Paul Bolton’s Top Tips for Red Bull Romaniacs

A few days before the Red Bull Romaniacs Rally, introduce drinking whatever electrolyte drink you will use in the race. Start with it very weak and gradually increase towards the race start. You need to get your body used to it! You are going to be consuming a lot of it over the next week and don’t want a dicky tummy interfering with your days! This is a multi-day enduro so your body needs to be prepared. Generally your hydration should already be well underway. Don’t wait until the rally to begin. Try to get your fluid intake up in the week before the race.

Also don’t forget to go practicing with your hydration pack set up. For example, if you are planning to use a USWE Helmet Hands Free Kit make sure you have tried using it to get used to it before racing. 

Loading up on food this week is a priority. It’s easy to get busy with organisation, fixing the bike etc and neglect eating properly in the run up to the race and next week too.

Make sure you have thought about what food and drink you will have at the service points. Think about what you can eat in the morning because it’s early hours. At the service point you have limited time and whatever you eat needs to be going down easy! You will also want to have some easy access snacks. If you have a USWE Hydration Pack, use a clip-on Organizer Pocket, or alternatively a clip- on USWE Phone Pocket to store goodies.

Sleep is so important right now! Try to get at least eight hours of sleep per night. Through the week of Red Bull Romaniacs there is a lot of sleep deprivation with late night briefings and early starts.

The bike should be set up already and no major changes needed. Go to the prologue with worn tyres, not freshies. Even really used ones – it really doesn’t matter on the tarmac. For the off-road days, (for most classes) it is better to go with a softer mousse in the rear, than a slightly harder one. If you’re an Atom or Iron class rider, there are more high-speed, gravel roads so you will need more of a medium set up.

Look after the temperature of the engine! Make sure the cooling fan is spinning and get off the clutch where you can, as heavy use of the clutch isn’t good for the clutch and it also makes the temperature of the engine hotter. I use the SPAL Cooling Fan on the Beta as it has more blades and better cooling capacity which is definitely needed in hard enduro!

For carbed bikes, you will need to preserve fuel on downhill sections. So if you are stopped waiting for any length of time on a downhill be aware fuel could be leaking from the carb. So turn the back wheel around to the side so you’re on an angle across the hill.