Just looked at the forecast and the early hours of the morning look like they might be a bit testing. Pack your singlespeeds and drum brakes boys!

Yep, looks like it is going to be pretty biblical from about 1am.

Reckon this will be my last d2d – just no fun in the slop.

Rear brake pads are very low, so packed some more – not broken In though, so reluctant to put them on.

Why oh why couldn’t it have been a week ago?!

Shame really biked round earlier today and it was dry and really fast.

Thought the same thing Stumpy, last week would have been nice!

Fortunately I’m not doing it but going up watch the first hour so.

Sumpy, I’d put the new ones in first to get them bedded in while it’s dry. If you wait they’ll be gone before the end of the fire road when it gets sloppy, if last years anything to go by. Good luck!

So come on guys, how was it? Hopefully not as bad as the forecast suggested.

Just seen a post on FB saying Andy Cockburn has won the Solo class.

I bailed out at 3am. Very wet and slithery, and getting a bit boring sliding round the parts before and after the double shocker. Plus I was throwing up part-digested gel round the last two laps. That wasn’t even as bad as the rain and the slop to be honest.

Hats off to the people who stayed at it.

That was….wet.

Was riding with Andy until I passed a backmarker going down a DH bit and hit something off the trail, it was like someone pressed eject. I rode one more lap but it was just agony so sadly pulled out from the lead AGAIN and am now in A&E 🙁

Gee, was it you that crashed at about midnight having just squeezed past two people in a row whilst shouting ‘leader coming through on your right?’

Yes that sounds like me. It wasn’t a squeeze though – I just didn’t see the stump :(. I’m not sure I like the tone of your post.

Commiserations Gee and get well soon.

We bailed at 3 too.. just couldn’t face trashing our bikes anymore.. faie play to those still riding at 9 this morning

one point.. no showers? WTF?

Bleurgh…

That was like a repeat of last year. First two laps rode quite well – the trails were damp, but not too bad.
My team partner went out for the next two & came back looking pretty dishevelled…

We called it a night & got a decent nights sleep.

Don’t think I’ll do it again, so you can guarantee next yr will be bone dry…

So the news is a cracked left arm/shoulder joint. Fantastic! At least it’s not in the middle of the season I suppose.

GB

Sorry to hear about your cracked shoulder and that you don’t like the tone of my post. I was the rider you overtook before the person you were overtaking at th etime of the crash, you were far too close to me for my liking and I was pretty sure as soon as you made your next manouver you were about to crash.

Once you had sat up I continued on my lap, a few minutes later you again squeezed past me again coming far too close to me. Being a slower rider I was overtaken by many people last night but nobody got anywhere near as close when passing as you.

Apologies if this was not you.

I thought it was going to be a bit damp, but the rain never stopped and only seemed to get heavier – just like last year and 4 years ago.

I got taken out by a deer near the 3 mile point on the first lap – someone shouted “deer”, and the next thing I knew one had run into the back of my bike, so my rear wheel looks like a pringle (Roval Control SL if anyone has a spare they want to get rid of). I walked with it for a mile, then had the brainwave of trying to straighten it – after 10 mins of bodging (standing on the rim between 2 tussocks of grass), it was straight enough to continue. I was doing OK until then. Stopped at 7.15 with nothing left in my legs, and was coming 4th Solo then, so am pretty chuffed that I should get top 10.

Gee – hope your arm/shoulder heal quickly, at least you can still ride!

I’d like to know how I was too close to you – I have passed loads of people to the right and left at the bottom of that descent over the past 10 years or so. You clearly have a skewed opinion as to what is ‘close’. Those that know me will know I always say thank you when passing and try as much as is possible to keep out of the way. The fact I crashed had nothing to do with the fact i tried to pass there and everything to do with the fact that there was a stump hidden in the grass. On that note….

I’d also line to know how you knew I was about to crash unless you have magic stump seeing eyes that can spot stumps hidden in the grass. If you do, please report immediately to your nearest university as I’m sure they’d love to study such a freakish mutation. Your total lack of any drop of compassion is disgusting.

Thanks to the riders who stopped to help me up afterwards. Sorry for blocking the trail but as soon as I hit the ground I knew it was more than a normal crash. I was pretty dazed after that one. Thanks also to all those normal human beings who have offered their comiserations etc. After 15 years of racing at a high level something bad had to happen eventually. The irony that it happened at the least technical course we race on isn’t lost on me either! As I said, not too bad this time of year. The biggest pain is not being able to use my arm 🙁

Large418 – that’s crazy. You were lucky it didn’t run into you! Well done for keeping going.

GB

Hit by a deer! I think I saw you by the side of the trail with a buckled wheel. I did wonder how anyone could bend a wheel at that spot. I called out, but I guess I didn’t hear you say that you had been attacked by killer deer… Sorry 🙂

GB – sorry to hear about your arm. Must be frustrating on such an otherwise tame course.

Too wet.

Haha – yeah I’ve managed to survive the Alps, Scotland and various other scary bits and come a cropper at Thetford! Andy was riding really well though and would have beaten me anyway – so I’m really pleased for him that he kept going and won.

I’m actually getting to quite like racing Wetford in the rain (although i do also quite like it in the dry).

Did the 1st & 4th laps for our team but that was it for us as both team mates aggravated problems.

Saw a lot of people walking on my 2nd lap with broken chains, mechs, hangers etc.

To be fair to mossimus there were a number of quick riders who passed without a shout and some were a little too close for comfort. However, the really fast guys & girls were always courteous & cheerful when passing me.

Bad luck Gee, there were a couple of times when i came close to some well concealed stumps & holes. One of the draw backs of a quicker course is that they seem to spring out of no where i guess.

Heal fast.

Gee hard luck on the crash chap. I must have been just in front of you when you crashed.. Hope you have a speedy recovery

Thetford is a long way for me and I won’t be back. It didn’t have the feel of other events I’ve done.

I found it really hard again but this year I managed to keep going to (just about) the end finishing 6 laps, just over 101km and ending in 40th in solo men. Pretty chuffed with that really.

Bloody tough at times though and that last lap broke me.

Interesting to read the two different views of the same incident. I’m sorry you crashed Gee, commiserations on the shoulder. But IMHO if the passee thinks the passer was too close then they were too close; it’s in the eye of the beholder that these things are measured. Particularly in a 12hr race where a few seconds is not quite as vital, in the dark and potentially wet conditions, all consideration has to be given to the rider you are passing and if they don’t back off to let you past you should wait until you can do so without causing any risk to either party.

Results are up on the timelaps site:

http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/uploads/d2d2011.pdf

That was my fifth and final year of D2D. I just can’t take anymore, and neither can my bike! Plus to be honest the cost of entry plus petrol, plus food and bike bits make it a £100 race which is just not viable when its so hard and so little fun.

The practice lap was great but as usual the rained started and just didn’t stop. We came 15th out of 57 in the men’s pairs which i think is pretty respectable given the conditions. We packed-in about 6am.

I seriously think the organisers need to consider a september date. Surely the annual horror stories, not to mention the condition which the course must be left in, could lead to its demise?

In Gee’s defence, he’s passed literally thousands of riders in races over the years, I’m not aware of him ever having had an altercation with someone. Be being off the trail he clearly wasn’t endangering the other rider. The closest overtake I’ve had this year was Liam Killeen at Mayhem, he was closer than I’d have ever gone, but I’ve no doubt that he was totally sure of the move, and I wasn’t at risk. I’m sure this is the same, and Gee was just really unlucky to hit something in the undergrowth.

It’s easy to say “why not just slow down, it’s only a couple of seconds”, but it is a race, and if you lose a couple of seconds every time you pass a rider, then you’d lose an hour rather quickly!

Still, commiserations to Gee, healing vibes and all that.

and if you lose a couple of seconds every time you pass a rider, then you’d lose an hour rather quickly!

Probably not that quickly, you’d have to overtake 1800 riders first 😉

I saw Gee crash and I would have gone for a pass in the same place. There was plenty of room on the strimmed grass beside the track. It’s just unlucky that there was a log hiding in the undergrowth.

Don’t get me wrong, i’ve been passed by Gee many times over the years as well, having been a regular trail obstruction at many a long event ;-), and I’m sure he thought it was a safe pass too. Clearly wasn’t but as he said, no way of telling that at the time; I don’t think you can say by being off the trail he clearly wasn’t endangering the other rider, if he’d been alongside at the time the crash occurred he could easily have taken them both out.

My point still stands, it’s not Gee’s opinion that counts, if the other rider feels it was too close then that is at least an equally valid opinion, if not more valid. Maybe different in a WC or Elite race, but in an open field race, having these fast guys thunder past novice riders in the dark and wet can be a very disconcerting experience.

This is a bike race so passing happens. Sometimes it feels a bit close for comfort – i had several moments last night when i got passed and bars touched – but some people are actually going for a high finish whereas others just wanted to get round. We all have to figure it out as we go.

If you think being overtaken on a bicyle (in a XC race!!) is in any way scary that’s very much in your head.

I obviously need to only overtake on fire roads in future. I think people need to be able to differentiate between a close pass and a dangerous one. The year I did Mayhem solo the only dangerous passes I received were from mid-pack riders racing for 46th. The front guys know the price of crashing into a backmarker so pass where safe. I thought that spot was safe so went for it. I think people just need to be a little less sensitive and realise that close passes happen in racing, and round Thetford they are often high-speed ones so having people thunder past is something you just get used to after a while. I watched the F1 this afternoon and didn’t see any of the drivers moaning that someone else got a little close to them. There is a he’ll of a difference between close and actually hitting someone, though.

I’d also like to hear how you are supposed to overtake someone without being alongside them at some point.

I think people are commenting on a situation they know little about, but heh what do I know.

GB

but in an open field race, having these fast guys thunder past novice riders in the dark and wet can be a very disconcerting experience.

In an open race, the slow ‘just want to finish a lap’ riders should be aware that they will be thundered past, more than once, by riders who are actually racing.
As long as no contact is made or slow riders made to change their line then that’s racing – if you don’t like being overtaken than get faster 😉

Oh, and get well soon gee…..

Thanks.

I was thinking – perhaps we need a thread entitled ‘how to tell your left from your right’ as based on my experiences before I decided to smash myself up last night a few people need to learn the difference.

Bitching about people can work both ways.

GB

I think people are commenting on a situation they know little about

You aren’t a relatively unskilled novice rider out having a go. You don’t know what being passed that close and at that speed feels like when you are. Even your MM experience is different, you have the skills and technique that others don’t to survive those dangerous passes, and even then i bet you aren’t thrilled by them.

You’ve got your opinions, others have theirs, they’re different. I just think coming on here after you’ve crashed and bust a shoulder up and claim it wasn’t a dangerous move is daft. I don’t think anyone is saying you shouldn’t pass, just you need to do it risk free.

Like I said, in an Elite or Pro field you can and probably will take more risks because both you and the people you pass have more to race for, you accept those risks, and also better skills to deal with the outcomes.

If you think being overtaken on a bicyle (in a XC race!!) is in any way scary that’s very much in your head.

Being overtaken in a bike race isn’t scary. Being overtaken and clashing bars that caused a crash, concussion, and loss of half the skin on the side of my face was, and the memory / potential for that to repeat is also scary.

F1’s different – that’s a pro sport and they are paid millions to do that. And yet when someone drives in a manner endangering themselves and potentially others, the stewards are quick to penalise and the drivers themselves aren’t averse to sorting it out in the paddock too.

Might have been you that passed me(with plenty of room I might add)saying on your right,but the bloke in front of me was already on the right of the trail & whether it was you or not,something was muttered about people not knowing their left from their right…..Whether it was you or not,the overtaking rider was a right kn0b jockey…..

We can all bitch……. 8)

The passing argument always happens & 99% of passes aren’t an issue.
It’s probably a combination of things that cause problems.

I had two people pass me on quite a narrow section of trail last night. The first of the two shouted ‘on your left’, so I moved over but due to the terrain to my right I couldn’t get completely off the trail. He buzzed passed me brushing my shoulders and almost knocking my bars, then proceeded to shout ‘woooaaahh’ and gave me the impression that he thought I hadn’t done enough to move.

With regard ‘left or right’, I find more often than not it is the person trying to overtake that gets it wrong, shouts ‘on your right’, before trying to shoehorn there way down the left hand side. But, again I guess that just happens with the pressure & tiredness so you can’t get too grumbly about it!

Very wet indeed! If it was dry that would have been so fast!

Gee get well soon! Sounds painful!

Any idea where the photos will be? Joozle Dymond I assume was there? Looking forward to seeing the shots taken in the tight singletrack!

That’s the 3rd time in 4 attempts now that i’ve got soak, killed my bike and had to bail out. I think its time to listen to what the gods are trying to tell me. I can’t take anymore.