Forum menu
Orange have got their pics up on Facebook, I only got a few at the start: [url= http://WWW.Flickr.com/photos/cbhaf ]Flickr link[/url]
Went down with a few of the retrobike lads, although none of us did it retro. 3 of the guys were solo, I did it as part of a pair - We managed 3 laps each, happy with the effort given the conditions. Snapped 'Superman' above at the start, if I remember right he was pretty rapid.
My team mate after his 3rd lap.
I think I saw the bloke taking a bath with his bike in the burn on my final lap as I came over the wee bridge. Not sure what made me smile more, him or those diversion signs.
Such a good weekend with the best trails I've ridden for an age. The rooty sections were very slippery, but so much fun. It's fantastic riding an event like this where the course is challenging and enjoyable. Nice work No Fuss. Same time next year. Some photos on the Orange StalkBook page:
www.facebook.com/orangebikes
I was chatting to a chap called Jimmy (I think), on the first lap whilst we got his saddle height sorted. He'd come up from London to race at Kirroughtree and has only been riding mountain bikes for 6 months. He was riding solo and managed 2 laps before the conditions got the better of him. I never saw him without a grin on his face though, he looked like he was loving every minute. Made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside....or maybe that was the whisky. ๐
Another excellent No Fuss event. I too loved every minute, except for the one's when I was on my bike and thinking I was going to die if I had to climb one more metre. ๐
Beagy
Fantastic race and course, really enjoyed it and was a bit annoyed they cut it short. We won Vets Trios - although just about everyone who enters gets on the podium for something or other ๐
really enjoyed it and was a bit annoyed they cut it short
had you tried riding it at 6.30pm ? really frazer had 2 options - call it short or insist on lights - how many of you had your lights with you .... i did ๐ state of charge i dont know but with 48 hours of power im sure i coulda cobbled together an hour
Lol, I was at Kirroughtree last Wednesday and found some of the off piste rooty sections - was trying to think of the best way to incorporate into the normal trail without having to loopback too much (for future visits). There was one section that was really steep - must have been mental in the rain after it had been ploughed up with a few hours of riding!
Results are up folks
my missus was 40th over all in solo with 6 laps in 9:21 .... woop to her
and we were 4th over all with 10 laps in 9:43
first 10@kirroughtree and managed to finish in the top half of the pairs (if only just!), alongside ittaika. despite concerns about fitness after a viral chest infection, i had a fantastic day and absolutely loved the course. the muddy, root infested descents were a blast - so much fun - and it took until my final lap before one of them bested me and i ended up face down in mud. ๐ they were just so attackable and the pace kept the roots at bay! didn't see many people riding those sections hard but given i saw a few casualties through the day, it was probably a wise choice for most.
ending the lap on the final section of the red graded twister trail meant you forgot about your aches and pains for a while so it was nice to end each circuit with a smile.
many thanks to the nofuss organisers, marshalls and everyone involved. perhaps after a dreich and wet kirroughtree we can hope for a dry, sunny relentless? somehow i doubt it...
Very wet, very muddy, very fun! I don't think my kit will ever be the same though... The course was fantastic - properly challenging as a race course should be. I certainly felt no shame in having to walk a few sections.
Thanks to Fraser and the folks at no-fuss. Well worth the 9 hour drive back home.
[url= http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4785666137_7f1e05a232_b.jp g" target="_blank">http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4099/4785666137_7f1e05a232_b.jp g"/> [/img][/url]
sam - i was the chap that came over about 7/8 hrs in and asked if you guys had sent out your lady yet because we were very impressed with your laptimes and thought we were going to be beaten by a mixed trio :O
Yeah Kirsty got her laps in and certainly didn't let the side down. Steve, as always, was a machine and I felt the best I have on an XC racecourse for a long time. Absolutely ideal conditions for the Dugasts and it's a very singlespeed friendly course so that helped. We probably could have saved some time here and there (Steve flatted on the first lap and couldn't fix it) but there is always something. We were pretty happy to finish where we did really. You guys definitely did well to get 10 laps in!
Can we all add our thanks to the guys/gals @ FE please.
Sure Frazer & co do a great job but the FE chap Chris Ross and his team also do a fair bit to make the event happen. Talking to him and his boss during the day and they are already planning stuff to improve things, such as creating a "gazebo park" at the transition area. If you have any constructive suggestions on how to improve the event from the FE point of veiw I am sure Chris and some of his colleagues and fellow locals will be reading this and take them on board. He cannot post due to works constraints I believe.
btw Chris can do the route under the 1hr mark in the dry ๐
yeah, came 46th in solo
(Steve flatted on the first lap and couldn't fix it)
aye that was unfortunate - i was nursing my extremely soft tire down the dh`s and came across him going slow down a hill then pushing up the hill , took me a bit to figure what he had done !
our 3rd man punctured on his first lap splitting his stans olympic across a spoke hole and slicing the tire DOH - that course can do that !
yeah, came 46th in solo
- slow - im dissapointed
results, where to find the rest? Ta
30th in solos for me with 6... interesting looking at how the lap times reflected my mental state and how long i loitered in the singular eaziup! ๐
another crazy enjoyable weekend, huh? amazing lap times from the quick guys, even more so from the soloists, 9 laps, the mind boggles. great effort.
always a brilliant venue, but i must admit to swinging from loving to hating to loving the natural sections... it felt great to get down them intact, pick a line, pick the braking points and just shoot, but when i was on the deck for a 3rd time during my 4th lap... well, the toys came out of the pram a wee bit ๐ part of me wondered at the wisdom of so much natural trail for the weather that was forecast, but i did really enjoy it ultimately...
thanks to all involved, organising, supporting and racing. more of the same next year... maybe a fraction drier??
i'm in awe of the top solo riders, they must be real tough characters.
Cheers stu, strangely wasn`t there when I googled??
Did anyone ride solo single speed and get higher than 34th position?
My full report up [url= http://singularcycles.posterous.com/10-kirroughtree-muddy-slimy-horrible-fun ]here[/url].
Any other riders do solo on a singlespeed? Saw a couple of guys on singlespeeds but don't know if they were solo.
Pics are on no fuss website now. I'm rider number 35 - couple of good pics of the filth and one of me going sicker than Wade Simmons ๐
I'm number 17, **** know what I was thinking giving the thumbs up. Not a good look, I'll use exhaustion as an excuse.
number 992 is me - like the one with the scotland top on aggression !
seems to like taking photos of me at the start - 4 or 5 of them are of me standing at the start as my tire deflates
well here's another thumbs up for the guys and gals that organised and ran the event... bloody fantastic! best race course I've ridden in years... possibly the best. really enjoyed every lap... even the one where I kept being over taken and then overtaking some tw&t who pronounced himself as "race leader... move over" to every rider he came across... he really was an obnoxious idiot ... but made me smile every time I passed him down the slimy rooty sections ๐ where he rode it like a virgin.
anyway I enjoyed every pedal revolution....
pity my bike didn't.... I stripped it down last night to find pedals (old candy 4ti) knackered, gore sealed cables solid, BB sodden and gritty, front bearings knackered... and best of all one rear pad that disintegrated 2 laps from the end and sounding awful had worn through the metal backing of the pad too and thus the rather effective rear brake on the last lap was due to a naked piston actuating on the rotor.. so I now have a nicely worn ceramic piston... oops!
worth every penny though.
He tried that with me too. Not exactly in the spirit of the event so I made him wait. I don't mind moving over and did it a few times before being asked but I refuse to move over when there's loads of obstacles waiting for me.
"race leader... move over"
agreed, he did it to me a couple of times, and i couldn't help think " ****t"
If you're on here, I don't really care, many many more people managed to pass me either through me looking out for them, or them politely asking ... everytime followed by a nice thank you. I couldn't give a stuff if its the lead or not ... be polite.
Hmmm, he must have gone past me at some stage but I can't recall him saying that. Probably because my ears were full of mud......
The vast majority of people were great, either if they were passing me or I was passing them - what you'd expect really from a no fuss event.
some tw&t who pronounced himself as "race leader... move over" to every rider he came across... he really was an obnoxious idiot ... but made me smile every time I passed him down the slimy rooty sections where he rode it like a virgin.
Phew, that wasn't me saying that. I said 'rider coming through when you get a sec' . I was very polite, even to the guy who i asked 4 times the same thing although there was plenty of places to politely move over a touch without losing too much speed for himself
[img] http://lh5.ggpht.com/_By42uYleqms/TDwU-q4eQjI/AAAAAAAAGgQ/g4X1dkhSBt8/s512/CIMG0223.JP G" target="_blank">http://lh5.ggpht.com/_By42uYleqms/TDwU-q4eQjI/AAAAAAAAGgQ/g4X1dkhSBt8/s512/CIMG0223.JP G"/> [/img]
[img] [/img]
[img] http://lh5.ggpht.com/_By42uYleqms/TDwU66Z5laI/AAAAAAAAGf0/bbCk4LON2ok/s512/CIMG0202.JP G" target="_blank">http://lh5.ggpht.com/_By42uYleqms/TDwU66Z5laI/AAAAAAAAGf0/bbCk4LON2ok/s512/CIMG0202.JP G"/> [/img]
most of the photos i took that turned out reasonable haha
radoggair
Phew, that wasn't me saying that
indeed, you seem like far to nice a chap... nope, this guy was on a Whyte 19 carbon decked out with full XX kit (that he kept swearing at as it missed changed) and wearing a scott skin suit.
what realy made me smile was listening to him grumbling cussing and swearing and his latest highest tech bike, the trail, the slippy sections, other riders etc.. and thus knowing he wasn't enjoying himself one bit. yet there I was all giddy and enjoying myself.
Funny, I never came across or saw this guy at all... Everyone I met was friendly, although not necessarily all enjoying it!
I suspect this is the same guy who screamed abuse at my female teammate for not pulling over instantly. "F***ing move over you selfish bitch" isn't really in the spirit of these things.
he sounds like a complete tool. Name and shame!
I always ask politely, does get a bit frustrating at times though. As you know that you are travelling a good 5-10mph faster than some folk. But always ask a few times before getting annoyed and usually just a bit of forceful up the outside and cutting in does the trick, then a polite "cheers"! But most folk are spot on, some people take it to the extremes by jumping off their bike!
Some may say that is being a tw&t but don't see what odds it has, I hate having riders close on my tail!
Would never come out with the "race leader" quoute though. Having been a race leader at the weekend it was not that important to shout and holler at folk! If you are a good anough racer you can get by at teh slightest opportunity. "On your right here" as you nip past works well and doesnt slow people that much.
But you do get the folk that sit there regardless and believe that its everyones race so doesn't have to move over. Compare them to middle lane / outside lane hoggers!!
Whyte 19 and scott skin suit -- obvo a classy rider then!!!! ๐
Hey Trailrat, your pic CIMGO208.jpg (guy on a Malt 4 in all the body armour) is my mate Andy, any chance I could get a copy of that in the original resolution?
Was a proper good race! I spent a lot of it being overtaken and everyone bar "race-leader-man" was polite and cheerful. My brand new Hope hub did have the slight disadvantage that people would pull over for me while I was still a good way back.
Quality singletrack and props to NoFuss for switching out the doom drop/doom climb, although I'll confess to being VERY confused on the first lap they did it on.
Did anyone else get confused by hearing the music from the saddlespan early on in the lap (1/3rd distance?) and putting the hammer down?
Respect to the solo riders! I wound up riding the same way after team-mate supermanned into a tree on lap 2 (dislocated shoulder 6wks off...) a dude on a maxlight (no 90?) gave me very good advice and I managed to keep rolling until they ended the race.
Good chat & banter out on the trails, I like the atmosphere of these races!
Would never come out with the "race leader" quoute though
Guy in pairs(?)was spouting this on occasions. I heard him and there was 3/4 riders behind me/infront of him.
But you do get the folk that sit there regardless and believe that its everyones race so doesn't have to move over. Compare them to middle lane / outside lane hoggers!!
Some people just do not have the skill to move over blindly into/onto the grassy verges. The Kirry trail is generally quite narrow and I would not be putting my personal safety at risk for some numpty "race leader"
Or should the 10 events now be considered as "races" rather than the fun events that they set out to be and those of us just out for the "challenge" not bother.
Note the number of events being cancelled(or nearly)this year
Only got passed by "Race Leader" once. Thought it funny that he shouted in a pompous Captain Mainwaring style.
Thought the last section of off-piste just before the end was a bit cruel though. Just as the legs had recovered over the last section of downhill flowing track, along came the sting in the tail.
Finally got everything cleaned, but going to cost a fair bit to replace all the worn and broken bits on the bike.

