[Event] Paarl Enduro

[babse]

4 hours ago, Meezo said:

More so us suckers who entered!! 

Says he who raced a XCO race in Paarl midday in early March 😏

[Robbie Stewart]

All things being equal, the weather is actually quite cool and pleasant today in Brackenfell, so I hope this trend holds firm.

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Robbie Stewart said:

All things being equal, the weather is actually quite cool and pleasant today in Brackenfell, so I hope this trend holds firm.

 

Seems the cold front is coming in slower than predicted early in the week.  With any luck only by Saturday late afternoon.  Should make for nice riding weather 

[Robbie Stewart]

Dêd. That's how I feel today. Completely dêd. The heat sapped every last ounce of energy and I was unable to finish.

[ChrisF]

35 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Dêd. That's how I feel today. Completely dêd. The heat sapped every last ounce of energy and I was unable to finish.

 

10am at Bloemendal was VERY "uncomfortable" ...

 

Paarl must have been unbearable ....

Edited December 10, 2022 by ChrisF

[Robbie Stewart]

11 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

10am at Bloemendal was VERY "uncomfortable" ...

 

Paarl must have been unbearable ....

It was rough out there today. I have never felt so bad on a bike before. This ride made me reconsider e-bikes. Next year I just might be pulling the trigger on one.

[MORNE]

It was brutal out there.
The heat was crazy. Glad I was able to finish the full. But i felt going up that first climb that we’ll have to give it beans early on to try and escape the worst of it later.
I think if you were still on one of the climbs at 11:00 ish it must have been torture.
I went through 3L of water. We had to wait for the waterstation at the bottom of skillie on the way to DH to be restocked..it was empty when we got there and quite a few people were trying to hide from the heat under the gazebo. Thats where the Lite and full crossed paths basically too so i think they could have made a plan to be better stocked there, especially because it was so hot.

By DH start (stage 4) it looked like a warzone…people were just hanging on to threads, and thats the worst stage for faltering concentration haha. I went slower down there than i ever have i think, i was just focussing on getting down in one piece. By that stage I was riding with a few faster guys and a young Ms Nixon who won the elite women in the end, and she also thought thats probably the slowest she’s ever been down DH. It was tough.

anyway, it was fun but a very hard day out on a bike. I think quite a few people bailed by stage 2/3 because of the heat. Congrats to all regardless of outcome. 

Oh and shoutout to @Meezo for his podium (p3) in the master men cat…all that roady DC training helped out bigtime 😁

[MajG]

Was that enduro or just xc route where only the downs were timed?

 

Besides for the DH trail...all was very mellow trails.

 

I bailed after stage 3, heat was tooo  much and lack of water at the stations were terrible 

[Robbie Stewart]

10 minutes ago, MajG said:

Was that enduro or just xc

This was the sentiment of quite a few people I spoke to. To me this was not anything resembling Enduro. I am not going to enter this event again when it returns to Paarl. 

In fact overall I think in unlikely to ride there again.

[BikeGenie]

9 hours ago, MORNE said:

It was brutal out there.
The heat was crazy. Glad I was able to finish the full. But i felt going up that first climb that we’ll have to give it beans early on to try and escape the worst of it later.
I think if you were still on one of the climbs at 11:00 ish it must have been torture.
I went through 3L of water. We had to wait for the waterstation at the bottom of skillie on the way to DH to be restocked..it was empty when we got there and quite a few people were trying to hide from the heat under the gazebo. Thats where the Lite and full crossed paths basically too so i think they could have made a plan to be better stocked there, especially because it was so hot.

By DH start (stage 4) it looked like a warzone…people were just hanging on to threads, and thats the worst stage for faltering concentration haha. I went slower down there than i ever have i think, i was just focussing on getting down in one piece. By that stage I was riding with a few faster guys and a young Ms Nixon who won the elite women in the end, and she also thought thats probably the slowest she’s ever been down DH. It was tough.

anyway, it was fun but a very hard day out on a bike. I think quite a few people bailed by stage 2/3 because of the heat. Congrats to all regardless of outcome. 

Oh and shoutout to @Meezo for his podium (p3) in the master men cat…all that roady DC training helped out bigtime 😁

Shot for the company out there @MORNE , it was a brutal day out on the bike. Both the weather conditions and the type of trails to race on the day did NOT suit me. 

[MajG]

4 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

This was the sentiment of quite a few people I spoke to. To me this was not anything resembling Enduro. I am not going to enter this event again when it returns to Paarl. 

In fact overall I think in unlikely to ride there again.

100percent agree with you...doubt I will be back at paarl trails.Not worth the climbs .

That was an XC race for sure

Think I was talking you on on the first climb, you were telling me about the massive rock slab that I thought we going to ride down.

[BikeGenie]

6 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

This was the sentiment of quite a few people I spoke to. To me this was not anything resembling Enduro. I am not going to enter this event again when it returns to Paarl. 

In fact overall I think in unlikely to ride there again.

I’m of similar opinion to not ride those trails again. I would attempt if there’s a shuttle day planned for the DH line. 

[Chrisjanopsyfiets]

I do not agree. Was I brilliant day out. Will be back again! Hot and tough - yes - but well worth the effort. 

[Meezo]

I'm on the fence, I've putting in a lot of mileage so my fitness is not bad, hence probably why I'm on the fence. Otherwise I'd probably lean to the majority of views a XCO event with downs timed. I was fortunate to get to most of the stages without any major lines, infact at SS4 i was the only one there and has been for atleast 5 minutes... i was done at around 10:15

The heat was the heat can't be much debated here, just that doing any event in Paarl from November to March is not gonna be the smartest idea.

The stages i thought was a bit a silly, SS1 could of maybe finished 3 minutes before it did. Added to the sillyness of it was the 600m climb to that point. SS2 the same, was pedally and could of ended maybe a few 100m earlier.

It'll be interesting to see number of starters vs finishes. 

Another perception i have was EnduroWC seemed to have dropped the ball a bit with this one, the marketing (social media) in particular was way way off compared to the Jonkershoek Enduro. Probably the only reason i managed to find myself in the top 20 was because nobody actually knew this race was happening...

Having said that, maybe with 20-30 newbies who have bought into it and those who from previous Enduro's for next year the series is going to be good/well attended in my view. 

 

[LazyTrailRider]

Wasn’t the entire idea with this event to introduce newbies to the concept of enduro (in terms of how it’s timed) but on super easy trails?

That’s what I got from all the marketing I saw, and if I had entered I would definitely not have expected anything hardcore…

[MORNE]

1 hour ago, MajG said:

100percent agree with you...doubt I will be back at paarl trails.Not worth the climbs .

That was an XC race for sure

Think I was talking you on on the first climb, you were telling me about the massive rock slab that I thought we going to ride down.

Well if you skipped stage 4 you missed out on the proper enduro line for sure in DH. 
 

I guess In the end it’s the same for everyone and you still had to do the stages regardless of how difficult they were. It’s also as hard as you make it in the end…too easy…go faster right? The fast guys proved it. They did stage 1  a whole 2 minutes faster than i could manage. To that i tip my hat.
 Maybe it also proved that alot of the enduro bros are k@k sleg when it comes to actual cycling fitness and that the guys who keep on ending at the top are skilled AND fit. Sure you can have skills and go fast downhill but if you cant reach the last two stages in some kind of comfortable state you’ll suck regardless of your skill level.

To finish first…first you must finish right?
 

In the end it was 10km short of say a jonkers enduro so if you couldn't finish this you don't have a chance in hell doing a full there.
 

Yes the trails were more XC but they were still challenging in other ways. 
 

i would provably also not go back there any time soon but in terms of an event, the stages were the stages and you still had to do them like everyone else.