Brilliant write up Weeksy. I'll get it up on the Facebook page with the photo
Awesome! Good lad James- doing great đ
Back from a long weekend in Oxford, wife and I enjoyed a fast and hot Scott Marathon in Wantage. Finished in 3:08 after stopping briefly to help a crashed rider so lost touch, but enjoyed playing catch up and had a strong finish but I too suffered from cramp.
May have seen you on course adsh, plenty of mechanicals happening. Wife took 3:54 so very strong ride from her, not bad at 47 đ I am more than happy to be only 20 minutes back from the likes of Paul Oldham and Nick Craig...
Struggling with ideas and plans today... Really want to keep the push in training/fitness and do some XC Racing, but my lad also wants to race XC... That means that at a meeting with Southern XC with his race being in the middle of the rides i'm struggling to find a plan.
I can race in the morning before his race, but then we've got to get to the circuit silly early and have to take Mrs Weeksy as she's not happy with him being left alone while i race...
It also brings problem 2 where my boy likes to pre-ride the courses with me, we talk through the gear choices, lines, issues, problems and set up his bike/saddle accordingly. If i do the race, the time for pre-race practice for him will be minimal as i'll be finishing my race quite late, certainly compared to the leaders lol.
If i were to race in the afternoon, the problem is then i'm out with the Super Vets, Vets and Elites ! As well as it being quite late and i expect not only insanely fast, but longer race distances.
If i don't race at his meetings, i'm less likely to find and appropriate race date for mine as we do other stuff other weekends.. Hmmm. Dilemas dilemas.
I'd be tempted to get there early to do the pre-ride with your boy and then race the open cat after that before his race in the morning. better than hanging out all day to race in the arvo.
Weeksy, i'd say race with the Vets especially as you are not position precious.
Based in your other thread the pace and extra lap would help in your goals.
Although i appreciate the issue, which is why im sitting in a waiting room whilst a tow bar & Thule 927 is fitted to the family SUV for either Mrs K to go independantly to races with our two, or for a complete family outing.
I'd be tempted to get there early to do the pre-ride with your boy and then race the open cat after that before his race in the morning.
Issue with that is he's then hanging about from 9.00am until 11.30am for his race... Which is a little unfair
Issue with that is he's then hanging about from 9.00am until 11.30am for his race... Which is a little unfair
Maybe he might enjoy watching for Daddy coming past pulling pain faces?
he would do if i wasn't so sodding slow and taking longer than everyone else đ
weeksy, do the other dads of the kids he's racing against race? if so when? At the races I do the kids are before all the adult races and then the kids seem to spend the time while the adults race haring round the carpark, messing around doing wheelies etc. Probably as much fun as racing. if the other dads are racing later he might enjoy hanging around the race site getting to know his competitors better, plus its inadvertant skills practise!
Yak does yes. He also posts on here, he manages to get his race done in time, but i'm slower than him and i'm not sure his youngsters are as needy as mine pre-race, needy isn't probably the best word, he just likes to ride the course with me in advance etc.
Tough race for me at Black Park today. I may be ballpark fitness but I'm not quite Sport Cat technically! Every corner would lose me another foot until eventually the lead group was gone. Battled another guy right until the last lap where he did me over and left me for dead.
I don't think I was quite last though đ
Also lost my Oakleys đ
I enjoyed WDMBC's Crit series but the organisation today felt poor. Everyone got lost doing early sighting laps as the tape had been trashed and not checked and in the race, I twice had riders coming at me head on where they had misinterpreted the route!!
I had an occasional Zen-like moment when the flow came together and life was good but it certainly didn't reignite my XC passion sadly.
I entered this but couldn't make it due to illness. Just hope this time it doesn't take a month to get over it like last year.
weeksy, if there's a few of us there, I'm sure we could cover kids practise in a big group whilst you race. My 2 would be happy to pre-ride and work things out in a group. Let me know beforehand and we'll plan something.
Got 10th so slightly better than I thought!
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Extreme radcore to the max đ
weeksy, if there's a few of us there, I'm sure we could cover kids practise in a big group whilst you race. My 2 would be happy to pre-ride and work things out in a group. Let me know beforehand and we'll plan something.
Hey mate, that's massively appreciated.
I'll see, but thanks tonnes.
Conversely, for a smaller, local event I thought the organisation today was excellent. I rode a sighting lap half an hour before the race and had no problems finding the course. I got the impression they need to leave pathways open to other users of the park, so can't go too crazy on the taping.
Given the complete lack of elevation (my Garmin made it 39m over 32.4km!) I found the course fun, but then again I did grow up ragging around Thetford, which isn't much different.
I did get paranoid about it being just me MrsButcher but when there were five of us stood in a clearing without the foggiest idea where to go, I knew it wasn't a mistake. It was better on my sighting lap immediately before the race- they had restored the tape and put out loads of new logs but the two guys coming flat out head on towards us on lap 1 was crazy!
Looking on the Strava Flyby, a few guys went way of course on lap one too and had to backtrack to rejoin.
As I say, the Crits they put on at Hillingdon ran very smoothly but for the huge amount of team members they had present, I think they could have been a bit more proactive with the morning checks.
Kudos to them for prompt results though- always a big thumbs up for that đ
Anyone entered Dalby this coming weekend? Round 4 of the Nationals. Looking forward to it. Raced there earlier this year as part of the nutcracker series and bagged my best ever sport cat finish of 2nd. Course seems to suit me quite well.
Yup, I'm in - went up on Friday to refresh my memory of it, rumour has it that Medusa is in but Worry Gill out.
See you there I hope.
It's the only National I'm doing this year - will be racing Expert.
I'm in, testing the new bike on a proper course!
Hoping it doesn't rain...
what bike did you get in the end?
Bit of a late update from last weekends race due to a long weekend celebrating Sweden's national day yesterday.
It was the 3rd round of the X-cup at VallÄsen last Saturday, a course based at the DH venue which was pretty much half a lap up (150m evlivation) and half a lap down. For the hours race time I managed 4 laps.
Due to the high amount of climbing I didn't expect to do so well but it went better than planned and I actually won! Important to point out this was start 2 race, start 1 being the fastest for Elite riders etc. So I won start 2 for men with 108 racers, and placed 41st overall from 304 racers.
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Even my son enjoyed himself:
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So to be honest I felt rather proud of myself given this was my best result for some time and the hard training had made a difference. Then I took a look at my heart rate during the race and it's scared me a bit, I turn 45 next week, is this kind of heart profile normal for a short course racer? Is this similar to any other racers on here?
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what bike did you get in the end?
Orbea Oiz!
Full suss 29er, it's more than a little bit different to my Ritchey...
Nice! will make that bloody rocky gulley a bit more enjoyable! hated that bit of Dalby. Enjoy the climb đ
Then I took a look at my heart rate during the race and it's scared me a bit, I turn 45 next week, is this kind of heart profile normal for a short course racer? Is this similar to any other racers on here?
It's a bit toward the rapid end but I doubt it's an issue if you're in good health and have a structured training programme.
I'm 53 and would generally be about 172bpm average and 185bpm max in a 90minute race. My max hr is about 192bpm.
Well done Bream! What a great result.
I'm 53 and would generally be about 172bpm average and 185bpm max in a 90minute race. My max hr is about 192bpm.
I'm 36 and about the same, goes to show those simply age based formulas are pretty naff. Never actually tested max HR but the max I've seen in a race is 189
Nice! will make that bloody rocky gulley a bit more enjoyable! hated that bit of Dalby. Enjoy the climb
The gearing's lower (praise be to 11 speed!), the weights about the same and it's got lockouts! Hopefully it should be about the same speed if not a little bit quicker, especially since climbing is my strong point.
Snorkel packed for Dalby tomorrow.
We'll be at Dalby, but luckily Alison and the kids are all racing in (hopefully) better weather on Sunday. I'm just on pit bitch duty. (and a swift lap of the other forest trails inbetween youth and ladies races).
Only just finished cleaning the mud from 4 sets of bikes, clothes, shoes and helmets after last night's midweek madness race.
Don't worry about the hr Bream - I remember Alison getting a very early downloadable hr monitor back in elite days 20 odd yrs ago (software came on a floppy disc!) We were similarly concerned race hr vs training zone hr. She still seems to be alive and still pulling similar numbers in a race.
What happened to you today jimbob? I saw you make a great start - 2nd into the singletrack was nice nice and then heard the commentator (while I was bike cleaning!) say that you must have had a problem as you were running lower than normal. Hope you're okay?
Blooming wet at Dalby today, hoping it will dry out a bit for tomorrow.
Urgh what a day at Dalby! Worst conditions I think I've ever ridden in, let alone raced in!
Had a spill on 3rd lap and went into survival mode after that! Wasn't feeling 100%. Think pre race nutrition was all wrong today. Good job I was parked near the portaloos!
Brake pads were eaten by lap 2. Think I finished 8th. Some pics taken by wifey...
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I'm back home now. Washed half the forest out of my ass crack. Hope it's a tad less aquarium like for those of you racing tomorrow. Good luck!
Oh dear, I'm really hoping it will dry up tonight! Well done for getting round.
Great pics and riding!
Crikey, those conditions look challenging to say the least đŻ At least you got round and finished well placed.
Good effort and unlucky with the spill.
Not sure why you are complaining about the conditions though - we can still see some colour on your face đ
Hate it when it gets too muddy to waer glasses, my eyes end up stinging for days
r8jimbob88 I recognise that kit, I was the Commisaire doing grinding over the weekend, although it was slightly cleaner when the race was started. The rain on Saturday was awful, I can only compare it to Sherwood 2 years ago for similar levels of grimness....
Sadly, the rain wasn't the only water I saw that weekend, a broken cold water valve in the b&b meant I had a flood at 4:30am on Sunday, making it a long old day with the best part of 300 miles too drive home...
Fair play too James and the Nutcracker Team, they put in another great event.
I had a pretty grim time at Dalby too.
Was feeling good, 16th elite coming into the last lap, when my chain snapped in two places at the bottom of the big climb. I threw the chain in the hedge in frustration and ran the 2 odd km back to the arena. Ended up 26th, not far from last đ„
Got a push around the arena to the finish though, I owe David Creber a drink!
Really appreciate how much work the Dalby organisers and Commisaires etc put in - thanks folks!
Kids did OK (still finding their feet at Nationals level). Alison had another storming vets race with Maddie and really enjoying this year.
Glad we didn't have to ride on Saturday (just camped in the damp), but I've seen a race in far worse conditions at Dalby. Early season NPS in 1995 when it dumped hail & sleet during the Elite / Expert race. Conditions were OK at the start so nobody was really dressed for the change in the weather.... I think this was Alison's second ever Elite race BITD:-
I'm trying to work where the old course went. Pretty sure the finish straight is running along the edge of the field where the main camping was. Think the bit just before the finish was along the embankment between the car park and road.
