Southern Enduro @ Twisted Oaks, winter special 4th Dec.

[weeksy]

I'm heading there on Sat lunchtime for a few hours pre-race testing... Just see if i can work out if there's anything i'm taking/avoiding so i'm not surprised on the day.

[Numnut]

Cool, probably a good plan - there's a few bits there that I tend to avoid (large gaps etc), but none of that looks to have been used on previous events going by the videos.

The gap on stage 2 on the course map is quite little - the stage starts about 4 mins in to this video

[weeksy]

There's a couple of drops/rollers on the northshore stuff too, i'd like to just work out before, which is which. I am also curious about what i think is S6, the one with the beach/dune look to it which goes over the big rollers, looks like a massive compression, but may be easier to hit 2-3mph slower as rollers than faster and be a drop/compression.

Overall i don't think it'll affect where i finish... but i've no plans on Sat and it's £11 to ride, so why not

[Numnut]

I quite fancied a practice day this weekend, but we're off to see family instead!

S6 is the start of their XC route - riding at my pace, there's nothing nasty on there (aside from the tree I crashed in to last time!), and the berms are lots of fun at the end!

There's lots of sand though, so expect a nice crunchy drivetrain almost immediately!

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

It's Suffolk, you either get sand or clay mud, I can easily do both in a 12 mile circular ride from my house.
There is a small set of chalk hills in Suffolk, but most people don't know where they are.

[weeksy]

Went over yesterday to ride and learn. Wow it's a daunting place! Lots of arse clenching jumps, drops etc. But we muddled our way down most bits with the odds avoidance of instant death parts.

A meal and beer, with plenty of laughs, chats and banter, then early to bed after Rocky2.

This morning brought race fun and a few sections taped differently from yesterday. The death parts were still deathy and it disappointed me I couldn't do some

The good news is, I wasn't last. First time in a Southern Enduro of not being last.

I'm 235
2022-12-04_04-50-25 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

The bad news, Couchie beat me!!!!

Over 12 stages he beat me by 12s.

2022-12-04_04-50-34 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

I'll be back next time to take him on again.

[Couchy]

Well that was my first MTB event. On practice day I arrived to me weeks saying we may as well go home now . But a few runs down we saw the chicken lines for the big features so we’re fairly happy. Weeksy did the wooden bridge and drop on stage 1 but I don’t like north shore so took to chicken line losing me 3-4s. It meant weeksy beat me on S1 by 1.5s.
The rest of the stages were were fairly well matched just a second or two here or there. The e-bike didn’t have much of an advantage but did pull out the corners better so that’s prob the difference.
Having never done a place like this and never done a MTB event I had 2 goals, to finish and not be last and I managed that.
Have to say I have no idea how some get the speed they do, coming to MTB late it’s been a steep learning curve and I’m at my limit with them. It was epic fun though and another box ticked. The weekend was as good as always for banter and added to the whole experience. Will def go back there next year as there’s plenty of progression to be had.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I feel better about finding Twisted Oaks a bit scary now, I'm not the total wuss I thought I was, just a wuss.

[weeksy]

Well that was my first MTB event. On practice day I arrived to me weeks saying we may as well go home now . But a few runs down we saw the chicken lines for the big features so we’re fairly happy. Weeksy did the wooden bridge and drop on stage 1 but I don’t like north shore so took to chicken line losing me 3-4s. It meant weeksy beat me on S1 by 1.5s.
The rest of the stages were were fairly well matched just a second or two here or there. The e-bike didn’t have much of an advantage but did pull out the corners better so that’s prob the difference.
Having never done a place like this and never done a MTB event I had 2 goals, to finish and not be last and I managed that.
Have to say I have no idea how some get the speed they do, coming to MTB late it’s been a steep learning curve and I’m at my limit with them. It was epic fun though and another box ticked. The weekend was as good as always for banter and added to the whole experience. Will def go back there next year as there’s plenty of progression to be had.

You did ace! You're not as brave as me in some ways, bit clearly you can ride a bike. Nice job!

Most interesting discussions too about what/how

[Couchy]

Well that was my first MTB event. On practice day I arrived to me weeks saying we may as well go home now . But a few runs down we saw the chicken lines for the big features so we’re fairly happy. Weeksy did the wooden bridge and drop on stage 1 but I don’t like north shore so took to chicken line losing me 3-4s. It meant weeksy beat me on S1 by 1.5s.
The rest of the stages were were fairly well matched just a second or two here or there. The e-bike didn’t have much of an advantage but did pull out the corners better so that’s prob the difference.
Having never done a place like this and never done a MTB event I had 2 goals, to finish and not be last and I managed that.
Have to say I have no idea how some get the speed they do, coming to MTB late it’s been a steep learning curve and I’m at my limit with them. It was epic fun though and another box ticked. The weekend was as good as always for banter and added to the whole experience. Will def go back there next year as there’s plenty of progression to be had.

You did ace! You're not as brave as me in some ways, bit clearly you can ride a bike. Nice job!

Most interesting discussions too about what/how

Def not brave but I like to build up to stuff, problem is 90% of my riding is Sherwood pines which is basically XC. That showed on S6 which was perfect for me. One other revelation is 99% of the time I use rear brake only. I’ve never really noticed as I don’t do steep stuff, I nearly always use rear and use it to slide and turn the bike. I’ve never really stopped the MTB quickly before or needed to. Once I’d realised this I set off down S6 again and took 3s off, it’s amazing how quick the bike stops and doesn’t go sideways like it does with rear brake. A rookie error but it’s not essential where I ride , but what was strange is weeksy following me down trails when I use rear brake only and he’s using front brake yet there’s no issue. We took from that we can both brake later

[Numnut]

Good to see weeksy and couchy today. Was pretty dam cold queuing for the different stages! I ended up 41st out of 43, in my category which is better than I expected. The guy I was riding with got 37th which he was happy with.

I was number 24 for time comparisons…

Stage 1 with its wood/rock feature right at the start seemed to cause problems for people. I don’t know how it felt, but I saw weeksy go down it and he made it look easy. I think I saw couchy do the same too. I stacked it coming off the rocks not sure why or how, I think the front bottomed out. Ended up with a rear brake lever at 90degrees to the reservoir and a bent dropper post! Took a while to sort but Managed to get the lever bent back enough to carry on but the dropper is knackered. Oh well I got all my stages in and got a few extra runs on the dual slalom and 4.

I took the b line around stage 1 though!

Was really eye opening to see the speed that some people have, same as a track day really! There was a lot I was avoiding, so need to practice some more - gaps, and drops.

Will be going back in March if they do another one though!

[weeksy]

Glad you enjoyed it and bloody well done mate. It's tough, really tricky. Big balls to come play.

The speed of others just makes me laugh, the fast boys on stage 1 we're not touching the rocks, just sending it off the top! I get to see shit like that all the time, but I sure can't replicate it lol

Pics will appear there

https://www.rootsandrain.com/venue1239/ ... bike-park/

[weeksy]

2022-12-03_04-59-46 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Doing the bigger of the drops.

[Numnut]

Glad you enjoyed it and bloody well done mate. It's tough, really tricky. Big balls to come play.

The speed of others just makes me laugh, the fast boys on stage 1 we're not touching the rocks, just sending it off the top! I get to see shit like that all the time, but I sure can't replicate it lol

Pics will appear there

https://www.rootsandrain.com/venue1239/ ... bike-park/

Cheers, yeah such a massive skills difference! The current plan is fix the bike and get practising for another one next year.

That picture of the drop - Did you carry on that line and do the gaps as well - other than the small one, the other 2 look huge walking by? I'm planning on spending a fair bit of time riding those bits next time I'm there just so I can get the confidence up to try a bit more.

[weeksy]

Glad you enjoyed it and bloody well done mate. It's tough, really tricky. Big balls to come play.

The speed of others just makes me laugh, the fast boys on stage 1 we're not touching the rocks, just sending it off the top! I get to see shit like that all the time, but I sure can't replicate it lol

Pics will appear there

https://www.rootsandrain.com/venue1239/ ... bike-park/

Cheers, yeah such a massive skills difference! The current plan is fix the bike and get practising for another one next year.

That picture of the drop - Did you carry on that line and do the gaps as well - other than the small one, the other 2 look huge walking by? I'm planning on spending a fair bit of time riding those bits next time I'm there just so I can get the confidence up to try a bit more.

I didn't but i would/can, well gap 3 i don't know... but drop 3 and gap 2... yes.

I was planning on doing it after the racing, but i was cold and achey by the end, so i called it a day..

[Numnut]

Ah nice one! That middle gap looks pretty big as you walk by!

Yep, it got very cold in the queues - We left around 14:00 and it was noticable how many people had gone home - it was basically all the teenagers racing each other on the dual slalom!