Enduro World Series Rd2 Scotland

The 2nd round of the EWS took place last weekend in Peebles, Scotland. Dad and I left for Scotland on Thursday afternoon and after 4 hours of driving and a 2 hour ferry across the water we arrived in Peebles. We got the tent set up and had an early night knowing I had 40km+ of practise to do the next day. Friday morning I was down to registration early and as soon as I had got my race number and timing chip we drove down to Innerleithen with Damien Daly. We got to ride the 4 stages for the first days racing which were super steep and technical compared to the trails here at home.

Race Day 1

So Saturday started for me at 10:38. After being talked to by Enrico on the start ramp I headed out on course. The transitions are timed in the EWS so I had 1.30hr to get to the first stage. I got there 20 minutes early so I had time to have a bit of a break before my start time.  

Stage 1
Stage 1 went alright for me. I was bit slow in the top section of forest and a crash didn't help when I turned in too late for one of the corners. After that I battled my way down to the fireroad where I put as much as I could into the pedal before dropping back into the woods again. I found it hard going on the off camber section along side the stone wall but I got to the end in a ok time. After stage 1 I was sitting 11th in E1 juniors with a time of 7:37:21 some 50 seconds of the pace.

Stage 2
Stage 2 went similar to stage 1 with being to cautious in the steep stuff and crashed coming out onto the fireroad sprint. There was a big compression onto the fireroad and as I hit it it bounced me out on to the fireroad and as I landed the bike went straight out from under me. Result of the crash was more lost time and a bent mech. I jumped back on the bike and finished out the stage as quick as I could. At the bottom I pulled the derailleur back straight and headed down to the time check. After 2 stages I was now on a time of 13:01:97 which put me sitting in 10 place in the category.

Stage 3
Stage 3 was the only E1 riders only stage of the whole race. It had one of the steepest sections of trail I have ever ridden. This stage went alright for me and I manage to catch both my 20s and 40s riders ahead of me. I clawed back some time to move me into 9th place overall in the category. Now onto the last stage of the day


Stage 4
Stage 4 was the last stage of Day 1. It consisted of mainly one of the black down hill runs in Innerleithen. This stage was amazing fun and the speeds on it were very high. I managed to put in a time good enough to rank me 8th on the stage in Junior and held on to 9th place overall at the end of the day.

Race Day 2

Starting day 2 I was 19seconds behind 8th place. The plan for the day was to try and catch him but I didn't know if that would work out seeing as I was going to be racing Blind!!!

Stage1
Stage 1 was a mix of open flat fast corners and tight switch backs followed by lots of natural fast singletrack with one or two climbs thrown in. As I was racing blind I got caught out by a few of the corners but really enjoyed racing it blind. This was my slowest stage of the day placing 8th but was also my highest placing on a stage in the race so far.

Stage 2
Stage 2 was one of the longest stages of the weekend at 3.7km long. It also had a huge amount of pedalling. I had a good top section and pedalled hard on the lower section to come to the finish in 6th place in the category on the stage. I was really starting to find my rhythm and pace now.


Stage 3
This stage was the shortest stage of the day at around 3 minutes long. It was completely downhill and I managed to pull out a 4th on the stage which I am super stoked about. After this stage it was time for a big transition back to the very top of the mountain for the last stage

Stage 4
Stage 4 was the longest stage of the weekend at 3.8km long. There was loads of singletrack as well as the longest pedal section I've ever come across in an Enduro in the middle. I pedalled my absolute ass off on the middle section and rode fast enough in the singletrack to give me another 4th place stage finish in the category.


From the Finish of the stage we rolled back down into the race village on Tweed Green and checked in to get our times. In the end I kept my 9th position overall but closed the gap to 8th place from 19s at the start of day 2 to 3s at the end of the day. I feel like I didn't give it enough on the first day and that let me down a bit on the results but I'm happy to come away from my first EWS with a top 10 finish and 2 4th places in my category on the last 2 stages while racing Blind.

I'd like to say a big thanks to Expert Cycles for getting the bike in race condition before heading over and for all the spare bit. Have to say thanks to my Dad as well as without him the trip never would of happened.

Next up is one of the biggest mass start mountain bike races in the world. The Megavalanche. See you in a months time!