Fork unlocked, shock unlocked, gears shifted, saddle down, full face on. Ready. 3, 2, 1, Go! Pedal, look ahead, arghh whats that i cant look up, shit forgot to put goggles on and they’re in the way behind my head, should i stop? faff faff loosing time, ok stop and sort it, panic panic 30 seconds wasted, right forget about it, back on it, focus, corner, on the brakes, look ahead, shit thats steep wasn’t expecting that, yeaow this is fun, drop, watch out for the rocks, off the brakes, more steep corners, legs burning, wheels drifting wow these tyres are amazing thought i was a gonner, flat bit – saddle up, pedal…!

Read at high speed and you have an idea of stage one of the Bluegrass Enduro in Rombach at the weekend.  Another trip to a random little village in the depths of the forest covered hills of Alsace in France and another fun enduro race on awesome trails with cool people. The trail builders in this area have a very definite building style, the courses are always full of tight steep loamy switchbacks and bus stop features. In Rombach the trails were steeper and more technical than Dabo, one section we rode twice finished in the centre of the village with the track switchbacking down what looked like a cliff face when you looked at it from below. In the race there was no time to consider how steep it was you just have to get on and do it, and riding it in a downpour the second time made it even more fun.

The stages were long, 2 of them around 11 minutes and when you’re trying to be 100% focused its a long time to concentrate and also an absolute killer on your legs since you’re standing on the pedals the whole time. I still haven’t get my head around blind racing, I felt like I rode large parts of the race well but lost far too much time making stupid mistakes and finished 6th. Overall a great event, plenty of chance to chat to other riders on the liasons and it was cool to see loads of girls from all over Europe there this time.

Nice video of the race here. Thanks to Bilger Lionel for the photos. 

The next round is in Ireland with a separate race for the girls, will be savage – do it!!

The area is a biking paradise with a rabbit warren of biking trails running through the forests. Most of the course was through loamy pine trees with plenty of roots, switchbacks and the perfect spring sunshine  on race day even bringing some dust. The organisers had put in a huge amount of trail building work and some of the freshly cut sections switchbacking through deep, soft pine needles and moss were amazing fun to ride. Other sections were more rocky and although in general the trails were more high speed than technical, there was plenty of variety to keep you on your toes.

The transitions between the stages were also great to ride, often passing through tiny villages or farm areas with views of the surrounding hills and lots of little singletrack climbs. Infact there were some positively adventurous sections, we had to do some via ferrata style rock climbing carrying bikes at one point! The time limits were generous so there was plenty of time to chat and enjoy the relaxed friendly atmosphere. After the race oven cooked pizzas were served beside a lake for all the competitors – love the French attitude to making these events so sociable and fun!

I was really looking forward to getting underway with racing and putting the new Enduro 29er to the test but didn’t have the greatest of races. Not a total disaster, I finished 5th, but can do better! I can’t exactly say why, it was just a frustrating day where things didn’t come together and I got to the end of each stage thinking I should have been much faster. Brakes not fully functioning, terrain I’m not used to, a minor crash, head not in high speed gear – all excuses, will ride faster next time!

Race video here – I’m worse at interviews than I am at riding bikes.

At the weekend I raced in the Bluegrass Classique Enduro series in the pretty Alsasce region of France. There were 5 timed stages raced within a 30km loop which started at the top of a mountain 800m above the town. Stages were 10-15 minutes long, almost all on loamy forest singletracks full of dusty switchbacks, swoopy bombholes and tree roots. Since there was no practice of the course allowed, everything was ridden blind, a real skill in itself to go full gas when you don’t know whats coming but there was nothing too scary and it was loads of fun to ride.

The higher sections had some nasty little sharp rocks perfectly positioned to deflate your tires as you were in full swing. I flew down one such section on the first stage passing half a dozen guys fixing punctures and thinking to myself ‘be careful or you’ll get a puncture’, sure enough 2 minutes later  my front tyre went pssssstttttt. I chose to ride on the flat, wildly sliding out on the corners to the bottom but in hindsight on such a long stage fixing it would have been better. The race was more or less over, I lost 6-8 minutes.

After that I was there for fun. Stage 2 had a 3 minute uphill pedaling part which I attacked like a maniac so that my lungs were almost popping out of my mouth, xc race skills were not going to go to waste there and I clocked the fastest time on that stage. The race finished with a 40 second sprint in the town centre, jumping wooden pallets and riding skinnys over a pool of water to the finish where a live band, dinner and a dirt jump contest awaited. A great race, well organised with really nice trails and friendly chilled out atmosphere.

Overall I was 7th but some geeky results analysis shows if you discount the puncture stage I was 2nd fastest. Gutted! time to go tubeless.

Saturday – 4 timed stages, max ride time 4 hours. Hot sun & dust.

After a long steady climb through pine forest there was a quick stop to put on the invincibility armour, flick switches and press buttons to morph the bikes into freeride machienes. Stage 1 was 7-9 minutes of dry rooty woodland singletrack and one short pedally section. Longish off camber sections with steep switchbacks and perfectly bermed dirt to catch you as you slid around. The trails were so much fun – like supersized version of Castlewellen in Ireland and even better no climbs! I didn’t have my racehead fully in gear and was far too polite when I caught the two girls that set off in front of me so lost a load of time but otherwise good.

After more slow climbing with plenty of chat and banter (although mostly in French, I had to seek out ther Germans so I could talk to people!), stage two was slightly longer with lots more off camber trails covered in roots and rocks, which was fine to ride but if you made a mistake you could have easily ended up halfway down the hill as it dropped of steeply below! After a few short lung bursting pedally sections, we dropped into freshly cut dusty singletrack, getting steeper with a few jumps (dodgy when you dont know whats coming over the other side!) and more amazing berms to sling the bike around towards the end.

Stage three was a bit more pedally with some short fireroad sections, flattish singletrack and of course plenty of switchbacks. Just before the end one of the singletracks turned sharply into a really nasty steep climb that required full concentration and max heartrate just to get up, before dropping straight into a technical section with a steep drop that required the ‘brain off’ switch. Lactic overload – not easy to stay composed!

Stage four was shorter through off-camber grassy meadows, a short rocky forest section with a token gesture of mud and finishing by flying through the local vegetable gardens amid lots of shouting and cowbells to finish in the village centre where beer, roast pig and a live band awaited. I finished fourth on the day but with only 8 seconds off 3rd so the race was on!

Sunday – 3 timed stages, max time 3.5 hours. Storms overnight, still warm.

Today began with two shorter 4-8 minute stages, one fast through the meadows (need to stop braking, lost far too much time on the easy parts!) and the other through the woods with some slightly greasy rocky parts after dramatic thunderstorms overnight (scary listening to the sky explode as I lay in my tent, not much sleep either!). I messed up on one of the rocky drops trying to get around someone who had stopped at the top and ending up running down, I probably lost a minute so bang went my chances of the podium – a small mistake can cost you so much in these things! The last stage was longer with more fun forest trails and a couple of pretty long uphills that left you full of lactic and gasping for breath, before again finishing in the village for more traditional French food and beer. Enduro racing might be worth all the hype!

I finished 4th in the end, a good bit behind the winners so lots to improve on although the top three were all locals and I think the blind racing just means local win! The whole event was really well organised with a great relaxed atmosphere and of course great trails. Highly recommended.