Being a mileage-logging geek I'd like to know what distance my 17 laps equates to.
2nd year in a row as a soloist; despite my body screaming at me today I know I'll be back many times. Because:
it's a fun but tough course that (on the evidence of last year) doesn't fall to bits in the wet;
great atmosphere thanks to the commentator who kept going for 12 hours;
brilliant, super-enthusiastic marshals cheering you on every single lap.
7.9k according to my very rough mapping here: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Bristol-Bikefest-2010
But anything from 8.5 to 9k per lap is probably more accurate since there's plenty of twisting in the singletrack...
As ever it was great though - LVIS had a great time despite seemingly having upset the puncture fairy this year...
We loved the marshals singing Viva Las Vegas for us at every opportunity 🙂
Well done on teh solo effort BTW - tough in that heat.
I think The Cheesy Riders upset the puncture fairy too - 5 in the first 3 hours! Haven't had any puncture in months of riding the same trails ❓
All good fun though.
Great course, just right will be in my diary for next year.
Did any of you get [url= http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk ]Big Bike Bash[/url] flyers?
A mate took some down with him and was wondering how well he distributed them.
According to the website it is 9.2km
The website will be including the loop that got cut out this year I reckon.
No BBB flyers that I saw. Get enough of that here 👿
My computer logged 5.55 miles for 1 lap, that included the bit from our camp site and back.
Great day, although I'm going to throttle the puncture fairy.
I didn't see any BBB flyers either, real shame.
Yeah, I think the website distance includes the bit which was cut out.
Great day, everyone in the uni club had a great time!
By the power of Garmin I would say about 4.8 miles
http://connect.garmin.com/splits/35832368
My polar logged 5.3 miles and 360 feet of climbing per lap. AWESOME course even though it was a bit of a kidney shaker - can't ride well in the the heat though - and I have blisters on my hands from holding on over the rough stuff. Ouch!
That was a pretty awesome weekend!! Blisters on my hand .. oooo that hard tail hurt 8 laps for me as part of a girlie team .. and we even got a prize! whoop whoop.
Team-mate logged the course at exactly 5miles on his Garmin thing.
Awesome event, but a brutal course. Feel like I've been hit by a truck today!! Still, worth it all to get on the podium (Team Old Gits winner) 😀
Remarkably, not one puncture or mechanical in our team.
Oh, and hat's off to ANYONE who did that solo...
Great day, great course, well organised, loved the singing marshalls 🙂
No punctures here, but I'm not that fond of pies.... 😉
1st time there and really enjoyed it.
great course( but that bridge could have done with a smother transition on the way down)
great weather
lots of cheering marshalls egging you on
nice relaxed feel to the whole thing
will be back for more
My polar made it 9.5 miles for 2 laps...... So 4.75 I guess. Glad they cut the climb out from last year 😀
18 Laps was 155k and painful!
Great course and great atmosphere!
There seemed to be alot of folk who had said mean things about the puncture fairy, one guy who had a double after the bridge.
The bridge was great for the first half, but as I got more tired it turned into a case of point it downwards and hang on.
See you all next year if I get an invite.
Matt
P.S. Anyone know when the full results are due out?
Wicked course , proper balls out stuff... Little short for my liking not enough time to recover between laps.. Probably the most polite bunch of riders I have ever come across as well.. First time for me at this even and I will defiantly be back for more..BOOM
+1 for blistered hands! My first time there, and great fun it was too.
Shame for the owners of the 6 bikes nicked though - it's an unfortunate trend. Take care, people.
+2 for blistered palms!
I thought it was just my delicate 'desk-hands' and pianists' fingers that were to blame...
Any one know what the story behind the pink suit was?
[img] 
[/img]
6 bikes nicked? OMG. Really sorry to see that - thieving gits. Great atmosphere apart from that - I have to say that IMHO it's the best event in the UK for good fun, a tough course and a great atmosphere. Not to mention the rather distinctive pink suit 🙂
yeah all good here the course was an absolute gem, take note mountain mayhem!, but -1 for bar running out of beer(doh!), and -1/2 food stall running out of jacket spuds and burgers!
Another year another top event. Cool being able to ride to an event so close to home is nice too
Anyone know if the broken legs and broken foot people are ok?
earl, you can't really blame the organisers for the food stands running out of food
Did any of you get Big Bike Bash flyers?A mate took some down with him and was wondering how well he distributed them.
No need to check up on us mate, Sarah put most of them on car windscreens whilst I was recovering at the end.
She is taking the small remainder to work to give to their Bike Club.
WE heard something about 4 legs and 2 ankles broken at the bridge, someone allegedly heard the commentator say! Anyone know if this is true? sketchy if so and hope they are all okay.
Cor, my bum hurts. Good fun weekend, really nice atmosphere.
Kudos to the Torq riders for being very polite in their overtaking. Particularly because in the past they've been particularly ****ish. Thumbs up either to the team manager or to a clear out in the team and new riders.
Well done Thurman and co, not bad for a bunch of roadies! 😛
I dipped a toe into the murky world of singlespeed soloing this year, but only managed a meagre 12 laps before the call of the beer tent became too strong. I sort of liked the new shorter course, but it's a shame that it was due to pressure from the estate rather than the decision of the organisers.
sketchy if so
The bridge could definitely have done with a smoother transition, but I still managed to ride it fine with rigid forks. I'd rather not see the course get any less technical, bits of it are being cut out every year as it is, and accidents will still happen. Last time I did Mountain Mayhem some poor chap broke either his neck or his back on the fire-road downhill!
I did the 6 hour event solo today, my garmin thingy shows the average lap distance at 5.1 miles, but the woods do confuse it a little so I'd say this is on the low side.
[url= http://connect.garmin.com/activity/35941361 ]Bristol Bike Fest on Garmin Connect[/url]
Yesterday I went up there with the kids and took a few photos, I've called the pictures by the number of the people in it so you should be able to find yourself quickly on the off chance.
[url= http://bit.ly/daVJ1u ]Bristol Bike Fest 2010 on Flickr[/url]
It was a super day, the marshals were just as good on Sunday, especially "my mate" who was near the top of the zig zag climb.
Pretty much 5 miles bang on! Tried my first solo 12 hour event, also decided to break out the singlespeed! Interesting is all I can say, was so cut up and bumpy I could hardly hold on for my last few laps! Full sus boys were flying round and you can see why!
Stil... 15 laps and 5th place on my first atempt isn't to be sniffed at.
Managed a 60 mile charity road ride today as well!!
Attitude on course was much better than last year, a few people could have done with a slap tho!!
Oh and does anyone know who the event photographer were this year???
I dipped a toe into the murky world of singlespeed soloing this year, but only managed a meagre 12 laps before the call of the beer tent became too strong.
Well done Ant, good result and I agree the course flowed better without the crappy horse trail section.
Loved it! Though apparently I may have a broken collarbone (A&E today weren't too sure due to the mess of previous breaks, fracture clinic tomorrow to confirm / deny!). Well impressed with the attitude of the cadets and general feel of the event.
Despite having borked my shoulder, that was probably the best endurance course I've ridden. Nice and technical in the singletrack, a proper mountain bike race rather than mincing around jey-pride style....
Well done Thurman and co, not bad for a bunch of roadies!
This from a man who rides round in a faux-wheelbarrow... 😆
My second year as a newly local rider and had an absolute blast riding in a team on Saturday. Great course, great atmosphere and stunning weather (if a little WARM for racing!). Spent sunday cheering on mates and taking some pics.
My photos [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/33568253@N07/sets/72157624091060277/ ]here[/url]
My Garmin Edge 705 logged 116.6 miles, for 25 laps. This averages out at 4.664 miles per lap and the tracklog looked pretty sensible when I imported the GPS into Memory Map. I was riding with a powertap so logging interval was every second.
That said, with a lot of the course in the trees and being twisty singletrack, I think there is potential for a GPS based system to underestimate in these circumstances, even when on a 1 second resolution.
If anyone has a definitive answer on this, please post it here!
Event photos for Saturday are up on www.photo-it.com already. Not sure if any other photography companies were operating, but there seemed to be lots of photographers out and about.
However, as other have said, great event!
Kev
About 8.1km per lap according to my Garmin, I think. I'll check when I get home.
The battery went flat part way through the day, but it showed me using 8000 Kcal in the first 8.5 hours, so probably close to 11000 after 18 laps.
7th Old Git, or I would have been 23rd in the open class.
The marshals were great. They were shouting "Go Vegan !" at me every time I rode past, then radioing on ahead to the next marshal post to tell them I was coming, so they'd all be shouting as soon as I came in to view. 🙂
I've never seen so many punctures at an event. No one can accuse me of pushing the cakes out of the way to get to the salad, but I managed to avoid pinch flats. Inner tubes are just [i]so[/i] last year.
Enjoyed myself yesterday, shame two nice slightly techy bits have been chopped out, making the fireroad descent just to go back up a fireroad climb kinda pointless. Hoping Paul can talk estates round by next year.
I doubt that the rollercoaster bit down to the bottom of the zigzags will be added again - loads of accidents there when it was in, particulary as it got chewed up and got deeper.
As to the rutted section, I do quite like that bit but I can't say that I missed the climb afterward much...
The pink suit was revenge for a stag weekend prank. You reap what you sow.
@MilitantKev - I was running small block 8's, with maxxis fetherweight tubes, no heavier than tubeless, easier to change if I had punctured, (Must go and sacrifice another goat to the puncture fairies). Think I spoke to you briefly in the 'solo pit' which didn't quite work as it was full of team people waiting to go out.
@anotherdeadhero - I quite enjoyed the fireroad descent. Little bit of a jump halfway down. Followed by a test of late breaking to get round the corner carrying as much speed as possible onto the next bit, which was just nice and flowy and fast.
I prefer the course without the bottom section as although I like the technical descent I hate being knackered before reaching the bottom of the zig-zag climb :p
I think the bridge was a bit dodgy to (although at least it wasn't slippy from rain this year), not really sure where else they could stick it though. I guess you could make a case for going down the zig-zag and up the straight bit of fireroad (and therefore not need a bridge), could cause as many accidents though as the zig-zag at speed could be hairy.
One other thing that needs sorting is the transition area. It could work how it is set out now but there are a lot of muppets racing/spectating that want to stop and chat in the area and cause extra congestion or come to a skidding emergency stop right on the track and cause problem for riders behind. I'm sure they could change the layout of the finish area a bit though to help things.
+1 sorting is the transition area.
+1 for not using the crossing as a transition area just adding to confusion
+1 sort clear exit from transition.
but hey I still enjoyed it.
@anotherdeadhero - I quite enjoyed the fireroad descent. Little bit of a jump halfway down. Followed by a test of late breaking to get round the corner carrying as much speed as possible onto the next bit, which was just nice and flowy and fast.
You'd still get that, but you also get a bit of warp speed singletrack added into the bargin. I never mind horrendous climbs out provided there is a reason to be doing them ...
They tried to sort the transition out with those cones, so it worked better, but I agree the transition needs to be bigger and the crossing kept as a crossing.
I thought the bridge was fine this year, works much better in that setup.
I thought the pink gimp suit was a charity thing - breast cancer - because the guy's wife had had it. Well, that's what the commentator said.
No?
Will pass on the compliments to the marshalls: Brislington 2146 ATC,
(Air Cadets). Cheers, Sam
Was a great event as always.
I was initailly disappointed at the cuts to the course but on the day I think it worked very well indeed.
The bridge exit does need some work. First time I pedalled accross the top and did not touch the brakes through the exit. Cue fork bottom out and near crash. It was fine at slower speeds though or if you manualled at the bottom.
Paul has mentioned on fb that there will be 24hr security and a bike movement curfew next year. Shame it's come to that.
The bridge exit does need some work. First time I pedalled accross the top and did not touch the brakes through the exit. Cue fork bottom out and near crash. It was fine at slower speeds though or if you manualled at the bottom
That was my mistake first time - didn't touch the brakes and my forks rebounded making the front end go light as I was making the turn and me hitting the deck. No major harm done but as I was picking myself up I they were calling a ambulance for someone who wasn't so lucky.
FuzzyWuzzy - Your suggestion is as the course used to be before the bridge and TBH without the bit they missed out this year there isn't much point having a the bridge.