Forum menu
...was a bit wet.
You can't beat the sound of xtr eating itself in the morning. No brakes left by half way through my second lap. Bloody good fun though strangely.
Carnage. Absolute carnage.
Brake pads went by beginning of second lap, rotor has somehow shaved about 0.5mm off the front caliper!
Chainsuck varying from every other pedal stroke to every couple of mins. 2nd lap took 2hrs 37 mins! For 10 miles! And there were slower times on the screen too!
The trails are pretty wrecked now for the foreseeable future.
I was the sweary bloke with the skull mask ziptied to the back of my helmet. Apologies to any delicate ears I offended.
I hope no one went for the advice of Racing Ralphs!
It was biblical. So glad i ran SS. By my third lap the entire course was an absolute mud-fest. Glad i rode the course before the rain so i got to enjoy it as its meant to be.
Really like the new venue. Feels all proper and professional now, although it has lost some of the smaller community feel it had a few years back but i guess that's bound to happen as it gets popular.
Loved the Exposure guys providing chargers for us Exposure lights owners to keep things easy.
It was damp... That's all
I bust my collarbone at Elveden Pit, off the bike for 6 weeks 🙁 The Doctor couldn't believe you could break your collarbone that high up 😕
I was really enjoying it to that point and recon we could have got on the podium in mixed pairs.
I hope no one went for the advice of Racing Ralphs!
Ya I rode with racing ralphs and rode most of the course until about 4pm 🙂 decided to retire and save anymore damage to body and bike!
First lap fun but the rest!!!!! beyond wet and muddy 🙁
Thecrackfox - nightmare.
I chose discretion over valour on some of the bombholes! The combo of sloppy mud & no real braking ability didn't make the bombholes very appealing...
Funnily enough it didn't even occur to me, not to ride them 😕
Until after the event.
physioclinic.net give them a call about your collar bone. I was back on the road bike in 3 weeks, xc bike in 4 for £200 and much more comfortable from the off.
Was leading solo riding round with Steve until 5hrs in then my knee went again. It only does it with the grinding through the mud putting so much force through it. Any idea who won in the end?
Results are up on Timelaps. Well done Steve!
Steve smashed it in the solo George - shame the knee gave out, you were looking really strong as well. Absolutely foul conditions, can't say I enjoyed it much, My (rather long) report up [url= http://singularcycles.posterous.com/steve-webb-wins-d2d-solo ]here[/url].
Did one lap at midnight - took 2 hours 15! Retired after that - just not enjoyable and limited lights meant i had no scope for line choice. Still can laugh now.
Respect to all who carried on. Guy in front of me put his shoulder out on a bombhole.
my second lap took an hour longer than my first... 😯
Really horrible conditions last night, huge kudos to all who were able to keep going through the night, we stopped at about 3:30am. Pity about the injuries at the bombholes (get well soon), very tricky conditions on most of the course.
i love that film, juliette lewis mmmmm
First lap OK,handed over, second lap absolutely flew(or so I thought), third lap....bottled it as hypothermia set in due to not having enough changes of clothing. My team mate gamely did two laps on the bounce before throwing the towel in at about 0230.
soloed untill 2.45 when i decided that 5 laps and 2 bikes destroyed that i had had enought and packed it in. gutted to say the least but i wasent enjoying it one little bit. feeling seriously ill and beaten today.
I was due to enter as part of a pair a month or so ago but changing of jobs has meant that I no longer had the time to take off to prepare and recover so I was "forced" to cancel.. 🙁
How glad am I now 😀
Cycling = fun on a bike.
D2D 2010 = no fun.
For me last night, the race stopped being a race and mainly not fun about 3.15am and that was it.
I know I won't be on the podium, so thought it best to stop, having no brakes and no spare pads is not good!
Roll on the winter series and next years D2D
Thanks to the singular guys and girl (I didn't catch your names, sorry) in the solo pits for the kind words and offers of hot drinks 🙂
rOcKeTdOg +1
Salma Hayek mmm
loved D2D last year. This year however was a bit of a nightmare.
Came home with 2 broken bikes (that I need for Relentless next weekend) and a scratched eyeball caused by some shite that got in there on my second lap.
Was doing ok until I spent an hour in the medics tent after my agonising 4th lap, emerging with a Crimean war-style head bandage thing covering my eye.
ouch.
I was cosy in the van for the rest of the night though. Well done to all those who soldiered on.
So how D2D 2010 is to be renamed D2 around about 3.
Well done to all those that turned up and tried their best.
Well if you can bear it some photos are now online;0)
We didn't last the distance either, it's not just bikes that get wrecked in that sort of weather!
[url= http://www.joolzedymond.com/joolzeD/D2D2010.html ]D2D Photos[/url]
That was hard. My first proper attempt at an enduro and I was soloing it. Managed 3 laps before taking a rest at about 2:30 with the plan being to head out again about 5ish for a couple more. Didn't make it out for the couple more and ended up with 99th place in Solo Men but on the whole kind of happy. Certainly haven't been put off even though my 3rd lap was probably the hardest 2 hours I have ever spent on a bike. Not sure that the Nomad/Aspen was the ideal bike/tyre combo for the race but at times it was actually fun.
Absolutely knackered this evening though.
I think I'll be there next year to do it all again.
I started to enjoy it a lot more when I stopped thinking about it as a race, and more a test of ability to stay upright whilst riding through slime with no brakes.
Hi stumpy01 I passed you and your Frankstein team-mates. I never did see dracula though.
Solo-ed until 3am at which point all the teams in my group had thrown the towel in and I'd run out of pads (change 3 pairs). Only 1 other rider in our teams did more than 2 laps.
Sorry to hear about your collarbone crackfox. Elvenden pit was seriously tricky - went over the bars on my fourth lap.
In the end I felt OK but wasn't really having much fun. 5mph pedalling through gloop isn't really cycling.
Not entirely fun - the riding was neutral to unpleasant, the company and cameraderie excellent. Went over the bars in Elvedon pit, narrowly avoiding the tree trunk lying in the bottom.
Amazing what a diffence the mud made - from a big ring blast to 1.5hrs of sodden grinding.
I've never had such misted up glasses, even at MM in 2008 and that seemed to be a similiar level of rain and mud. Just a massive shame, so much effort by so many people and ruined by the weather. We quit about 2:30 as well. Felt ashamed and useless but my brakes had nearly gone (I know it hardly mattered under the circumstances but..), I couldn't see much alot of the time, esp when under trees, and it just wasn't fun or worth it. Bike is shiny clean now but sounds completely knackered. At least I replaced my summer tyres with Trailrakers. During the early mud stages, up to say 1.00 i was cruising past some people simply because i had grip and they didn't.
The early laps were fun, the 3am lap was hell. If a team mate wasn't waiting on me I'd have stopped in the wabbit run for a nap.
Racing Ralphs - aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.... Hats off to you solo people, that was a slog.
Thought it was brill!
Solo'd and came 10th with 7 laps, which I'm pretty happy about. Rode my trusty Singular Swift, which was just perfect apart from the comedy Summer tyres.
Single speed was definitely the way to go last night. Drivetrain this morning seems fine (though just stuck the WI freewheel in whitespirit to be on the safe side). ISIS BB is a bit wobbly though.
I was running my big-ol Maxxis Summer tyres, which were very sketchy once the rain started coming down properly. And I have to admit my third lap was hard, with lots of falling off, and thinking about what else I could be doing.
But the 4th lap was much better - the rain was so heavy by then that the gloop was really runny, so a lot of places was quite easy to ride. And I felt stronger, which meant I could ride better and faster.
After that I just kept going round. Walked all the bombholes - even the skip; walked most of the Beast. No brakes really, just held on to them in a few places for reassurance rather than to actually slow down.
Start of the sixth lap I had some Torq Rhubarb and Custard gel. All I can say is Wow! That stuff is like nectar! And then the sun came up. Took off the rain coat, slogged very slowly round the final lap, saw some deer bound across the trail; felt a bit rubbish in the middle and then was up by the crazy Vivaldi music and finished!
HUGE thanks to ac282 who took over bottling for me for a few hours. It was really appreciated. Also to the other guys in the solo tent (you know who you are) offering encouragement in the pits. And to all the people shouting out encouragement on the way round. Really genuinely appreciated. Someone even took time to tell an entire joke and punchline about money and toilets.
Just keep those pedals turning. That's what it was all about.
Bit of a nightmare really- first lap was ok, second started off fine, but in the singletrack there was no traction for me, I'm not fast enough to keep out of the ruts in those conditions. All downhill from there. Did 3 laps, went to bed with the alarm set for 4- it had just stopped raining by then, but the memories of the trenches were too fresh, so packed it up, and went home.
Worse than 2008 I reckon.
Respect to the top runners- still flying through the singletrack.
I've heard that there will be two new categories at D2D next year, Bog Snorkelling and Synchronised swimming...I've decided not to enter....
Well done to all who had a go...
I've heard that there will be two new categories at D2D next year, Bog Snorkelling and Synchronised swimming...I've decided not to enter....
Well done to all who had a go...
I did the first lap at 8pm and it was fantastic, then my next was at 4am and I couldn't believe how the course had changed. Was very hard work!!
tonyg2003 - my dracula clad mate was solo-ing too. He managed 3 laps before calling it a day.
My first lap was at 11:30pm and took 1hr 11 mins less than my second lap immediately after! Think my team mate managed to get the best lap in; the first one!
Took a late solo entry thanks to 'Spud' (Hope your fit soon mate)an what a year to start!
Ran the Pace RC104 SS with RC31 fork and with Mountain King 2.4's. Friday in the dry and even Friday night in the rain the course rode well and I could even make it out of all but two of the bomb holes. I decided on those rides that 32x18 was too low so started race on 32x16. Two laps in and with the course cutting up I'd changed my mind and on lap 3 decided to regear at end of lap 4. Like 'Luked2' I found lap 4 one of the easier with the mud slurry better than the sticky goo as the rain eased 😯
The pit stop lasted over an hour partly because the Pace has a small grub screw on the brake hangar slider. I also had to go and buy more brake pads from RJX + a supper bacon & egg bap for my pitstop to set me up to go out for more 😆 (All part of the joys of going fully solo and not bring a support crew. Fellow solo's and crew more than made up Tx)
Despite the gearing change, lap 5 felt harder as the rain eased and mud became glue like. I think I walked at least 1/2 the singletrack an most of the 'Beast' for laps 5 & 6. Finally with daylight and the trail drying a rideable line became visible. I was determined to ride the whole lap an even made it out of one of the bomb holes 8)
With 3 miles to go I hit the wall but managed to keep moving even thou my speed was under 6kph across the last field
I was really chuffed to find that my 7 laps gained me 8th solo. Even if I'd not taken the extended stop I couldn't have ridden further 😳
Mine was the last remaining tent in the solo camping as I slept before the drive home. The venue was fantastic for us soloist's with the jet wash next to the solo pit tent a real bonus
Bring on next year in the dry
Someone even took time to tell an entire joke and punchline about money and toilets.
Glad it was appreciated! 🙂
<waves>Plovair</waves>!
You were flying round that course; I saw you go past me after your extended pitstop and I knew there was no way I was going to keep up with you.
I was determined to ride the whole lap and even made it out of one of the bomb holes
!!!!!!!!!
even made it out of one of the bomb holes
Ah, the ropes and spikes from the pitstop helped then!
That was a barmy night, kinda fun in a " omg, every pedal turn is either giving me chainsuck or destroying my brake pads a little more " kinda way...
I did our pairs first lap and the course was really nice, by the time of my next lap, well, y'all know that one...
bonkers.
First time on SS 29er - came 5th solo. Very pleased and wasn't expecting that. I learned a lot of lessons from 2008; you don't need gears screwing up in the wet, wet tyres are a must, 3am is a low point so have some proper food ready, don't stop for very long, don't overdress, waterbottle of energy for food per lap.
Thanks to exposure who got my light working instantly when muck got into the smart port, survived for 1 lap on joystick.
Bike was excellent but ecentric BB was falling to bits just before the start!
It was almost fun but if you can get past 3am you will survive!
so it seems the organisers did me a favor in banning me from taking photos at this years' event!
was the weather worse than 2008? now that was wet. surprised i didn't break my camera.
I called it a day after 3 laps in the solo. I finished in 2008, but this time I really couldn't face another 8+ hour of riding around in the filth, plus my brake pads had gone halfway round the 3rd lap and I knew I didn't have enough spare pads to actually be able to complete the 12 hours, so would have had to quit at some stage during the night anyway. Very glad I was on the SS, I was using Nobby Nic tyres and found them really good in the conditions.
I think the difference in 2008 was the rain started later in the race, plus that year I seem to remember the trails were very dry at the start. This year as soon as the rain started the trails rapidly turned into a bog.
sounds lovely!