Shuttle for enduro, yeah of neigh

[braailegend]

Up on Enduro magazines' facebook page.

 

THE BIG DEBATE - Does using 4X4's to shuttle have a place in the evolution of enduro racing, or is it simply cheating?

 

"Full story here: http://enduro-mtb.com/en/shutting-in-enduro-a-legitimate-race-tactic-or-simply-cheating/ "

 

What do you think?

 

 

For me its a easy yeah, its cheating, its what differentiates it from just being downhill

[Brian Fantana]

Riding the entire route is part of the adventure, and the reason why I ride my MTB.

 

Every trail ride I do is an Enduro. I ride up massive climbs, and enjoy the spectacular views, and blast down the exhilarating descents. I have been doing this for years, but it has only been called Enduro since it has become a racing discipline.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Okay. My take.

 

Okay to shuttle to the beginning of the first trail head, so that the racing proper starts from the highest point without the riders being pooped.

 

Nothing worse than hitting the beginning of a race when you've already climbed 1200m and are only then just starting. So from that standpoint, shuttling is cool.

 

Between stages, however, is a different story. The liaison stages are meant to be ridden. Therefore no shuttle. Unless its just so immensely steep as to render any attempt to climb the thing retarded.

 

That's my take.

[Skott5]

Downhill - shuttle

Enduro - ride / push / crawl ..

 

Rode sections of enduro course at Giba today. Going to be awesome. But yeah we rode to the different sections.

[braailegend]

Its been also the way i've been riding... I just called it riding, altough it is mostly pushing and then riding down. But since I think enduro is trying to capture the essence of the way we all ride, i think they should run it in the way the average joe goes about riding.

 

Keeping shuttles out of the rules might also make it easier for local guys to organise bigger events without the additional worry of logistics for shuttles.

[Brian Fantana]

Its been also the way i've been riding... I just called it riding, altough it is mostly pushing and then riding down. But since I think enduro is trying to capture the essence of the way we all ride, i think they should run it in the way the average joe goes about riding.

 

Keeping shuttles out of the rules might also make it easier for local guys to organise bigger events without the additional worry of logistics for shuttles.

 

+1

 

The lack of shuttles also plays a role on equipment selection. You have to be able to ride the bike up, but you have to select your parts to take the beating of blasting down the hill.

 

To be honest, I think they should have certain time limits for the liaison stages as well. No use a rider smokes the special stages and walk the liaisons.

 

In my opinion an Enduro should include aspects from all the disciplines of mountain biking. This icludes tough climbs.

 

I love Enduro, but I love trail/AM riding more. Why? Because part of the allure of Trail/AM riding is the fact that there is no timing involved. Your performance is gauged by how stoked you are at the bottom of the hill instead of comparing your time to others'.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

Guys, I think you may be getting the whole shuttle thing a bit skew here. The shuttle is only on the first stage, getting the guys to the highest point.

 

No shuttles on liaison stages.

 

Only exception was with our local one where we rose up to the start of the first stage and had a shuttle between 4&5. But that's cos there was no other way to the top of 1 and the climb to stage 5 (only shuttled half way anyway) was an absolute killer of note.

[Brian Fantana]

Guys, I think you may be getting the whole shuttle thing a bit skew here. The shuttle is only on the first stage, getting the guys to the highest point.

 

No shuttles on liaison stages.

 

Only exception was with our local one where we rose up to the start of the first stage and had a shuttle between 4&5. But that's cos there was no other way to the top of 1 and the climb to stage 5 (only shuttled half way anyway) was an absolute killer of note.

 

I understand that the shuttle is to get to the first stage. But imo an Enduro rider should be a complete mountain biker, if that means he should start an Enduro with a 15km climb, he should be up for it. If a shuttle can ride there, a mountain bike can do so as well.

 

The point of Enduro is to be able to nail technical downhills whilst being "exhausted" from the climb to the top.

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

 

 

I understand that the shuttle is to get to the first stage. But imo an Enduro rider should be a complete mountain biker, if that means he should start an Enduro with a 15km climb, he should be up for it. If a shuttle can ride there, a mountain bike can do so as well.

 

The point of Enduro is to be able to nail technical downhills whilst being "exhausted" from the climb to the top.

 

True. And valid point.

[(Deon)]

I would not think it is something to be debated. If the organizer allows for shuttles it should not be contested. Some events will have and some won't, it depends on viability and elevation.

 

If the enduro needs to link otherwise hard to get to trails, and if the road allows for it, it should be the organizers call. Of course you will get your purist events where riding will be the only form of transport, these should not be snubbed either from pro shuttle groups.

 

You'll find the most crit will be from unfit riders moaning about no shuttles than from fit riders ready for a day on the trails.

 

Me personally, I prefer to chat to friends while riding up , the gain in fitness counts towards finishing with a better time.

Edited May 25, 2013 by Pain or shine

[jimmy hardtail]

At the dh race at jonkershoek the shuttle took 45 minutes to get to the top. You could walk your bike up the whole track in less time. Shuttles are easy but not always as fast as you think. And anyway the article is talking about using shuttles during PRACTICE for the weeks before the event. No shuttles on race day.

[deviate]

i personally think the spirit of enduro is to ride up and race down, I would say no to shuttles as it would even the playing field between guys who train endurance and guys who train more intervals (short bursts)

 

you can see what it did at the first EWS stage in punta ala , if you look carefully youll see some riders did really well in 1 and 2 but funked out in 3 and 4 which shows that they got tired towards the end and guys like Dan Atherton only really got going on the last stage because he conserved too much energy.

 

 

but in saying that the next race will make use of chair lifts ! and the one after that not and so on so on .... if youre running a series then I think you could do one or two race with shuttles and the rest without ... also I think it will make a difference depending on how many stages you have per day .... if its 6 stages then 1-2 shuttles would be okay... but if its 4-5 then naaaaa

 

(just my opinion)

[(Deon)]

At the dh race at jonkershoek the shuttle took 45 minutes to get to the top. You could walk your bike up the whole track in less time. Shuttles are easy but not always as fast as you think. And anyway the article is talking about using shuttles during PRACTICE for the weeks before the event. No shuttles on race day.

 

You are right, missed that reading it on the phone..

 

Not sure how it worked in Punta but from the article it seemed there was no access control. This can get out of control which having read the article again seems is at the root of the complaint.

 

Regarding practicing, this bugged me from the start. It will be interesting to see what happens in round 2 (ed. Ah chairlifts) but i thought the essence of Enduro was that the course should be ridden "blind" i.e. no practice. This was the case in Trans Provence, why not the World Series?

 

Lopes still joked about the shuttles:

 

Rode 1st 3 stages of the @World_Enduro courses 2day, some gnar sections, overall cool. Wish practice meant u had 2 pedal up, all R shuttling

 

--

 

I guess it's time 2 jump on a few shuttles since that seems 2 B the spirit of enduro here at round 1 of EWS. What happened 2 pedaling up?

 

---

 

So we here all the "enduro" boys and girls are uplifting at the first round. Thought those fags had to ride up? What a joke. #EnduroTheNew4X

Edited May 26, 2013 by Pain or shine

[Dr Snuggles]

shuttling was for practice. take away practice. no more shuttles.

 

I'm with the thread directon traffic cop, in that no shuttles for enduro races. Liking the idea of a prologue though. That urban bit for Punta Ala was good publicity. They should have something similar here for all enduro events.

[(Deon)]

To be honest, I think they should have certain time limits for the liaison stages as well. No use a rider smokes the special stages and walk the liaisons.

 

BF, there was a penalty (most have), 1 min for every min over.. quite harsh but promotes fitness and discourages the fearless DH guys from just arriving and competing on their DH rigs.

 

This is also something to consider for events, if they are going to shuttle/chairlift then what is stopping the downhillers from riding it on dual crown forks? I read something on par with this, I think it was Dan actually, he was considering bike choice for round 2. ??

[Captain Fastbastard Mayhem]

And anyway the article is talking about using shuttles during PRACTICE for the weeks before the event. No shuttles on race day.

 

Precisely. And who wants to practice riding Jeep Track all day?