I see there is an Enduro Race on the BNS calendar for Keppoch on September 9th. I searched a few places but not finding any information.
Does anyone know if this event is still expected to happen? I missed the last few and I would like to try to make it out this time.
From the Keppoch Website dated August 10th:
“Mark your calendar because the Keppoch Enduro is back! The race is scheduled for Saturday September 9th. Registration details will follow soon.”
Yah i saw that calender posting back in the spring and a few people have asked directly . At the hill.
The last 2 they didnt make rhe formal announcment til 3 or 4 weeks before , they announce the trails the week before usually.
I think quite a few people asked for it to bumped up to a saturday from sunday After last years, i did thsts for sure going back to work the next day wasnt fun
Thanks for that!
I checked the website and don’t see it on their calendar, also checked their Facebook and Instagram pages without luck.
On the website rather than being under the “Events” heading it is under the “News” heading where I had to navigate to the “Summer Update” followed by reading through that bulletin to find out about the events. I did look for it, but the site could be more intuitive. The calendar they have shows just “shuttle day” for September 9th as of the time of posting.
One other major dislike was how quite a few riders were at the hill for 2 or 3 days straight kn the shuttke practicing the trails.
My understanding for major enduro races. Your allowed to do one practice run and walk the trails the day before to scope it out so its even playing grounds
Quite a few riders myself and my brother being of the less advantaged only got to walk a few key sections the evening before… the keppoch crew did a ton of work the week before to clean things up and the trails were blown out the day of the race. Extremely dry rutted up and very very loose
Yeah I understand. It is kinda hard to prevent people from enjoying the hill in the weeks or months before the race though. I’m not going to be competitive, just want to go for the fun of it.
From my limited experience on a race weekend trails get significantly more erosion than a shuttle day because of how hard people are pushing into turns etc. some of it may just come with the territory? I wasn’t there so can’t speak to the severity.
It’s just for fun.
Yes but part of somwthing atill being fun is keeping things as even playing grounds. Similar to someoje using peds in a competition where others aren’t
Is it less enjoyable for you because other people are going to have faster runs? If so I’d probably reconsider racing and just ride. Not everyone is on a $6000 rig and not everyone can take the time to practice multiple runs. Just run what you brung and enjoy yourself, I think they best thing about enduro is the chill noncompetitive vibe and hanging out with fellow riders.
Also, this isn’t a major enduro race, that’s what I was getting at about it being fun.
Keppoch is always blown out. What you experienced on race day was exactly what everyone who got in a handful of practice runs the day before experienced.
This is a fun event, stop worrying about things that are beyond your control and ride your bike.
I believe Jeff Kirk’s point of mentioning people being up there to study and practice the released runs the days before race day is what can take away from the fun vibe of it. Not a bad way to “be working from home” mind you. “Ummm. I have some site visits on Thursday and Friday this week.”
I ride with Jeff - He has fun and could care less about times.
I mean, they only have so many different runs so anyone who spends a lot of time there is going to be better off. Don’t let it get to you is my only suggestion.
Keppoch seemed to be in pretty good shape this past weekend. I certainly didn’t ride all the trails, however olliebot, switchcraft, roller, and the yet-to-be-named trail (dirt surfer?) were all in pretty good shape. There was only the very earliest hints of braking bumps on a few berms on switchcraft and (?)dirtsurfer. This was at that the end of a busy looking Sunday-so I would say I was pretty impressed with how they seemed to be holding up. I wonder if the wetter weather has kept trails in a relatively goldilocks state from getting too rutted or blown out? I didn’t shuttle though and so didn’t have enough gas in the 'ol meat engine to be able to comment on lap-to-lap changes. These are relatively new trails, so will see how they hold up the next few weeks.
Keppoch Enduro registration is OPEN!
Registration can be found here: https://zone4.ca/register.asp?id=32747&lan=1&cartlevel=1
Hopefully the weather cooperates and everyone has a great time. Seems it’s hit and miss with the weather these days.
Yeah, the home trail advantage is real.
However, theres so much more to being a top enduro racer than just riding a bike really fast. One aspect is being able to ride quickly blind or with minimal practice, a part of racecraft that is trained like many others. Once this is honed, the home trail advantage exists but is massively diminished. Look at the podiums of any more serious race and youll see some hometown heroes but by and large youll see excellent racers from all over take the top step.
Maybe take this opportunity to work on your trail interpretation, memorization techniques, finding your flow, etc, so you can attack the next blind or semi blind enduro down the road.
