Round 2 of the Southern Enduro Series – Tidworth Freeride, Wiltshire

Southern Enduro Series – Round 2 – Tidworth

After the huge enjoyment of Round 1 of the series at Milland, Will & Toby were super pumped to be travelling down to Tidworth Bike Park for Round 2…..

Having never ridden the park before, there was excitement mixed with a bit of trepidation upon hearing the weather forecast for the weekend. Fellow riders who had ridden the park previously assured us that if it was wet, we’d be in for a ‘biking on ice’ type affair due to the chalky, clayey surface. Needless to say, we prayed that the weather would be kind….

The park was open for practice on Saturday so we arrived a little after midday, met up with fellow Sussed Out pilot Dan to get in some cheeky practice runs! Dan was eager to put his new Mondraker Dune R Carbon through its paces! The hill was a good size with a grindy push-up which wasn’t too bad so it gave the course really good downhill value. Scott and the Southern Enduro guys had put together a fantastic selection of race stages which traversed the hill in an interesting way and definitely confused the locals! Stages 1 & 2 were more pedally until they dropped further down the hill into a great mixture of loose MX style corners, hard packed berms, rocks, roots and off-camber sections! With multiple line choices on some of the sections it took a bit of getting used to but the more you rode it, the more you could see the experience of the guys who had routed the trails. A huge well done to Scott and the guys!

Race day came and so did the rain! A fairly hefty shower in the early hours had given the course a good soaking and with more rain forecast for the day, it wasn’t looking hopeful. However, due to the tree cover and with the rain abating by the time practice started, when we actually rode practice it was surprisingly dry. The push up was a bit slick and there was a good deal of sketchy patches on the way down but by and large it was OK. It was great riding and shooting the breeze with everyone. There is always such a great atmosphere at these events and the banter is top notch!

Racing consisted of 6 times Stages. There were 4 marked out Stages so 1 & 2 were repeated to make up Stages 5 & 6. Dan was off first riding in the Elite/Pro Category, Will followed a little way behind riding in Masters & Toby was mid-pack riding for the first time in the Hardtail category on his Mondraker Vantage R. With only 20 seconds separating each rider from the start it kept things moving really well but you had to be on your toes to make sure the rider behind you didn’t catch you up! With a relaxed attitude to this however meant that the pace throughout the event was always a chilled one 🙂

It was a pretty consistent day for both Dan & Toby who both stayed on their bikes to put down some good times. Dan rode awesome and had some cheeky lines that really put him in contention! The Pro class is always hotly contested but Dan was really pleased to win Stage 4 but only by a 10^th of a second over Roo Phelan! A slower Stage 2 and tyre blowout on the last stage of the day meant he just missed out on the podium in 4^th place! A fantastic ride from Dan!

Toby rode pretty consistently on the hardtail keeping it rubber side down to take an awesome 3^rd place in the Hardtail category and his first podium! Having only just build the bike up, it was a spirited ride battling against the tricky roots and rocks that really caught you out on the hardtail! Will was feeling good on the bike but after a solid stage 1 run, a hefty OTB and loss of well over 20 secs on stage 2 put him out of the running for a decent overall. Re-mounting he started to get back into it but even with some good times on stages 4 & 5, a slower stage 3 and slide out at the end of Stage 6 left him way down the field in 36^th in the Masters category. Overall such a fun day!

Sussed Out are pleased to be supporting this series. We had a chance to chat with loads of people regarding suspension set-up and make new friends along the way.

Thanks as always to our sponsors #mondraker #mitas #torq #mucoff Special thanks to Matt from Mitas for getting us a set of the new Mitas Kratos Enduro tyres to try! Very, very impressed! Available from us soon!

Hats off again to Scott and the guys. Just awesome. See you at the next one!