The Epic - the PMBA/Hope Graythwaite Enduro, Lake District
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| Loamy goodness at the top of Stage 1, with Liz ahead of me. Photo credit: Digital Downhill |
When my friend Liz said she had entered the PMBA/Hope, BNES enduro at Graytwhaite in the Lake District at the start of May and suggested we do a girls’ road trip to race it, I couldn’t resist. The Graythwaite Epic has a reputation as the UK’s most techy enduro and is one of the Enduro World Series (EWS) qualifiers – if I wanted to challenge myself and test my riding this was definitely the place to do it. Besides, I started enduro racing at the Southern Enduro ‘downduro’Okeford Hill round so it was only fitting really that moving to the national series I started at the deep end.
I race because I love the atmosphere and it’s a great way to ride private trails and push myself – once again Graythwaite ticked all those boxes with 8 stages spread across the private Graythwaite Estate in the Lake District. Liz and I weren’t the other ‘Southerners’ going up to race, we were joined by Katie, Graham, Will and Fiona and spotted plenty of other familiar faces from the South Coast and UK race scene.
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| Not bad for pitching in the dark ;-)! |
Rocking up close to midnight on Friday night, Liz and I woke up on Saturday morning tired and cold but totally stunned by the venue. We quickly relocated our camp to join with Katie and her folks (supreme tea makers and tandem-riding support team) and joined the queue for sign on. The whole event had the level of organisation that makes it appear laid back and calm, yet clearly has required a lot of work – signing on nearly 600 riders in a small marquee was possible with the race numbers sorted into alphabetical piles to match the sign on lists and you chose your own start times once you’d collected your number, we plumped for the second start wave, heading out at 8.35am. To give you an idea of the scale of the race, there were waves of riders going every 5 minutes between 8.30am and midday!
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| It's called The Epic for a reason! |
The rider briefing had been very clear that large chunks of the transition were push up and not pedal up but it was only doing the transition to Stage 1 that made us realise what they defined as push up! After a fairly tech section of fireroad we turned left off the track and began to hoik our bikes up a slippery pine needle-strewn hillside. Weaving between trees and climbing over stone walls, we eventually came out on the ridge of the hill behind the race village. We’d climb that hill three times in order to access Stages 1, 2 and 7. However, spirits were high as we dropped down onto Stage 1 for the first time. A ribbon of loam led us into the forest and the bubbles of excitement rose in my chest.
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| Photo credit: Michael Curry |
Immediately it was clear that this terrain was different to anything I’ve ever ridden before, even in North Wales.
Katie had track walked the day before and her descriptions of the trails as ‘awkward and gnadgery’ were spot on. Huge rocks interspersed with washed out roots that lay like pythons across the trail meant that you had to use your whole body to ride the bike. Being a passenger was an option with only one outcome! Stage 1 complete we pedalled and then trudged up the transition before turning right and scaling a rock wall to get to Stage 2. This was by far my favourite Stage. The top section was frustrating as it sapped your speed and presented you with more giant-snake roots to the extent that in the race I reverted to my Manon Carpenter/Okeford Hill tactic of leaping off my bike and running. Riding that’s one for next time!
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| Liz, Katie, Will and Graham waiting to climb up to Stage 2 start in practice. |
Just as frustration peaked the Stage veered right and headed straight down the side of the hill on the steepest trails I’ve ever ridden. Hurtling between trees you had to let go the brakes and enjoy the thrill, remembering to shift your weight to help you swing round the corners. The hours I’d spent playing on the loam trails at Perry Woods over the last month or so was more valuable than I’d ever imagined.
Finally we broke out of the pine woods and onto the fire road, traversing bits of grass and rock slabs. I came upon a group of people who’d stopped to examine the lines and heard Will call out ‘keep going Vicky’. Glad of the momentum I spotted a fun v-shaped chute between slabs of rock and let the bike ride it. To me it felt totally secure and steady but chatting to other riders later it became clear that not everyone had enjoyed it. I have learned that we all view features differently and what unsettles me may not unsettle others and vice versa – that’s why I tend not to watch clips of trails or if I do, I won’t listen to the commentary, choosing to make up my own mind when I see them in real life.
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| Katie and Will waiting to drop in at Stage 6 |
Whilst I was buzzing from how I’d ridden Stage 2 I knew that I was tired and was beginning to find the levels of concentration hard. I put it down to a bad night’s sleep and tried to focus on what I’d ridden well within each stage. Stages 3 had a couple of interesting corners but 4 and 5 seemed the most innocuous, although lack of concentration meant I went out the front door thanks to a blade of grass on 4 😉!
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| Apocalypse enduro hike-a-bike |
By the time we scaled the next rockface to reach the start of Stage 6 we’d been out for about 4 hours but had only ridden 10 miles. We were exhausted. Stages 6 and 7 saw the return of the mega steep, off camber, greasy roots and rocks. After dropping off the rocky ridgeline through an apocalyptic landscape of tree stumps and rocks we rode across a sheer bank between trees and through roots that were pushing down the hillside like enormous varicose veins.
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| Vertical challenges for the vertically challenged! Liz and I made it twice each ;-)! |
I was thrilled to cover a 15m wide off-camber section, holding my bike on its side and forcing weight through the pedals and side knobbles of the tyre to grip before turning down into a series of near vertical greasy switchbacks. With trails this steep if you’re not on the bike when you start the run down, you have virtually no chance of getting back on it and I struggled as my bike slid out to my left and my right. Passing Will who’d had a massive brake failure, I kept on going to the bottom, but my brain was beginning to work against me with familiar negative thought patterns.
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| Dropping in to Stage 7 on race day, with Liz waiting to start behind me |
After a medical closed the trail, we were cold and drained by the time we dropped into 7. Reminiscent of one of the runs at my first enduro at Okeford I questioned if I could actually ride, but this time I had the insight to know it was hunger, tiredness and that these were full on trails that would challenge me at the best of times. Stopping part way down I helped a fellow racer who’d head-butted a tree and looked back up the trail. I spied the line I was going to take the next day and began to feel a glimmer of positivity. From then on I ramped up my mental battle to prepare my head for the next day’s race. I reminded myself I was tired, focussed on the bits I’d ridden well and had plans for how to ride the other sections during the race.
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| Campsite, finish line and free-roaming sheep! |
When we returned to the campsite we found that Will had not been able to get his brake fixed and was heading back to Hampshire. He’d been battling a cold and the mechanical was the deciding factor about not racing. I felt for him and knew I’d miss his calm, reassuring presence and dry humour the next day but equally knew that he’d made the right choice. Chatting to Liz and Katie we agreed that we needed to eat far more than we’d anticipated for a 15mile ride.
After giving Liz an impromptu mechanics class, w
e spent a quiet night refuelling and resting before going to bed super early. Tucked up in my sleeping bag, I wore every single one of my layers that night and slept cocooned, determined to rest as much as I could.
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| Graham,Liz, me, Katie and Fiona ready to roll on race day |
The next morning I began what felt like a day of non-stop eating, demolishing two pain au chocolats and a tub of porridge before the race. We filled our packs and sent food with Katie’s parents who were going to meet us at the café at the bottom of Stages 4 and 5.
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| Mid-race caffeine and food with our ace support crew, Lynn and Alan. |
Keeping to myself for the first transition I focused on what had gone well the day before and allowed the positive thoughts to sit alongside the fears. I thought about why I was racing and remembered the picture of Bridget Jones’ big girl pants that my friend Tom had sent me. Ultimately, I was here to have fun, ride my bike and see what I could achieve - for the cost of a £75 ticket and tank of fuel I was in a place where I could push myself to my limits in a way that most people feel they can only do in by going travelling solo.
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| In my happy place. Photo credit: DialledInUK |
Thankfully, the good night’s sleep and better fuelling, combined with a double espresso and half a can of coke mid-race, meant I didn’t feel my concentration going until the end of Stage 8. By that point Liz and I were so elated that we’d completed ‘the epic’ in one piece and ridden our socks off that we kept taking it in turns to lead through the last section of the Stage. To some that’s not racing but to us it’s what MTB is all about – supporting each other to go further and achieve more!
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| Thanks for getting me here, Liz! Would not have been the same without you! |
I know that tech trails are my strong point and that if I have a lo
ok, assess the trail, pick a line and ride it, I will be fine more often that not. Beyond that I know that my body is strong from the gym and I am not afraid of coming off – whilst that sounds like bravado it actually means that I will let the bike roll under me, trusting my strength and flexibility to be able to move around the bike keeping me on the trail. If I do fall, that same muscle strength helps protect me and enable me to get up – well, that certainly seemed to be the case each time I went over the bars this weekend anyway!
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| Beer never tasted so good - Katie, Graham, me, Fiona and Liz five mins after the race! |
Grubby, sweaty, exhausted but with eyes sparkling with adrenaline and achievement we all chatted and laughed about the race over the free bottles of enbeero beer before packing up to head home. We were all happy with our riding and Katie aced it coming first in Masters!
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| Yessss! Katie smashed it again! |
Home and reflecting on the race, my friend Tom asked what were my top 3 tips for riding an EWS qualifier? Based on my one experience at Graythwaite, I said:
- Eat more than you think you need. Your brain gets seriously hungry!
- Train in the gym as well as on the trails.
- Assess a feature, pick a line, ride it – do not overthink it!
Beyond that – go for it, you’re more capable than you think and you sure as hell won’t know unless you try! Can't wait for Southern Enduro Champs at the end of the month, which is another National series race!
www.pmbaenduro.co.uk
www.bemba.org.uk
https://www.mbr.co.uk/news/bemba-2019-381866
www.southernenduro.co.uk