Méribel E-Bike Enduro – Round 4 — SWIFT RACING LIMITED

After a big four days racing in Aletsch for Round 5 of the EDR, I definitely needed a few days to switch off and recover. I spent those days on the French/Swiss border, cruising along the river, exploring some of the old Swiss bunkers and, of course, getting plenty of RC crawling in with my new favourite toy!

After a few quiet days, I headed over to Méribel solo for Round 4 of the E-Bike Enduro series. I arrived to a paddock full of French racers. I absolutely love racing these events, but I definitely notice that I don’t have quite the same feeling as I do at the EDR races where my usual enduro family is around. I think that probably plays a little part in how I perform too.

The French format for this race was definitely different. We trained and raced on the same day, so after setting up camp on Friday afternoon, I gave the bike some attention, fitted some fresh tyres and got everything ready for the weekend before cooking dinner and heading to bed fairly early.

An 8am start was going to be a bit of a shock to the system after the recent races we’ve been doing with much later starts! 😂

Day 1

We rolled out at 8am and, for the first time in my life, we actually rode up Stage 1. That was our practice run — we looked at the track on the way up and then just raced down it.

Weirdest thing ever! 😂

Then we pedalled back up a fire road and raced the same track again.

The whole day followed this format: practice a stage, race the stage, pedal to the next one, practice, race… and repeat. Completely different to a normal EDR weekend, but actually a pretty cool format once you got into it.

The afternoon brought the Power Stage, which was an uphill climbing stage but still technical enough to keep things interesting. We only had one run to learn it and, once again, we practiced it and then raced it.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake and tipped off, smashing the side of the bike into a rock and leaving it with a few fresh battle scars. Not exactly the plan!

Despite that, I managed to finish Day 1 in 3rd and was sitting in a good position going into the second day.

Day 2

Another early start… and this time we had rain overnight.

Being out here solo without a mechanic meant changing tyres to full mud tyres was a bit too tight and risky, so I decided to commit to the dry tyres and just see how it went.

*Bosch on site to help with battery swaps*

Luckily, the conditions actually weren’t too bad and I was really enjoying the tracks. There were some seriously fun stages, including one that was over 10 minutes long which we got to race twice.

The first run I was flying and feeling really good.

Afterwards, we did a quick battery swap and headed back up for the second run. Unfortunately, about 400 metres into the trail, my chain decided it had had enough and jumped off the chainring, somehow managing to tangle itself around the cranks.

So I had to stop trail-side and try to sort it out.

Of course, the rider who started 30 seconds behind me caught me while I was trying to fix it and passed me. Once I finally got the chain back on, I put my head down and tried to chase back as much time as possible.

I managed to catch her and pass her back, losing as little time as I could, before heading into the pits for a quick check over the bike.

The Bosch mechanics had a look and couldn’t see anything obviously wrong, so I headed off towards the final stage.

And then… another chain drop. 🤦‍♀️

Thankfully this time it happened on a much shorter stage, so there wasn’t much I could do other than pump the bike as hard as possible and get it to the finish.

Somehow, I still managed to finish 2nd on the stage, which was a pretty solid salvage job considering the circumstances.

That was enough to keep me in 3rd overall for the weekend.

Time for a break

If I’m being completely honest, it wasn’t a weekend I was particularly satisfied with.

The result itself is solid, and I’m obviously happy to come away with another podium, but I know I have more pace than I showed this weekend.

It’s been a huge season so far. Between the EDR, E-Bike racing, travelling, living out of the van and everything that comes with racing at this level, I think it’s starting to take its toll both mentally and physically.

So, for once, I’m actually really excited to step away from racing for a little while.

I’ve got three weeks off before I race again, and I think that break is exactly what I need. Time to reset, recover, get the body feeling good again and hopefully come back hungry for the final part of the season.

For now, it’s time to enjoy a little bit of normal life… and probably get some more RC crawling in! 😂

3rd overall in Méribel ✅

Another podium in the books, but definitely ready for the reset.