Spring Hardtailing & Cannondale Enduro Tour Race

Cait — Mon, 04 May 2015 13:25:42 +0000

My first race of the season was the Cannondale Enduro Tour in Belfort, France. Unfortunately my new bike was delayed arriving so I raced on my hardtail with a 140mm fork, no dropper post and 10 gears! It was actually great fun just slightly slower than normal, but it was the lack of a dropper post nearly killed me. The trails weren’t particularly technical but really physical race with each stage having at least one 30-40 second fireroad sprint, I managed to stand up for all of them but it left my legs exploding with lactic dropping into the next section of trail and my quads were burning for a few days afterwards!

The last stage involved descending from the top of an old castle, down through the brick vaults with tunnels, narrow passages and flights of steps before hitting a steep sketchy shoot into the town centre. Awesome! I finished 7th, happy enough given the bike.

In fact I’ve been honing my skills on the hardtail all winter since my enduro bike is cleaned up and ready to sell. Since March the weather has been at times amazing and we’ve done a good job of avoiding snow by developing a knack of hunting out south facing slopes for some awesome riding in places you would expect to be only able to ride in summer. I’ve had some full body batterings riding rocky trails chasing the lads on proper bikes and a full-sus will feel like the ultimate luxury when the new one arrives!

escaping to the sun

Cait — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:25:20 +0000

Under the disguise of a family holiday I escaped for a Christmas pilgrimage of mountain biking and coffee in the Spanish sun last week. We stayed in Lanjaron in the Sierra Nevadas, an area I know well but that gets better with every visit. With dusty trails and 20°C in December I can’t think of anywhere I’d rather be.

The trip was made all the more exciting by the arrival of my new long travel hardtail – a Ragley Mmmbop with 150mm travel forks, fat tyres and wide handlebars. Not wanting to do things by halves I went all out freeride and got a quick release seatpost and some baggy shorts and there’s no looking back. The bike is a bit of a beast to lug 1000′s of metres uphill when you’re used to dancing around on a lightweight carbon thing but it’s rock eating abilities on the descents makes up for it.

Tello descent

Eoin riding Brutus for Men

Google Mountain ride

urban mtb in Pampaneira

Eoin spent most of the week getting sideways at every possible opportunity until he broke his bike and disappeared to join the Spaniards in the bar!

Google mountain ride

Its not just the biking – the relaxed sociable lifestyle, the food and drink, the weather and the language make it an amazing place to be. I’ve spent the last 3 months attempting (fairly unsuccessfully!) to mould myself into an uber-efficient German speaking Swiss working machine and I’m pretty sure the last week has just undone all my hard work. Thank god!

cortado sampling

Thanks to Freeridespain for the use of their back garden. More photos here.

A week is nowhere near long enough, it could be 4 months before I wear shorts again, already thinking about the next visit…

caitelliott.co.uk » Ragley Mmmbop

Spring Hardtailing & Cannondale Enduro Tour Race

escaping to the sun