This weekend I lined up at the start of my first Enduro race at Hakahana billed as “The Championship”. Being new to this format of mountain biking I attended a skills course at the same venue the weekend prior to the race. Nonetheless I had decided that regardless of the best efforts of Hayden Brown our instructor my skill level was not good enough to race in my first event so I decided it would be a journey of discovery, of new friends and new trails. The first thing to realise about Enduro is that there is a lot more kit than marathon racing and as I was pulling on my various forms of body armour my mind drifted back to the last time I kitted up like this trying desperately to hide my fear was about 30 years ago just before a patrol in Namibia. I looked around at my competitors and they too were putting on their body armour, then it struck me they aren’t competing against each other they are competing with the mountain, the mountain was our common enemy. Today we are warriors, over the next two days we were going to do battle with the White Water Mountains. Our general addressed us as we eagerly listened to his strategy for the day, we were to confront the enemy at SP1 and SP5 simultaneously. This would sow confusion in the mind of our foe and allow our best warriors to engage him on two fronts. “The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy, so that he cannot fathom our real intent.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War. From there we would attack SP2 and SP7 before returning to base. The general also announced that the spoils of war would be in the form of the finest beer money could buy, this was sourced from the most skilled brewers in the land and brought to us on a blue cart, driven by Heinrich Hattingh a fine warrior in his own right. We set off to our respective rallying points. My assignment was SP1 and I felt reasonably comfortable with this as I had the advantage of having reconnoitered this particular battlefield with Captain Hayden, a champion warrior and it was his insights that was mulling around in my head as we rode up the steep incline. Now every successful army needs a wizard to provide wise counsel, insights from the spirit world and a bit of magic to shift the tipping point of battle in our favour. It is well known that the skill of wizard can often be decisive in battle. Our wizard was short of stature with an unruly mop of brown hair and matching beard, he reminded me of Radagast the Brown. Our wizard was clearly well connected with the spirit world. As for his magic I saw this first hand when we had to traverse a fence via a well-constructed wooden A-frame. Our wizard had approached it far too slow and I watched in horror as I saw him teetering on the apex I was certain that he going to be impaled by the fencing standard on the right. But our wizard was more than capable and with a quick bunny-hop he landed safely on the other side. I was so impressed with his skill that I rode up alongside him and congratulated him on his superb skill “Heyyyy dooooodd that thing was almost higher than me” he said, I think he was referring to his stature. As we were approaching the rallying point the banter quietened as each of us fought our own demons, I remembered the advice of Captain Hayden on SP1, “the enemy has set up defences in three points, the first is quickly upon you, drop your seat post and attack on the right of his left flank. At DVD attack on the A line and remember to keep the front up , if you’re successful at those two the enemy should be sufficiently weakened that his last defence at the rock should be no problem” . “So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War. The plan worked a treat and I penetrated the enemy’s defences at all points but I took a hit in minor skirmish where I was ambushed by the enemy having strayed ever so slightly from the line of attack. During the procession to the SP5 rally point I tried to glean as much as possible on what the enemy had in store for us from the more experienced warriors. It was clear that the enemy had a number of surprises in store for us and I was at a disadvantage having not had the opportunity to see them for myself, the term running blind summed up what I was about to experience. My attack was delayed to all the medics to evacuate a fallen warrior, I learnt later that it was a young female warrior, this did little for my confidence. I quickly realized that the advice given meant very little without seeing the actual obstacle as you have very little time to first seek out and then adjust to the line of attack, I was quite relieved to make it through this battle unscathed. The Battle of Peppercorns as SP2 was named was a straight forward survival of the fittest, the enemy tried his best to wear us down with a path strewn with booby traps where only the strongest and sharpest would survive. We were all relieved when this battle ended and we set off for SP7 our final battle of the day. I was confident that I could handle everything that SP7 presented having had the opportunity of seeing the terrain the week before my expectations were that this would be the easiest of today’s battle. “Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant.” ― Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Had I only heeded these wise words, things I accomplished with relative ease in training were proving to be almost impossible tasks. I forgot all the lines and my speed of attack was left wanting more often than not and I limped into camp with my confidence at the lowest point of the day. Fortunately the ale at the Inn and the comradery with my brothers in arms lifted my spirits and I was in a rather joyous mood as I retired to my bed, little did I know that this was a rather misplaced sense of euphoria as the second day of battle lay ahead.
