I have been persuaded (think that should read bullied!) into entering the mixed pairs for Dusk til Dawn. Can anyone please give me any idea what I have got my self in for? How technical? Is it awful in the mud? Help!!

Not technical at all, if muddy it just gets a bit slippery in places, certainly not sticky stuff. It's a good event.

njee20 – erm last years event?

Yep, a bit slippery in places, no claggy stuff at all, not technical.

I rode most of it on Racing Ralphs, put a Mud X on the front in the morning.

Flat and flowing singletrack, gets very muddy and rutted when the rain sets in. You will enjoy in. Only technical bits will be if any bombholes are included but they are not really too technical

As njee20 says no claggy stuff as its all sand

I did my first one last yr. There were some sections where I just couldn't stop my wheels spinning – even on reasonably striaght forward sections. There was very little grip – and I think I'd put my mud tyres on. I think all of our group said the same thing & were all on different tyres.
The mud at Thetford rarely gets claggy, but it can get quite rutted in places.

There's no hills to speak of, but it can be pretty tiring as you are having to pedal almost constantly. It's one of the things I have noticed at Thetford races – people who go off real quick as 'it's flat' and then suffer later on.

If the weather's nice, it'll be great though – lots of fast, flowing singletrack – at night…..FAB!!

I did the whole race on Jones ACXs. Agree with njee, it never got *that* muddy, even though it rained lots. Non technical but good fun – lots of twisty, rooty singletrack.

a cx bike is perfect ;o)

2nd time last year, and at the moment will have been my last!

First lap out its just a traffic jam, sat in the woods after about a mile for about 20 odd mins while the first bomb hole was negotiated, from then on it was just a mud fest, got back to my tent and i had a puddle on my kipping bag, threw all my stuff in the car, and stropped off home!

Make sure you don't go and do the first lap, unless your really fast and at the front!

So basically I need to keep everything crossed that its not torrential but should be ok with a bit of rain? I'm guessing that due to location there won't be quite as much rain as I'm used to in the Lakes (I'm hoping!!)
Cheers for the advice, and I'll make sure my race partner does the first lap, after all he's just done the first lap at SITS this weekend!

Thetford is/was used for motorcycle enduros (that's what created most of the singletrack) and a lot of the singletrack is plagued with braking and acceleration bumps. They play hell with my back, some years they're more noticeable than others, means you spend a lot more time out of the saddle than you'd reasonably expect on a flat course.

Good event, good vibe generally, well organised and good fun. Take it as it comes and enjoy yourself.

Just out of interest, you guys who were riding on "slicks" and having no problems at all, were you actually riding all night and where did you finish? If you can't recall, a team name is fine, its easy to check from there.

Done all of them, and it's a good event. last year was shite, bit slippy in places but agree with njee wasn't that bad. only did 3 night laps though, chucked in the towel after that…

I didn't think it was that bad in the 'mud' last year. I rode it all on Maxxis Crossmarks, which aren't too good in proper sticky mud. I can only remember one short section where I was struggling with traction, and I never had to pull mud from the bike. I finished 16th in the solo cat.

I agree about the traffic jam at the 1st bombhole on the 1st lap.

3rd in mens pairs, with both of us recovering from injuries and not having done much riding, in fact it was my 3rd MTB ride in 4 months, with only a handful more road rides.

Certainly rode all night yep, according to my Polar software my lap times were: 56 minutes, 1hr03, 1hr17, 1hr22, 1hr36, my lack of fitness showing through at the end!

I remember having no brake pads left, it's very abrasive, and I'd take some Mud X or something like that, but you're never going to need 1.5" Black Shark Muds around Thetford.

Thoroughly good events, well organised and very friendly.

Mud last year was doable but not very much fun and given my team mate had spent most of the previous week away from home supporting his brother and sister in law whose son had just been diagnosed with leukaemia he hit 'is it really worth it' point quite early so we jacked and sat in his van for the last 4 hours. Other years have been dry though.

Poor sod picked his events last year though…… a few weeks later he was one of the missing thousands in the KIMM! I don't think I'm planning to partner Ade again.

Take a good book for the queue at the first bombhole….

Did they not avoid the first bombhole for the first few laps last year!?

It happens at all Thetford events, even the Winter Series races are plagued with long queues for any of the bombholes, it's because the speeds are high and the gaps small.

i certainly don't remember going through the first bombhole until a few hours into the race, it was quite a shock!

having done all the D2Ds and a large proportion of the Winter Series you don't need a specific mud tyre for Thetford as it's always quite liquid and open rather than claggy, any open-treaded 'normal' tyre will be fine

and if you're doing pairs any mud will be the least of your worries, getting enough food in and not freezing to death during your 'off' laps will be more of more concern, it's fun, in a painful way

It's not just Thetford events that you get a tailback at the first singletrack/obstacle…..
Virtually every race/event I have done has a slow section in the first lap – even the Wiggle Enduro 6 where they give you a thoroughly enjoyable 1/2 mile run at the start to try & break things up.

You're racing for 12hrs…..does a 10 min delay on the first lap really matter – I look at it as a good chance to have a steady, warm up first lap.

As for the braking/acceleration bumps – the trails are very undulating, but I wouldn't say they are traditional braking bumps, except for in a few places – mainly on the red/black route.

If it does rain at Thetford, generally the mud is very sloppy so doesn't clag the bike up – I have only done one race where the mud got claggy & it was basically drying out & all the bikes turned it into a gloopy mulch that stuck to everything.

You'll have great fun! Tearing through the singletrack at Thetford with lights blazing is fantastic.

Certainly rode all night yep, according to my Polar software my lap times were: 56 minutes, 1hr03, 1hr17, 1hr22, 1hr36, my lack of fitness showing through at the end!

Are sure it was your fitness, and not the fact that the conditions were shocking?

Personally by midnight I'd clocked 3 laps, including a 20 odd minute wait at BH1, plus a whole one on a crappy headtorch after my main light had failed, then thought WTF? this is shite, so a can of stella and a warm sleeping bag beckoned and that was it. Done them all since 04/05 ish, and I have really enjoyed them all bar last year.

Well done you folks who kept going. Incidentally, the norm for a high place finish in the mens pairs would be about 7 plus laps each