Beginner’s tips for Enduro & Hair ‘n Hounds Racing with CHEC

At lot of people have been asking for help, on all sorts of different forums, so I thought I’d put together a ‘help pack’ for guys that are just starting out racing. It’s based on my own experience and is not meant to be a definitive guide.

The weeks leading up to the event.
Get out on the MTB or run as much as you can because you’ll be surprised just how tiring riding a motorbike in a competitive event can be. Trail riding it is not! I also recommend doing some light weight training to build up some strength in your shoulders and upper arms. Remember to eat well as you need to put fuel in to build muscles and get fit. However give yourself a good rest at least two days before racing.

Bike Prep:
It goes without saying that the bike needs to be in tip top shape before a race. No point going to the race with brake pads worn or a knackered chain.
Make sure you have race numbers sorted out well in advance as well. Panicking at the last minute will do you no good at all. Go onto ebay and pick a roll of 100 numbers for about £15, that’ll last a few years.
Tyre pressures, judge by the weather. Has it been raining for the last week? Then get into the garage and drop them down to 8 or 10 psi now so you don’t forget the next day or even worse – get into a panic!
Make sure the bike and fuel can is filled with petrol the night before (as well as the car/van). Oil ok?

CHEC rounds – what happens on the day?
Have a look for directions well in advance of the meeting.
Get to the venue nice and early. Find a parking spot not too far away from the start line. If you need some spares you don’t want to be running miles to get to your tools or spares now do you?
Find the tent/marquee that looks ‘official’ and go and ‘sign on’. This involves signing on the dotted line and getting your transponder tag that you need to put on your right wrist. This tag is what counts your laps but you need to offer it up to the counters at each lap. A counter is one of three yellow metal tripods at the start finish area. You mostly have to swipe in as soon as the race starts as well but listen at the riders briefing for instructions.
Get kited up and take the bike over to the starting area for ‘scrutinering’. You will need your helmet and goggles with you to pass. It a good idea to have something to lean the bike on as if it’s like mine it’ll want to bury its side stand into the grass.
Go back to the car and try to relax. Have a small snack of something fattening and maybe walk around asking everyone else if they’ve ‘done this before’?!
Remember to be ready to race before the riders briefing. In the briefing they with tell you when and how to clock in as well as any extra difficult areas that may need taking carefully.
At most rounds I’ll have my girlfriend with me taking photos for the website, so if you want to end the day with a photo of yourself pop over and say hello, let us know what your race number is and we’ll try to get a shot of you in action, no promises mind!

Hints and tips:

1. Get yourself a camelback or similar water bladder that you can carry on your back for water during the event. I’ve started to mix isotonic powders in with the water now as I found it has helped with cramps and fatigue. Don’t forget to drink! I sometimes forget in the heat of the race and once you start getting dehydrated it’s too late.
2. I also try and drink at least a litre of isotonic enriched water before the event in the morning.
3. Eat a good breakfast of slow release foods like oats/porridge or oatabix.
4. Attach some sort of stopwatch on your handle bars. This is important in the CHEC as you need to know how long you’ve been riding. If it’s a two part race (most are) then the morning part is the only one when you can be late getting back in at the end of your allocated time (rules have now changed - late penalties for both parts now in effect!). This means you can start your last lap in the morning session as long as the start of the lap is within your allocated race time. For example if it’s a two hour morning session and you arrive at the start finish area with five minutes to spare, you can start another lap (and it counts towards your total). However being late in the afternoon session results in penalties being added to your time. If you are doing a 15 min lap and you only have 12 minutes left then better pull in and end the day. Pushing on the last lap can result in mistakes as well, so be careful out there if you are cutting it fine! Some bikes have built-in stopwatches in the dash, like KTM’s.
5. Lube up with Vaseline between your butt cheeks and any point that might rub, i.e. body armour, boots etc. trust me you’ll need it in a hot race!
6. Since tearing my calf muscle I rub in some Deep Heat and I also try and do some stretching just before the race to help against injuries.
7. Take at least 5 ltrs of petrol along.
8. Tuck some spare levers into the camelback or bike bag just in case you break one. Having said that don’t forget to crimp up the brush guards nice and tight but to leave the lever clamps ever so slightly lose. This means the levers will swivel around on the bars if you crash and you can just push them back into place.
9. Take it nice and easy on your first lap. Try to remember which way the track goes and try not to fall off. That is the one way of getting completely knackered – falling off a lot saps energy like you won’t believe. I single tumble in the final round last year cost me about three places!
10. Get yourself a fold up chair for sitting in when you stop for lunch as it’s nice to relax for a bit.
11. Eat high energy food during lunch but don’t over eat. Drink some more isotonic drink during lunch. I’m often too tired to want to eat but force yourself as that’s the only way to keep on producing energy.
12. Once the bike it fuelled up and you have clean goggles/gloves etc to use for the race have a look under the bike. Is it caked in clay/mud? It might only help a little but scraping some of that mud off can really lighten a bike. There can easily be five kilograms of mud under you mud guards alone!
13. Resist sending in entries together with a mate. You’ll end up starting in the same group and that adds pressure on you to beat him! Well it did me anyway and I crashed my brains out and he ended up beating me anyway!
14. When out on the course if someone catches you up move over as soon as it safe to do so. The fact that they caught you means they are beating you already so no point in making it difficult for them to get by. If you feel like a race let them though and try to learn from their riding. Be warned though, trying to keep up with them may result in an unexpected trip into a tree of bush!
15. When offering up the ‘tag’ to the lap counting machines on the start/finish line make sure you here a distinct ‘bleep’ and the light goes green. I missed one last year and it’s not nice knowing you rode well but lost places because you didn’t take an extra two seconds to clock in properly.
16. Body Armour: go without it at your peril. I prefer the security of a full body suit. I use the Knox one but others, like the one from 661 are ok as well. I look for good fitting protection that has a full back protector and body belt in an all-in-one suit. The old style MX stone guards are for just that – protecting you from flying stones in MotoX, not really designed for hitting the deck or a tree during an enduro race. Think about using some knee armour as well because you will more than likely need it.
17. At the early rounds don’t be tempted to put something warm over your kit as within the first two minutes of the race starting you’ll be nice a warm – hot even! Hands can get a bit cold sometimes so maybe an enduro glove in the morning might be a good idea, but I find normal gloves fine.
18. Take your number plate off, it’ll only get broken otherwise.

Spare parts and Tools: These should be extra to what you are going to use in the race.

• Spare brake and clutch levers.
• Spare goggles.
• Spare gloves - mud covered gloves don't grip well so have some spares handy.
• Front and rear inner tubes. I’ve just bought some mousses so I’ll let you know later on how they’ve worked out (great in enduro tyres - not so good in a trials tyre but i hope to soften the rear up enough to us it in the trials tyre soon).
• Tyre levers.
• A good selection of tools in the car so you can change the tube easily if needed.
• Bike stand.
• Split link for your chain. Note: it’s best to buy one every time you change the chain as not all links fit in different chains. I always use a rivet link.
• Electrical tape and cable ties.
• Gaffer tape.
• Top up oil for engine, brakes and clutch.
• Hand wipes & rags.
• Some spray for the chain after the event, so it doesn’t rust before you can clean it.
• As mentioned before – petrol. For a 3 hour event 5ltrs will be fine. Depending on the going a 4 hour event should be ok as well but if it’s a very open course then you might want to have a little extra handy just in case. This is based on a 450exc so bare that in mind if you are using a big 2T as they will use a lot more.
• Pump for tyres.

Food:
If you have a very early start you might get hungry before the start due to the nerves so have a snack handy, mini pork pie works well for me!
Lunch – high energy food but not too much. I eat a sandwich with peanut butter in but others prefer pasta.
Lots of water and isotonic powder to refill your drink system.
Something for the end of the day when you feel absolutely knackered in the car on the way home.

Now all of this is based on a non time card event, because so far, that is all I’ve done! However I’m going to be doing a proper time card enduro in April so I’ll let you know how I get on and will update this afterwards. ride report for timecard event now on site.

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