Monday 18 September 2017

The Ex of Exmoor



10 Things about The Ex (not my ex) 

  1. Really cool and friendly people,  including whipper snapper cross country guys and hardcore downhill type racing guys, neither of these groups had any chips on their shoulders 
  2. Equality, not one of the guys made me feel like what are you doing here, we were treated as anyone should be; like we knew how to ride our bikes and guys even asked us about our bikes, they didn't assume we didn't know what we were riding
  3. Tracey Molseley is super cool and a true role model, an example that successful sports personalities are people like you and I who ultimately love riding their bikes
  4. The scenery was breathtaking and trails very varied. It surely wasn't a walk in the park, massive, steep and long climbs, followed by even steeper, technical, wet and rooty singletrack. 
  5. Uplifts were a faff in my opinion, lots of standing around (I am from a XC background though) as you had to take your front wheel off, queue up for the first uplift, get to the top, put your wheel back in. This was my first enduro style event, maybe others didn't mind it.
  6. Toilets should never be very close to where you are eating. It is a basic need, people will walk a mile if they have to. 
  7. Communication during the event could've been better, breakfast, uplift and dinner times should've been announced when we were all together 
  8. 80 riders = 80 chairs for dinner? 
  9. A vintage tea stop, wow! That was awesome and such a highlight of the race
  10. I had the privilege of having my bike washed by Carl from Squirtlube every day - thank you so much! 

People who made the race memorable for me: 

  1. Carl & Terri from Squirtlube for washing my bike and their great company 
  2. Liezl for being my riding partner 
  3. Paul Mansfield who also did the Black Mountains 3 day stage race
  4. Nicky the marshall
  5. Winners of the Mens Open and Hardtail category ; Jono and Fin for being so down to earth, interested and smiley
  6. Paul the photographer for being an all around lovely and encouraging guy
  7. Rory Hitchens for showing subtle care by saying put a jacket on you are going to get cold; you don't want to hang around for too long & then just straightening my saddle when he noticed it was skew. He also chipped in with the organisation and offered his van as another uplift service. 
Quote of the day: 

TC: “I was hoping my knee would be too sore to ride my bike.” About the only time I would rather go to work than ride my bike. 

Tango Twins ready to take on our first Enduro style race

I love the photo, beautiful Exmoor

Enduro style to the top of Dunkery Beacon


Vintage Tea Stop
The Spread
Best tea ever! 
The view towards the bay of Porlock

Cocktails served by a World Champion, Tracy Molseley

Fin the winner of the Hardtail category

It was a privilege to ride with Tracy Molseley, she is a legend!

WATCH a video from the event that Tracy made here!

https://www.facebook.com/The-Ex-Enduro-1122299187881425/

Support from Terri & Carl from Squirt Cycling Products UK

Styling it out in our all time favourite shirts, Black Mountains 3 Day Stage race with Paul Mansfield. XC whipper snapper and all round lovely guy.