that’s the enduro spirit. plus of course the idea that the trails should be fun, challenging but also require a certain level of fitness and the willingness to dig deep to be fast.

for the last gravity enduro (ge) of the season the club in ourimbah really went all out. stage 1 was the downhill, as usual. so far so good. stage 2 was the new and vastly improved enduro trail. the guys had built a bridge across the downhill track, now the two can run in parallel without nasty crashes.

the enduro stage is now much longer, gnarlier and way more interesting. stage 3 was the rollercoaster, a not too steep section but longer section of the cross country loop, while stage 4 was the steepish intro to the xc loop with a scary steep roll down.

finally stage 5 was the xc climb out of the valley in reverse; that’s pretty much the quintessential enduro stage, with weird hairpins, narrow sections between trees and a few nasty pinch climbs in the middle. dig deep, embrace the pain, you know.

nat did extremely well, organised her race well, pushed herself and rode controlled but confidently and most importantly with a big smile on her face. a podium is always a great reward but it’s even better when one knows it was a job well done.