The 50th Golden Eagle Sprint Enduro is the penultimate race of the 2024 Black Jack Enduro Circuit Season. It’s also the perfect opportunity to discuss where we lose, or gain, time in an enduro test section. If you see something I missed, share it in the comments.
I relive the video I shot with Cole Kirkpatrick a lot these days. The one riding tip that I continuously remind myself of is to attack more. I easily find myself setting back a few percentages, leaving speed and aggression on the side of the trail. I could be attacking more, making up valuable seconds between turns, but for some reason I relax just a little that lets those seconds accumulate on the clock.
Attacking more sounds like “riding faster”. One does not just “ride faster”. If it was as easy as twisting the throttle more, we’d all be battling in the AA class. Riding faster takes breaking down the technique of riding, and working on those technical points separately. We need to be able to create speed, carry momentum, and control the energy enough to brake effectively. We do this by having a bike we can ride, a body that can control the bike, and a mind that is free enough to let the body do the work. Having this arsenal at the ready takes specific time put toward the bike, the body, and the mind. There are times where we work on all three, but separating them allows each to receive the attention it needs for where it’s at in its development of you as a rider.
We are never our fastest self
We may be the fastest on a particular day, month, or year, but another racer is always coming to take the mantle. That mindset has helped me remove my ego, sometimes. There are times during test sections that I am surprised how well I am riding, how much I am attacking, and I start congratulating myself on the ride before the ride is over. Those moments are removing me from the job at hand, the job of attacking the course and giving 100% to the moment. It’s also worth stating that I rarely win a test section, or the day, in the 40+ A class. I believe my ego is actually holding me back from riding to my full potential. Maybe that little nugget can help you too.
When it comes to a Sprint Enduro, you’re typically riding the same section multiple times. This should be an advantage because you’re slowly learning the terrain and single track. You may not have every rock and tree memorized, but you’ll at least start to put pieces together that allow you to carry more speed into certain situations than you did previously. This happened for me in this test section when the big rollers came up. I didn’t want to charge them the first time through, not knowing what was on the other side. The second time though, I rode a bit faster up and over them because I knew I wouldn’t miss a turn or land in a huge hole.
As we charge harder later into the day, because we’re trying to beat our previous times, we’re taxing our body more. If we’re not properly conditioned for this, our body and mind will start to waver. Our mental focus won’t be as sharp and our muscles tighten quicker. This type of training is hard to do because you have to be out all day, slowly wearing the body down, to then ramp it back up to charge at your current 100%. If you don’t have free days to practice and train for this, just know you’re training a bit on race days. Not ideal, but better than sitting on the couch.
The other side of energy production is proper fueling and hydration. Even an extremely fit individual can only store so much glycogen for a day of activity. We also don’t store water well in the body, so make sure you’re drinking throughout the day. “I don’t like to eat on race day” is a crappy excuse, liquid carbohydrates exist for this very reason. We need to drink water with electrolytes, and consume simple carbs.
There’s so much on this subject we could keep diving into, but we’ll leave it here for now. Ask questions, pass along your thoughts, and enjoy #GettingSeattime.
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