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Yeah but the roads are fast so you spend less time on them 🙂
It really is a bit of a road-fest this year. After spending ages posting wanted ads and finally getting one transferred into my name, I'm actually going to bunk off the HoNC. Going for an epic off-piste ride in FoD instead to take advantage of the great weather, brilliant dry trails and an all-day riding window!
I am struggling to get the 100 mile gpx loaded onto my Garmin 500. In the past I have just put the gpx file into the 'new files' folder and the Garmin has recognised it with no issues - any thoughts?
Dont know why so much road this year, thought last year was bad enough.
I am struggling to get the 100 mile gpx loaded onto my Garmin 500. In the past I have just put the gpx file into the 'new files' folder and the Garmin has recognised it with no issues - any thoughts?
Won't take a GPX file. Upload it to bike hike, save it again as a TCX then put that in the new files folder.
I actually quite like the fact it's a lot of road cos i'm so out of shape the idea of 70k on road is much more appealing!
Drat, converted the higher geared fixed gear Karate Monkey to lower geared SS last night. Oh well let the spinning commence......short one for me then.
Its basically a Sportive....bring your road bike.
Dont know why so much road this year, thought last year was bad enough.
Last year was a 50/50 split, but having to negotiate permission from a lot of new land owners, for this year we took the easy option and re used an existing route.
A couple of years ago the route comprised of 65% off-road, that was the year of the stick mud, and the CXs complaining that there wasn't enough road sections.
I am struggling to get the 100 mile gpx loaded onto my Garmin 500. In the past I have just put the gpx file into the 'new files' folder and the Garmin has recognised it with no issues - any thoughts?
Won't take a GPX file. Upload it to bike hike, save it again as a TCX then put that in the new files folder.I actually quite like the fact it's a lot of road cos i'm so out of shape the idea of 70k on road is much more appealing!
My 810 did, but called it "Track" in the courses list which confused me.
I am driving up from Swansea for this - is it still worth the effort if is mostly a road ride 🙁
It'll be a lovely ride around the Cotswolds on what looks to be a nice day with ideal riding conditions. As long as you don't go there expecting an off-road singletrack experience you'll enjoy it.
I was thinking it would be 50/50 at least, I wasn't expecting single track but not so much road and more tracks and bridleways etc. I can ride roads at home. I think the organiser should have said in advance if it was going to be such a high proportion of road - I actually feel a bit cheated!
Yes Nipper it is. A great day out in lovely countryside.
It is not and has never been a MTB event. It is not a singletrack fest.
Conditions on the second part of the long route are dry, the main issue will be the wind.
OK, so what about the first half?
It'll be a lovely ride around the Cotswolds on what looks to be a nice day with ideal riding conditions. As long as you don't go there expecting an off-road singletrack experience you'll enjoy it.
Hmm. With this and 40mph gusts can i be bothered to get up at 5am tomorrow?
If I lived a bit closer i'd take a punt but given the amount of road this year its not worth the drive up from S.Wales for me - will look forward to the Afan Avenger instead.
So how did everyone do today? The wind was fairly brutal at times, thought my legs were going to break in the second half on some of those climbs!
Did the 100km route in 4 hrs 16 mins which I'm pleased with having been aiming at 5 hours - a bit sore now and just about to open the beer...
Ps if anyone here borrowed my multitool from me about 20 miles in then give me a shout and I'll send my address, apologies for not stopping but did not want to lose the group.
Cheers
Iain
two comments,
SHUT THE F***ING GATES!
hope the guy with the broken wrist got back ok.
100k in 5.59, was aiming for 6.30 so fairly happy for a first go, probably well behind most on here though!
The wind was horrible on the second half, did the first 60k in just over 3 hours and was feeling quite pleased, then the wind and the last climbs killed me!
Hope all enjoyed, great day out in the sun and thanks to all who helped organise 🙂
Great day- amazed that people on here think it's an 'off-road ride' and get indignant when it involves 50-70km of road depending. As others have said you spend less time on the road...
Really well run event as normal. Good day and the wind certainly made things more interesting!
Disappointed with the length of the road sections this year 🙁
Really enjoyed it today (apart from the wind on a few sections). What i like about this event is the variety of folk and bikes that take part. Managing not to miss the cake stop this year was a bonus..!
mrmo - Membertwo comments,
SHUT THE F***ING GATES!
hope the guy with the broken wrist got back ok.
+1 on shutting the gates - one of my jobs for the day was making sure they were closed on part of the route and they mostly weren't.
The guy with the broken wrist was taken off by St John's Ambulance (with the police taking care of his bike!), so I guess he got to where he needed to go.
Too much road, interesting wind, otherwise pretty good.....
A good day out.
Dry,but the wind was a killer!
The last few miles I was hurting with cramp!
Enjoyed it though,really!
yeah, was quite roady, but on the plus side that helped me get a time of 4:55 for the 100km. The wind across the moor at the end was brutal, had the front wheel lifting off the ground at points and a guy in front of me got clean blown off his bike just before it!
Woke up this morning with a stomach bug, but went for it. Decided on the shorter route glad I did as in the state I was in I would t of made it. I didn't bother changing tyres but wish I did. Wind killed me. Enjoyable day.
Russyh - did the stomach bug contribute to the wind?
Ouch . That hurt alot. I have done some tough rides ( SDW / Dyfi ) and today seemed right up there. I put this downto the 4kg of lard I have amassed over winter which has to go. Although 82kg probably helped keep the wheels in contatc with ground some of the time.
Pedalling downhill with your chin on the stem trying to maintain some decent momentum was unusual.
5hrs 16mins, which I think is the same s last year .
It really is a tourtoise and hare event , with the cx bikes and mtb's leap frogging each other throughout.Alot od CX punctures though. I ran Ralphs 29 x 2.25 at 40psi and seemed to roll OK.
The wind climbing up to the masts across the grass at the end nearly did for me. I was on the verge of a proper tantrum . But the push up the hill at the end was a bonus, found some new legs and stormed the last km and nearly had a huge crash with a belted galloway .
How can it be a 5hr headwind , and a 15min tail wind ?
Good organising , good foodage , signs need to be 50% bigger . and next year can we have a majority off road course please.
Pete , I did spot you. I was on my way home and you were just riding into Winchcombe.
Pete grunted past me on first climb. Missed you Singletrackmind 🙁
Missed you too Andy .
and next year can we have a majority off road course please.
And it will rain and there will be mud of apocalyptic proportion. And there will much wailing and gnashing of teeth . And the multitude will clamour, oh why was there so much off road, why did we have to toil across muddy fields and lanes.
Next years route is already being formulated, its just a case of joining up the dots, it may be a 70/30 mix 60/40 or even 50/50, you will have to wait and see..
Enjoyed my first HONC.
Only downer was the initial climb. I was foolishly slack getting too the line and ended up stuck in the slowest queue for the first 8km. People were riding four abreast at the same speed; a speed so slow that I and some others could barely maintain.
Not sure what the solution is, but on the Dyfi, the slower riders are a bit more aware of what is going on around them and slower riders are happy to make space for faster riders to pass.
Apart from that, good event! Do they publish a leaderboard, or is that too racey?
Miss you Singletrackmind
POSTED 1 HOUR AGO #
singletrackmind - Member
Miss you too Andy .
Aw 🙁
😀 Miss you too AB.
GrahamH - nail/head. Lucky today as weather dry. Two years ago was horrible. My take is that is the Cotswolds version of Hell of the North with bridlepath replacing cobbles. So Im not expecting majority off road.
Cracking day today - rode round with a group with continuous banter - reminds me why this is always one of my favourite events 🙂
Woke up Saturday morning with the worst sickness bug in the world ever (seriously, I'm not lying!)... Spent all day Saturday sleeping it off, woke up this morning feeling slightly better, but not up to riding. Managed to talk my GF into doing it on her own though still... And she's now glad I did!
On her first go on an event of its type she was the second girl home (and in the first 20 overall) on the 50k route, coming in at just over 3hrs! Needless to say I was quite impressed to see her back so soon... And that was on 2.3" Tractor tyres too cos I'd been in bed all day the day before.
Enjoyed my first HONC and will be back for another I'm sure, well organised, reasonably friendly atmosphere and thankfully nothing too difficult. Enjoyed the course, great views, horrible wind (mother nature, not me 😀 ), that last off road descent was quite interesting with it being wet. healing vibes to the guy that went down like a sack of spuds in front of me on the first down after the initial climb, heard he fractured his wrist.
As a veteran of many HONCs I think I've finally struck the right balance, CX with discs and Clement LAS pumped up to 50ish psi. It ride fast on the road, and bounces about a bit on the rougher offroad bits (but it's no 3 peaks is it really is it?). Should have taken a lot more to eat as I popped somewhere before Cleeve and didn't get my second wind till the last bit of road.
I thought the road/offroad was a good balance, missed last year, but the year before had a couple of seconds which were really sticky and I guess got trashed, whihc is never popualr after the event.
I'm so glad it was a tailwind at the end, best finish I've had in a few years as well pipping 3 hrs for the 50.
Next time I might even ride more before the event rather than the odd hour here and there.
Bring on Colne Valley Challenge is May!
Just had a look at the official photography site, crikey, didn't realize digital pics as downloads were that expensive (yes I know the equipment etc costs a lot) but still a lot of pennies.
Votchy you tight arse!
ironbrucove - Member
As a veteran of many HONCs I think I've finally struck the right balance
For a CX bike? How much road was there really and what did the MTBer's think of it?
All seemed like a similar amount to other years in terms of road vs off-road split. The off road bits were all tried a trusted sections used in previous years and as it was mostly bone dry after a fairly mild winter it all seems relatively smooth. I have admit that I prefer the clockwise route this year with a more gradual up hill start to spread everyone out, The wind was the bad bit in the second half but you knew it was coming if you thought about it. Didn't hear anyone whinge but some admitted they should have brought their cx bike rather than their mtb. I once met a bloke who had ridden down frame Birmingham on his winter road bike with 20mm slick tyres and mudguards, ridden the 100k route then ridden home!