Good morning singletrackworld...
My name's Huw, I'm the new secretary of the university cycling club now that Luke has fled to Chile to escape trial. I'm one of those awful people that mostly just uses STW as a place to sell stuff without having to pay fleabay, so apologies if I don't get into the swing of it properly and accuse anyone of Nazism, or think of the children at any point.
I've spoken to Luke re: FC requirements to get an idea of what agreement was in place before the race, as Luke put in all of the organisation work himself. There were no specific criteria to meet concerning trail repairs after the event, and apart from a few small points to do with portaloos the feedback from the FC was positive. So there's your background. Having inherited Luke's position, I'd like to do what I can to sort this out before we all bugger off to the Med on our respective yachts.
First thing's first: It's true, we are lazy and useless, apart from in April and May, so thanks to those who mentioned exams and dissertations. Not that it's an excuse as such, but for those of us who weren't directly involved in the organisation of the race, we have had bigger things on our plates recently.
Secondly, while it's great to reserve a corner of the internet to argue about this, as far as I know, no-one has contacted the club directly to explain the problem and suggest further action. It's a bit late, but if you want to then go nuts, the address is in my profile under 'about me'. Generalising, and talking about this in terms of 'the students', isn't a helpful way to make a point, and implicates a whole group of people who bear no responsibility for trail repairs.
Anyway, whether or not it was expected of him by the FC, Luke has previously said on here that repairs would be done, so to honour that commitment I will be at Blairadam on Thursday, whether I'm on my own or I drag others along with me. It's rained a lot over the last couple of weeks, and plenty of users will have ridden the race course since the event, so trying to decide if any damage is due to the race itself seems a bit irrelevant. If I see mudfests I'll do my best to drain them or make an alternative route around them. If anyone has suggestions for other trail repairs then e-mail me, please don't put them up here to be picked apart and start endless other arguments.
So there you go. On Thursday I'm going to repair what I feel can be repaired on the course used for the race, within limits. Don't expect sick booters or rad road gaps, but the complaints have been the amount of surface water on chopped up trails, so better drainage will be put in and excessive mud cleared off the tops.
Thanks, Huw.