sobbing (hopefully) quietly. Transcenduro was so wet and muddy I was wiping my gloves on heather to try prevent me slipping off the handlebars, not exactly ideal!

• Ride before you race – I’d recommend a recce of the venue (even if you don’t know the exact race trails) so you can experience it’s level of difficulty. Prior to the Laggan SES I spent a weekend practicing the steep and rooty terrain so it wasn’t a huge shock to the system come race day. At Dunkeld it backfired a bit and I went on a day that felt more like summer in the alps than summer in Scotland. Typically it monsoon’d for the week before the race and so my dry dusty trails I’d practiced on were slop slop slop. But at least I knew I could get down them.

Serious concentration face in the wild rocky muddy conditions of the Grizedale PMBA.

The next race was the British National Enduro Series round at Innerleithen, the King and Queen Enduro. I knew the technical riding that was going to face me but I had become used to a relaxed style of racing where the marshals’ let me have a longer gap. For King and Queen, no such lenience was allowed, and it was impossible for me to ride. I’d get caught by the rider behind on steep terrain so have to get off and stand to the side. By the time I’d swing a leg over again I’d have to get out of the way once more. It was quite a scary experience being stuck on the side of a hill with racers hurtling by. I knew there was a trail later in the day most of which, I couldn’t ride, and this rapid-fire racing situation would make it so much worse. I decided enough was enough and if it wasn’t fun then why was I doing it. I dropped down onto the ‘lite’ category which was three stages instead of five and thankfully missed out the ‘oh that’s the trail where someone broke his collarbone on a gap jump’. Phew.

• Enduros are hard – Enduro races have technical terrain with conditions deteriorating when hundreds of riders race the same trails and often typically bad weather making them harder and harder. As a relative newbie this can be really scary whilst riding but its unbelievably rewarding at the end of the day and watching yourself improve is incredible. Try not to beat yourself up if you can’t ride all of a trail, you’re doing really well for just being there (I’ll keep telling myself this!)

Head to toe in mud but feeling incredibly proud of myself for surviving Transcenduro!

• Ride within yourself, just a little bit – If you push too far out of your comfort zone then you’re likely to crash. It boggles me that the winning margins can be a few seconds so if you crash out its going to affect your times. Having said that… I spend a lot of time crashing to the ground in races because they are reaaally hard. Accepting you’re going to crash at times is a good starting point! It’s also easy to tire yourself out when you have a massive day ahead of you so conserving a little bit of energy is a good idea.

Eye’s on the burger van at the end of the Aboyne Enduro by Doon the Brae events!

I definitely threw myself in to the deep-end with racing in 2019. I was racing the most technical trails I’d ever ridden, but it helped my riding come on leaps and bounds. One of the best races of 2019 was the local Aberdeenshire Enduro Series race at Aboyne by Doon the Brae events. Twenty two, yes twenty two women entered this event and for many of whom, this was their first enduro. You could literally hear them whooping down the trails. The sun was shining, the women set off together and the trails chosen were the perfect selection of technical but not terrifying. I’d highly recommend this series, but also more generically to race something that doesn’t out right petrify you.

At times, however, I was out right petrified. At the Fort William SES I fell off the board walk on Top Chief, not once, not twice, but THREE times. How embarrassing is that!! At Grizedale PMBA someone overtook me on the upside of a corner and slipped down into me crushing me and sending the brake disc rotor into my leg. OUCH. These two events really knocked my confidence after building it up all year (another disclaimer, PMBA events are fantastic grassroots Enduros and most of them are great for beginners; Grizedale was an example where bad weather makes everything harder!). I went into the winter of 2019 to 2020 being a total woss and so had to take a step back from pushing the technical terrain and take the pressure of. This comes to the most important lesson I’ve learnt:

• Enjoy it – why do we ride our bikes? To have fun surely!? Yes, racing gives us competitive exhilaration and we want to do well but if you’re not enjoying it, take the pressure off, enjoy the experience and go whooping down the trails with your friends.

The PMBA Kirroughtree Enduro – smiles all round!

If you’re inspired to race, and I’ve not just put you off, below are links to some of the races I’ve mentioned.

https://ardrock.co.uk/ – epic events of bikes, live music, entertainment and jaw droppingly beautiful Santa Cruz bikes.

https://tweedlove.com/ – offering the very best of the Tweed Valley from beginner races, to e-bikes and races to bring your ego down a peg or two!

https://www.doonthabraeevents.com/ – Deeside Valley, the new Tweed Valley..!? The Aberdeenshire Enduro Series opens up Enduro racing to all with racers as young as nine years old ripping it down some of the best trails in Scotland. Doon the Brae offer friendly events with a great atmosphere.

https://www.muckmedden.co.uk/ – the definition of fun; from fancy dress races to Scotland’s very own Trophy of Nations.

http://www.pmbaenduro.co.uk/ – Enduro for all, from grassroots to total nail-biting epics.