Following on from the thread about the forestry work Minley I thought an update might be useful.
The Gorrick Torq 3-6-9 XC Race which will be at Minley this coming Sunday (10 May).
Last Sunday a rode a test lap of the provisional race route with Peter from the Gorrick team who is one of the course setters and builders. There was a small group of us from BOBOB (Berks On Bikes Old Boys). We rode it very steadily with a view to identifying any problems, routing etc. I thought it was a nice course and considering the forestry work damage they've made a good route.
Here's a video of the provisional full lap (some possible changes near the end). The video is around 45 minutes but race laps for many will be under 30 minutes I'd guess.
Looks great, I'll be puffing my guts out trying not to be last in the 3 hour group. Latest forecast suggest that the rain might just hold off too!
Can thoroughly recommend the Gorrick events, remember entry closes tonight!
No, wait, tomorrow night. Entry closes tomorrow night.
We'll be over to watch. Our son is coming down from Hereford to race. The latest I heard is that the course is around 6.5 miles.
To anyone from here.... have a good one.
Thanks for the reminder, just signed up for the 3 hr solo ‘old man’ cat. Looking forward to it!
I’m in for 3 hour solo too
I am down to do the 6hour old man race...which reminds me I must do my sciatica arse exercises now if you excuse me
Well that was a lot of fun! Stayed bone dry and dusty on a really good course. I got 5 laps in, not sure of position yet as results aren’t out. Managed to hide in groups til the last lap when I struck out on my own in a do or die move, that succeeded!
A shame they were having problems with idiots moving the tape, but it didn’t affect my race… 
My legs hurt today. Looking at the times, I maybe possibly could have managed a 5th lap but cramp was setting in and I think I would have slowed down too much. Great morning.
Enjoyed having both bluebells and rhododendrons in the same ride. And with all the dust, it was a novelty for tree roots to be the grippiest part of the trails!
I was using that mainly as practise for BC bike race next week. Hence my thoroughly innapropriate bike setup.
Main takeaway being that I cannot ride that hard and expect to do the same the following day. Second takeaway is that I get through a bottle an hour at that pace rather than every 2 hours at a quick but sociable pace. Which has thrown up some intersting questions.
Did 8 laps in 6 hours, felt like a bag of spanners for first 4 hours but pulled out my two fastest laps on last 2.... Legs are fine today but it's not helped my sciatica!!! Should have pushed harder really. Quite pleased with how I fueled though. No cramp no sore legs today.
We went over to Minley to watch and support our son who did the 3 hour solo... he managed 5 laps and a 10th in class. I made a video for the time we were there which includes the 3 hours, the early part of the 9 hour and just the start of the 6 hours. We'd like to have stayed longer but our son had to drive back to Hereford. So sorry to the 6 hourers that I couldn't get more of you.... for the time I was there I tried to capture as many as possible at a few different points on the course.
@masterdabber - good effort, you certainly got around the course! You’ve captured a lot of the lap and got me several times 😎. XC racing doesn’t transfer well to video does it - it was much more effort than it looks there!!!
@masterdabber - good effort, you certainly got around the course! You’ve captured a lot of the lap and got me several times 😎. XC racing doesn’t transfer well to video does it - it was much more effort than it looks there!!!
Thanks @bigdaddy
Yes, you're right. Getting around the course on foot is hard going although, fortunately, I'd already ridden the route for the testing of the course. There's a few places that I'd have like to have filmed but it would have been hard to walk to. I never tried anything fancy with it, just try and capture as many as was practical as many like to have a chance to see themselves.
Missed that, but looking forward to the summer series 🙂
Missed that, but looking forward to the summer series 🙂
Yes, it will be interesting to see how the four Tuesday evening races in June go.
