Lago di Garda, or Lake Garda, is the largest lake in Italy, and it makes WIndermere look like a garden pond. There is bike riding all around the lake, but it is at its best at the mountainous north end around the villages of Torbole and Riva. Indeed these villages are so bike-oriented that there is an MTB festival every May in Riva.

The area around Garda is stupendously spectacular, one of the major draws for throngs of German tourists at all time of year.

The place

Garda is something of a hidden gem – at least for Brits. The place is rammed with Germans and Italians, but English is rarely heard in the bars or on the trails. The resort is unusual in that it does not have traditional uplift – no ski lifts. Instead a host of shuttle bus companies vie for business in the Torbole town centre car park. The biggest and arguably best (most able to get you where you want to go when you want to go there) of these is Luca Bike Shuttle Torbole, run by the rambunctious and ever smiling Luca and his wife Tiziana. The shuttles do not follow a set schedule, but instead go to a range of mountain-top destinations each day. Luca constantly on the phone to various guides chatting about where their riders want to go today. It’s slightly academic, because whichever hilltop you end up on, you’re almost guaranteed a whale of a time on the way down.

During the weekend of the Garda Bike Festival it seems as if everyone in RIva/Torbole is all about the bikes. But as soon as the show is over the two villages return to their somewhat sleepier demeanour. There is still plenty to do, Winds bar in Torbole is swinging every night of the week, and Riva has several bars and clubs. Torbole has a good range of surf/skate shops too and if you need any bike gear Carpentari or Mecki’s will probably be able to help.

The riding

Trail finding can be something of a challenge. There are hundreds of miles of marked trails and even more unmarked stuff. Garda was on the front line in World War one, and the mountains are riddled with military trails, access roads and tunnels. This network provides the basis for some of the most interesting and exciting mountain biking you’ll ever encounter. It has been extensively built on by the trail building work of an active band of local enthusiasts.

Be warned that the descending around Garda is not all that easy…

Many of the tracks are known by different names to different people, what is “Anaconda” to some is known as “The Snake” to others. I struggled to find a definitive site with them mapped or with gps traces for download. Fret not though, guides are plentiful and choosing the right one, who will tailor the day to your riding preferences and abilities will make all the difference to your enjoyment.

The Garda Valley is a glacial valley, and because of how the rock strata lie and how they were cleaved by the passage of the glacier, one side of the valley (the right, as you look north, up the lake from Torbole) is more loamy single-track, with the odd rocky and rooty technical section. Here you’ll find descents such as Tramalzo, which begins with a short sharp climb to a tunnel, and then a long descent on a sweeping rocky track. Watch out for riders and walkers coming up!

The left side of the valley is rockier, and here are more technical descents such as Bocca di Navene and the Coast Trail, which at one point takes you diagonally across a rocky slab. It’s a steep technical section made much more challenging with a very exposed drop to the left. If you go down, there’s nothing much to stop you. In the dry, most decent riders will get down clean. In the wet – rather you than me!

Between Riva and Torbole there is a smaller hill – Monte Brione. Like much of the area, its slopes are bedecked with vineyards and olive groves and cycling is theoretically prohibited. But it is laced with trails, including a former downhill run along its ridge. Beware though; this run was closed due to the 400m vertical drop off to the left…

About the author’s trip to Garda

I timed my visit to coincide with the Sympatex Bike Festival. All of the top bike manufacturers were there in force, and there was a wide range of smaller component stands too. Danny McAskill was even there putting on some pretty impressive sideshow entertainment. And while I wouldn’t suggest you travel all the way just for the show, it makes an entertaining distraction from the riding.

Technical trails are abundant around Garda, as are rocks. Make sure you take a suitable bike.

I normally travel with my bike, but decided not to this time in order to take advantage of super cheap RyanAir return flights from Milan Bergamo airport which is just 100km from Torbole. Flights are also available to Verona which is even nearerI rented a bike in resort from a good selection of Cube and Scott bikes. But be aware, most of the best trails have some very technical sections, so longer travel bikes are better suited to the terrain. The slopes are extremely steep too and you’ll find yourself braking hard, for long periods. So make sure you have a machine with modern and effective brakes, I found my hands were getting tired and cramping on the Cube AMS120 29er that had Magura MTC brakes! After a couple of days I switched to the Cube Stereo 650B bike, and I faired much better with the Formula The One brakes it sported. With 160mm of travel, the Stereo was an ideal (but expensive) bike for this resort. The standard steed was the Cube AMS 150, which handled the terrain well. Garda being in Italy, the food is excellent, and regardless of your performance on the hill you can congratulate/commiserate afterwards with some truly great ice cream.

Not a bad way to end a bike ride.

The British MTB scene seems to have overlooked Garda, and it’s a shame, because the region offers world class riding, beautiful scenery, a good social scene and great food. All of this is affordably priced and just a couple of hours from UK airports.

There’s something of a chicken and egg situation though. Few UK providers do bike specific packages to Garda, and because few UK riders have experienced the area, there’s little demand for them to do so. Our group was organised by Michael Cycle, a well known character in the northern UK MTB scene, and a member of the Bogtrotters group who ride out of Lancaster. Michael lived in Italy for 6 years and now spends three or four months per year in Garda, where he helps out on Luca’s shuttles, and then guides whoever wants to tag along down the mountain. He’s a useful contact to have because he seems to know everyone in Torbole and Riva, regardless of whether they are locals or visitors.

CycleActive and Saddle Skedaddle also both offer trips to Garda, although their basic landed cost for a week (you arrange your own transport) is more than I spent in total for nine days including bike hire, flights, food and drink and uplifts. It’s worth considering the options.

I found a few websites that claim that Garda has been voted the “Best Destination in the World for MTB” They don’t say when, or by whom… but it’s a believable accolade. The guys I was riding with are frequent visitors to Les Arcs and Morzine… but after visiting Garda, say they won’t be bothering with those resorts in future. I’m already booked to visit Crested Butte, Fruita and Moab later this year, but there’s a part of me that wished I’d saved money, and spared myself jet-lag and just gone to Garda. My week in Garda was simply the greatest seven days I’ve ever spent on a bike.

How to get there

RyanAir flies to Milan Bergamo, which is just 100km from Torbole. Alternatively fly to Verona.

More information

http://www.rebbens.info - Michael Cycle
http://www.skedaddle.co.uk
http://cycleactive.com

This great edit was commissioned by I-MTB and filmed by the guys at Aspect Media.

What are my initial feelings? It’s going to be tough! Having ridden some of the stages yesterday (pedalling up the mountain as opposed to shuttling in vans, an ‘issue’ that is the subject of much debate here) I can safely say that this event will be a real test of fitness, bike handling skills and, importantly, preparation. I was toast after just two of the uphills!

Here’s the first of the DirtTV edits to come from the weekend with a walk-through of the event, the location and the riders.

It’s quite bizarre to find so many incredibly talented and proven mountain bikers (we counted over 15 World Champ titles from various titles!) all wandering around the pits and collectively pondering what and who will win the race… Will the likes of Steve Peat’s undeniable speed and talent overcome the enduro prowess of riders specific to the discipline such as Jerome Clementz? No one yet knows, but tomorrow’s racing could quite possibly see some riders leaving with their tails between their legs. We’ll have to wait and see!

Stage 2 dropped

One thing to note is that the second of the five stages has been dropped from tomorrow’s racing due to forecast bad weather (not ideal on a course with numerous boulder fields and high speeds in the trees). This may play into the hands of the downhill racers who aren’t as trained for a long day out in the saddle. The entire race distance still stands at over 50km with four timed downhills though, which should be enough of a test of fitness for anyone here.

Prologue tonight

In several hours’ time the ‘prologue’ stage takes place in the nearby town of Castiglione della Pescaia, with a short, sharp blast down through the steps and streets. This one’s sure to be a spectacle but don’t expect the results to reflect on tomorrow’s final rankings.

www.enduroworldseries.com

A destination of choice, in the opinion of most people who have ridden there it’s possibly Europe’s best riding spot. It’s got everything you could possibly ask for as a mountain biker and, even better, you can climb off the bike and sit down to amazing food at a fraction of what you’d pay over here.

Richard Williams of Riviera Bike.
Photo © Ben Winder

We sat down with Richard Williams, publican turned events professional turned trail guide for Riviera Bike, to talk how you end up in such a place, what it’s like, and why he can’t go back to his former life now.

Bike Magic: So a bit of background – who are you, how old are you, and where are you from?

Richard Williams: I’m 32 years old at the moment, and I had a bit of a strange upbringing. I didn’t really come from anywhere, as my parents were military diplomatic service, so I grew up all over the world, really, then got dumped in boarding school. So I guess that’s where I’m from, Stamford – I spent ten years in boarding school there, then university and then I lived in London.

BM: What were you doing in London?

RW: I went to university first – I had to spend a year doing art school to do graphic design, so I spent a few years of university there, and then got into the pub trade. I ended up working in nightclubs and stuff – I loved all that life, but I ended up buying a little pub in Battersea and had that for two and a bit years before I sold it. Then basically I got a bit of money from that, so I thought rather than take my parents’ advice and invest it, I’d go and live a little, so I moved out to Meribel and pissed around for a year and learned how to snowboard really well – something I’d always loved but never had the chance to do. I did that as long as I could, then came back to the UK and went back into the pub trade and the nightclub trade as an area manager for Virgin, and I hated it. Being in the great outdoors for a whole year, I couldn’t go back to the office thing – it ruined it for me. But it was the best thing I did really, because it set me onto the path I’m on now. So from there I got into event work – started off just in the summer and became a lackey just working with marquees and things like that. I absolutely loved the outdoor life and that sort of stuff, so I just worked my way through and ended up right at the top, working for quite a large Europe-based event company, doing that for about eight years really.

BM: What made you give all that up and move to Molini?

RW: Well the Italian government were running a sort of competition because there was a disproportionately large number of females to males up in the mountain villages, so I thought, you know… that’s where I need to be going! No, that’s a lie.

London life wasn’t really panning out how I hoped it would – having had the opportunity to live in quite a few countries, I never really enjoyed living in England that much: it’s very expensive with most of your money going on rent, and what little money you do have left over at the end of the month – and I was on a really good salary running the company – you either save and don’t live, or live and don’t save.

I didn’t really have any ties. I picked up a mountain bike about five years ago as I got bored of snowboarding, and it took over my life. One thing came to another, and I decided to combine the two, and after a few fortunate events with my boss Ady (Aidrian Nash, Riviera Bike owner), I just decided this was definitely the thing to do.

BM: So Ady in one sentence? What’s a mountain bike company owner like…?

RW: Grumpy, Welsh… No, I shouldn’t say that. Ady in one sentence is very hard-working, forward-thinking, an entrepreneur, and my boss. He’s done an incredible job really – he’s really put this place on the map. Before he got here a few locals knew about it – Roberto Vernassa had done the downhill (in nearby San Romolo) and some of the tracks, but he’s really worked very hard to forge it as a destination of choice for UK riders, and it’s testament to him that it’s so popular – we’re booked up all year.

BM: So how would you describe this area?

RW: Very remote, I wouldn’t say backward, but lots of little villages ruled by farming life, high in manual labour and things like that… And a lot of Italy perceive it as backwards, so people don’t really bother coming down here. But to outsiders, it’s absolutely stunning: it’s got amazing topography, an incredible area not just for sport but to relax in. It’s very quiet – there’s not a huge amount of tourism at the moment, and while there’s more in the summer, if you compare it to Nice or Monaco down the road, it’s very underdeveloped. So just a beautiful, tranquil little place.

The riding is phenomenal. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done – it’s just got everything you could possibly want. Twisty, turny, flowy amazing trails through the trees that incorporate pretty much every terrain imaginable. You have to come here to believe it. The return rate for customers is almost 100%. Do I need to say any more?

Here’s a video to demonstrate just how good the riding is around the area:

BM: So is this the dream job? What would you sum your job up as?

RW: Essentially I’m a full-time guide. It is a pretty dream-worthy job in all respects, really. I’ve traded London with its fast-paced life, good money and city living for a completely departed existence, living in a small village with a couple of hundred people. So the change has been a bit of a culture shock, but it is all about the lifestyle. It’s a very simple life – you’re out and about all day every day and you’re not back until about 7, but you don’t really see it as work. I don’t see many people getting out of bed every morning really being able to say they’re looking forward to going to their office-based 9-5… I certainly didn’t.

BM: Could you ever go back?

RW: No, not at all. I came here with a very open mind – I gave it six months because it’s so different to what I’d been doing, I didn’t know how I’d take it. I was pretty certain it would be fine, but I did have an open mind. Within a few weeks I knew this was for me. I went back in the winter just for a few weeks to catch up with my friends in London and it really brought home every reason I moved away. I couldn’t imagine going back – I’m here for the long run.

BM: What’s a day in the life of Richard Williams, pro bike guide like?

RW: Essentially, we have people who come for weeklong holidays. That’s the main structure to what we do. So what I’m doing is guiding people, looking after them and showing them the trails we have in Molini. We’ll take them up in the van or do a bit of climbing and get to the head of the trail, and I’ll show them down and tell them how to get there. It’s a lot more involved than that though – there’s the teaching element, the coaching element, there’s the medical side of things, organising people – it’s all-encompassing basically.

BM: What is the plan for the future?

RW: This is definitely the career path I want to go down in terms of the industry and being out here. With my background in event management, we’ve already spoken about doing events down here and bolstering the pre-existing enduro circuits – that would be a good thing to do.

Also hopefully setting up something more adventure-based, working in line with Ady, being able to do more point-to-point tours, enduro holidays where we take on board all the different areas here rather than just a couple – I think people would really enjoy being able to sample all the Riviera spots because they’re so different to each other.

For myself, I’ve got a couple of ideas – I’d like to create a professional outlet for World Cup teams in this area, I’m possibly looking at the hotel in San Romolo [where many of the downhill teams spend time training], converting it into somewhere with a gym, sauna, rehabilitation room, somewhere where you can have full working with garages and working space… something like that, so that everyone can be housed in one big unit and go out and train together from there.

The important thing is not to step on people’s feet here – Ady’s been very good in taking me on board and teaching me the ropes, and Roberto too… so you don’t want to suddenly set up shop next door and try to compete – that’s the way to do things. Maybe something completely different to something that’s already being done here.

BM: Finally, three or four reasons why the UK rider should come and spend a week out here with you?

RW: For one it will develop their riding dramatically – they will come back a much more competent and accomplished rider*. Secondly, it’s nothing like a resort or a big uplift centre – you experience the local culture, the people here – you feel like you’re part of the village. I really do recommend that people try it – I don’t bother with bike parks any more. It’s better here, it’s cheaper, it’s beautiful, tranquil… and the weather. The coast is right on your doorstep… I could go on but you’re best just coming over and finding out for yourself.

www.rivierabike.co.uk 

*Ed. note: And with more of an understanding of the effects of local Grappa…

A wonderful Easter weekend was had by all at the first stage of the Bluegrass International Enduro Tour  in Castelbuono, Sicily. The sun was splitting the stones, with a temperature of 22 °C up high at 1000m, with a breath-taking view over the Tyrrenian Sea making it an unforgettable end of March spring weekend of pure mountain biking for all participants.

The Bluegrass Enduro Tour recipe is simple: a high-quality MTB location with great race organisation in a very biker friendly atmosphere. First and foremost the BETi events are mountain bike meet ups where all enduro fans have the opportunity to spend a few days riding first class trails. If you add a chilled-out atmosphere, good food, great wine and live music, then all objectives have been happily reached.

The race, which took place on the trails of the Madonie MTB Resort, had three special stages with more than thirty kilometres over different trails. The technical first stage was held on a mix of the Giganti, North Shore and Manna trails, the fast second stage on the Castelbuono DH trail and the third finished up with a long 7km descent (a mixture of the Dei Carbonai and Milocco Trails) which brought the riders into the finish line in the medieval town centre of Castelbuono. The winner was French rider Jerome Clementz (Cannondale) with a time of 26mins 18secs in the special stage and he came in before the second French rider Bastien Dieffenthaler and the local Sicilian rider Davide Camedda who came in at a time of 30 mins 09 secs and 30 mins 59 secs respectively.

“Five days under the Sicilian sun while the rest of Europe is freezing” said Jerome Celementz. “The trails are fantastic here and it’s not easy to find similar trails in the Alps. It’s a race that has three special stages and a total of half an hour of complete downhill.”

Special guest Alex Lupato (FRM Factory Team) recorded the second best time in the race despite not being officially classified and although he had some slight brake problems in the special stages.

The women’s race was won by Hannah Barnes (MTB Cut/Orange) from Scotland, who came in ahead of the new Sicilian champion Laura Scorpo (Team Ragusa Bike). The race counted as one of the stages of the Sicilian Enduro Championship and both Scorpo and Camedda will be wearing the Regional Champion jersey in the next round of the Sicilian Enduro Tour.

Bastien Dieffenthaler followed by Davide Camedda and Luca Morana (Team Conca D’Oro) were top of  the Expert category while in the Master category the following: Irishman Daragh Smith (Team Giant Dublin) followed by Paolo Catania (Team Conca D’Oro) and Sergio Alcamo (Mongibello Team). In the Junior category Gianluca Talluto (Team Rider) was the winner.

The next stage of the Bluegrass International Enduro tour takes place in Mollau in Alsace, France on the 8th and 9th of June.

Now go out and ride your bike!

www.bluegrassendurotour.com

www.madoniemtbresort.com

This is the ‘look’ that Enrico is known best for – a smile and always a microphone. He’s a great promoter of the sport and its riders.

We recently announced the dates of the 2013 Italian Super Enduro series and even more importantly the dates for the first ever Enduro World Series, a project being spearheaded by a group of forward thinking promoters, one of whom is Enrico.

We caught up with the man of many plans to hear about his company, his race series and enduro racing on the world stage.

ENRICO GUALA AND HIS COMPANY

So Enrico, can you describe your job briefly?

It can’t be explained briefly! Hahaha. Sometimes I ask myself: “what is my job?” Basically I make my living with my company, I have a distribution company with my partner Andrea and we have 18 brands. It’s actually two things though, we have two parts to the company: one is sales and distribution; the other is consultancy.

We started in 2006 building a small bike park and we made a little bit of money to buy Ibis bikes, that’s how we started. Basically our business, 4Guimp, is a model of business based on our experience. It mixes our knowledge, our background and our passion. We try to have a business that reflects what we’ve been doing for a long time – riding bikes, buying bikes and building tracks for bikes.

So you built some tracks, the bike parks, and then used that as a way of starting a distribution company?

Exactly that. You know when you sell ideas you don’t need money, just ideas.  And if they pay for your ideas then you can start to pay for products.

It’s obviously gone pretty well, you must have some good ideas!

So far, so good. At the same time, building trails is important for everyone, for the sport. Without trails we won’t have jobs or anywhere to ride! So it’s all in our interest.

So how many resorts and bike parks have you worked on?

I don’t recall a number, but it’s at least ten places. The first trails I built were in Finale Ligure.

Then we have Alpi Bike Park, which is the biggest project we handle by ourselves, then a resort called Maddesimo and we also have a pumptrack company that we handle as well. I think that we have a little role in the development of mountain biking in Italy.

We’ve been basically working here and there, not only for business but also to help other resorts to start things off.

Where’s the best place to ride in the world then…?

Hhhhhhhuuuh. You know the answer! I think Liguria in Italy – where I live – I used to say it’s like the like the Californa of Europe. If you just think about the facts: 95% of the region is mountains; and half of the region is facing the Mediterranean sea. We have mountains up to 2,200metres. We’ve been living in this place for millions of years, which means we have plenty of trails. I think Liguria is the best place in the world to ride bikes.

95% of the region is mountains; and half of the region is facing the Mediterranean sea. We have mountains up to 2,200metres.

You recently rode in Asia, how was that?

It was different…. The biggest difference is that there’s no trail culture down there, so you never know what to expect from a ride.  It’s fast developing. I think with trails and a mountain can be a good place for mountain biking. You just have to know where to go and let the trail guide you.

They’ve been producing bikes for a long time there though, and now they’re starting to discover about riding bikes. This is thanks to some people, some industry people over there. For instance, Martin from KS built a 4X track at his factory just to show his workers what a MTB (mountain bike) is, why they’re producing these bikes. KMC chains let their employees go ride bikes every Friday afternoon to learn more about the parts they’re manufacturing.

The ‘Prologue’ stages at Super Enduro races attract large crowds and show the sport off to people who wouldn’t normally make it onto the hill to watch a stage.

THE ITALIAN SUPER ENDURO SERIES

How long has the series been running, when and why did you start it?

Oh now that’s a good question, how many hours do you have?

MTB has been evolving for many years; I would say it’s a thirty three year old sport. However, only very recently has technology allowed the bike companies to make very efficient and light bikes that can be ridden up and down, like the bikes of the pioneers. You know, they only had one bike to do it all back in Marin County when it all started back in the 70s.

Enduro bikes, mid-travel, all-mountain bikes, are exactly the same. But to sell these bikes, especially in Italy, you need a reason. The reason is racing. We are racers – every Italian is a racer at heart. Just drive on the highway in Italy –it’s horrendous!

Full gas all the time?

We are competitive so you know, for cross-country bikes you have races, downhill bikes you have races…. But with this kind of bike we are in the middle, it’s like: “why should I buy a bike that’s not as light as a XC bike, not as fast as a DH bike?”

Together with Franco Monchiero…actually, he was the man to call me one day (he’s a very good motocross rider and we’ve been friends for a very long time) and he said, “Listen, we have to organise an enduro race.” I said, “No I’m too busy with building my company”, to which he said, “No, no, we need to do it, to do something different.” Or at least I feel like that’s what he told me. So basically he convinced me and the next year we started with seven events.

We wanted to give the bike a reason to be raced, and to give enduro a shape, a format suitable for Italians – that suited the Italian way of thinking. We started with the same format we have now, with very strict rules and different to the French system.

We wanted to give the bike a reason to be raced, and to give enduro a shape, a format suitable for Italians – that suited the Italian way of thinking.

We introduced time penalties (for not reaching your designated start on time), which the French races didn’t have. If you come to San Remo or Finale Ligure or many places around the world, you do not have lifts. And the French system is only on lifts. So, how do you do it without lifts? You have to pedal up.

So you wanted to create a series that could be taken absolutely anywhere with hills?

That’s what you need if you want a sport to become popular and to establish the sport on a national scale.

All of your races start and finish in towns, don’t they?

Yep. That’s again why it’s good to have a bike that can pedal up and that can be ridden for 60 km in a day – of course you have to be fit – and moreover the excitement in enduro is the downhill stages. When I go to Finale with my friends the idea is to pedal up, ride some trails then have a beer on the beach. That’s essentially what enduro racing is.

Usually gravity riding is in the mountains, you cannot show the masses what you do. Of course, the prologue in Finale is not high-level skilful mountain biking, but you show the crowds what you do.

Enrico has a great staff team behind the Super Enduro series, all of whom are just as passionate and devoted as he is.

Have you seen the popularity increase a lot in the last two years?

Yes. I think in a way I find myself thinking that enduro is just mountain biking, it’s what I have been doing all my life. I bought my first MTB in 1985, a GT Backwoods with 18 speed Suntour and fully rigid. What I was doing with that bike was exactly, well very similar to, what I’m doing with my Ibis now. I go out with my friends for a ride and have fun on the way down. Enduro is just a way to describe what people have been doing on MTBs forever. The big difference with enduro bikes is that we have a huge amount of fun, much more than I did with my old bike.

I think the reason that enduro is exploding in popularity is that cross-country and downhill just went too far for most people. It’s for the average guy who works 9-5 in an office all week who doesn’t have the time to train, to practise and doesn’t want to hurt himself. I think even cross-country went too far from what most people do on their bikes.

THE ENDURO WORLD SERIES

What’s your part I the series? What role do you play and what’s your job title?

I don’t have a job title…the EWS (Enduro World Series) is a group of people that put together an organisation based in the UK – Chris Ball is the managing director in Edinburgh – so again it is something that grew up along the way. I met Chris the first time last year in Finale, 2011, and we met again at the UCI – where he worked before – and when UCI dropped the world series idea it was natural to keep talking with the people that we’d been talking with for nine months.

I don’t have a job title…the EWS (Enduro World Series) is a group of people that put together an organisation based in the UK – Chris Ball is the managing director in Edinburgh

I would say it is a group of people – Super Enduro, the Enduro series in France, Crankworx and Chris. And at the same time at the UCI there were other organisers involved, but the feeling with them wasn’t as good. It was a natural evolution of a relationship and idea we had been building for nine months.

My job is to bring the experience and knowledge I have learnt from running the Super Enduro. I’ll be running the first and last events – Punta Ala and Finale Ligure.

Will you be attending only your own events or all the events?

I’ll be at every race. I have to!

Will the other organisers or are you the most motivated?

Haha that’s a good question that you should ask the other guys. Basically we all have our own businesses, I think Chris will attend all events, Darren and the  Crankworx team will of course be at their American and European events and I guess some other events throughout the year. The schedule is not finalised yet. We have a lot of work to do together so I guess we will be meeting over events.

Enrico Guala with Nicolas Vouilloz, a regular face at the Super Enduro series and a rider we can be sure to see at the Enduro World Series races in 2013.

Which race in the EWS are you most excited about?

For sure the opening in Punta Ala because it is the start of a new adventure, not just for us but for the world of mountain biking and for the people involved in enduro.

I’m very curious to see the overseas events, just because it will be totally new for us, especially having a proper enduro race at the Crankworx means a lot for the growth of the sport and the evolution of the event itself.

Last but not least I’m eager to attend the Enduro of the Nations because, being part of the EWS means that the event will reach a new level of attendance and visibility.

…it is the start of a new adventure, not just for us but for the world of mountain biking and for the people involved in enduro.

Any confirmed ‘big name’ riders?

Beside all the top enduro riders, we heard that some big names from both the cross-country and downhill worlds will join us…We’ll see.

How far do you see the EWS going? Have you thought long-term about it?

I do see EWS being an organisation that will help to establish enduro as a discipline and eventually being in charge of helping the development of the sport together with national and local organisation and clubs. We founded EWS to be a rider’s organisation focused and with a constant and open relationship with the sport and the industry. After the announcement of the EWS we have received incredible support from teams, industry and national and regional organisers, all of them ready to play their part in the game. I think we will be evolving and developing the sport but will always be open to listen and evaluate any interesting proposals.

How is the industry receiving news of the EWS?

As I said, the support has been great. Company owners, marketing manager, team managers are all very supportive of the EWS. Active support from the industry and active support for the industry is a sentence I like, if you know what I mean. We provide a platform to grow the sport and the market and the industry provide the support to make it happen. It’s a win-win situation.

What happens if someone cuts the course?

They will be whipped!

Thanks Enrico.

Read more about the coming Enduro World Series in our interview with managing director, Chris Ball here.

We’ll be catching up with more race organisers like Enrico in 2013, watch this space.

ALL PHOTOS IN THIS FEATURE © SUPER ENDURO

The R.X2 looks like a great all-mountain bike, and judging by this edit is has had more than its fair share of ‘testing’. It’s always good to see riders getting out there and going on an adventure, and this trip to Tre Cime de Lavaredo in Italy looks like one of the nicer trips we’ve seen documented. What a beautiful looking place.

Find out more about Rotwild here.

We’ll be featuring Molini in our series of travel guides, coming soon. For now though, here is a video that ‘Ady’ describes as an ‘experiment’ with his new heli-cam. It’s enough to get us dreaming and we hope that it helps get you through the Monday morning blues:

Ady took great pleasure in telling me how they were riding in shorts and t-shirts and uncovering new trails over the weekend just gone… Bit of a contrast to Wales but with all the new trails popping up (who was riding at Afan over the weekend?) we won’t be complaining.

Find out more about Riviera Bike here.