Who's looking forward to next weekend then ?
🙂
Can't wait - should be a good'un
jwr
Team or solo ?
Racing as a pair. First event in about 10 years - so should be interesting! How about you?
Solos .
Third time for 3 of us and one newbie ( but he is as fit as 🙄 )
This event has taken the place of 10UTB for us ,great fun .
We have also managed to get a [s]mancave[/s] Wigwam ,which means we should be (hopefully) right on the course 🙂
,good effort.First event in about 10 years
Just pace it out and enjoy 🙂
Not making it this year. My partner has pulled out due to absolutely zero training 🙁
Great event last time, tough tough course, but great atmosphere and well marshalled/organised.
We're aspiring to be average. Seven laps between us would be great, eight would be fantastic. We'll see how things pan out.
Yup, in. First time doing it so looking forward to it.
Aye, doing it as a three.
New batch of homebrew will be ready for it, so might be beers between laps!
Yep, going to try and defend last year's win of the super-niche mixed senior pairs category. Fairly unlikely but you never know...
Doing it solo for te first time. Making a long weekend of it. Any idea on course length/climbing etc For those that's done it before is it particularly tough on tyres, ridden other seven stanes but never Glentress. Presuming there all similar. I'm guessing not the kind of place for thin tlr tyres?
Its a pretty short lap with quite a bit of climbing, I'm not fast and think a lap for me was about 50 mins last year, I'm sure the racing snakes were quite a bit faster. Last year's course included fire road, rooty 'natural' singletrack ie footpath, trail centre surface, and a field. Climbs are mostly fire road and descent mostly singletrack, which makes passing on the downs pretty frustrating, but a fun blast of a descent if you get a clear run. I'm sure the xc folks run silly light tyres but I just run my usual 'summer' tyres.
For reasons not completely clear to me I'm soloing. Obviously the ideal preparation is to do no training, then sell your cross country bike 2 weeks before.
@jonny m, I don't know this year's course but traditionally it doesn't use that much of the trailcentre, which isn't hard on tyres really anyway- not the rockiest hill. Full on XC tyres should be fine though there does tend to be some natural sections that punish anything too slippery if it's wet (I crashed 3 times in about 100 yards one year, I'm dead good at racing)
Doing it on my usual 150mm bike with big tyres, though I might pump them up a bit. Not expecting any records to be broken in fairness.
I test rode the GT7 course last night, it's looking great. Good luck and have fun, everyone.
If anyone has had their partner drop out and needs a sub, PM me. 🙂
Did it last year as a sub, and live nearby.
In a 3. I guess it's time to start training...
ojom plenty of time yet....remember gravity is your co-pilot 🙂
Zero training - I'll be collapsing round again. Rode the course last Sunday - looking forward to it 🙂
Br - it's about time you paid for an entry 😉
Doing it as a pair.
I have two exams next week, one of which is on the 23rd. And haven't ridden a MTB in 2 months. I imagine I will spend most of the climbs pushing up and bitching about them 😛
Bit more worried about dying on the descents. Had some pretty big crashes towards the end of the race last time. Should be fun though.
(Also if anyone is going from Edinburgh with a space in a car lmk)
I'll be volunteering at it, see you all there.
Yey, I'm doing it! Have had a stupid 'go to bed and don't move for three days' cold so that's put paid to any last minute training. Last ride was the Dyfi Enduro 😳
7 hours? Hmm, hopefully someone will chat to me every now and then as that's quite a while…
How do some of you know what the course is?
local knowledge I guess! Some EWS course rumours going around now too.
is it the same as last years course? the descent is a walkers path so not too sure a bunch of people blatting down that this weekend would be a great idea.
hi yourguitarhero,
the organiser needed a time/distance for the course, based on an average, unskilled unfit rider, oh that'll be me then 🙂
hi yourguitarhero,
the organiser needed a time/distance for the course, based on an average, unskilled unfit rider, oh that'll be me then 🙂
Coz we iz special 😀
I just want to know one thing... After 15 minutes in each lap, will we suddenly realise we've climbed up about 10 feet? That was [i]such[/i] a mean trick last time...
Hi Northwind, we've put a tunnel under the ponds so that we can increase the amount of mean trickery....... 😉
Hi D, see you soon. C
Solo. First time I have ridden the event. Quite worried about the amount of climbing that a few of you have mentioned!
[i]Solo. First time I have ridden the event. Quite worried about the amount of climbing that a few of you have mentioned! [/i]
Last year was a great course for me, basically you climbed to above Buzzard's and then descended - felt right for my head 🙂
It's not the climbing that you should be worried about 😯
Hi Vinny, Seriously though. The climbing doesn't appear to be as brutal as in previous years. I rode the course again tonight. Very nice. Hope to see you on race day.
Rode Mayhem last year at Gatcombe Park and to be honest the hills were to brutal for me. However can't wait for Saturday, first event of the year. Also first time I have ridden in the area. Do you know if the course will be open on Friday to have a spin round?
BR - My partner dropped out, but then I hadn't actually entered! But if you can enter on the day I might be interested...i'm not the quickest however!
It is a natural law- week before an XC race? Northwind crashes and ****s himself up 😳 Fingers crossed now!
Damn thought I had another week to find some fitness.
Bike ..Check
Body ..Check
Fuel ..Check
Mind ..Processing..processing..processing..processing
Got back on a bike this morning. Ow. 50/50 whether riding or marshalling I reckon!
solo for me, 3rd time.
Bit of local knowledge and guesswork me-thinks the course is a bit shorter this year with a new descent that will cause lots punctures and maybe crashes for the XC whippets.
Ah now that was good. Thought it lacked the Big Event feel of previous years maybe but loved the riding. Weird, I went from properly crocked 2 days ago (couldn't even get my leg over the bike) to 7 laps today- nowt if you're a Raddogair but quite a lot if you're a Northwind 😆 (oh and if you want to finish with a smile on your face, cross the finish line 1 minute before the end, ace)
Massive curry dispatched, beers being consumed, all is right with the world. Cheers folks!
Yep that was great, everything hurts now.
Managed to get a sub-ride again and got in with 2 mins to go on my last lap. Win Win. 🙂
Good course and especially liked the steep descent from the high point - sorted out the MTBers from the 29er Roadies 😉
Well done northwind, glad you got that last one in, 🙂 I dithered about it and decided I probably wouldn't make it. Now I'm glad I didn't as I feel bad enough! Was a great course - first ride this year where my bike was covered in .... DUST 😯 ( well and some mud)
Enjoyed that, thought the course was fab 😀
Also finished with about 4 minutes to spare. Good feeling. Loved having the XC boys overtake you on the climb and then pass them on the floor on the way down!
Good course except for the final descent through the trees. Too many braking bumps - fine if you're dragging your back wheel on your 140mm travel skill compensator. Crap for everyone else. Still, that's the 'rad' way to ride...
Did it in a trio. Had been sick and off work for a few days so only managed one lap with some puking!
Nice course though, liked the descents.
[i]Good course except for the final descent through the trees. Too many braking bumps - fine if you're dragging your back wheel on your 140mm travel skill compensator. Crap for everyone else. Still, that's the 'rad' way to ride... [/i]
Braking bumps? Don't remember any of those (HT here, although long-fork big tyred variety), it was rooty though and faster was smoother.
There were breaking bumps by the last lap. They weren't that bad, unless like me you had ripped your hands to shreds in which case they hurt like hell.
My fault for not putting softer grips on my bike though.
My Horsethief is a bit heavy for this kind of thing.
Might have to do up my Genesis Core as a lightweight bike for these races.
Too many braking bumps - fine if you're dragging your back wheel on your 140mm travel skill compensator. Crap for everyone else. Still, that's the 'rad' way to ride...
Some very small ones formed towards the end of several hundred [s]lycra clad roadies locking up [/s]people braking hard into corners for 7 hours, I'd say if you want to race on a surface that doesn't do that then tarmac is the best option! 😛
Last descent was definitely of the smoother if you were quicker variety.
What amazed me was just how quickly some people could ride the steep descent after the cake stop - which was great and a feature I encourage all event organisers to adopt. I'm a bit of a mincer on things like that but even so, some people just fly down those things in defiance of reasonable laws of physics.
Just back to base after staying an extra night listening to the rain.
Great course ,liked it better than last year.Most of my body could have done more but my wrists said no after 7 laps,don't know what that was about,never had any limp wrist issues before 🙂
Well done to all the marshals,full of encouragement and smart remarks 🙂
What a fantastic event - had a great time even though I ache in places I didn't know I had today.
The course was just about perfect. A nice big climb to start with to get warmed up (and a few steeper bits to make you curse!). The descent from the top was an excellent mix of fast and flowy, and steep and techy - great fun! Pinning it from the mid-point of the descent all the way through the trees and down the field was a great way of finishing. Thankfully Dave A was wrong and we didn't need the Singletrack mud guards he was dishing out: dusty trails most of the way 😀
Huge thanks to the organisers and marshals who (apart from timing problems) made the day run so smoothly. Also a tip of the hat to the really fast riders who were all good natured and patient with bimblers like me!
great course again, weather stayed just nice all day and riding was fun (at times). Nowadays class myself as ( nearly) a roadie or 'xc boy'so unsure what this means
Loved having the XC boys overtake you on the climb and then pass them on the floor on the way down!
According to strava ( the official timekeeper 🙂 ) , http://www.strava.com/activities/145137766/segments/3319110212 , i was joint KOM and at least a minute ahead of anyone else with their 'trailbikes' from top of the course all the way to the bottom
Not quite good enough this year but to only be beaten by a true xc speed machine i'm happy with that
gutted to have missed it. Hopefully the course was a bit easier than last year.
Raddogair...what happened, I assumed you only needed to turn up to win these type of events!?
[i]Thankfully Dave A was wrong and we didn't need the Singletrack mud guards he was dishing out: dusty trails most of the way[/i]
It'll rain soon enough and you'll get the benefit then hey? ;o)
*looks outside at the thunderstorm*... yeah: good point...
i was joint KOM and at least a minute ahead of anyone else with their 'trailbikes' from top of the course all the way to the bottom
you guys aren't human though 🙂
I was definitely cursing being on a 130mm full sus.
The speed of the fast boys is just ridiculous... The wee squidgy one going down from the blue climb was maybe the best example, generally on every lap there'd be someone on a big trailbike crashing, there'd be a couple of people mincing, there'd be me going a bit faster and thinking "Wayhey, I'm showing these guys how it's done", and then suddenly there'd be a racing snake on a bike with bald tyres going past me so fast there's redshift.
I think it's the 29 inch wheels 😉
Northwind - It's all the laps they do, they just get more practice at riding the course so of course they're better. *coughs*
As bigjim says - that comment was directed at the Lycra clad humans, not you!
No idea how you lads kept going that quickly, so impressive.
But you're not an average XCer Greig - one minute I was behind you on the final descent, and the next you'd passed 3 other riders in the trees. How? 😯
Any results up yet? Also photos? Also if anyone thinks they were braking bumps they might be better doing laps of a snooker table!
Results have been held up according to their FB, but still on the way.
But you're not an average XCer Greig - one minute I was behind you on the final descent, and the next you'd passed 3 other riders in the trees. How?
carbon 29er obviously 🙂
Loved that, never done a solo before but the descent was well worth the little cry half way up on the fourth lap… cake at the top and I managed a few more 🙂
Brilliantly organised and fun. Will be back.
Mr stu glad you liked the cakes my bakery made them. I'll be making stuff for the Ews this weekend and then the glentress skinny and then for king of the hill. I love biking and make good cakes so I thought I'd combine the 2....
Do you think more events would like a cake feed station like that?
Were most of the results a total fail, or are they still collating them from some finish line scribblings and a big clock?
monkeyninja - all events like this would benefit from an all you can eat cake stop at the highest point! your cakes and banter kept me going after lap 3.
Wasn't my banter sorry...I just supplied the cakes and banner. The tweedlove guys setup and manned the station, I was stuck in the bakery on Saturday. Gonna look into more events if this Tweedlove thing is a success..its good advertising for us and it let's people try our products.
Cracking event, my first time, one of the best XC laps I've ever raced on.
Nice varied laps, loved the long final descent, was ace, except when I was being held up by baggy short wearing, full suss riding brigade 🙂
[i]monkeyninja - all events like this would benefit from an all you can eat cake stop at the highest point! [/i]
tbh It was in the wrong place, better if it'd been at the top of the freeride park so you could then just grab and eat on the fireroad climb. Probably why there was so much left at the end.
I couldn't eat the cake but I enjoyed looking at it, really nice touch that. (kind of agree it could have been placed better but at the same time, I rather liked stopping for a moment at the top)
provisional results are up. No lap times though so can't really tell if they are right or wrong.
An error on our team, we did 6 laps although I am suspecting that the lap that one of us binned it wasn't counted - may have not passed over the mat on the way to hospital.