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Practice: EWS 2016 Round Three - Wicklow
Don't be fooled by the less than gigantic hill here in Ireland, there is still a hell of a lot of riding to be done. If you want to do a single lap each day, then race day, you have about 1,000m the first day, followed by 700m on the second and 1,700m on race day. For most of the amateurs that is plenty, but for the elite athletes, most of them repeated at least one stage (and that's without working out how far they hiked back up to repeat sections), and more than a few did two laps each day and are sitting closer to the 3,400m mark this evening... In terms of time? Well one loop is about five hours moving time (maybe closer to six for the rest of us), give or take, so for those who did two laps, fifteen hours in the saddle in three days.Without too much gradient to play with, the stages here are quite physical too, if you head straight down the fall-line here, you would be lucky to get much more than a minute on track. So as you wind down the hill, you need to keep the speed going somehow. So yeah, while that is down from the twenty five or so hours some of the bigger races in the series demand, it's still pretty hard going - it's a solid test of both skills and fitness, just what an EWS should be...
With national championships starting to emerge for enduro, that means lucky racers now get to wear their national sleeve. Greg Callaghan is more than a little bit proud to be representing the Parish, as the locals refer to it.
Rene Wildhaber dropping in on stage three. Rene is wearing an ankle brace, and he hasn't been showing any signs of fatigue or weakness from his early season injury.
Talking to Florian Nicolai's teammate Jesse Melamed, he admitted that it's hard having him as teammate - there's little he can learn from Florian as Jesse (and the other 99.9% of us) simply can't do what he does on a bike, nobody else rides like Flo.
Yoann Barelli finding the grip in stage two.
Ines Thoma is looking to get back towards the podium end of things this weekend.
Jared Graves has the number 15 plate. You can be certain he wants to trade up into the single digits tomorrow.
Effortless style as ever from Yoann Barelli.
Anneke Beerten has been looking solid out there this week.
Greg Callaghan is looking more than a bit comfortable on his 29er, somehow it seems to suit his riding style and he is sure he is moving faster than ever on it.
Tracy Moseley is racing for fun, but a win isn't going to come as a shock to anyone considering the training she's been doing.
Joe Barnes is back on more familiar territory here in Ireland and will be looking to get himself back at the pointy end of things.
Practice is a wrap for the Nomads. Time to get loose tomorrow.
Sarah Leishperson drops down from the top of the mountain towards the fields below.
Final preparations are being made before race day. Now it's up to the riders to keep their steeds in one piece through seven stages in one day.
A little time away doesn't seem to have blunted Tracy Moseleys confidence or speed in the slightest. She herself admits that she's not here to make up the numbers this weekend.
Isabeau Courdurier will be looking to keep her up her podium streak here in Wicklow.
While many riders stopped and looked at sections during practice, Richie Rude had done his homework earlier in the week, hiking the tracks, so come practice times it was full runs at full speed each time.
Anneke Beerten charging into the dark emerald woods.
Ines Thoma goes over the final details with her mechanic, Larry, before heading out for a day of practice.
A little shade, a quick snack, and a laugh, then it's back in the saddle.
Robin Wallner feels pretty at home here, with the tight tracks and roots - he just says that his home in Are, Sweden, is steeper because they have bigger mountains...
Josh Carlson pushing into the lower corners of the top half of stage seven. Things have dried out nicely here since we arrived and instead of wet and loose, much of the track is dusty and loose.
Anneke Beerten had a disappointing (by her standards) race in Argentina and is out to set that straight this weekend.
Nico Vouilloz taking the high line and smoothing out the chunder.
Cody Kelley was flying after his teammate, Richie Rude all through practice.
Iago Garay makes it in again with a little one footer action.
Cecile Ravanel has something to prove this weekend. With Tracy away she has been supreme, but now she is here, Cecile will want to show the world that she deserves the top spot.
Katy Winton diving into the half way point of stage six.
The evening rush at SRAM as riders bring in any final parts for servicing before race day. You've earned you beers today boys.
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