I've just been down the local (well, a mate's local) with the WA Hard Enduro crew watching the Bull, the Lumberjack and Billy the Kid show the rest of the world how to turn Erzberg on it's arse.
The boys did a stella job: they did us all so very proud! Though I do have to say that Husqvarna will likely now implement a "Bull Shit" tax on all units shipped down-under, as retribution for Ibrahims annihilation of his Red Bull Rodeo rent-a-whip.
As I watched 500 riders charge the first scree slope at a rate that strongly suggested they all had rockets up their arses, I was beginning to wonder whether I should unfold the Lenovo today to write a story about traction vs. momentum.
But I did, and this is why; because hard enduro circuits are complex and not all obstacles should be attacked with hellfire and fury.
Sometimes, the subtle and sublime approach may actually put you on the podium. It works (rather consistently in fact) for Neil Price; therefore, it should work for you.
At a recent training day, which was set up by Neil as a "pseudo-do-over" lap of the WHES Toodyay Terror circuit, I watched intently as nine riders stared down a fairly aggressive rock breakaway. All of them seemed fairly convinced that the only way to get up this snot pile was to stand on the pegs, pin it in second and send it.
They did not really conceive that there may be another more considered approach; that was until they saw Neil crawl up and over it on an X Trainer, with absolutely zero bravado and nary an iota of ego.
To be fair, the "send it" strategy does work. But what happens when it doesn't?
You and your bike end up in a position you don't want to be. And, as a result, you get a cross fit session you had not scheduled as you drag your bike free from the scrub.
Go too hard and fast on a big incline and you'll be pivot turning it 180 degrees and heading back down hill to have another crack. Neil shows us that even the longest and most rutted incline can be tackled with traction alone. All you need to do is sit heavy on the seat, over the rear wheel, and give it a decent dose of revs, moderating the drive with some supreme clutch control.
Neil is adamant that, in hard enduro, bike placement is everything and the only way to guarantee bike placement is to use slow progression over any obstacle that is teetering on or over the edge of your ability.
Take the example in the photo below. If the rear wheel of Suttons bike was only 5cm to his right, the back end would slide off to the side of the step and into the deeper rut. The bash-plate plays see-saw on the ledge and the bike is over on its side. And Sutton? Well, he is then just compression testing his elbow and shoulder armour.
To minimise the likelihood of that happening, he takes a slow and progressive approach, runs the front wide on bends to keep the rear on the centre-line, and then snaps a double blip for lift just before contact is made with the step up.
Choosing to take the softly-softly approach in hard enduro can be a bitter pill to swallow when all those around you are throwing alloy, paint and plastic at rocks. But it works and Neil's multiple victories at Toodyay are testimony to that.
He doesn't just win using traction over momentum: he wins by a considerable margin.
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