Whyte Enduro R2 - Drumlanrig

Despite some ominous thundering in the night a few light tinkles, the hardy competitors who came from near and far to take place in the 2nd round of the Whyte Enduro series, where treated to a repeat the previous days condition’s with blue skies and little fluffy clouds completing the scene.

The course for this event centred on a 12.5 km loop that linked parts of the Xc course with some new unexplored sections of the estate. Riders could look forward to lots of singletrack snaking its way through alternating copses of Beech and pine, which provided some much needed shelter from the unrelenting heat. If the riders could have ridden at less than break neck speed I’m sure they would have admired the beautiful setting they found themselves competing in. However this was an all guns blazing day, with plenty to be proved around a pretty gruelling course. Those that had chosen to ride full suss at this event found they’d made the right decision as competitors on hard tails suffered at the hands of the hard pack trail.

So in the shadow of the impressive castle, the first of the day’s races got underway, with the 100km riders heading off first...

Nick Craig – 100km

“It was a good course but a lot of hard work on the upper body, but its what it is, its bone dry, so we can’t complain really can we. It’s nice riding round with somebody, so me and Will had a ride round, he got a little confused at one point, we passed somebody and they asked if it was 2 or 3 laps to go and Will said it was 2 so I was, where has that other lap gone Will? I knew then he was starting to get a bit tired.

Duncan and Will set off at a ripping pace so I just had to go with it and it did hurt, but I knew it would settle down. Duncan was fine for a lap or two and then he called it a day. I did try coming through to the front every so often but Will, I guess wanted the front spot as around here in the technical section you can see where you’re going. Riding on the Scott Spark made it so easy for me to ride on his wheel in the tech stuff no probs.

Will is well up for it, but I had to show him a clean set of heels on the last lap and show him who’s boss. I rode quite hard on the last lap and it was nice to see the trails and not Will’s rear end.

I reckon that ride was all down to the bike, I’m just the pilot, it’s nowt to do with me…

I’m not doing the whole series but when I do the competitiveness in me kicks in I can’t help it, its fun.. I might even squeeze a xc race in somewhere….”

If you’d like to read more about this race click on the British Cycling link above.