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Definitely taking my DirtWorker! Solo-ing the 12 hour noon-midnight then helping out some mates doing the 24 hour team. Should be fun... ๐
Starting with Nobby Nics but have MudXs on standby. Both have worked really well there on previous occasions.
Spent the morning fitting Maxxis Beavers to everything - now an epic car packing mission...
I'm leaving wiltshire at 6am. I'll be honest - I'm not looking forward to it.
What I'm not looking forward to is picking the mud from the forks every 10meters from my forks. Eurgh... Shall I just have a lye in?
Weather is overcast and humid i.e. its drying it up but kind of implying it's going to rain very hard anytime soon (although no heavy looking clouds atm). Hopefully the weather will do what it sometimes does and just miss us!
any rain yet?
The odd light shower through the day but the forecast is for the worst of it to come overnight and tomorrow morning.
Been a little drizzly but its fine here. Not done a practice lap but people are coming back relatively clean considering. Tent set up and chilling watching the TdF highlights now
its pissing down now.
Well then, its a bit biblical here now. Very heavy rain all night, the rivers are pretty high and fast flowing, parkings waterlogged and the grassy bit of the track around the arena is very wet with deep puddles. Will be keeping an eye on the river level.
@rickon IIRC they can alter the flow of the river as there are sluice(?) gates upstream. just looking at the valley now fro mmy house and it looks grim over the moor. I'll be walking down with beers later to cheer youse all on.
[url= http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/homeandleisure/floods/34678.aspx?type=Region&term=Southwest&from=fl ]Looks like rain![/url]
Yep... Think I'll be parking a little further away from the venue, don't fancy getting my little car stuck in a flooded field.
Edit: Looks like it's to clear up over night though.
Rather gutted..
Team are down there at the moment and by all accounts it truly rained last night and is very very wet and said prob not worth the journey down for the 12hr event we are in ๐
I did Mountain Mayhem couple weeks before so maybe a good idea not to go.. didn't fancy another mm..
@ xc stu why did they say its not worth it? because its muddy? its not a road race! it'll still be the same great course just a little more challenging.
Mud when riding isn't an issue - it will be getting there and out afterwards, based upon the red flood warnings. ๐ฏ
Put the postcode (PL7 5BN) in here [url] http://www.shoothill.com/flood/ [/url]
Hi carlphillips
Well from the conversation this morning before 6am... People were packing and leaving in the early hours this morn.. The pro's had pre ridden the course yesterday and were taken an hour + to get round due to condition.. if not mistaken last years your were looking 35-40mins and with the rain on top last night ๐ฏ
As great as the course maybe its by all accounts a mudfest ;-/ camping area alone was water logged and if anyone else did Mountain Mayhem will know the ground is just not shifting the water ๐
I don't have anything to prove and the team isn't going to win, plus a 4hour drive for 12hr team of 4 will get very few laps in those conditions... So left with a training ride at home on the bike as not biblical here yet ๐
"Outside of the Met Office's red warning area, which covers Plymouth and Exeter, much of the rest of the South West is covered by an amber warning"
Red warnings are given when there is an imminent danger to life.
Have fun!
GB
[s]I woke up at 6am, phoned my dad who lives in Plymouth, his road was flooded....
So went back to bed. There's NO point if it's not fun. That's why we do it.
checked weather last night given its a 5hr trip to get there decided to give it a miss.
Good luck to everyone taking part.
We are here for the 24hr just for fun. Last night was interesting camping, but we've got the mud tyres on, beers out, the BBQ is ready again for later, and we are just gonna enjoy the weekend away from home.
Good luck to all those joining us at newnham, and if you see a guy on an orange covert with fox 36's, don't heckle him for pushing up cliff climb!
The pro's had pre ridden the course yesterday and were taken an hour + to get round
There are NO pro riders at 24/12, doubt there's even any full timers.
There are NO pro riders at 24/12, doubt there's even any full timers.
I stand corrected.. fast boys and girls i.e Torq Kona etc??
i went down this morning to have a look and cheer my buddies on, course looks muddier than I've ever seen it before, not so many people there either as you said xcstu, its a steady drizzle here now, im watching the tennis then going to cycle back down with some beers...
@xcstu i dont blame you for thats a long drive and i stand corrected 12hrs+ in that mud doesn't look fun! last time i did it it rained for the last few hours but was still ok.
What a bog! Seriously claggy in parts. Long walks.
I was just wandering if conditions had improved? I was meant to be taking part and just curious to know what I'm missing!
Thanks, that doesn't look good for later! Nice pic.
Still wish I was there ๐
By the time I left that area was just brown sloppy mud, where my mates had camped there was a lot of standing water, forcing them out of their tents & into their cars last night...
Course wasn't bad at all to be honest. The worst bit of the course was up the top before you drop into the field which with the wrong ttyres meant you collected mud and the bike was endo-ing every 2 minutes. The rest of the course held up pretty well considering. The above photo which looks to be taken on the hairpin through the tents was the worst bit with standing water but at the end of the day it was mountain biking which isn't always about dry dusty trails. Glad I made the journey down from Pompey
I found it pretty tough going even on a team so hats off to anyone who stuck with it riding solo.
The rain on Friday night was epic. I heard the organisers were seriously considering whether they should evacuate the campsite in the early hours of the morning in case the river burst it's banks.
Early laps were wetter and the mud didn't clog up the bike but some of the sections later on turned to proper sticky mud that made riding them a struggle. There were still some fun sections of the course and the organisers did redirect some of the worse sections mid event so full credit to them for making the best of a bad situation. Typically the course started to dry out just as the event was coming to an end.
All my laps were sub 1 hour and the fast guys were a fair bit quicker than that so it wasn't like mountain mayhem where people were stuck out on a lap for hours.
Managed 8 laps 12 hours solo, had a great time but I ache now.
fast guys were a fair bit quicker
All my laps were sub 1 hour
To be fair, I think you should be counting yourself as a fast guy!!
Early laps were nice and fun. Just hated the bit leading up to the field and that's why I didn't want to do another lap when it turned 11:10. Plus my shoulders were aching and I had trouble gripping the bars. Massive respect for the 24 hour lot. I don't think I could stretch that far.
Legspin - who are you? you would've been in my group of 8 laps.
I'm old and in Vets which put me 9th. Not bad for my first solo effort.
Was riding a sky blue Pipedream but it was mostly in camo mud mode.
Well, just got home. Did a team of 4. Decided to double lap as it seemed pointless getting so filthy for one lap at a time. By the time my laps came around, the mud was seriously sticky, and along the top before the drop into the arena at the end my bike was collecting so much mud that I came in after one lap. I feared for the health of my fork stanchions - the mud was collecting really badly. I did have a fender bender on, but took it off, as it was making things worse.
Next team member also only did one lap & his bike looked even worse than mine did. So, at that we called it a day until this morning.
One of my team went and did a lap, then I went out with some trepidation. But the course was great - it was 10x more rideable than my previous lap & the bike wasn't picking up too much mud. So I stayed out for two laps. The hairpin through the arena after the bridge crossing was horrendous towards the end!
Then nothing but sunshine for the drive home. How nice. Good knows how'd we did. Probably near the bottom as always...
Have done a little report on my/our race if anyone's interested [url] http://plasticaviators.co.uk/wp/2012/07/08/twentyfour12-brendan-murphy-b2b-stephen-hodge [/url]. Welldone to everyone who finished/even turned up!
Cleaned the car after last nights antics of getting out of the field. Kit washed and bike cleaned. I don't know how my chain and cassette managed to rust during a ride!?
Nice write up Steve, will get on with mine soon. Thanks for the offer of a sofa, was drifing asleep while eating the pizza and the dog tried to half inch a slice!
I feel a takeaway coming on...
edit: Steve where were the aviators?!?!?
Well I loved it. Even after bending the mech hanger on my Swift, never has a bike had such an inappropriate name as that one under me on the course. Practise lap on Thursday well under an hour and great fun. First lap on Sat under an hour then two laps at about 1hour 10, then damaged the bike beyond anything I could fix there. Mate had already given up after doing one lap.
Camped trackside near the river. Was up at 3am on Saturday morning checking the river level and glad we stayed put. No problems at all getting out.
Great atmosphere, great organisation keeping the whole thing going. Will go back next year better prepared.
Next time I'll not use a big 2.2" in a Reba 29, just an expensive way to collect mud samples on some parts of the course but despite the pushing I really enjoyed the course.
I can't believe how some people were riding some bits that I thought were unrideable. There were sections from the fire road after the shooting ground up to the field at the top and they were able to ride it all. I was having trouble pushing. Just a totally different level.
Just got home a broken man .
Rode with Team Bullheart who entered 2 teams of 4 in the 'Just for Fun' 5 man cat.
Horrendous drive down on Sat am with A303 shut and most of the A35 resembling a white water rafting course. Got into Newnham at 11.45, yes it was wet and raining but OK.
Rode abit , had some dramas , rode abit more, got muddy , got wet , got clean and dry ,rode abit, got muddy... repeat till 0400 sun,then crawled into bed for 3 hrs . Put in 2 laps back to back early doors for no reason other than I like riding my bike in testing conditions.
MudX worked a treat , with only occaisional chainsuck being a problem . No clogging, but did manage to ride into a tree at one point. Did 6 laps in about 7 hrs in the end .
Good work all Team Bullheart riders , a pleasure as always .
Now to start unpacking the car ..
I have to say I really enjoyed it.
We were camped right in the gloop after the second river crossing so spent the whole time, whether riding or not, in six inches of mud but despite that I had a great weekend.
The course was, for the most part rideable and I think it faired better than any other endurance course would of in those conditions so I'd say hats off to Martyn and the other organisers. Cottage descent was, if possible, even more fun than normal!
If you packed up early and headed home i can totally understand why but you missed a good event.
'I can't believe how some people were riding some bits that I thought were unrideable. There were sections from the fire road after the shooting ground up to the field at the top and they were able to ride it all. I was having trouble pushing. Just a totally different level.'
I managed to ride most of that each time. Trailraker on the back ๐
The mud outside richie's encapmment was about 6" deep slurry by midday today! ๐ฏ It would be a shame for that to have been your only experience of Newnham, as it rides so much differently under frost/sun/'normal' levels of rain. I agree, the 2-wheel drift version of the cottage descent was really rather fun if a little less like it's usual state. I really enjoyed the wet (as opposed to plasticene) muddy bits by about 10am, just one of those races where I was able to stay nice and loose and not get all rigid and nervy.
There was a much larger 'jump of doom' than Mayhem's too. 8)
The mud outside richie's encapmment was about 6" deep
You don't need to tell me Julian, I lost 5 porcelain meerkats in that muck ๐
vdubber - was it you who just before the field said to me and another that trailrakers were the way forward?
Anyone got any photos up yet?
