With sore shoulders and empty legs, I’ve just returned from the final edition of Ex Enduro. It came to an end with a standing ovation after a 10-year tenure on the MTB race calendar, and I’ve come back firmly believing that it’s earned itself legendary status.
The mountain bike event and race scene has been a pretty rocky one over the past few years, with a number of stalwart events closing their doors, mainly for financial reasons. Although the Ex Enduro will no longer be held, its own closure is a different story.
The Ex Enduro followed the standard enduro format, but it put its own spin on what we know as enduro. Over three days, the event would take riders over 20 timed stages that spanned the hills and valleys that surround Minehead and nearby areas, so pretty standard stuff.
However, it threw in tons of unique features. Over the years, it has introduced night stages, where riders strapped lights onto their helmets and bikes while tackling the spiciest trails, with the lack of available lumens raising the heat to phaal levels.
The tea stop became a tale of legend, where riders would take a break from the hell-for-leather racing to indulge in a spot of tea, cake and scones just before they faced the Vominator, a seriously lengthy climb, known for the ejection of said tea, cake and scones.
Saturday evening roller racing, live music and a top-notch barbecue all rolled into the Ex Enduro, and simply became part and parcel of what the event wound up being.
Even during its last ever event, which took place last weekend, the Ex’s organisers were still looking to bring something new to the party. Friday’s final stage was ridden on dirt jump bikes in the event’s arena, where riders pedalled over-geared bikes over wooden jumps, under limbo poles and over a seesaw, racing against each other in a Super Special rally stage format.
As for the enduro part of the Ex, it’s the least serious racing could ever be. Rather than use fancy timing mats and chips you’d zip-tie onto your bike, it relied on the incredibly inaccurate dibber system. Admittedly, for other sports, the dibber timing system can be accurate, but when the control boxes are held by marshals brave enough to have riders hurtling towards them to grab the dibber chip elasticated onto the wrists, timing gets a little… relaxed. Now, this sounds a bit like a complaint, but I promise, it’s not.
It just adds another layer of ridiculous silliness to the race. Handily, there would be mid-stage signs letting riders know that a stage’s end is coming soon, but to get the fastest time, it would still be full gas until the marshal scanned the dibber chip. For me, at least, this meant huge hauls on the brakes, riding up to the marshal teetering on the front wheel, more often than not. But for the riders, this added a hugely personal touch as there would usually be plenty of post-stage giggles between everyone around.
Better still, in a move that could be seen as somewhat backwards, but ended up being part of the Ex’s magic, was that only 80 entries were available, all of which sold out within minutes for all but its first ever event. Clearly, the Ex wasn’t about expanding to chase more money. Instead, it cultivated a community of return customers and newcomers lured by its peculiarity. There wasn’t an Ex I’ve driven home from without making a new friend or two.
But the event’s commitment to keeping it small was far from a nail in the coffin. In fact, there was no coffin to close. Having spoken to the Ex Enduro’s organiser, Mike Wilkens, he told me that he wanted to end the Ex on a high. Ticket sales were not dropping off and entries for its final event sold within three minutes. Of course, costs in general were rising, but as an experienced event organiser, he wanted to put the event to bed in a more joyful manner, rather than go down with a ship that may or may not end up sinking further down the line.
I’ve not really spoken about the tracks yet, and while all of the Ex’s extremities make for a race that could be awesome even without amazing trails to race on, the Ex had plenty. Over last weekend, there wasn’t a trail I didn’t enjoy. The event really was a showcase of some of the very best riding the Southwest has to offer. From steep loam to breakneck speeds over flatter straights, small kickers over roots, and loose, rocky turns. The Ex Enduro really had it all.
Roll that all into one, and the event really shone as one of the very best that the UK had to offer, and I’ve ridden a bunch of them. While stages were timed, completing the event was a sizable achievement in itself. Riding around 70km over three days and 23 stages is no easy feat. So whether you turned up in the pursuit of podiums, for the challenge of completing it, or for a weekend away with mates, the Ex Enduro was welcoming, approachable, and just a really bloody good way of forgetting the world and all of its problems, and just riding bikes over incredible landscapes.
The Ex Enduro could take away the timed racing aspect, and I reckon that people would still flock to Allerford to revel in what Mike and the team had created. Honestly, I see the event as more of a riding holiday, but without the expense of hauling bikes onto a plane. It was just the best time, and if the Ex could leave anything behind, it’s the fact that enduro can be different; it can be incredibly welcoming, and it can be a lot more than just the racing.
The Ex Enduro may have closed its doors, but I know for a fact that thanks to the memories and experiences it’s created over its years, people are going to be talking about it and missing it for years. I’m not crying… you are.
