Enduro with your eyes closed? Visualisation techniques with Steve Holcombe

Eyes closed, can you remember every twist, turn and tree in an enduro test? Steve Holcombe demonstrates his massive visualisation skills for remembering an International Six Days Enduro special test before even turning a wheel (with onboard footage of the FIM track inspector to show Steve’s accuracy).

This is surely freakish behaviour by any normal human standards, but an essential part of the skills needed to excel in time card enduro.

To explain; if anyone isn't aware of the routine riders arrive at a race a few days early and are allowed to walk the tests multiple times to know the layout.

Holcombe and his Great Britain teammates, as well as all Trophy teams at the ISDE in Spain, will have walked each of the daily tests last week, ahead of the race. The skill is to remember the test and work out the fastest lines and keep them locked-in the brain for when you arrive on the pegs. 

It is an identical routine at an EnduroGP but the additional tests across the Six Days makes this even more difficult and impressive. Days one and two for example had three separate tests ridden twice per day, days three and four the same and day five a fresh set of tests. That’s a total nine tests and highlights a reason why some riders find they’re riding a bit blind as they enter tests on the later days of the week, they simply can’t recall what they walked a week ago by that point.