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I thought it was mega. Pretty tough but doable, great food and free beer!
Myself and big al (Team 200 kg)wound round in about 30th place, bit under 5 hrs each day - big effort from him, about 3rd time out on a mtb, on a 30ish lb cheapo Giant hard tail of some description. He's a big strong lad, but reckoned each day of this was more gruelling than 1/2 ironman he did (in a pretty respectable 5 hrs)
How the top guys went roung in about 3 hrs (20kmh average) defies belief
thanks to Dave and the Bearded Man crew
Yep it was great event. Food, beer, Sun & the Black Mountains at their best. Shame a few bikes were stolen on the Saturday night (I feel for the guys & girls who were victims). I ended up 18th overall & 3rd in the Male Vets category. Good news that The Gap seems to have recovered from it's sanitising & is riding pretty well already.
Can't agree more with Charliemort. Absolutely superb event with the most amazing riding and friendly atmosphere. Most enjoyable event I've done by far! Finished 3rd of the teams which was icing on the cake!
Great event, dispite not riding and mooching around the 'pits' it was a brilliant weekend especially with Luffy in the Drop Off cafe/Luff bus keeping me fed and watered, can't wait for next years one 😀
Had a really top weekend! Perfect location, some great riding, excellent organisation and cooperative weather made it one of the best I've been to in a long time, if not ever. Annoyed with myself I was not up for doing the whole thing in the end, though I still had a great time doing some riding marshalling with a few shortcuts, so managed to a good flavour of the course and event without breaking myself. Food was fantastic - I feared the worst this being a fully catered event. Good tasting grub for 100 in a tent is not easy!
A few pics of mine from the event up [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/singularcycles/sets/72157627111914488/with/5899864833/ ]here[/url].
Forgot to mention the amazing Physio's that were on site too had two session and sorted my mangled body if anyone is in the london area would recommend this chap clivelacey@bodymaintenance.co.uk, very very good.
There were people with some rather nice 29er bikes next to me as well 😉
I'll echo all of the above. Probably the toughest photographic weekend I've ever had!
There is a very small taster selection of very low-res pictures [url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/ed_rollason/sets/72157626975080957/ ]here[/url] that I managed to upload on Saturday night for blog purposes. All pictures (both mine and Dylan's) will be available for purchase through my website ([url=www.edrollasonphotography.co.uk]www.edrollasonphotography.co.uk[/url]) in due course. I hope to have day 1 uploaded by tonight, with the subsequent days to follow asap.
cheers
Ed
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Agreed great event, well done BeardedMan. I was sweeper marshal and was out for a long time but the weather, course and company made it fun.
Shame about the bikes, we weren't the only ones, it seems another campsite was also targeted in the area, always difficult to deal with as an organiser.
The atmosphere was lovely and everyone very friendly, food and beer great. BeardedMan obviously has listened to a lot of feedback about what makes and event great and worked really hard to put it into practice.
Also great to put forum/twitter names to faces.
How were the rankings sorted? I know there was a time trial on Friday - but how was the rest of the event 'timed' etc?
If it's timed and like a proper race I might do it next year....
It was fully timed from start to finish, so effectively one long race.
Great event, really enjoyed the riding, especially on the saturday. Thanks to all the organisers and marshalls, etc.
I was one of the unlucky ones who lost there bike along with my girlfriend(featured above in pink jersey) and good friend from Kenya who organised his holiday to the UK around this event.
Very dissapointed with the outcome for us and the unlucky few including the organiser who also lost his bike. About £23,000 worth of bike lifted in one swoop! Our 3 bikes were chained togeather to the steal railings with a motorcycle chain and it was still not enough.
From what I gather the security firm did not show up at the event as promised.
A word of advice to anyone taking part in such events is to check your insurance policy small print as many will not cover race or time trials!
All this aside it was a great event, great atmosphere, great course and good food. Would definately consider next years event knowing that lessons woud be learnt.
It was a great event, nearly, but the abject lack of security (which was advertised, but not provided) was inexcusable. As Mat has pointed out, many insurance policies will be invalid if a loss is incurred at a "race" or "trial", not to mention if the bike wasn't chained to something immovable (and what would that be in the case of a field???). It's simple: have manned security, all night, one bike out per person to match the number on your rider wrist band. We know these events are targeted by the scumbags, so organisers surely have a duty? Lovely trails, lovely food, great atmosphere, and sadly the last event I'll show up for in the UK. Keep it safe n secure at the singletrack weekender.
I can't beleive the security just didn't turn up... Thats very poor. I hope Dave has enough clout to do more than complain to them. Real sorry for those who did lose their bikes...
Anybody got any news on when the results will be online?
pypdjl - MemberIt was fully timed from start to finish, so effectively one long race.
How was this handled from a legal perspective, what with all that 'can't race on a bridleway' stuff?
Trans Wales don't seem to be able to do that, how come these guys can?
Firstly - we are devastated about the loss of the bikes - my Superfly being one of them, so too was my laptop stolen, a hired projector and some other bits and bobs. We are and will do everything we can to get the riders that lost anything sorted. Yes the security fencing didn't turn up - but that's nobody's problem except ours - we are considering all options and will be in touch with everyone concerned.
Without my laptop I am lost - so give me a week or so to sort something out and get back online and I will be in touch with all the missing bike riders.
In terms of timing - this is NOT a race. Although we would love to have a race - we can't. We don't give out ANY prizes for position. I have ridden these trails a million times and recognised the fact that riders are quick - but we cheer for riders at the back as much as we do the guys at the front.
a fantastic event....really well organised and great trails. I'll be back!
Oh and boy did we cheer for riders at the back. Aidan, James, you know who you are, what a pair of diamond geezers, brilliant attitude.
Just to let everyone know image galleries are going live today. Day 01 photos are already available, 02 and 03 will be up by tonight: [url= http://www.edrollasonphotography.co.uk/ ]http://www.edrollasonphotography.co.uk/[/url]
Lots of pics of everyone I hope.
More photos http://dylanmarks.zenfolio.com/bm3d
and times
http://blackmountains3day.co.uk/riders-info/2011-results
http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2011/BlackMountains3Day/
The Sportident listing isn't doing a very good job of making it not look like a race 🙂
matpower - Member
I was one of the unlucky ones who lost there bike along with my girlfriend
U lock round her ankle might have helped... But seriously, sorry to hear that.....