My First Ever Urban Enduro MTB Race Was Insane!

Welcome to Malta, home to Europe's first urban enduro mountain bike race. Hold on to your hats people and let's go racing together. Over there, five urban enduro stages. A whole host of pros, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built by the Knights of St. John and a bit of culture thrown in for good measure. Thanks to Garmin and the organizers of the extreme urban enduro, I find myself here on the island ready to do battle down steps, round corners, across cobbles, and everything in between. You might be thinking, Malta, didn't really see that coming. I'll be honest with you, neither did I. Located out in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Italy and above North Africa, the highest point of this tiny little island is a modest 253 meters above sea level. Don't let that fool you, there's still plenty of drop to play with, especially when it's in the capital, Valletta. Yes, through these very streets, I'll be racing the five urban stages against pros and amateurs alike. Before I get between the tapes, we need to travel back in time because I need to get ready. Life has changed a lot for me lately. With the arrival of my son, little baby Frederick, it means time is a bit more of a precious commodity. Going out for those big spins ain't quite as simple as it used to be. Because of that, my trainings have become a lot more focused and concentrated, which when it comes to the Urban Duro, a lot of sprinting's on the cards. Not a bad thing at all. In fact, it's incredible, but having the right tools for the job has made life way easier. The Tacx turbo trainer setup I've got behind me has made getting in those short, sharp sessions even easier. Basically, I've upped the intensity, utilizing the whole Garmin ecosystems, pedals, head units, and indoor trainers. Whilst I can, I'm going to be working on power because I think that's what this race is going to be all about. Let's get training. In recent years, I've been conquering big, long epics and monstrous challenges. My sprinting days of EWS are a way back. It's time to get that top-end power back in the legs. Shorter sessions with a focus on high power output and short rest periods will be key to simulating what the stages are going to be like. These will not only hopefully up my peak power, but also get my heart rate up there again and used to working under a higher load. Last session before we head out to Malta. Garmin Connect give me 20 by 40, so 20-second sprint, full gas, 40-second rest, times four, times four. It's going to be a tough session, but let's get it done. Final session done. Malta, I hope you're not snowing. Let's go racing. Yes, we are about to go racing. I'm hyped. Urban enduro, here we come. It's Friday and that means registration. We've had a wicked day today touring around the city with our lovely tour guide, Francesco, who's been giving us the full backstory of this amazing island. I didn't realize it was just quite so diverse in what it had been through in the past. It was amazing to see the different culture and the history and the backdrop of the city. That's Valletta over there. We're in Fort St. Angelo at the moment. We're just off to go pick up number boards, timing chips, get the bike set up a little bit later. It's two stages in the fort here on Saturday, and then it's over to there, Valletta, for three stages tomorrow. Here we are then. I am excited. It's a mixture of nerves and excitement. We've got two stages, as I said today, Boom Boom and Escape the Castle, both about 350 to 400-meter stages. They both use the same start and then they split towards the end. I think we better go check them out. You're all right, Rich? Oh, hello. Yes. Checking out some features I didn't get to see yesterday. This is a new one. Let's have a little look. Here we are right at the top of the first two stages, and that is the first stair set that you're greeted by. It's massive. There's got to be like 70 steps there. You hoon it down there and you can see where the riders are at the bottom. You've got this G out at the bottom onto this wooden tabletop, but it doesn't go flat. You go down the steps, up the takeoff, across the top, and then into the landing. That's going to be pretty ruthless on the bike, that is. Stats recorded. I've made an error. I've bought two right-handed gloves. This is what happens when you never wear gloves. Oh, God. Hey, I've got the same. Have you? What? Two right-handed? Yes, two right. I can't even swap. Oh, for God's sake. First run down. How was it? Actually, so fun. It's like a normal everyday activity for me, ride down some stairs. These ones are really fast. They're nice and close together. Once you get to a certain speed, you don't feel the steps anymore. It's just a slope. Yes, it's cool. Actually, better than I thought. There's just one metal part on the ground, which is super slippery, which I didn't see before. Is that on the right-hand corner? Yes, the guys were crashing about. It's fine. It's good now. First run done, first hits. It's pretty fun. The final drop into the long set of stairs is pretty wild, to say the least. Then it just goes into the abyss. That's pretty wild. Not too much to learn. Luckily, it's fairly straightforward. Let's go back up for another run. The limit was definitely fun. That was the third practice. I hooned it down the big set of steps, off the drop thing. The front end nearly went. It was wild, but we saved it. I think that'll do now. I'm going to rest up, get ready to race. Yes, Rich. That was a rapid, dude. Flat sticks into that, wasn't it? That was something. I'll tell you what, it's not easy, even though it's short. 172 peak heart rate. All right, stage one done. Felt pretty good. Let's go take off number two. Race is going to kick off in a moment. Bike's feeling good. Average heart rate's pretty low so far, so that's cool. Don't forget, what max power are we putting out? Let us know in the comments down below, and I'll reveal at the end of the video. Let's go Oh, my days. Yes, that was a big old sprint fest. Some wild features on that one. A cool kicker into this big slope, then we hit these quarter pipes. It was good. I was a little bit cautious maybe from a racing point of view, but I really enjoyed that stage. The good thing is, I think we're sitting second overall so far after two stages. The pilgs, of all people, in first, the cheeky scallywag. Yes, game on for tomorrow. End of the day, currently experiencing some Maltese culture. I don't know what's going on. I'm sure the many bells that I can hear are of some significance. If you do know, let me know in the comments down below. It's mad. Crazy architecture around here. Lit up. We've got bells off right in the center. Mental. Very much. Day two is a go. As I stand here in the shadow of Don Mintoff, a former Prime Minister of Malta, it's day two of racing, of course, which means we've got three more stages today. Stage three started in the streets of Valletta. The crowds lined the track for big stair sets, flat-out sprints, into a stairwell, gap into the open, and it was a humongous sprint towards the finish. This one was going to get the lungs and the legs going. I had a little look at Garmin Connect this morning. I'm pretty ready as far as training readiness goes. For those of you wondering, and drop the comment down below, wondering what my maximum output on yesterday's Oh, my God. Holy crap. First run down stage three, just done it. The stairwell is mega tight, real hard to get down and around that one smoothly. It could be interesting in a race run. First set of steps is fun. Good crowd pleaser there. A lot of sprinting, which just took it easy, and they added some extra corners I wasn't expecting. All in all, not a bad stage. Legs are Dude, that was tough. Stage three, that was a heck of a sprint, man. I was fully gassed pedaling. I stood up, sprinted most of that whole finish bit. If you listen back to the GoPro, all you're probably going to hear is some hefty, rich panting going on. I felt like it went well, gapped out the stairs. Everything went pretty good on that stage, as smooth as it could. You can always look back and think, oh, I could tidy that up. I don't know where it puts me in the overall at the moment, but I think it's game on. Let's put it that way. Anyway, we've got a little lunch break now. I'm going to go grab some fluids and stuff because it's pretty hot. We'll get some drink, get some food. Stage four and five, fingers crossed. Stage four and five were the same. Steep steps, wooden features, tight turns, you name it, it had it all. This one was truly a urban enduro stage. Oh, yes. Are you all right? Oh, my God. Oh, my God. That was the most chaotic run in the world. Did you clip a pedal? I saw the wall. You all right? Then did you just get all off balance? I looked back and then fell off. Stage four just done. That's the first run down. It's actually an incredible stage, that one. It looked a bit dubious to begin with, but I think that one is going to be unreal to race. A proper urban enduro stage. It's pretty long, got a twist turn, some inside lines. I'm looking forward to that one. This is something we don't get in enduro races much, a lift back to the top, an actual lift. Look at that. Three, two, one, go. That was stage four done, went pretty good. Last run of the day coming up. Bike's working good. I know some peak heart rate going on there, 178, but we'll see how it goes. See how we get on. Stay tuned. Let's get it done. Let's go, let's go. Let's go. I was leading coming into that last stage. I was a bit nervous, didn't want to push too hard, but as soon as you get going, you end up smashing it on again. I think I've got a bit of a taste for urban racing now. I like it. All right, some big powers put out on that stage alone. You'll have to wait and see what my peak peak power was. 1455 watts. That's sick, mate. That was amazing. It's the day after urban enduro racing. What an insane event that was racing yesterday. I actually had an incredible time racing against people from all over the world through some of the maddest streets Malta's got to offer. The event itself was insane. I think I actually did a great job of bringing mountain bikers and the general public together and actually being able to give them a taste of what we do without having to drag them out to the woods. I think that's what these events are really great for. It's a really good proof of concept that actually this kind of thing can be done in any city. I think the highest elevation point was only 60 meters of drop, which when you think about it isn't that much, but you still get a minute of insane racing. Results-wise though, it was a successful weekend. I took the win in open men's. I'm stoked with that. It was sixth fastest time overall on the day. Not a bad weekend at all really. Thanks to Garmin for getting me ready for such an event. Working on my power really did help. Actually, keeping an eye on my power all the way through the event and my heart rate and my other stats always helps me get through an enduro race because you need to manage this. Talking of max power, as we said, 1,455 watts. If you guessed close to that, you're a winner. Thank you very much for watching everyone. Thank you for Malta for having me. It's been an absolutely incredible time on a stunning island. Hopefully, I'll be back. Hopefully, we'll explore more islands, but for me for now on the beach, I'll see you later.