We have just about caught up on sleep and rest after a fantastic weekend at Ard Rock Enduro. After a very challenging few years the Ard Rock Reunion was a really special event, and it was so great to see it back. It felt brilliant to hang out with the mountain bike community again, with smiles and laughter all around it was clear to see that everyone was feeling the same.
Having spent a couple of days last week digging out our EZ-up, flags and other bits of our expo stand which had been lying almost forgotten for the past 18 months, me and Rich headed north to the glorious Yorkshire Dales in a rental van. Boo is no more I'm afraid, having been sold last year when it became clear demos weren't happening any time soon. We arrived in beautiful Grinton to the Ard Rock site and a palpable sense of excitement, even before any racers had arrived, it was clear this was going to be a special weekend, despite a few less people in attendance.
Sunshine out and tunes on, we set up the stand while chatting to some familiar faces in the industry, we weren't the only ones buzzing to be back in the wild and at a bike event. The first day felt like a group therapy session for bike industry staff! The stand mostly set up and well strapped down in preparation for the varied weather forecast, we swung by the Hunt Wheels stand and grabbed Dan and Paddy for a bike ride. We headed for a quick lap of the old demo loop, which if you've been before you'll know is just as spicy as some of the stages. The view down into the valley looking over the event site is pretty special, at least until the rain rolled in, not for the last time that weekend. After a dose of classic Swaledale singletrack we met Paul at the BnB and headed for a pub tea, a big weekend ahead.
Friday is practise day for those racing the main Enduro and Sprint races on the Saturday. We were on deck sharp to put the finishing touches to the stand and greet the biking public. If we thought the excitement was there on Thursday, it was nothing compared to Friday. Many stoked faces chomping to get stuck into practise and check out the stages. The famous deluge and flooding of 2019 had made a mess of a few of the sections, so there were a few new parts to learn, a nice challenge for the seasoned Ard Rock veterans. We waved our riders Dave Camus, Chay Granby, Hannah Saville and honorary team rider for the weekend Stu Bailey off up the hill. Big shout to Mel Fife and Kelly-Jayne Collinge who were sadly both 'pinged' at the last minute and couldn't make it, next time ladies!
Even before our first brew of the day, the new UK made limited edition Jeht was getting a heap of attention. The Stealth Gritstone colour clearly a popular look, with many people coming back for another ogle and considering their next trail bike. If you are thinking of getting one of these, I'd advise you to act fast, judging by the reaction this bike got at Ard Rock they won't be sitting on the shelves for long.
As lunchtime came round, riders began to roll off the hill back into the arena, most of them looking a bit muddy and there were some interesting expressions going around. The damp weather had made a few of the stages very slippery, and a good few egos had been kicked back into line. In previous years we've had wall-to-wall sunshine at Ard Rock, with dry shale for your tyres to hook into and grassy turns boasting velcro-like levels of grip. These had been transformed into soapy wet limestone and off camber turns slick as glass. All action, no traction. The riders were beginning to realise getting round clean would be the aim of the game on Saturday's race. Speaking of which, Dave had lost a fight with a drystone wall, and Hannah had hit the deck too. Her hand held awkwardly and looking a couple of glove sizes bigger. She's made of tough stuff though, and cracked on regardless.
Me and Paul decided we probably should scout out a route for Saturday evenings Cotic CC owners ride, the first one in almost 2 years. Rich manned the stand for an hour and we kitted up and went for a pedal, I had a trail in mind I'd vaguely remembered from a Dales Bike Centre ride a few years ago but definitely needed to remind myself where it went before taking a group out. A savage headwind up the road climb was most unwelcome, but the trail was worth it, and perfect for the CC ride. Back in the pits, after an afternoon figuring out the stages the riders had got their mojo back and were fired up for race day. A few beers into the evening and everyone was feeling nice and relaxed, the racing almost playing second fiddle to the sociable festival atmosphere. Wheelies in the dark back to the BnB topped off a brilliant day.
Rich awoke early Saturday morning, he'd managed to sort himself an entry to the enduro race to follow our riders round and document the day. A solitary breakfast with just pre-race nerves for company he was up on the hill before me and Paul had opened the stand for the day. In an attempt to avoid being held up in traffic on the stages and dodge the worse of the forecast rain, our racers had opted for an early start. We recommend doing this if you are chasing a good result, but most people go to Ard Rock to ride round with their mates for the 'race within a race' and bragging rights in your riding group. Rich had teamed up with local eco friendly clothing legends Banana Industries, and had decked out our riders in party shirts with a lairy cartoon vegetable pattern. They definitely turned heads and wearing matching outfits with your mates bolsters the team vibe, sure they were all after a good race result, but after everything that's happened in the world, fun was the main aim.
Stage 2 was already claiming victims with it's super slippery wooded section near the bottom, and Hannah hit the floor again, landing on her injured hand. She jumped back on and made it to the finish line, but some patching up was required. Bitter shandies at 10am in the pub after stage 2 certainly helped, our team were the first to the bar!
Me and Paul had a big day on the stand back in the event village, lots of interest in the bikes so thanks to everyone who swang by for a chat. It was great to be able to chat face to face with customers again, and lots of you enjoyed seeing the bikes in the flesh after months of drooling over pictures online. It was also lovely to see so many happy Cotic owners coming by to say hello, putting faces to names was great, and seeing everyone's Cotics with their own personal touches being enjoyed was a treat.
By mid afternoon, just after the rain had set in, our team riders were back. Thanks to the early start they had managed to ride 6 of the 7 stages in the dry, with only the final stage being a wet one. Mud covered and grinning like idiots, they were all back in (mostly) one piece and absolutely buzzing. After 2 years of no racing, Chay bagged 10th place in vets, a top result. Despite crashing, bits of the inside of her hand becoming 'outside', and what she would later discover was a broken thumb; Hannah Saville took 10th in a stacked women's field. She even beat EWS under-21 winner Polly Henderson on one stage! Seriously impressive stuff, heal up quick Hannah. Camus got 44th in the huge masters category, remember there is no elite category at Ard Rock, so he was up against the likes of Joe Barnes and Craig Evans, a great result. Media man Rich took an admirable 57th, and judging by the mud all up his arm, that included a bit of lie down on the last stage too.
Despite looking like it was set in for the evening, the rain lifted in time for the Cotic CC owners ride on Saturday night. We scoffed a pizza and 10 stoked Cotic riders coaxed their legs into action for a nice social ride on the route me and Paul had scouted, I can confirm the road climb was much more bearable without the headwind. A real mix of bikes with a couple of Souls, Jehts, FlareMAXs and RocketMAXs, all looking resplendent in the evening sun. We rode rocky singletrack down a gully which wouldn't have been out of place on one of the race stages, flat out grassy trails, a techy stream crossing and a steep chute to session. The Yorkshire Dales really is a mountain bike heaven, in just an hours ride we had a great mix of trails. Rolling back into the event village for a beer after a fun ride with mates, man how we've missed that sort of behaviour. More Cotic CC things to come for sure.
The beer flowed, a bottle of port made an appearance and the Cotic stand was busy into the night with tales of racing, crashes and heroic saves. Hannah got a fresh mohawk after a few beers and the DJ played 90s bangers all night, the festival feel was in full swing. Proper.
Myself and Paul took it steady though, as we had managed to bag entries into the intro race on Sunday morning. We were greeted by sunshine and a dry forecast for the morning, so party shirts on and a hungover looking Rich left to hold to the fort, we set off. It's a good couple of years since I've done a bike race, and I don't do many of them, so I was a bit nervous that morning. The intro race is one of the slightly shorter races on the weekend, taking in stages 4 – 7. The sprint race on Saturday uses stages 1 – 3, and either are a great option if the idea of the full size race is a bit daunting. The long transition to the start of 4 would be a lovely ride in the dry, as we passed the bottom of stage 2 we could see why so many riders had had a sit down. The greasy chute at the end looked horrendous, here's hoping for a dry weekend next time.
Eventually getting the long climb done, we caught our breath and dropped into stage 4. Moorland singletrack quickly fed into a fast gully with blind crests and big berms, the addition of a number board to our bikes and tape either side of the trail seemed to flick a switch in both mine and Paul's heads, we were flying! A well spotted high line here, sending a blind drop there and it was over pretty quickly. It felt good to get a stage ticked off, and the nerves were long gone.
Paul cleaned most of the climb up to 5, which is very much his forte. I had a go, but decided my energy was better saved for the stages. 5 was a proper laugh; fast and open with amazing corners and some jumps that had I looked at first, I probably wouldn't have sent! We were both saved by the longshot geometry on our Jehts at one point, as we came over a blind crest to find we really should have turned left. Somehow the bikes got us through the rocky ditch on the inside of the corner and kept us upright, thinking perhaps we should reign it back a touch.
Heart rates back under control, we had a quick snack and dropped into stage 6. Everyone who raced the previous day had told us how fun this one was, and they weren't wrong. Fast and flowy through the moonscape with more jumps and berms. Paul was fully pulling away from me when I heard a marshal ahead shout “ohh unlucky mate!”, he'd punctured the rear tyre. Fortunately the transition from 6 to 7 involved riding (pushing) up past stage 6, so I was able to rescue him with a tube so he could finish the stage. Gutting though, he was on a heater.
The nerves had crept back in ahead of stage 7, the last one. We were expecting a slippery grease fest. What we got though, was a brutal wind. As soon as we passed through the dry stone wall at the top, the wind almost stopped us dead. Pedalling down steep rough trails on tired legs into a gale was hard work, but the wind had dried out the trail nicely so traction wasn't an issue. We caught a couple of other riders on this one, which cost us some time, but neither of us are serious racers so it didn't bother us too much. The great thing about Ard Rock is that riders of all abilities are welcome and encouraged. It was really good to see such a huge variety of people riding all sorts of bikes.
Steep grassy turns and blind jumps dropped us to the bottom of the stage just as the heavens began to open. 4 dry stages, definitely a win as far as we were concerned. Timing chips handed back in I was surprised and very happy to see I was sitting in 5th place in the senior category, which held until the end, my best race result ever. Very happy with that. Paul was either 3rd or 4th on all the stages other than 6, so without the puncture he'd most likely ended up 3rd in vets, seriously quick. A very enjoyable ride, thanks for manning the stand that morning Rich!
There really is no event quite like Ard Rock, after a very challenging few years for the organisers it was amazing to be back in Swaledale again. A huge thanks to the Ard Rock team for pulling it off against all odds. Having the bike community back together was very special, in a strange and busy time in the industry with new challenges every week it was a lovely reminder of why we do this. Seeing so many happy faces and feeling the joyous atmosphere was very special, thanks to everyone who came by the Cotic stand to check out the bikes and share the stoke. The stages were amazing, banter flowing, the food top quality and being outdoors in a breezy field definitely helped quash the Covid apprehension.
We strongly advise you get yourself entered to next year's Ard Rock Enduro Festival, when it will be at full capacity again with families and spectators back. We will definitely be there.
Big thanks to Vicky and Rhubarb at The Laurels BnB in Reeth, the Ard Rock team, Banana Industries for the rad party shirts, Dave, Hannah, Chay, Stu, Rob, the good folks from Hunt for the stoke and everyone who came by the Cotic stand. See you next year.