Gravity Enduro Rd4, Djouce Woods

The finale of the Gravity Enduro Series took place last weekend in Djouce woods. This was the fourth round of the series excluding the series champs. The weekend started early Saturday morning meeting Rob from MAD MTB at Expert cycles grabbing a few quick things then we hit the road to get to Djouce. After arriving we went and got signed up for the weekend. The bikes were then unpacked out of the van and we got ready to get rolling. We met up with the rest of the MAD Crew before heading out to do the stages. The stages included a mix of fast flowy trails, some tight technical sections and some long sprints. We got all of the stages done on the saturday and felt I knew the lines i wanted to know and try and get come race day.

Race day

So I arrived at Djouce at 9:15 on Sunday morning, got my self sorted and rolled into the race village. At 10:10 I left scrutiny and headed up to Stage 1. I felt confident going into the day as I felt I was riding well in the wet conditions after a whole summer in the dust and no rain in the run up to the race at all.

Stage 1

Stage 1 went well. I got a great start and felt fast through the berms on XTC. On Benchcut I felt I went as fast as I could. I got a bit caught up on one of the switchbacks but it didn't cost me much time really just felt I could of done it a bit smoother. I put in a good sprint on the fireroad, not sitting down at all. Went quick enough through Son of Benchcut. I caught Leah Maunsell at the end of the trail and we had a bit of a race to the finish poles. I finished first on the stage in my category (14-18) and took 5th place overall on the stage!

Stage 2

Stage 2 started fast and steep through one of the only dry parts of the forest. After that there was a short kicker climb before dropping back through the forest. Next across the fireroad and into a new section of trail built for this round of the series. It was slick enough before flying straight down a trail, bus stopping around a tree then dropping into a bomb hole. On the corner out of the bomb hole the front wheel washed out on me but I just about manage to hold it upright. I won the stage in my category and finished 12th overall on the stage.

Stage 3

Stage 3 was pedally. I went well through Toro(The first section of trail) and pedalled hard on the fire road to the steep section of the fireroad. I got down it fairly quick and was straight on the pedals. I put in a big effort on the long pedal across the bottom section of the stage to the finish line and it payed of with 7th overall on the stage and 1st on the stage in my category.

 

Stage 4

Stage 4 was another pedally stage but had plenty of gravity fed riding as well. I was fast on the opening section with no mistakes on the criss crosses across the bank. I got my line perfect on Gran Canaria. I sprinted hard down the fireroad and across the river and into Sliddery. I went good enough through it with only one small stoppage after getting caught in a hole. Got to the end of the stage and took 1st on the stage in the 14-18 category and 8th overall.

 Stage 5

I got to the top of 5 just as it started to spit rain. I didn't take much of a break before getting going. I found all my lines on the top open section and was fast down through the first steep section down onto earls drive. The next section of steep trail nearly killed me though as my front wheel slipped on a root and was sent down the trail lying with my stomach on the saddle and my feet up in the air behind me like superman! I some how manage to hold it together and pulled myself back onto the bike properly and put in the pedals to the finish. 2nd in my category a second of first and 11th overall.

Stage 6

Stage 6 was a quick 1 minute blast down a single piece of trail and then a sprint down a fireroad. It was a bit of craic and you couldn't really loose any time on it. 2nd in the category and 17th overall.

At the end of the day I came away with 1st place on the day. I also took my first top 10 finish overall finishing 6th with a time of 21:43. As It was the last race of the series there was also the overall prize givings. I took 2nd place overall behind Conor Lavelle in 1st.

Have to say a big thanks to Expert Cycles for all their help and support through the year. Couldn't of done it with out you guys.

Also like to say Thanks to Niall Davis and the Biking.ie/Gravity Enduro Crew for putting on a amazing race series and can't wait to do it all again next year.

Looking forward to the Bluegrass International Enduro In Ballyhoura in 2 weeks time! See you then. Scott