Strava, mountain bike training rides and meteors

Admiring the view on Drewerstone whilst getting a great shot of my flare clothing jersey for the website

Its getting to that time in the year where training for for the enduro season is getting serious!

I've sat and written my training plan, worked out how many base miles I need to do, when to begin  weights and the dreaded intervals.

Currently in the plan I'm working on increasing my road and mtb base miles. As somebody who gets bored easily I've taken it as a time to do some exploring. Where I live I have so much access to trail centres like Haldon, Cardinham and my local woods Cann but I am also lucky to live on the edge of Dartmoor national park. 

I've only explored Dartmoor once and it was miserable and depressing on a cold winter day when I didn't know how to hike a bike so nearly knocked myself out every time, was lacking in food so got hangry and ill prepared for how unfit I was! Optimistic to give it another chance I decided I would turn to strava as my guide. 

Picking my way through the rocks on the rocks on the pipeline descent trusting the Rocky mountain Altitude will get me down safely

The great thing about Strava is you can get a sense of distance, descent and climb gradient and see who rides which segments that enjoy similar riding to yourself. 

Browsing Strava I have always seen the pipeline decent around Shaugh Prior. Determined to find it I headed out having screen shot the route on my phone so I had something to follow and match my GPS image too. This works surprisingly well!

The route has some interesting segments which really live up to their name such as "too rocky to ride up?" which so far has remained just that but i'm certain I will conquer it one dry day in the summer. "Climb for the views" which speaks for it's self and is not wrong at all!

Carrying my bike up a section just after too rocky too ride up

Sometimes it's hard to get the motivation to go out and ride on your own on a winters day but with the training plan in mind I force myself out the door . I always find or see something inspiring or new, sometimes even just meet a stranger who you have a great chat with riding the cycle path. 

Yesterday I got lucky tho, I was on the most exposed part of the ride up on the moors and I saw this weird really big bright orange light in the skyline, I was just starring at it because it was so odd, I had all the usual thoughts, a helicopter light, the sun, the moon but it didn't look like anything I'd ever seen before. All of a sudden this trail of dark smoke started coming out of it and the it just disintegrated! I tried to get my phone to film it but I just could stop staring at it! It was definitely a meteor!

It's days like that I wonder how many moments I would have missed if I was sat at home staring at my phone or the TV and not out there seeing the world. Although the training plan can feel like a burden in reality it's a great motivation to explore where I live. I've never come back from a training ride and thought I really wish I hadn't done that, so next time your lacking in motivation get out there and you never know what you might find!

Heading out onto the moors from drewerstone

Summary of the Enduro Season

So I set my intention this year to race all of the UK Enduro Series.

I raced Triscombe beginning at round 2 which was an amazing experience. I Loved the stages which were very steep and technical. The racing distance pushed my fitness and my racing mentality was nicely falling into place. My only disappointment was riding on the side of caution a little too much and letting seconds fall away off my times. I was happy to come n second place in my category but knew here was work to be done so trained harder for Round 3.

Rocky Mountain Ambassador Laura Griffiths at the Uk Enduro Series Triscombe

After the controversy of Round 2 of the UK Enduro Series settled down aka a cancelled stage due to a stolen timer and another cancelled stage due to extreme "enduro lines" thing didn't get much better.

Fully trained fit and ready for Round 3 in South Wales I was saddened to hear on the Wednesday of that week the event had been cancelled and rescheduled for another date due to a family emergency of the organiser. Still never to be the rescheduled event never took place either and the entire series was cancelled. Leaving i it's wake a disaster of no refunds for riders, unpaid venues and unpaid staff.

Having planned my whole season around the series I was obviously disappointed and my training took a bit of a turn. Searching for an aim I turned toward the Southern enduro series for something to keep me motivated.

Looking up and focused railing berms at Milland Southern Enduro 

Tidworth was the Venue for Round 2 of the Southern Enduro Series. Having never ridden there or taken part in one of their events I had no idea what to expect. Turning u on practice day it was Hot, humid and dehydrating. The push up was short but intense and the stages down were a mix of jumps, slippery berms and short sharp climbs. The stages were hard to master as its dusty or hard packed chalk which our maxxis minions set up for Devon mud made it even more of a struggle.

After having a word with myself that a bad attitude was only going to make things worse I decided to get focused and embrace it all. By the next day I was looking forward to the race and with the build up of atmosphere with all the racers I was looking forward to the day.

I finished the event in 4th having really wanted a podium but I knew I had pushed it too hard and my racing was messy and reckless after my frustration at being to relaxed in my last race. My focused shifted to achieving a balance in my race craft and attitude at racing.

Laura Griffiths getting ready to pedal the final stretch to the finish line at Milland Southern Enduro

Round 4 of the Southern Enduro series was at Milland in Sussex. This was a ladies special organised by Scott to get more girls racing. The event promotion with a huge success with 26 Women entered.

After riding the first to stage I couldn't have been happier. The Rocky Mountain Altitude felt amazing, the stages were an absolute dream. Muddy, flowy a great mix of technical steep sections with fun jumps. All of the stages were so much fun I didn't have a Favourite and it was great to meet so many new girls.

The competition was tough as there were girls who had won other series and raced in the British Enduro Series but I kept my cool and focused and rode really well and felt I had my race craft fully under control. Only making a couple of mistakes I was so happy to come in 5th out of 13 beating some tough rivals.

Although my year didn't go as planned I have met so many great people, loved representing Rocky Mountain on the race circuit and refined my skills. Next year my target is to race the full British Enduro Series but before that is the Woodland Winter Series. Not being my main discipline I aim to use the downhill series to work on my race perpetration and skill.

Southern Ladies MTB - Cann Woods September 2016

Southern ladies mtb logo

This weekend I held the first ever Southern Ladies MTB social ride. The idea came about when running Girls at Gawton. Girls who weren't into downhill needed a way to meet more girls who ride. It seems easier for girls to meet each other on uplifts and at downhill venues due to the nature of the discipline. Being stood around longer in one place defiantly makes it easier to chat than On the move all day covering large distances on an enduro or xc ride.

My friend Lo suggested starting the Facebook group spurring on the motivation I needed. Since then myself and Lo have been on the journey together holding our own Social rides and getting the group off the ground.

I decided to start nice and simple close to home so decided on Cann for my first venue. At least that way if no one turned up it would be a short ride home!  To be honest I was anxious that many people wouldn't turn up as the weather was predicted to be torrential rain on the tail of Americas hurricane Gaston. Full credit to the girls everyone turned up which was amazing.

The day followed the format of easier official trails in the morning and harder off piste trails in the afternoon. We had a great mixed bunch of abilities and a lot of girls who had never met. Despite most people having never met there was certainly no lack of conversation and laughs

Follow us on Facebook for details of our upcoming social rides!

Our group of ladies who all braved the weather to turn upon the Southern ladies MTB ride led by Laura Griffiths 

Check out those smiles in the rain

Rocky Mountain Ambassador Ride

Rocky mountain ambassador ride - Man sands beach, Brixham

Laura Griffiths Rocky Mountain ambassador

I was invited to the very first Rocky mountain ambassador ride last weekend. The idea of the ride is to connect fellow rocky riders and take out the demo fleet so anyone can try out the latest rockies.

With the full spectrum available to demo including altitudes and instincts through to the XC race slaying vertex we undoubtedly had a mix of riders and abilities.

Berry head, Brixham Rocky Mountain demo day

The ride started from Brixham in sunny Devon and took us via coastal path, woodland trail, bridal paths and a bit of urban stair riding for good measure. Our guide made sure we took in the best views of the English Riviera. The weather was so beautiful and the calm aqua harbours were so stunning at times our ride felt more south of France than balmy England. For me the climbs were a challenge as my competitive side came out and I didn't want to be last but by the end of the day had dropped back to enjoy some fine conversation. It was great to see everyone helping each other and inspiring confidence and support.

Treated to bacon sandwiches mid way w

Rocky mountain Thunderbolt MSL 799

e had a good chance to mix with our fellow riders for the day. With over 20 riders taking part it was wonderful to meet such a variety of people all stoked on cycling. Which ever discipline, age or experience, cycling truly does have a power to unite all walks of life. Being able to share tips on clothing and equipment conversation was flowing.  One thing I have noticed about these events is a good mix of disciplines brings a genuine respect for each other. Bacon sarnies and a well deserved rest over we headed on for the rest of the ride.

Towards the end of the day we were all starting to spread out and break off into different groups. Enjoying my time at the back of the pack I really had enjoyed all 20 miles of riding. Although I enjoyed the end pub stop equally as much! My altitude despite being the longest travel bike there didn't hinder my ability to climb at all and I sure did appreciate it's smooth ride on some of the more challenging descents. Seeing some of the other rocky models on the ride did give me green eyed envy though! Particularly the 2016 thunderbolt 799 MSL. That truly is a gorgeous paint job and I'm sure the performance matches it's beauty!



To try out any of the Rocky mountain range of demo bike and meet some fine people join us on our next demo ride at Skipton 2nd July.

The demo bikes will also be available to try at all rounds of the UK Enduro series. 

Woodland riders racing round 3 2016

It was a funny kind of day!

Waking up to torrential downpour racing my bike seemed so unappealing but after faffing for a good couple of hours I decided if I didn't race my bike then what else would I do?
I got there later than usual, then a surprising turn of event distracted my attention. Before I knew it I had 40 minutes to get in my practice runs?
First run from the top I had too much pressure in my tires and my saddle way too high. Having never ridden the Altitude on downhill I was glad these were small trail side changes I could make.
Normally for a downhill race I would practice the course and have my lines in my head even before I turn up so choosing lines on the fly was stressful and not allowing me to really find the limits of the bike.
Second run was only half the track and although I still had trouble with line choices I had that small moment of joy where you let the bike go and it just handled every steep sniper root and drop in my path.
Even after practice I was still contemplating if my head was in the right place to do race runs. I considered that half the girls entered never turned up due to the weather, I'd made the journey to get there, I had also not raced the bike yet and knew it was great experience for racing enduro next month so decided I had nothing to lose.

Laura Griffiths Rocky mountains Altitude woodland riders round 3

My first run I made a really bad line choice so got stalled on some roots. After that I went off a jump into a tree stump and went over the bars still clipped in so ended up wriggling around on the floor trying to unclip… At least when I race I always give a good show!
So last run left to go and I was really trying to get podium. I was in a personal battle with my friend Juliet to steal third place from her!
My entire run was great apart from one of my lines had been taped off by between runs one and two so came to halt faced by race tape now completely in the wrong part of the modified track! Such a shame as I was 2 seconds off podium and would have loved to have given the Rocky mountain Altitude the podium spot it deserved!

Not one to let an off day get the better of me I still came away so stoked and happy that I had raced.  The track was hard and although I didn't push the bike or myself as much as I should have I had those moments where I felt completely in unison with the bike.

Check back next month to see how I get on at Triscombe UK Enduro

Rocky Mountain Ambassador

Rocky mountain  750 MSL rally edition 2015

Anybody who knows or follows me would have seen my recent instagram post that my Trek Session 9.9 was stolen but as one friend put it every cloud has a silver lining!

Whilst we are still hoping to get the Trek back my beloved On One codeine just wasn't cutting it as a do all bike I could race the local downhill series on one week and the UK gravity enduro series the next.

Thankfully the amazing guys at Rocky mountain UK and Greenover distribution have come to my rescue and hooked me up with the amazing Altitude 750 MSL rally edition. Described by Rocky mountain themselves as...

What's in the box? rocky mountain uk #lovetheride

"In short, it’s a berm smashing, trail blasting rocket of a bike that’s ready for the next generation of mountain bike racing."

With 150mm travel up the rear and 160 up the front I have no doubt of the altitudes capabilities to gobble up roots, rocks and everything else in it's path. After watching videos Isabeau Courdurier slaying it down EWS stages I was convinced this is a bike up to the challenge.
Lets just say I can't wait to get the suspension dialled in ready for racing this weekend x


Read Pink bikes take on the Altitude Rally here-
http://www.pinkbike.com/news/rocky-mountain-altitude-770-msl-rally-edition-review-2014.ht