Round 5 of the 2017 Scottish Enduro Series heads north to the infamous Laggan Wolftrax for plenty of mixed terrain to keep things interesting.
Team Wideopenmag’s Chris Hutchens gives us his event preview of the penultimate round of the Scottish Enduro Series.
Scottish Enduro Series 2016: Round 4_Laggan from Scottish Enduro Series on Vimeo.
The penultimate round is already upon us. The season seems to be disappearing fast and the fight for the titles continue. No one will be easing off. Even with the season fatigue setting in, race after race and each battle with friends and rivals there will be a determination to hit peak performance once more at the Laggan’s Scottish Enduro Series round.
Can the series be wrapped up by anyone, or the battle for the top go down to the last round?
This year’s proved to be a year of exciting racing. Just look at the World Cup DH for how it can come down to the wire. Gwin took the series from an unfortunate Minnaar and despite Tahnee’s tally of three wins was unable to secure the females overall. Then look at the men’s EWS. Sam Hill leads but he’s being pushed to make a mistake. He’s just got to keep a cool head for the final round. He kept his consistency at round 7 to take a solid 2nd place where rivals crumpled and dropped points to him.
The SES provides just as much excitement. It dubs itself as the UK’s Premiere Enduro Series and we can’t really argue with that. It’s been a stable series for years now and continuing to sell out and attract the best enduro eiders in the UK.
The last round at Innerleithen looked awesome. Laggan has been well fought in the past. Last year I missed the event but two years ago, on the back of jet lag returning from Canada, I finished 2nd behind the towering Ben Cathro.
So while the tables look tight what should you expect?
Laggan Wolftrax is a fantastic trail centre. It’s compact and gnarly! There’s rock slabs, rock pitching, fast trail centre tracks and a whole host of incredible natural built trails across the road and away from the centre. The café there is also thriving and SES regular Eilidh Wells can be thanked for serving up a strong flat white and some awesome food.
Rubber.
Tyre choice here is very hard. Rocks, mud and fast hard packed single track. This pushes us towards recommending a good all-rounder up front and something with more rolling speed with decent side knobs as well. For me a Continental Baron in Apex Protection up from and a Der Kaiser on the rear with a DH casing probably. Although I’m sure I’d get away with a Apex Protection to keep the rotational speed at its best.
Bike setup.
Bike set up is as hard. Maybe ramp up the low speed compression a bit, or add a little air pressure to stiffen the bike for some of the hard hits and to support you on the steeper natural trails. Some high speed compression adjustment for the rock pitching on the black route, which is likely to be included, might benefit you as well – reducing the feedback through the bike and limiting that arm pump.
