The Tenterfield Terror! The first hard enduro event in our national series
run by Grassroots Enduro Australia. This beautiful countryside includes 6500 acres of rolling hills,
the perfect terrain for some serious extreme enduro. Plenty of thrills,
chills and spills on offer. Lets join Coxy down at the starting line.
Pacing
yourself, a relaxed attitude and conserving your energy are all very important for hard
enduro events. And these are also handy skills to develop too for your everyday dirt riding.
The less experienced guys madly try to overtake everyone. And the funny thing is they often don't
have the skills to handle obstacles well and just hold up better riders further down the track.
The first climb. Again Coxy is pacing himself,
saving energy. Low revs, weighting that rear wheel, going for traction instead of speed. Quite
a few guys got stuck here using too many revs and going for enthusiasm instead of good technique.
I rode these tracks the previous day and man
are they slippery. You really don't want to lock up the front wheel
on these descents. And any wet logs across the track are good entertainment value.
The tiniest bit off line and the front wheel is only too keen to head downhill,
whether you want to go that way or not.
Our first technical section! A lot of guys have trouble here when they try and rush through.
You need to think your way through these bits.
Don't bash your way through. Will it be safer and faster to just walk the bike through?
Where do you want your front and rear wheels to go? Where will you put your boots?
Avoid digging holes in the track.
Get the right line and you won't waste energy lifting your bike through.
All the other guys sprint ahead but Coxy sticks to his race pace,
knowing he will catch up with them in the next technical bit.
A good idea to check on other riders. You never know if someone has heat exhaustion setting in
and they might not be far off needing medical attention.
Great to see this guy going forward to help someone who is stuck. It might be a race,
but a bit of team spirit goes a long way to avoiding traffic jams.
Coxy is well known for jumping off to help others despite it knocking him back in the final results.
You can see why it's tricky with that low branch overhead when pulling bikes through,
it helps to try pulling the tire too as you get some extra leverage action. Thank you.
I really hope someone isn't deliberately dropping garbage in this environment.
That adrenaline rush at the start of a race of course is part of what makes it exciting
but too much adrenaline in your system quickly leads to fatigue, arm pump, and bad technique.
At the start and throughout the race remind yourself to stay calm and breathe, it's funny
how often fatigue can be from riders holding their breath when they give into that adrenaline rush...