So entry is open with 2017 discounts, whose in?

In a fit of enthusiasm I had a beer an entered all of them. :-). Can’t wait.

I am in….only booked Builth so far.
Not supposed to be doing any this year due to saving for house but i have done the whole series for the last 3 or 4 years.
May get some dutch courage and book the rest after a bottle of red, then tell the wife….

Is it just me or does anyone miss the Ruthin event? Used to love it and missed out on the replacement event this year in the Peak district. So don’t know if they’ve made it even better?

Oh poop! The main one I wanted is when I’m away at Spa/Germany on the KTM.

I’ll be doing them with the boy, well might go to Wantage, mmmmm.

Hope was great, cracking route,, but I do miss Ruthin. Its a great route I’ve got it on gpx somewhere. I should just go and do it

I’ll be doing Builth & Hope, the other two clash with other things

I may do Builth but the others are too far for me. Wish someone else would run a clwyds mtb marathon as well.

Kryton – don’t forget that you are welcome to crash at my place before/during/after the Builth one.

I’ll be marshalling somewhere on the route again.

Kryton – don’t forget that you are welcome to crash at my place before/during/after the Builth one

Thank you! I’ll be camping with my teammates this year though. I’ll look out for you on route and say hello – likewise Steve B77 I’ll look for a KTM at the campsite. 🙂

How much of your entry do you fee should be reinvested in the local trails folks, out of interest?

How much of your entry do you fee should be reinvested in the local trails folks, out of interest?

None.

It should go to the event organisers.

Well, a couple of days to go, Builth looks damp and Sunday looks like a small chance of a few showers.

I’m looking forward to it – are we all ready to rock?

Good luck for it fella… ride fast and well 🙂   Distinctly envious !

First one ever for me this Sunday looking forward to it.

is it classed as a race as such?

feed stations on way round?

Is its a race:

“Although the ride is not a race, rider times will be posted on the website shortly after the event”

And yes, there are feed stations, 3 of usually.  Thanks Weeksy, this is the first of what the last 4.5 months have been all about, I’m keen to see how I can ride to strategy and place in the standings vs 2017.

Thanks Kryton and good luck!

Well, a couple of days to go, Builth looks damp and Sunday looks like a small chance of a few showers.

That’s an understatement, I’ve never seen it so wet at this time of year in these parts.

I won’t be there as it’s a weekend of birthday parties for my boys, only one I can make this year is Hope valley at the back end.

Hoping to be there Sunday, but only for the 25k event, hardly any riding lately, new bike which I haven’t ridden yet, and mid way through 10 days of antibiotics……..

I quite fancy having a dabble at the next round. How serious are they? I know they’re “not races”- but are they full of Lycra clad whippets that you’ll see disappearing off the line and not again until the end? Or slightly more leisurely? Is it worth camping or just arriving on the day?

Oh- and carbon hardtails? Or something more playful?

Jesus **** christ.  I knew from the moment they were towing the cars into the camping field it was going to be a mudfest  but that was hard work and very slippery in places.   Managed to fall an break a BOA dial off my shoe so had to ride for 2hrs with that flapping around, and got lost by turning down a big hill having to spend 8 mins coming back up.

Take away the diversion and I’ve done the 2018 mudfest in 3:50 – 12 minutes faster than my 2017 dusty summer trails time – I’ll take that as an improvement.

Unfortunately I’ll get this shoe fix down time and diversion added to the resulting ride time so not the result my efforts deserve but I know within myself I was stronger this year.

I hope  everyone else had a er, “good” time!

Mcraque – at the sharp end they are racing each other.  They are tough courses, I prefer a 100m FS myself but plenty have hardtails.

Take away the diversion and I’ve done the 2018 mudfest in 3:50 – 12 minutes faster than my 2017 dusty summer trails time – I’ll take that as an improvement.

Kryton57 – not not bad going! Full marathon? What times were hope and Scott riders doing?

we arrived early sat morning to the chaos of the camping field.. after getting the van stuck with the family in tow and discovering a very water logged field we decided to abandon pitching our stupidly big tent! Thought they got the venue very wrong this year! Do these events every year and just wasn’t family friend enough for our 2 young ones and didn’t help our youngest had broken out in chicken poks that day so didn’t ride Sunday! Prob a good thing haha…

Awesome muddy day..i really enjoyed it..only did 46k half though.

Looked like a ridiculous amount of rain on the Saturday so decided to give it a miss. Knew it’d be a mudfest and it’d probably destroy my bike!

My team mate raced it though, he’s fast, 2hr 42!

I did the Exposure big night out on the Sat night. I thought I knew slippery from cyclocross but this was on another level. Imagine the wettest, muddiest cx race you’ve ever done then make it last 2 hours, after a 300m climb, in the dark, with streams to cross, random rocks, and long descents that were just point and hope. It was absolutely marvellous!

Followed this with the full marathon on Sunday in thankfully drier conditions (although the second half was pretty slippery). Managed 3hrs 10 by my garmin. Highlight was getting caught by a young lass towards the end. After watching her descend through the woods at blistering pace (accompanied by the politest collection of excuse me’s and thank you’s from her), I put two and two together and realised I was watching Harriet Harnden (World cx Cup u23 superstar). I put in an effort to catch her up then rode with her for a while so I could chat. What a delightful end to a classic weekend.

Massive thank you to the guys from Builth. The amount of effort these guys put into making the event feel special is staggering. The whole weekend is like being at a mini festival and the racing is superbly run with lead vehicles, quad/motorbike mountain support, police holding traffic on the roundabouts as you leave the venue in a huge peloton. I could go on and on, it’s a great way to spend a couple of days.

Yes full marathon. r8jimbob88 – 2:42?  That’s insane wow!   Rider times not up yet.

Not helped by a headache, I feel sore today.  My “off” caused more issues than I thought – I have an minor ankle sprain and a purple lump next to my knee cap where presumably it his the top tube.

I’m very grateful to be off work today, although that does mean cleaning the bike – for the second time.

2:42 looking at his strava segment team at least!  He got the KOM up the first climb too.  That’s what happens when you weigh 50kg I guess…  He’s racing Expert in XC this year but I’ve no doubt he’ll be Elite next year.

Random question – how did you sleep last night?  I’ve occasionally struggled after highly stressfull rides / training etc and have been reading up on the science behind it.  I’ve done a couple of high TSS rides this weekend and feel like a Zombie today, haven’t slept great all weekend.

Not too bad.  I did wake up at 2am .  However, it was a 4hr drive home and I got almost no sleep the night before the race due to the noise in the camping field due to the inconsiderate nature of

a) the chaps in the bottom corner of the field having a laugh until early morning and

b) the guy with the camper that appeared to have a setting which meant the engine / a generator kicked in at times throughout the night.

Times are up. I managed a 3:35 and my wife a 4:30 for the full, that was a muddy ride out which made it a proper laugh. The number of times got both wheels drifting was ridiculous and the rooty woods sections were great fun.

Thought I paced myself really well, anticipating picking the pace up, until 20 miles in got huge cramp that kept coming and going for the rest of it, biggest and hardest ride out this year more work needed.

Paul Oldham with a 2:42…