David Conroy

David Conroy

Tuesday 5 August 2014

Djouce Gravity Enduro National Champs

Well stoked to say that I am National Gravity Enduro Champion after a mad days racing through the shlomp, roots, ruts, rocks and chutes and the odd sprint.

The weekend started off with a fresh set of tyres from the lads in Expert cycles, then it was up to Djouce Friday evening to get a couple of stages ridden so I could spend less time out Saturday, but the Gods of Enduro had other plans and opened the heavens above Djouce Friday evening to turn all the lovely dust to greasy shlomp and to show all those snakes who's boss.  Saturday, the rain held off until about 2 o'clock, then it was down for the evening but I had all my mud lines sorted after spending the day out with Luke Courtney so I headed home to get a good rest and listen to the rain as it lashed down outside.

I woke early on Sunday, and the rain was still falling so I knew it was going to be a case of staying upright and clean.  I got off at ten eager to get out as the weather looked unsettled and I wanted to get down the stages before they got too cut up. 

Stage One
This stage had a really greasy start before dropping across the fireroad onto a sweet flowing trail before crossing another fireroad onto Phantom which was this steep flowy trail, then a quick sprint up a fireroad and dropping into a really fast rooty section to the finish.  I got all my lines and felt like I had gone as fast as I could.  I got 1st in my category and 4th overall on this stage.


Stage two
This stage was steep and greasy from the off, leading to a short slippy kicker and then it went down again swooping down around some trees, a quick flat pedal and more swooping, cross a fireroad, pedal, cross another fireroad, slide through some muck, another fireroad and then through a couple of bus stops and a quick stomp on the pedals and finish.  I had a couple of dabs on this stage and one high line to low line to an inconveniently placed tree.  I finished 3rd on this stage and 15th overall.


Stage three
This stage was the pedalliest of the day starting down some really thick gloppy mud that was a nightmare to pedal over, then down over a fireroad and a quick bunnyhop over a tree and onto a rooty nightmare.  Lots of hopping and hoping, then a quick uphill sprint and back down a quick short section drop onto a fireroad and another long uphill sprint, back down and around a corner and boom the front wheel decided to get lost in some ferns.  I got back up quickly and put the reverb up to save some energy and back down it went as it had twisted in my fall, so it was pedal like a loon to get to the bottom where I could fix it.  Despite my crash and a what felt like a horribly slow start I won this stage and was 7th overall.


Stage four
This stage was a relentless trail of roots, a quick sprint to start, then some roots, some mud, a couple of walls, more mud and down and across a fireroad and more roots then it got smoother and pedallier along the river, down and across it and back up the other side to the rootiest trail in the world and they are all off-camber, tried a couple of high lines but I kept slipping down to the low lines so just tried to stay smooth to the bottom.  I won this stage and was 6th overall.


Stage five
This stage was the longest and steepest and muddiest of the day but also the most fun.  It started with a big open muddy rooty section with loads of lines before going down into the trees, this bit was ridiculous with no control over brakes, steering or grip, then it was a quick little sprint before dropping into the grand canyon of ruts, I stayed in the rut for a short while before hopping up onto the left and stayed clear of it the rest of the way down then it was a flat straight to the finish.  I won this stage by 30 seconds and was 5th overall.

Stage six   
This was a quick minute sprint down the fireroad to the finish.  I was in too stiff a gear to make it around the last chicane as fast as I would have liked but I was still fastest in my category and 7th overall.

Absolutely Stoked to win the Junior Category by over a minute and to get a National Championship this year.  Even better was to come 5th Overall out of 300 odd riders and to be mixing it up with the fast lads at the top who have competed internationally, and still two more years in Junior.
Thanks to all the photographers who turned up.
Thanks to everybody who has helped me to this win, from Paddy Daly and DLCo/Scott for the bike to Expert cycles for keeping it running smooth. from my coach Mark for getting me fit to Honey stinger for fueling the body. and everyone else who contributed to help me this season.