Jonny Walker at pace. Helmet cam

[george formby]

Crikey, I felt a bit nauseous after a couple minutes viewing.


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[Jay GTI]

I'm surprised at how piss-easy that trail was, not that I'd be able to ride it anywhere near that fast, but would have thought a national-level enduro would be a little more technical than that.

[noobi]

I'm surprised at how piss-easy that trail was, not that I'd be able to ride it anywhere near that fast, but would have thought a national-level enduro would be a little more technical than that.

You would be surprised how not 'technical' most of the enduro tests are here in NZ too.
If they are running ISDE style enduros, the ones which are like rallies but on bikes. Then most of the riding isn't to be as fast as possible, just arrive before the assigned time runs down. As all the classes race the same track, if you make it challenging for the expert riders, you risk causing bottlenecks further back with the intermediate riders. You have three riders riding on each minute, so a bottleneck can get pretty big quite quickly.
So generally the special tests are just interesting sections of track, not necessarily super challenging, but with plenty of obstacles.

There are exceptions to this though. The 2014 Whangamata national enduro was marked out when all the tracks were dry, and then one of the tropical storms came through. Whangamata is steep and pretty much all clay. There was a ~60% finish rate for the experts, and a ~30% finish rate for intermediates.

Its not an extreme enduro, the aim is so that everyone finishes, not just one person.

Heres a few examples
Oparau enduro https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ctMNYNH-2k
Riverhead enduro Chris Birch riding https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AmyQaVJOjA

[george formby]

Ta for that. Weren't sure how to explain the difference between Enduro formats. I do believe they run the Rally Raid bikes in the same event ala Lyndon Poskit.

[Jay GTI]

Yes I think you guys are right, I had the wrong idea with enduro racing. I guess I was just expecting one or two sections that would be the equivalent of the "expert" sections we get on a lot of trail rides. Not hugely difficult, just a little bit more challenging than access roads and relatively wide trails.

[noobi]

Yes I think you guys are right, I had the wrong idea with enduro racing. I guess I was just expecting one or two sections that would be the equivalent of the "expert" sections we get on a lot of trail rides. Not hugely difficult, just a little bit more challenging than access roads and relatively wide trails.

You are correct though. That test in the first video does include quite a lot of road type sections. It depends on the venue mostly, and how keen the organisers are to make new trails.

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[unstuck]

Sticks on the trail always make me nervous at speed for some reason.:weird:

[Jay GTI]

You are correct though. That test in the first video does include quite a lot of road type sections. It depends on the venue mostly, and how keen the organisers are to make new trails.

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Yeah I have done some riding in the Welsh mountains (hills, they get confused about what a mountain is over there), much better trails than that vid and I know the forest area I was in was used for some British enduro rounds.

[george formby]

Sticks on the trail always make me nervous at speed for some reason.:weird:

Yus, those hard pointy things certainly temper my throttle hand.
Land access in the UK is positively draconian since teh foot & mouth out break. Areas I used to ride oop north are now total no gos.

[Jay GTI]

Yus, those hard pointy things certainly temper my throttle hand.
Land access in the UK is positively draconian since teh foot & mouth out break. Areas I used to ride oop north are now total no gos.

Its not just foot and mouth, the ramblers have a large, well funded and well organised lobby group putting pressure on local councils to reclassify greenlanes and byways to make them no access for trail riders. Sadly they've been very successful so far.

[george formby]

Its not just foot and mouth, the ramblers have a large, well funded and well organised lobby group putting pressure on local councils to reclassify greenlanes and byways to make them no access for trail riders. Sadly they've been very successful so far.

Yup, was going to mention that. The woolly hat brigade are very powerful lobbyists. Ironically from a lot of land owners perspective they are also a nuisance, leaving gates open for stock to wander, littering & pooing in the hedges. A pobbled hatted, kagoul wearing blight.

[Jay GTI]

Yup, was going to mention that. The woolly hat brigade are very powerful lobbyists. Ironically from a lot of land owners perspective they are also a nuisance, leaving gates open for stock to wander, littering & pooing in the hedges. A pobbled hatted, kagoul wearing blight.

Yep, complete pack of arseholes for the most part. While there is the Trail Riders Fellowship to fight back, they are way less powerful, under-funded and struggle to retain greenlane and byway access (they have had some success, but it is limited). A lot of these trails have been classified as greenlanes and byways for hundreds of years...

I read a great little story in TBM from a trail rider who was knocked off his bike and then punched in the face by a bobble-hatted prick, pissed off that he had to share the greenlane. Apparently we would have all loved to see the look on the prick's face when the rider produced his police warrant card from his rucksack... :D But that shows exactly what trail riders have to deal with in the UK.

[george formby]

Yep, complete pack of arseholes for the most part. While there is the Trail Riders Fellowship to fight back, they are way less powerful, under-funded and struggle to retain greenlane and byway access (they have had some success, but it is limited). A lot of these trails have been classified as greenlanes and byways for hundreds of years...

I read a great little story in TBM from a trail rider who was knocked off his bike and then punched in the face by a bobble-hatted prick, pissed off that he had to share the greenlane. Apparently we would have all loved to see the look on the prick's face when the rider produced his police warrant card from his rucksack... :D But that shows exactly what trail riders have to deal with in the UK.

:laugh:We had the odd altercation over the years but not quite as drastic. Is TBM that wee half size trail bike mag? Excellent tome.

The TRF do sterling work but it's David v Goliath and everybody knows bikers are hooligans and should be lashed.

[BoristheBiter]

:laugh:We had the odd altercation over the years but not quite as drastic. Is TBM that wee half size trail bike mag? Excellent tome.

The TRF do sterling work but it's David v Goliath and everybody knows bikers are hooligans and should be lashed.

And then we have to put up with the horsey brigade.

[george formby]

And then we have to put up with the horsey brigade.

They don't like anybody who has never owned a pony.

[Jay GTI]

:laugh:We had the odd altercation over the years but not quite as drastic. Is TBM that wee half size trail bike mag? Excellent tome.

The TRF do sterling work but it's David v Goliath and everybody knows bikers are hooligans and should be lashed.

Yep, TBM as you know it, great little mag. I've found it in a dairy in Auckland, they always have a few months of issues, so just grab one of each whenever I'm in the area. They have a TRF guy who writes monthly reports for them and talks about the current fights they are having. As usual, the biggest problem is the general apathy in the rider community, there are a lot more riders than members of the TRF.