[Closed] Bristol Bikefest Roll Call

Fully booked social calendar for me this weekend.
I can't get away from work till about 10pm at the earliest tonight, so that'll be me waking everyone up with a V8 Land Rover arriving on the camp site at about midnight. 😛
12 hour solo single speed on Saturday, then 3 hours on the tandem with Mrs MTG on Sunday.

I'll be the tall, good looking guy in the Vegan Cyclists kit. 8)

No you won't be 😉

I'll be there looking confused (first ever event of this type) in the Steve Worland memorial.

I'll be recognisable through my lack of any retro kit at all - unless you consider my skills or the Soul's design old skool of course.

Stay loose in the corners; the SW limestone has continued to polish up nicely & is interesting when moisture is added.

It's also the 80fest at Ashton Court this weekend, so you'll be riding round to the sound of Heaven17 & Bananarama http://www.letsrockbristol.co.uk/line-up/

Very grateful not to be camping tonight. I expect there will be a few more crashes tomorrow as the AC rock is very slick when damp. Should be fun.

Stay loose in the corners; the SW limestone has continued to polish up nicely & is interesting when moisture is added.

Is that the run down along the road all the way to the gate? I was up there a couple weeks back after a few months hiatus. I thought I'd forgotten how to ride. Even in the dry I was crapping my pants and had a few front-end tuck and both tyre washout moments. I used to be able to flow through those corners leant over. Not really sure what to do about it now.

Yep, in as usual for the team 12 hour. If... I can get my hardtail rebuilt this evening 🙂

12hr pairs for me, and solos for Mark & Andrew

I thought it had just been resurfaced?

12 hours pairs tomorrow. AC runs nicely in the wet, but watch out for the flat rocky corners.

Just put the mudguards in the van 😉

19 laps on Saturday got me 3rd single speed.
I could barely walk on Sunday morning, but Paul suggested we swap from the three hour to the six hour race so that we would be in direct competition with the three other tandems.
Half way round the first lap, I knew it was a mistake, we were right at the back.
We got lapped by the lead tandem on our third lap. I was so tired by then that I was making mistakes and risking a crash, so we retired at the end of that lap.

[url= http://www.strava.com/activities/151036855 ]19 laps on a belt drive single speed.[/url]

[url= http://www.strava.com/activities/151036428 ]3 laps on a tandem.[/url]

Thanks to Loco for the use of his trackside gazebo so I had somewhere to stash my food & drink and Mrs MTG had somewhere to sit to do her knitting.

Fair play Graham - 19 freakin' laps singlespeed 😯 . Was good to see you on the start hill today 😀 . Those tandems were damn fast - how you manage to pilot one through that twisty course is beyond me!

12 laps solo on Saturday for me. Weather was nowhere near as bad as planned 🙂 Fun watching the 3 and 6 hour race in the sunshine this morning as well.

Fantastic event and a great tribute to Steve Worland.

Are the results online anywhere yet ?

19 laps and 4th place in the 12 hour solo category riding for Qwerty Cycles. Really pleased, although annoyed I didn't make podium.

The Cannondale Scalpel 29er was absolutely amazing in its first race, but, my god, those bends were sketchy on the first wooded section!

Was in a scratch team of 4 for the 12 hour on Saturday.... Did anybody actually find any grip on that first section?.. Great event, enjoyed it a lot

Did anybody actually find any grip on that first section?

Not after that little network of roots showed up!

Being local helped, it was very sketchy all day. Guess that's the way with "armoured" trails.
Only grip was low down off the berms on the bit that got resurfaced lately.
Good day tho, only disappointment was the red bull section being on a climb through a sticky boggy section:(

Did anybody actually find any grip on that first section?..

Well I didn't fall off so there must have been some grip 🙂

First ever 12 hour race and managed 8th in the old gits solo category with 15 laps. The tight right hander between trees as you exited the campsite got worse and worse as the roots became more exposed - that alone gave me loads of "moments". The rest of that first section became less grippy as the day went on, or more likely my meagre skills deserted me as I became more tired.

The biggest surprise for me was how weak my arms felt after 11 hours riding the course. I guess the surface plus the unremitting twistiness was to blame for that.

Great event though and absolutely loved the jump action at the very end. Honestly never expected to see anybody crazy enough to lie down and let (knackered) riders jump over them, let alone 4 people willing to lie down together to be jumped! Big applause for the chap who successfully jumped them then crashed on landing, hope he and his bike were ok.

My first solo 12 hour, Bloody hard work, back and arms are a mess today. Managed 16 laps after digging in for the last 2 hours to squeeze one more in ending up with 10 minutes to spare.
Excellent event and I'd definitely do it again.

Great event though and absolutely loved the jump action at the very end. Honestly never expected to see anybody crazy enough to lie down and let (knackered) riders jump over them, let alone 4 people willing to lie down together to be jumped!

I set myself up for the jump at the end of our last lap and only realised there were legs to clear at the last moment. If they knew about my jumping skills they would have been getting out of the way real quick. I managed to stay upright 🙂

That was the 4th time I've ridden there and I don't recall feeling this broken before, my arms are still dead.

My CX seemed to find some grip 🙂

Conditions were pretty skittery at a few sections of trail where it wouldn't normally be but I thought given the wet/dry weather it held up really well.

Only four laps for me in the Steve Worland event but many more ciders than that and had a brilliant day.

Oh, and I was going to do the jump at the end until I saw people lying down and didn't fancy ending the race in a pile of broken bones... 🙂

That was my 4th time soloing at Bikefest and was by far the toughest! I managed 18 laps in Proper Old Gits category and have some serious aches and pains! I feel like a Proper Old Git today 😉

I didn't have too many issues with grip on the first section but I was running about 18psi in the front so that may have helped. Plus I'm not exactly the fastest on twisty singletrack.

I looked at the jump at the end and didn't think it was a good idea as I was just about managing to stay upright! 🙂

I did the jump at the end a few times but nobody was laying on the floor at the time........................luckily for them 😆

Did the 3 hour solo and was aiming for 5 laps but trying to go round the outside of somebody on the first lap and unseating the tyre on some rocks then going over the bars cost me a lot of time 🙁 Managed 4 laps but felt like hard going on the lower section of the course and I was a lot slower than last year.

Anyone know who were doing the photography?

or the lap timings for that matter?

We did the 12 hour on Saturday and I loved every lap, from the torrential rain to the scorching sun later in the day. I never get tired of riding round Ashton Court, such fun well except the Red Bull timed section.

Shame they couldn't stump up for a few porta loos to!

Anyone know who were doing the photography?

Was just wondering that myself - seemed to be lots of photographers around the track on Sunday but there's no single photographer credited on the Bikefest website like some years.

Great event. was in old gits pairs but my team mate crashed first lap and was out. i rode on my own solo got 21 laps 4th in pairs and would of won the solo old git i think. not too bad seeing it wasnt planned 🙂

I couldn't attend, as I was in Dorset meeting my tiny new niece... but I was glad to see the sun came out for y'all (and, for that matter, SteveW). It was initially looking pretty grim. 🙂

This was my 4th June bike fest, great fun as always. It's been dry the last 4 years so it was nice to get some greasy conditions for a change. Not sure what's happened to the results, when it was the timelaps guys sitting in a hut they were always up pretty quick. These new fangled electronic chips are obviously more complicated. Oh and +1 for some portaloos. Those two toilets in the clubhouse took more than their fair share of a pounding.

Its a great event, which I would do every year, but in a way that doesn't take away from the fact, that there is some shortcomings in the venue that should be looked at. Mainly toilet and shower facilities are woeful. Two toilets in a cricket club changing rooms about 300 yards walk away, just isn't enough for the amount of competitors. To be honest people were making like bears in the woods, and just peeing by their tents in broad daylight. just to avoid the queues, that cant be right surely. I'd still do it every year though, because I think the course and the atmosphere is ace, but this doesn't mean improvements in some of the basics shouldn't be addressed by the organisers

They've had toilets previously, bit odd. Seems a very standard requirement frankly!

I think were ninth in the team event. The constantly changing track condition made things a little interesting. A guy in front of me at the start of the Red Bull section went from full speed to stop in an instant when he hit the mud on the first lap! Kudos to the guys on the tandem, it looks pretty scary watching them go over the jumps on the upper-quarry trail. All in all, a great day's riding with everyone being very friendly and well behaved.

There's probably some H&S guideline for number of toilets per person at outdoor events, which is probably fine averaged over 24 hours, but not when the race starts at 9am and everyone wants to lighten the load at 8am.

Woohoo, 10th out of 18. I think that's my first ever top 10 🙂

I wonder what I could have done without the cider stops?

I thought it was great. We were in the SWMC, but started with the main event, just to get a few more laps in since we were there.
The results look a bit odd for the SWMC though, unless someone really was managing to pull of 20 minute laps.

So are the results anywhere online?

Results here Rich... http://www.bike-fest.com/wordpress/?p=631

We were promoted to 8th. Can't argue with that.

LOL - somehow my last lap (where I also lurked for the best part of 10 minutes) has been split into a 20 minute lap and a 26 minute one. Fastest lap of the day, I reckon 🙂

Those results make interesting reading, the single speed winner would have won the solo male category. 😯 No wonder I couldn't catch him. 😳
The over 40s winner would have been 3rd solo male as well.
And if I'd entered the over 50s category, I could have won it on a single speed. 😛

You looked to be going well Graham. Nice to have a quick walk with you on that first lap (of mine, not yours!) 🙂

I did the jump at the end a few times but nobody was laying on the floor at the time........................luckily for them

Ha, me too! Soooo glad no-one was brave/foolish enough to lie next to it 😆

I too was aiming for 5 laps but only managed 4 . . . well almost . . . crossed the line 20 freakin' seconds after the 3 hour cut off time (I blame the Bengali Tiger in my water bottle which sent me the wrong way on the second lap 😳 ). Fantastic event though - I'll be back!

😀

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Ace weekend as always with great results for the team with AndrewJ getting first in Super old gits 12 solo.
Mark 2nd single speed solo & the guys from Urban Cyclery/ Loco tuning 2nd in Pairs.
Rich and myself managed 16/20 in pairs 12hr. with me having the biggest bonk ever on my last lap I really just wanted a nap in a bush halfway round 😆

are there any photos doing the rounds? Loads of people taking pics, but not the usual suspects by the look of it.

single speed is the way to go round Ashton Court! I was tempted but the entry fee wasn't so extortionate!

are there any photos doing the rounds? Loads of people taking pics, but not the usual suspects by the look of it.

There's Graham Haller with a couple of albums... http://www.ipernity.com/doc/dylbic/album

There seemed to be several photographers around the course, not found any others online yet though.

Another here - [url] http://www.robbarkerimages.com/events/gallery.php?mode=gallery&id=48&page=1 [/url] - not available until tomorrow though.

Saturday pics are up 🙂

http://www.robbarkerimages.com/events/gallery.php?mode=gallery&id=48&page=1

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(Front wheel probably washed out shortly after 🙂 )

Haven't been able to find any pictures of 315 if anybody sees any can you let me know cheers!

I think that you'll be able to search on number once he's sorted that out.