Not the best ride for me, came 601st with a remarkable 5hr 58mins 31 secs lol.
Looking at my Garmin I lost 38 minutes in the woods... I was stood at a standstill for 10 minutes twice while people that fell off on the roots got seen to. Was tempting to duck the barrier and run with the bike but everyone that did got abuse so I stood like a lemming 🙁
The wind was a nightmare, the last descent (with the wood work) was tough... if you stopped pedaling, you stopped moving, downhill. :S
JohnClimber - take my hat of to you!!! 4h 10 on a fatbike - legend!!
My sister said she seen you riding it back to Douglas after the race - double legend!!
I punctured twice and finished in 4h 27m - not happy with my result - but looking forward to beating it next year - i was 15 places down on last years event
Very tough with the head wind and my back is still a mess now
I reckon the course and the weather made it 30 minutes slower - what do other think?
Easily 30 mins Boltonjon, my ride felt like a 4hr time judging by my pace, and I finished in 4:37. As Bonz said, a second quicker than he did :D.
Andy R: was hoping nobody had seen that, front washed on a rock and I did well to catch it! Mark Tuson and I got impatient after a couple of minutes waiting once everything stopped in the singletrack so got our elbows out and a bit imaginative with our line choices! Don't think people were impressed!
John Climber: that was Jonny Galbraith on the cx. He punctured before St Johns too, think he came in around 4:50
I loved the event but some of the riding was downright awful - not being big headed - as i'm no professional - but the complete lack of riding skill was frightening!
The pace in which you caught people on the singletrack was incredible
I was lucky to miss out on the famous 'M25 of Ballaugh' singletrack - but i still got pushed of my bike when some egit tried to grab a tree trunk and got my arm instead
The overtaking was quite good fun though!! 😆
Not all of us are ex IOM downhill champions Boltonjon 🙂
Not all of us are [s]ex IOM downhill champions [/s] [i]utter headcases[/i] Boltonjon
FTFY
There was a lot of people at the ferry port moaning that they were pulled off the course at either first or second checkpoint due to the cut off times being the same as last year but the first 30kms being slower due to the changed course and the waiting around for those of us that are slower. Felt for them if they'd paid good money for ferry/ plane and somewhere to stay. But all in all a great course and it felt like a proper mountain bike event and now I know what I'm up against I'll be back next year to improve on my slow time!
Easy Robin - i've never won a DH event!!
However, I did feel quite sentimental when I was climbing up through Ballaugh plantation - as the last time I climbed that track I won my last ever race - a hillclimb competition!!
How old age has ravaged my legs & fitness! 🙁
Finished 641st in 6hr 6mins 40secs.
Normally I'd be very disappointed with that but having been advised not to start (left knee injury) I was pleased to make it over the line.
Got caught in the 'M25' Ballaugh Plantation bottleneck and the zero-visibility at the top of Eary Cushlin (pedalling blindly into the mist on the wrong side of the road) was interesting!
Credit to the guys who were out there working on the Cronk Ny Arrey Laa / Sloc trail for most of last week to make sure it was rideable.