RACE: Drammen Enduro 2024

For all of us who enjoy the enduro format, Drammen Enduro marks the beginning of the end of the cycling season. It's often the first race, held just before the common holiday period. Then come a couple more races in autumn before darkness sets in, and finally, we're hit with that terrible winter. Game over. Until next spring.

Drammen Enduro (or DrammEnduro as it might actually be called) is therefore a bittersweet experience, but always a highlight, and the day must be savored. So far in our short enduro career, it has always been the best-organized and most fun race in terms of trail selection: Drammen is indeed a magical place to cycle.

You never know what you'll get out there in the woods. Perhaps that's what makes race day so exciting. It's unpredictable, a little scary, and you have no choice but to take what you get. Last year, we had a heatwave. This year, however, it looks like we're getting a waterslide.

Rain has been a constant companion in recent weeks. We had a brief summer in May, and then it stopped. The rest of the summer looks like it will be a temperamental outdoor tap where the spray comes and goes at regular intervals. Never dry, in other words.

Drammen Enduro 2024

Only three men from ZEN are at the start line, and the plan and goal were set the night before: We'll have a relaxed morning, ride last, and ride fastest!

Our small group rolls into the parking lot at Drammen Bike Park almost last of all. The queue for the lift is already long, but we're not stressed. Stress isn't just for mental and physical performance. We need full zen, to breathe deeply, and take it as it comes.

But the trio almost didn't even make it out of the starting gate: Jon's rear tire is leaking air! Because Jon waited until just before we were supposed to get on the lift on race day to check if his tires were holding air.

A potential crisis! We lack zen, tools, and solutions. But fortunately, after a few nervous minutes and some hocus pocus, the problem seems to have resolved itself. Now we just have to cross our fingers that the pressure holds for the rest of the day. We cross our fingers that the tire holds air and we set off.

Stage 1: Quicksand. What is this? Cross-Country? No one had prepared for such a flat setup. I bitterly regret all the road bike rides I didn't take. In addition, both Fredrik and I fall, at the only place where the trail actually goes downhill. So great: A metallic taste in my mouth and bruises on the first stage. Stage 1 of the year is something else. We recommend everyone to look up Jon Borgersen's photo album for the day and take a look at everyone who went over the handlebars here!

Stage 2: We know this trail, but it's unrecognizable. Wasn't this one a bit technical, but perfectly manageable and quite gnarly? Not today. Today you should have brought a fishing rod, not a bike. Water sloshes in our shoes. But then we get out onto the smooth rocks! After the whole body is full of lactic acid from stage 1, we go straight into the classic "Acid Fest." The good feeling comes. Finally, Drammen comes alive.

Stage 3: "110%" Fredrik meets the elbow smasher, but this time he sacrifices nothing and speeds past. The trail is long, varied, and quite gnarly! The trail crew has done a fantastic job of piecing together a route combination that few have ridden before. Fantastic.

Stage 4: We've been here before. It's the classic "by the gravel road" as we call it. Probably not its real name. This is the toughest and most brutal stage this year. Mostly just hard work. It's a bit fun when you can push it, but my heart rate has unfortunately gone through the roof and the marshy areas are sucking the life out of me.

Stage 5: More new stuff!? Another combined trail that includes the shooting range trail. The start is clumsy and muddy but suddenly it clears and you can blast away. I've never been here before and it's great to feel proper flow and speed!

Stage 6: The charm stage in the bike park. Nothing to say about that.

We have burgers and soda on the terrace while we wait for the podium to be presented and for raffle prizes. Once again, AronSK shows that they can organize bike races. Drammen Enduro is a bike festival and never disappoints. In terms of results, it's rarely a success, and we're where we usually are, in the middle of the pack, embellishing the lists.

What will happen next year? I know for sure that there will be more hours on the turbo trainer and on the road bike. Apparently, more watts are the order of the day. Pedaling fitness is the new downhill fitness.