It was freezing up top so getting warm for the first stage wasn’t easy and I struggled to get going. Early on I frustratingly got stuck behind 3 or 4 guys who stubbornly refused to let me past and lost a chunk of time. The trail was awesome though, lots of tight switchbacks, sharp rocks, roots and pine needles.

After that the 5-7 minute stages seemed short but no less fun. The trails were in incredible condition despite torrential rain the night before and even included patches of dust. Loamy corners, plenty of changes to pedal and lots of flow compared to the more technical previous rounds. The atmosphere was the usual Bluegrass style, laid back and friendly with plenty of chance to chat as you made your way around the course.

The last stage, a sub 2 minute sprint around the village square over obstacles like palettes of wood, a mini pond and see-saws was great fun before we could enjoy lunch, a cold beer and a live band. I finished 3rd on the day which put me in 2nd for the series overall. Happy out. Race report here and video here. Thanks to the organisers, a great series I can highly recommend, looking forward to next year already!

Thanks to Velo Elsener for some last minute bike tlc the day before, the Enduro 29er rode like a dream! Next stop EWS in Finale…

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.