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Finished 17th in the male team of three category. Course was tougher than I thought it was going to be, with no real flowy single track descents. Great fun in the dark. Bike developed an awful creak on the second lap, which I think was the Bottom pivot bearings giving up.
Didn't hang around for all the prize giving, would have if there was an award for "best comedy bike dismount in the transition area", I would have won that hands down.
Dunno how I feel about this event. On the one hand it was a great riders course and kept you working all the way around. And on the other the event itself wa just meh! Kids race on the Saturday afternoon when most hadnt arrived yet ? Quite/solo camping area was full of teams and one genie running for hours into the night. One running water tap miles away from from most of the campsite. Just meh.... :/
To be fair, gorrick do say there's no mains water on site so you need to bring your own. There's only so much they can do.
Course was similar to the year before, it's always a hard course there, just because there is no decent descents to rest on, but it's the roughness that beats it out of you eventually, pleased with 4th fat bike, I had a shocking lap, which would have looked like I had forgotten how to ride, handlebar barged a hanging branch, on the floor, target fixated on a tree, rode completely upto it, slipped on a root and shoulder barged a tree, it got better after that, a stern talking to myself and bike and we cracked on. My silliest mistake was preriding the course, then altering my tyre pressures, adding extra pressure was not a good idea, 6 1/2 psi was great, 8 psi just made it harsh and jarring with less grip. Some good banter with other racers at points, which is what makes endurance racing all the more fun.
"One running water tap miles away from from most of the campsite"
Actually, there was one tap fixed to a tree, and several basin taps in the shower cubicles.................
Ah, sorry if i missed the water notes on the site/entry. Ill apologize 🙂
benji
I followed you round for most of the day . White Trek 29er FS , blue stw jersey . You had your amazing dismounts in front of me, at least you cracked on with it.
drafting a fat bike really does work on the fireroads .
What bike was Sam Underhill riding, someone past me on my flux and said nice bike, I thought why would someone say that out of the blue, then remembered Sam had one.
Going pretty slow at that point as my left knee, which has never given me any issues in my 51 years, was giving me loads of gip 🙁
I came up behind a guy on a salsa Fargo and asked 'salsa Fargo?', then had a bit off a conversation on my tripster and his tyre choice, and then he lost it on some roots. Later I came up behind him again and was about to say the same, thought it might be amusing in a groundhog day sort of way, but he lost it on the roots before I got to say anything..
Sam was on a blue flux. He was hoping to win the Turner category ;0)
No, not a Flux, the other one, a Czar
PS anyone know who the DJ under the bridge was ? Or way to follow him on soundcloud etc
Oh and how did the driver of the Audi R8 fit their mountain bike in?That was my son.......remove both wheels/seat post and job done! But it won't work with a 29er
Sadly my flux died last month. Crash replacement from Turner means it's now a czar!
Andrew - I don't remember seeing you / your bike, but that doesn't mean it wasn't me.
First 12 hr solo for me. I managed 10 laps despite having to get my rear wheel rebuilt mid race! Great course though, technical, twisty and fun!
Small world Singletrackmind, was it you with me from about 7ish?
I thought the route was superb, required lots of pedalling to keep pace up and plenty of tech stuff to keep it interesting. I liked the section on the left after the bridge most, reminded me of a local trail FBM on the north downs. We managed 2nd in male team vets, and 6th overall male team.
the guy who commented was on an on-one hardtail which is another reason I wondered about it.
How's the czar? They do look bloody good.
The czar is fast! I only wish I could do it justice! Beautifully built, Turner have really upped their game.
Quality event - course held up very well considering the weather we've had recently
Real nice feel to the event with lots of friendly banter when passing or being passed
Happy with 6th in the 12h male pairs on our fatbikes
"honk honk"
🙂
Loved the course, bit of climbing, loads of lively roots and it didn't cut up :o)
the weather gods really do look after Gorrick, maybe some Karma for hard work they put in!
Bit of a strange day for me, gave me some clarity - whilst I loved riding the trails and could have ridden there for hours on end (oh I did) I didn't really enjoy the racing, despite getting my best ever result for the event - so more trail riding and less racing for me - I may even knock my cross season on the head, any one fancy a TCX Advance in large!!!
I didn't ride, but our lot got a kids race win, 3rd in 12hr solo female and 3rd in 12hr vet solo female. We were pitched up by Olympic ridge. I got a lap in with my son, and thought the course was great with most of the sections ridden in the best direction.
Good to see lots of kids there and racing too. Good weekend and congrats to Gorrick for another great event.
Bit of a strange day for me, gave me some clarity - whilst I loved riding the trails and could have ridden there for hours on end (oh I did) I didn't really enjoy the racing, despite getting my best ever result for the event
Does anyone truly enjoys XC racing apart from the first and last laps plus some mental victories in keeping going when your body screams stop? During it I swear never ever again. Then the brain reformats the experience and I start to wonder how I can improve and it starts all over again.......
During it I swear never ever again. Then the brain reformats the experience and I start to wonder how I can improve and it starts all over again.......
🙂
It was you on the singular puffin then Jon. You passed me bimbling along on my specialized fatboy 🙂
Peculiar lap times for the solo winner, anyone know him? Seemed to manage to go faster than virtually any other rider, team or otherwise, at several points during the race!
I really enjoyed it. I hadn't ridden my bike much in the 3-4 weeks leading up to the race, so was just doing it for a bit of fun. After a pre-ride on Tuesday I was slightly concerned it could be a repeat of the BM race earlier in the year which was pretty tough. In the end the dry course was great fun to ride, and nice to ride sections in a different order. I finished 8th in the Vets 6hr, which I was pleased with given how unseriously I took the whole thing. With hindsight I went out a bit too easy, but wasn't sure how my legs would cope later in the race.
Packing up the tent on Monday morning was a bit of experience!
He rides for the Army Cycling Union so is known by them, and probably by the organisers. Does Strava have the answers? Maybe long pitstops followed by smashing out super super quick laps.Peculiar lap times for the solo winner, anyone know him?
Peculiar lap times for the solo winner, anyone know him? Seemed to manage to go faster than virtually any other rider, team or otherwise, at several points during the race!
Single speed too - 16 laps. I'd need to look at the data but I could see where it would be easy - out of the bit where you dove into a drop after crossing a fire road into up onto the big grassy downhill slope before the "corkscrew" - you could ride 50m across the top,of the field and join at the top,of the climb out, missing out about 10 mins of lap, if you looked across before you went down e big grassy slope.
Only he wasn’t on a Single Speed!?
Race number 114, riding a Whyte with gears.
Look through the photos and you’ll see him.
He spent a couple of minutes chatting to one of my teammates whilst taking a break, that would have been bang on his 9th lap. So that explains that one 🙄
Also being in the Army and being good at a sport pretty much guarantees you’ll do a lot of it.
benji
Yep, around 7ish . I went out without lights so used yours in places, May have mentioned your tyre was nearly as fat as your waist !
Think we swapped places a couple of times as our lap times are within a minute or so each lap.
Still trying to extract the saddle from my lower regions , got some serious chaffing despite a dollop of chammy cream on the pad.
^^^ Amended post - Kryton why on earth would you start saying that - plain wrong in my opinion
Only he wasn’t on a Single Speed!?
Race number 114, riding a Whyte with gears.
Look through the photos and you’ll see him.
He spent a couple of minutes chatting to one of my teammates whilst taking a break, that would have been bang on his 9th lap. So that explains that one
Was curiousity on my part rather than anything else, but 'being in the army' is rarely enough to mean you'll beat a few known elite racers. Sure there's nowt in it, it just stands out because he was literally among the fastest people there on several laps, but 10 minutes slower on the others. It's just an unusual tactic, usually the winners are fairly consistent.
Like I say, sure it's genuine, just interesting. Goes against the "keep on plodding" philosophy by smashing out some incredible laps, then easing off.
adsh - Member
^^^ Amended post - Kryton why on earth would you start saying that - plain wrong in my opinion
Sorry what's wrong? I genuinely thought the winner was riding SS and won the SS and Solo medals. I was sitting next to the podium, and at one point standing on it, but it was getting on for 2am and I was tired so I may have been mistaken?
Re that opportunity to cut the lap short? I'm not accusing anyone I just pointed out that I could see it was there.
Sorry to offend on either point
Solo Vets winner was riding SS.
I assume it's the assertions of cheating he meant though.
It is weird. If you ignore the first lap when (I presume?) they missed out the first bit of singletrack he actually put in the fastest and second fastest laps of the entire race, across all categories.
I would say njee if you look at my data, our pairs laps are almost reflective of the same discrepancy, if you were knocking out doubles we both found the second lap quite hard with a 3-4 min difference between the second and the first of a stint.
If I were doing that solo I would imagine that discrepancy getting bigger over the course of the race.
It doesn't for anyone else though, and the fast laps are insanely fast. I've been sad enough to copy the lap times of the top 5 into a graph and it looks very strange. Wonder if it's a Timelaps problem, presumably no one else noticed their lap times varying?
We could just give the poor chap credit for being very fast and winning the thing?
Just looked, agree it does look odd, around 40min or less for 3 of the night laps too, incredibly fast after 10hrs of racing.
Is it a regular rider? Not a name I recognise
Apologies and kudos if legit. And wow. I need to train harder.
It is a very unusual set of lap times. The usual pattern is a gradual decay of a few seconds per lap, this really is the standard pattern across all events and represents the slow reduction of aerobic power available to the athlete over time.
The winners pattern represents the ability to absolutely smash the lap at will and then decide to play around for a bit or have a rest. Is he an elite rider in another disipline?
Wonder if it's a Timelaps problem, presumably no one else noticed their lap times varying?
I'd imagine this is the case.
Steve Day who won the Vet 12h said that his Garmin and his wife's notes both show him having done 16 laps but the results are showing him having only rode 15 so I'd guess there's a problem with Timelaps.
Also, our pair disappeared off the list until I pointed it out to Timelaps, who then fixed it so clearly there was some issues. I was told by the Timelaps chap my race number was affiliated to a different non existent team name. It was sorted later.
Steve is evil fast on a single speed, he won mayhem solo cat ,rigid and ss by 2 laps over the next solo and that was with breaking his bike. He's also a serious contender for the ss cat in the WEMBO this year. Cant see him pulling a cheat somehow..its not his style
Not talking about him, we're talking about the chap who won the 'normal' solo race, not the vets race.
Matt did 16 laps in 12:00, Steve did 15 laps in 12:11. Looks like Steve may have had a double lap counted though, he's got a very slow lap in there.
Still reckon it's erroneous. I hope that Matt was the actual winner though, otherwise that's a bit harsh!
Steve is evil fast on a single speed, he won mayhem solo cat ,rigid and ss by 2 laps over the next solo and that was with breaking his bike. He's also a serious contender for the ss cat in the WEMBO this year. Cant see him pulling a cheat somehow..its not his style
I think it was last years Torq in Your Sleep he was the fastest solo in any cat. He was absolutely flying!
What drugs could produce results like that?
(Just kidding...)
As it is a matter of some conjecture here, we can confirm that an issue has been raised, and we have spoken to riders who were actually at the event and were able to help us with our enquiries - comments by those who weren't and have merely been surmising what may have happened are not helpful. Our decision will be posted on the TORQ in your Sleep facebook tomorrow.
Noted. Standing down!
There's certainly something up with my result. Given 1 lap at over 9 hours. Now this would be very slow but the odder thing is I wasn't actually there. ...
Haha! That happened to me once, got a decent result without actually turning up!
There's an update on the Gorrick Facebook page from the guy who won.
Ladies and gentlemen - the issue with the result is mine - It looks like l've made an error during the event on some of my laps, which looking at the timings l can only put down to incorrect pitting and rejoining the course at the wrong point. In light of this, l wish to withdraw my result from the event. I have been made aware of discussions, and its only right that l submit this request - Please accept my apologies, it was never my intention to skew results, l was perhaps the most surprised of everyone when l heard my name read out at the final results.I will continue to work with the organisers in whatever means possible, the past 24hours has been frustrating for all concerned. I congratulate all riders and the event staff on another superb event, and wish you all the very best for the future.
I was rather hoping that the army had developed some sort of super-soldier and that he'd escaped from a top secret research facility. Using bionics, drugs (or a combination of both) he could out-perform normal mortals. Or maybe the scientists used mind manipulation a bit like Jason Bourne (did anybody notice if he had a roll of microfilm underneath his skin)???? 😯
Fair play for the chaps response, and it must be absolutely gutting for him, after competing for a full 12 hours to then withdraw.
Yeah, fair play to him for putting his hand up
I was in a pair and was struggling to remember if i had done 4 or 6 laps - even with a break every 50 minutes
I'd be completely delirious if I had done the full 12 hour solo and if someone had told me that i had won I'd be both delirious & estatic
All very well handled by Gorrick & the chap
Looking at last year's results he finished second. Looks like he made the same errors that year too. The rules are pretty straight forward, I can't imagine how he got it wrong two years in a row.
Pleased it's resolved, but it's not exactly a hard concept to leave and reenter at the same point.
Just looked at last year's results as carbon says . All I can say is hmmmm.
Pleased it's resolved
Is it really though? There's last years results and we have yet to hear from Gorrick.............
Numpty question:
How can you leave / re-enter the course at the wrong point? Is this not a fairly fundemental part of the race? I only ask through idle curiosity because I've never raced myself and I'm trying to visualise this. I'm guessing that strava records might help if available.
You can't really do it accidentally IMO... Not on that course. Not 10 times over two different races. Mates with Nibali I reckon 😉
Maybe a seperate 'Solo's only' marquee next year , alongside the camping imediatly after the start / finish area?
Just somewhere to store food , clothes and a water bowser.
Tea urn would be a nice touch , and a hot shower , massage lady and maybe some cheerleaders ?
My missus is going to make a sign up for the next time. A free cup of tea to any solo rider, 🙂
Crikey. Exclusion and a 3 year ban.
Sounds fair enough to me. Having personally put in hundreds of hours of training for 12 hour races I think it is disgraceful that anyone would even consider cheating. Well done to Gorrick for taking it seriously. I hope the Army Cycling Union have a similar response.
How did he cheat?
Genuine question, I retired on 1st lap with broken bike (was hoping to complete 4 laps) so I do not feel robbed of a podium
I've seen cheating at 12 and 24 hour events myself but given they've been by riders who clearly aren't podium troublers I've never felt compelled to act other than tutting and shouting 'seen you!' at them. If they finish 38th instead of 44th - so what, they've only cheated themselves in the end.
To cheat in such a way to become a contender - ffs, even at the top end we're all doing this for fun aren't we? And to do it in such an amateur way really beggars belief.
Very poor, quite saddened by it actually.
From his quoted comment above he was leaving and joining the course in different places. So maybe leaving the course at the team transition area after the finish line, and then rejoining 40mins later at his pit area before the finish line?
Agreed. He obviously did it last year, got away with it, so did it again. Hugely poor form. Well done to Gorrick for their actions, a real shame he felt the need to do it.
But if you were doing that to sit out part of the race to stay fresh, surely you'd make the effort to make the laps you didn't do about the same length (time) as the ones you did? The timing discrepancies make it look more like riding the full 12 hours but cutting the course every other lap or so? Hence full laps were not competitive, short laps were obviously spotted.
What a great event! The course was excellent, 90% singletrack?, despite the lack of climbing. Really a single speed friendly course. Only th(ng I felt was not very technical.
Everyone was very friendly when overtaking or being overtaken. I had zero problems on this matter. No rain fortunately.
As I didn't know my position after 7pm or so, I was pushing like an animal towards the end to catch a guy on ss from Banjo cycles who had similar pace. I finished destroyed.
My fitness was excellent but the lack of ss riding lately made it even more phisycally demanding.
Yak, I think you were next to me, right? I was aso next to Banjo cycles. Nice to meet you!
Steve Day is unbeatable on ss at the moment. Very well done. I'll keep coming to gorrick races.
This event could become much bigger.
And well done Gorrick for banning the cheater for 5 years.
Looking at last year TORQ results I can see more than one person doing very quick laps towards the end. Odd
Well, the warning is there for all to see for the future.
Anyway, as Sarpullido, we should focus on the excellence of the event and thanks the organisers for doing such a stunning job, and the majority of riders for the general good manners and excellent racing. As above, halfway through I questioned why I was doing this, but now I do want to do it again next year, in pairs or solo. 8)
Yes, good to meet you too sarpullido! Well done on a great ride. See you at the brass monkeys - I'll be riding those.
Where is the ban decision posted ? Couldn't see it on Gorrick twitter/FB/www.
torq 12:12 FB page.
Got it, thanks.
Lets hope some other race organisers (Southern XC series etc) ban him as well.
We've only got his word that the discrepancies occurred at the pits, he may well have just been taking handy shortcuts at other places on the course (Kryton57 has pointed out where you could save 10 mins per lap).
It's a pity as it was a great event 😀
If he's serving this is likely to go further. I would imagine at the very least he will charged and in front of his CO for issues of integrity and bringing the army into disrepute. Various sanctions such as fine of up to one months pay, demotion and regimental jail are available.
The army have just marked out an XC course at Minley, similar to this years 12:12 but with a few changes. Presumably for a race tomorrow afternoon, but it might be of interest to some of the locals looking for an interesting evening ride.