The Ins & Outs of Competititve Enduro Cycling-by Erin Wood

June 11, 2019

 2019 Enduro Cycling Events - a Development Year for female cyclist Erin Wood yet still super competitive!

This year is going to be a development year for me and the plan is to decide on which cycling discipline I want to concentrate on, which hopefully is also the one I am best at!

I have been told by a few people that I should have already been concentrating on the one discipline already, but with cycling, there are so many to choose from, and as I love cycling I want to do them all!

This year was the first year that I could compete in Enduro events and wanted to be more comfortable on the road before I tackled road time trial events so these are both a first for me this season, and to add to the excitement I thought I would try some MTB cross country racing too!

As it happens the events which I thought I would not enjoy have been my favourite so far. I am doing the Scottish Cross-Country MTB series this year. The races start with 3 or 4 categories leaving the start line at 30-second intervals, with usually about 8 girls in my race. This means that there can be about 50 racers on the track at the same time with all the categories battling out for podium places.

I am happy to admit I was terrified at my first race but all the girls in my category spoke and seemed really nice, and as I left the start line the adrenaline rush was amazing and I started to think "I like this". Unfortunately, a mechanical issue put me out the race but even with that, I knew I loved it.

The next event was better but still not the result I wanted but at the last event I managed a podium finish and I was delighted. The best thing about the SXC Championship is that different tracks suit different riders, so it keeps it competitive and exciting for competitors and spectators alike.

The time trials are a completely different game, your racing against yourself trying to beat your personal best on set distances of either 10 miles or 25 miles depending on the event. I thought beforehand where can the enjoyment be in that but, after my first one my grin reached from ear to ear!

The Enduro’s are an eye-opener, very technical but at round one I managed to make the podium, however, last weekend at the second round I had a nasty fall and bumped my head, so the medics thought best I did not carry on.

I am loving trying out new events and its difficult when you love cycling to not do everything, but I understand that for training and to make the best out of races its best to narrow down which events I do.

I am sure this is a problem that lots of people come across in their chosen sport, all I can say is keep enjoying what you do but do not be scared about trying something you think you will not enjoy as it might just end up being your favourite! keep "Everactiv",

Erin

https://www.instagram.com/erinwood119_mtb/

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