The Exmoor Explorer has been on my to do list since i came home first in the 75k Exmoor marathon event a few years ago, This year looked to be perfect as i was in ok shape and the Rocky Mountain 970 BC Element on paper would be the perfect bike for such an event, We lined up right at the back behind 200 riders and we were soon off.. well we should of been.. We walked and chatted for the first three miles till we got a chance to get on the bike and start to pass some riders, We hit the first few DH sections and it was dropper down and some sweet lines as we cut our way through the pack and having a blast. At the first check point the back pads were shot from all the braking behind slower riders but we cracked on the outer loop feeling strong and pushing on over the moors with just a front brake, i had a real boost when i got told that i was the only full sus that had passed this rider all day and a lot of others loving the 29er Rocky as i picked off riders ahead of me that were few and far between now i was closer to the front and fewer tyre marks in the mud as we headed for home after the last check point, never once getting passed i started to smash out some good lines on the dh sections and kept it pinned on the moorland climbs . Come the final section and we shot passed the taped trail and ended up along with some others lost and way off track.. As we rode back up and on to the track i spotted a rider i had passed some miles back and we hit the final sections flat out and making ground hitting up the jumps and railing the turns till i spotted the front tyre was feeling a little soft.. i had a slow flat thanks to a big old thorn and so backed off and rolled in 7th. 29min down on the leader and with our 30min hold up at the start showed that we had a great 3 hour 30min ride in some of the hardest conditions that the event has been run under and the Element 970 BC was the perfect weapon.
Would i do it again.. Roll on next year and maybe some dry weather.
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