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This was my first solo event (8hr male finished 29th) and I really enjoyed it apart from being bumped off the course by two riders who tried to pass me on the rock garden. The other solo rider with me was punted off his bike into a tree and knackered his elbow. The rider then had the nerve to give me abuse telling me I was riding too slow and I should get out the way. I didn't even know he was there! Other than that thoroughly enjoyed it and my Anthem 29er really came into its own. Anyone know who was doing the photos ?
I agree the new course makes overtaking very difficult. The berms and corners make passing nigh on impossible for long sections. The 'perched' nature of the new trail means taking a wide line was much slower and risky as the sides were lined with rocks, loose mud and leaves. I was buzzed, and buzzed tyres, a few times, especially in early laps as the person at the front of a train would brake over enthusiastically for a corner leading to a motorway style compression behind. I guess 'that's racing' and I still thoroughly enjoyed the whole day.
That said I hope the few injuries I saw around the course were not serious. I saw you battered and bruised by the beer tent towards the end KINGTUT so I hope you'd been prescribed a good dose of liquid pain relief!?
Rightplacerighttime is the official photographer.
Ahh now I see why people were staring..
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Rightplacerighttime took some good pics of the Howies Enduro at Coed-y-Brenin so hopefully they'll also be of a high standard from Oktobefest. Much better than the usual boring fireroad style dross you often see. They looked to be in some good spots around the course.
Thanks Kingtut, saw you not long after. Ouch looks like that hurt! Great respect for finishing!
Had a great time, and well chuffed as I got my best ever race result, 8th in category.
Found most faster riders pretty courteous to be fair, though mainly they were passing me on the climbs not the technical bits, but almost without fail everyone thanked me if I let them past, and everyone I passed I made a big thing out of shouting a hearty thanks back to them, it's only polite. One guy was not far off getting a thump though, not warning me he was trying to overtake, nearly taking me off my bike as he passed (on a flat bit of singletrack just before another swoopy section) determined to get past me as if he was racing for first position, then proceeded to hold me up for the entire next section of trail! Takes a lot to wind me up when I'm on my bike, but he wasn't far off me losing my temper...
Did a lap with ssjeff and it was fun pretty fast singletrack with enough space to get past if you looked for it and were clear in asking to get past.Not like the nob who was shouting to pass us on his geared full sus who we let past only to then get held up after his little burst of energy ran out then wouldn't move over for us! So just waited till the wide gravel climb and did him there instead 🙂
KoS> good to see you.. Looks like i missed ssjeff again. Must have been when I was out on my lap
Wunundred! 😀
I was fairly gutted at having to pull out with a mechanical failure on my third lap
'Mechanical failure'- yeah, right, ok, of course.... 🙄
You're just crap. And you'll always be crap. Admit it, and deal with it.
LoCo BM-Racing were there this weekend and we had a fantastic weekend.
Sun, dry trails and tip top riding.
I have to say I didn't like the first lap, because I didn't pre-ride the course, so didn't know where the tight overtaking places were. All my other laps were ace, there were good little cuttings to nip past if you put a bit of acceleration in, absolutely no need to clip bars.
Everyone was incredibly nice on course - probably the nicest I've raced. I would ask to pass, or let the rider in front know well in advance where I'd be passing, and always give a 'thanks very much buddy'. A little courtesy goes far with me - and the few that passed me were very courteous too, as they should be, team riders need to be ambassadors for their sponsors out on course.
My only altercation was with a chap who cheated, cutting out a descent - who didn't like being told so.
The catering was spot-on, Luffy's bus is as always an excellent addition to any event, nostalgic and incredibly tasty. As was the Field Kitchen, who's staff were so cheery - early morning and through the night.
We stayed for the Bristol Bike Rider dual-althon, as Mark from our team was racing, it was his first and he finished 9th of 29 in the male solos - absolutely brilliant, and he has a battered and bruised knee to show for it.
Matt Carr's commentary and un-erring enthusiasm and heckling summed up the whole atmosphere at Oktoberfest for me, fun, jovial and just a little bit bonkers.
We love you Brizzole, I will be seeing you next year.
Had a great time, was nice doing it int he dry after bikefest's wet 😀
Really enjoyed the course, didnt get bored on it..
That was a great race, and my best solo result to date – 10th was well above my expectations and surprised to only be 2 laps down on the winner. Although was later disappointed to find out I was only 9 minutes off of 7th!
The course was surprisingly brutal in the end – it's amazing how sapping some of the rollers can get when you're struggling to get enough speed up to just pump through them effortlessly like you did on the first lap!
In a fair bit of pain today though :-/
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Thanks to Paul and Mike for another great event.
Didn't think the congestion on the course was too bad. I just treated it as an excuse to have a bit of a deserved rest during 8 solo hours.
Was a bit dissapointed to hear my placing when I finished until somebody told me that Time-Laps had missed out one of my laps. So thanks to them for sorting that out, and even better when they then told me I'd won 😀
I managed 14 laps - first 8 hour solo - 21st/60 overall so chuffed. I was only 5 mins off 10th @Gary!
I shouted every one through although some people were getting aerated if they had to sit behind me for 5 seconds! Some of us were doing a fair few more laps than others - a bit of understanding may have been in order!
13 laps Rich 😛
Although I reckon on your Edict you'd have been right up there!
Although pleased to see you did in fact get in on that final one!
Hmm - Oh I get it - so I made my last lap then?
Yep, they've got you in on 8:00:00 – nowt jammier than that!
Some good photos from Neil at www.iseepople.co.uk
http://www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=56305
[img] http://www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=56335&g2_serialNumber=1 [/img]
Yet again another superb event by Paul and team, thank you.
Amazing result for Loco BM racing Zoe and Scott 5th in mixed pairs with Mark getting 9th in the Classic Dual-athlon today.
Here's a clip from the weekend, will do somehting better put together when have sifted though all the footage from the weekend.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/55204994@N03/6251074351/
Ah the Ariel, I thought that bit along the bottom of the campsite suddenly got deeper, more rutted and soggier.
This thread needs more photos!
[img] http://www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=56341&g2_serialNumber=1 [/img]
[img] http://www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=56409&g2_serialNumber=1 [/img]
[url= http://www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=56305 ]Cheers for beating me to my own link Mr Agreeable![/url]
Cheers to everyone who was patient during the extraction of an injured lady from upper New Barn. Also round of applause to lady on a gold Orange 5 for the ballsiest overtake in New Barn... bunnyhop over log and straightline into next berm.
Well done Team Emptybeers, I lost out our final lap dual by 2". Arses.
Had a really good day, and think that racing pairs SS was the right choice for us as, with enough recovery between stints, could really enjoy ragging the course wall the way through the race. Would have been tough to solo as once the pace dropped below a critical point the course became a lot harder to ride.
Well done everyone who raced, it was a great atmosphere and everyone was really polite. You solo's are my heroes.
Oh, did anyone work out where to pick up T-shirts from?
See you next time.
Got me too Neil, cheers!
[img] http://www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey/gallery/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=56317&g2_serialNumber=1 [/img]
Would have been tough to solo as once the pace dropped below a critical point the course became a lot harder to ride.
Spot on there esp on a Hard tail !
Great photos. Here is me looking tanned LOL
http://www.iseepeople.co.uk/firemonkey/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=56389
Thoroughly enjoyed the event. Did it as a pair and I always find pairs harder than solo (I know that sounds bizarre but I just tend to find a rhythm as a soloist)
The overtaking was not nearly as big an issue as I thought it would be. A shout to the rider ahead and some patience and it was generally ok. One idiot in the Merida team barged past me at an inopportune moment but really no other issues either over taking or being overtook.
Still think Pual's luck with the weather is beyond comprehension 🙂
@Garylake that was Huw rding not me, he was a little puffed out when he got back 😀
Si, it was more a dig at the weight of the bike 😛
More footage to follow once it's better edited and yes it was a bit of a pig up the climbs 😀
I too was amazed at the number of nobs forcing their way past in innapropriate sections without as much as a shout to pre-warn.
I would say that on almost every single one of my 12 laps, someone almost had me off. I'm only too happy to let a faster rider through, but at least have the decency to let me know you want to overtake and/or wait until it is actually possible to do so.
Was happy with my 9 laps for my first solo event. But agree with everyone who has mentioned the blatent disregard for other riders from some idiots.
At one point a young lad had fallen off and a quick rider who hadn't seen the lad laying in the track tried to overtake 3 of us while we slowed down to avoid hitting the fallen rider on the quary section. The faster rider then had the nerve to shout some very foul language at the fallen lad to which we all gave him a barrel of abuse back and he wasn't happy about that. Thankfully the lad that fell was OK and continued.
If you are that person and you are reading this you should be ashamed of yourself and you are lucky someone didn't respond even more aggresively as the two guys infront of me were going to rip you a new one!!!!!
Course was ace, 99% of the people were fantastic, but think the number of entrants should be limited as there must have been 75% more than last year
Great course, good atmosphere.
However to echo many of the others I did get taken out by a speedy boy overtaking in an inappropriate place. I was also pretty appalled to be riding behind a bloke who was being cautious on a rocky section (as Is his right ) only for a speedy boy to buzz up behind us and exclaim 'oh come on guy's with no small measure of frustration.
Some advice for others: do as I do, treat 'on your left' as a question not an instruction. On several occasions I responded 'no, you can pass on the right on the next straight'. For the record when I overtook I did pose it as a polite question and said please!
In defence of some of the quicker riders I can only say it must get pretty frustrating being stuck behind slower folk, however it's never an excuse to forget your manners. You are after all an ambassador for your team & it's sponsors.
I personally didn't see any ag apart from one incident, which funnily enough was between two sponsored team riders! Proper handbags it was too..
No need girls, no need!
Anyone know where the rapha condor guys came?
http://bikemagic.com/events/pro-road-riders-trade-tarmac-for-trails-at-ritchey-oktoberfest.html
Don't see them listed on the results
I was just spectating on the Saturday and seemed most people gladly pulled over and let faster people through, there was one guy who seemed to have a train of 20 people on his wheel coming out of upper NBW but to be fair it's hard to let people past there without stopping completely yourself. I don't think the issue is with the slower/social riders or the very fast people, it's more the middle crowd who are taking it seriously but don't necessarily have the speed or skills to pass quickly/appropriately.
Seemed quite a lot of non-competitors on the track on Sunday (inc. a horse and a few families...) but I guess given the weather you couldn't expect them to stay off the trails the whole weekend. Glad I was riding Sunday instead though as on the whole it was much less crowded
trickydisco - Member
Anyone know where the rapha condor guys came?
They were racing as Barrow Gurney CC, so came second to the torq boys.
Some of the "slower" riders wern't just slow as at least 60 of them were doing 8 hours solo 😉
and some of them were still doing consistent 28 to 31 min laps too 😯
I dipped into that range a few times 🙂
Thanks to Tom from [url= http://www.mbswindon.co.uk/ ]MB Swindon[/url] for the picture, here I am midway through burning 8600Kcal in 8 hours.
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I was one of the few riders who went up the track and round the marker at the start.
I got to the bottleneck at the start of the single track with no patience to sit in a queue behind a load of cheaters, so dragged my bike through the brambles to get back past them.
That's one thing that needs sorting out, either make it clear that it's a straight line across the field to the first right hander, or enforce the rule that it's up the track to the first left hander.
Apart from that, everything went well.
The course suited me, fast and not too steep.
Muddypuddle was riding in, and won, the women's pairs class and mixed up my drinks between her laps, so I always had a full bottle to come back to.
15 laps, 2nd single speed.
Out of a total of 98 solo riders (SS, vets and open), 89 got beaten by a chubby old bloke in a Vegan Cyclists jersey riding a single speed 29er.
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c_klein87, I was told I was 2nd during the race, but I didn't know how close.
I rode the big hill on my first three laps, then walked it after that.
That must have cost me at least 30 seconds a lap. There's the six minutes.
I've got to train on hills more.
Training seems to have gone well since Bikefest MTG, you were visably alot quicker, Go VEGAN 😀
Graham, I saw you walking the big hill a few times. I didn't walk it once yet you still managed to lap me the one time, so fair bloody play! You must have been hoofing around the rest of the course. I assume you [i]are[/i] going to do the SDW double at some point with form like that?
You don't look all that chubby either!