Dirtopia Enduro

I haven't written in what feels like years. But it is months.

Since my last post I got engaged, married, got a new bike, moved into a new town, new church, changed jobs, changed jobs again, and my riding also changed.

So in all this change, a couple of good things came about. One of them is the Dirtopia Enduro I did on May Day. 1 May.

Oh my hat this was so much fun!
Enduro racing is based on rally racing. Or Enduro Motorbiking racing apparently. But I know jack about motorbikes. I do like the Rally comparison though. In my head I was like Peter Solberg. Just slightly less sideways.

So the riding is different. When I heard that it was only 6 stages (SS, for Special Stage, like a real rally) and that the total riding would be 20km's I thought it would be a joke. I mean come on, 20km is a warmup. But alas, some humble pie was eaten.

I always thought that I'm pretty fast on downhills. Not super fast, but abov average. I like downhills, I like scaring myself, I like speed, I even like going sideways, like a rally car (I'm sensing a theme here.) So here was my chance. Enduro racing entails everyone riding to the start of the SS stages, klapping the stage like a red-headed stepchild, moving on to the next SS, klapping it again, then moving on again, and repeating this for 6 or more stages. Sounds fun right?

I missed the previous Enduro due to work commitments and had to listen to all the stories about how cool it was and that I would love it and that it would suit my style of riding.

So when this event was announced I pulled out all the stops to ensure I got a sportspass for the day. Luckily  my wife remembered that we got married on the same day as the 24hr, and that I was a good race due. I married well.

Entry was in a month before the time. I realised my training was woefully inadequate  So I went on 4 more rides including doing all the canaries in one go. That reminded me how hard MTBing can be on the upper body. But we forget such things. All we remember are the beautiful views, taking jumps and riding down drop-offs, through trees on narrow winding paths and going around corners sideways. All good fun. On some rides your wife can join you and then you can show her how awesome you think you are by doing all the above, soemtimes she even attempts some of the above and that blows your brain on a completely different level. (My wife is good at negotiating rocks. I never told her that rocks qualifies as Higher Grade. Now she rides like a Kudu runs, Over everything and anything. Super proud Philip.)

But I digress, back to studio and the realisation that it is racing time.
Tuesday arvie I washed my bike. Realised that I may or may not have sealant in my tyres. That the rear gear cable is frayed beyond repair, and that my LBS was closed. Oops. So I dug in my garage and found a gear cable long enough. I replaced the cable, tightened most bolts, put a quick release seatpost clamp on, and prayed over my tyres and that the sealant inside would multiply. And then I had pizza with friends.

Race day arrived, Werner picked me up and we shot through to Delvera. Early. Like the eager beavers we are. We arrived at Underberg for Sani a day before everyone else. We're committed like that.

A bunch of us decided that mere racing and going sideways over rocks and through trees and stuff wasn't exciting enough, so we decided that gambling would be our next fix. Everyone chucked R20 into a kitty and the winner and 2nd placed in our group would take the winnings. Like a poker buy in. Except I suck at poker.

The lekker thing about enduro is that there is a lekker vibe. Your ego and your big wheels and you're fancy clothing will not make you faster. Some dude even arode with a massive snor and a check shirt. What a champ! There was knee guards, elbow guards, baggies and backpacks everywhere.

So we all set off in one slow bunch and cruised up to the first stage. A lot of things was said about bikes, wheel sizes, tyres, you name it. Smack was talked.

Arriving at the first Stage things got a bit more serious. People realised that it was go time! wait your turn, tag in, rae the section, tag out at the bottom (tagging was accomplished by chips on your wrist that was pressed against a reader, making a beep sound and recording your time.)

And suddenly it was my turn. Focus! Get your nerves under control, gear selected, both feet on, balance, tag the timer and go! All in power power power! over the rocks, around others,brake, don't fall in the corner, watch out for the massive sharp rock, down the rock drop, pick up the front wheel,brake, balance back, man handle the bike into another corner, on the power going exiting the corner, more power, manhandle the bike to get it into position, over rocks, shoot between two rocks, focus on the line, only one chance to get it right, more power on the flats, sprint where you can, another section of rocks, shoot over them, brake, corner, pedal, brake, rocks,pedalpedalpedal and tag out! Just like that it is over. SS1 done. 1min of intense concentration, putting everything you can into the bike. extracting everything you can out of the trail.

You get the hang of it pretty quickly. Even the liaison sections between special stages are fun to ride.

SS2 was another blur, I caught the guy in front of me, losing a second or two. SS3 was longer, here you started to fatigue and had long sections where you could put down a lot of speed, only to scrub it all of when braking for a corner, corners were taken with the foot out flat out technique, with slides sometimes stretched too far.
Between SS3 and 4 we had a break, drinking refreshments and consuming about three Orange orchards. Here the cellphones came out as people checked their times online. The beauty of the system is that it updates  online in real-time. So someone at home can follow you. And you can see where you are in the rankings. To the shock and dismay of some it transpired that Harry Orr might be in the lead. On his 29er plastic bike. Sacrilege. It was cool getting a message from my lovely wife telling me that I was doing good. She was tracking me at home. Man I love that woman. I married well.

SS4 was massively fun. Fast, with jumps and sections that you could pump to get more speed, here flow and straight line speeds next to the vineyard was important, at one point I realised that I must be doing close to 50km/h and the corner was coming up very quickly, so you slide into it and shoot over the grass cutting into the line and straightening out again, next corner you slide into a bank that manages to hold you on the bike. Just. Shoot into the forest, more loose corners, power out of them, squeeze past trees just shaving them while focussing on the next corner. Another 90seconds of bliss and high speed.

Getting to SS4 and SS5 had us jumping with our bikes on bakkies and catching a lift. Shuttling to the top. Dis nogal luuks. to get to SS5 we had quite a hike-a-bike. Here my lightweight plastic bike was a blessing. to get to SS1 we had to ride up a singletrack that we would now ride down. This promised to be fast, rocky again, with a couple of very tight switchbacks. All promising good fun, but we had to be careful.

I thought I gave the guy in front of me enough of a gap, but I still managed to catch him and almost catch the guy in front of him. (Un)fortunately guy number 1 took a strategic lie-down just after I caught him, so I didn't lose any time here. SS5 was super fun, and I nearly rode into a ditch by taking another grass shortcut. Luckily sanity prevailed and I kept on course.

Another hike-a-bike to SS6 saw the whole field regrouping. More banter followed, but everyone realised that this was a key stage. Long, rough, sandy, and with long pedal sections. I have to admit, this is where my wheels came off a bit. By this stage I was knackered. My arms were tired and my legs, lungs and shoulders were screaming at me. I was deep in the pain cave. But still I pushed on and applied more power. Only one last painfull sprint. With the focus lacking I also took a strategic lie down in a corner. Luckily the thorn bush was soft. sort of. Couple of seconds lost. dammit! Jump on the bike, on the pedals, power power power punishing the body for one last time. THis time seeing the tag point was a relief, a few last pedal stroke to squeeze split seconds out of SS6 and I was done. Knackered. Tired. Moeg. I cruised back home with John and WIlliam and Werner. We took the last lekker forest section of SS4 again, and John and I did the raised wooden bridge section. Because we can. And the ambulance was still parked there.

Getting home I smash an ice cold coke into my face. We stayed around for prize giving, Harry Orr took the win scoring himself a cute pair of grips.

We packed up and headed to la Romantica. There was important business to be done. Our betting pool was still up for grabs. Turned out I won. Score. Betting winnings was invested in the bar at La Romantica and the first round of Peroni Draughts was on me. Great way to end a lekker day on the bike.Thank you gentlemen, I loved taking your money. And if I win again I will invest it wisely again. Thanks to Werner, John, Harry, Pieter, Aniel, Matt, Graeme and the randoms I met on the day. Riding with lekker people is more fun. Period.

I learned a couple of things.

The best bike in the world, is the one you can ride right now. Don't worry about wheel size, suspension travel or whatever. Just ride your bike. My little plastic bike did amazingly well. I've got new found respect for it.
Be humble, a lot of the most vocal guys on forums or in bike shops or even on the trail, aren't nearly as fast as they say they are. And sometimes the quiet guy will surprise you with their speed. Case in point here is Werner and Harry. Always lekker riding with them.
Riding enduro is hard. I need to get fitter. And my upper body needs to get stronger.  And I need to fix my niggling shoulder and knee issues. The tiny things come to plague you when you are knee deep in the pain cave and your lungs are howling and you're muscles are shouting at you to slow down. If you are fitter, you can go faster. Mentally and physically.
I can go faster than I think, my risk taking propensity raised itself during the day, and I still felt safe. I guess risk is relative, but speed is speed, and sliding sideways into a corner is sometimes faster. So take the wild line and hang on. It is more fun.

All in all it was a great day. I managed to squeeze 5th place out of the overall.
My wife is so chuffed that she already told me to enter the next one. It will be at Bains Kloof. in Wellington. I can't wait.

Keep the rubber side down. And you're back wheel about 30-45degrees to the side. Fun=Fast.

Peace
Philip