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Almost a week to go until The 1st Gisburn round. Time to start speculating on what the stages will be! Theres four of them and Facebook warns of lower loop closure to the public! Hope line again? DH line?
Lots of off piste and two of the stages never been raced before apparently, sounds good.
I'd be happy if the drops on the DH weren't used this time:-)
Judging by the FB update, its looking like one of the DH lines will be getting used.
As I said on the fb post, I'm off up tomorrow to see if I can find the new lines.
mwhahaahahaha
Let us know what you find.
๐
They better leave those drops in, I've been practising on them.
Only bit I saw on fb was about a fresh cut stage with a tiny bit of north shore. Was there something else?
excited. Anyone else camping on the saturday?
HaHa keep guessing but on Wednesday you'll find out ๐
Been busy on leap of faith kev? ๐
Yeah me an a couple of others will be camping.
My first race. Looking forward to it. Hoping not to come last in masters so will be up Saturday to see the stages ๐
Was up there Friday, some interesting very muddy stuff going on at the bottom of the DH line. Really hope it stays dry over the next week.
Heard hully gully was in a right mess so didn't even venture up that way.
Forecast is snow for monday and Tuesday ๐
I'm planning on going up Saturday for a few hours once the stages have been released and actually getting some practice in as opposed to what I did in the 2 rounds I raced last year and had one full run down each stage and then raced. Couldn't remember lines, didn't even look at alternative lines etc. Fancy it Si? Could swing by yours and get you on the way???
Sounds good Dave, I was planning to go up on Saturday afternoon for some practice too. If the weather's reasonable I'm planning to sleep over in my van but if it's not a lift would be great.
I'll get in touch later on in the week.
Was snowing up there this afternoon and very very wet. Have fun.
Generally for enduro you don't get much practice. 1 run down is typical. You don't really remember lines, just a few key features, where to pedal, where to take care. Then on your race run read the trail and if its a "special" bit often its quite a bit different to what you practised. Of course normal trail centre stuff doesn't change but that tend not to be the bits that need practicing.
I just want prior knowledge of any drops/jumps etc and have a practise of those so I can have a ride around Sunday morning and then race (aka, ride like normal and see how I do).
You'll get that anyway.
Practice is 8:15 till 12 noon, then racing from 12:30 onwards.
There is always a rollerable option if there is a drop/etc in the stage.
Thats assuming I can get my arse out of a nice warm bed in good time on Sunday morning to get there in time for 8:15 ๐
Si - will ping you on FB and see if we can arrange something... Although I'm sat here in Bradford at the minute watching the snow coming down thinking the chances of me kipping in the car park on SAturday night are slim to say the least ๐
And I think there was something doing the rounds on the last thread about Rd1 and someone mentioned about getting a STW group (or two) going around together? I'm happy to do that if others still are? Be good to make it a bit more social... Have people to chat to as we pedal around in the horizontal rain.
Well, me and Dave had a great time sliding around in the mud.
I was 2nd fastest vet when I got my print out.........out of 2 finishers ๐
How did everyone else get on?
Was 19th out of 22 in the seniors when I finished! Really enjoyed the day though. Went round with my bro and even with crashes on separate stages we only finished 7 secs apart which was pretty impressive. Half a second difference on stage 2! I struggled with the off piste stuff though. I'll admit to just picking my bike up and legging it through some of the really boggy stuff (encouraged by the Marshall I might add).
Just need payday on Friday now so I can try and get on the other one at the end of the year!
Tough going but enjoyed it !
79th out of 127. Pleased with that. Should have got my arse off those drops though...
Was a bit of a nightmare, had a few offs in the mud and chain came off on the last stage ๐
The off piste was a total mess after the rain and everyone practising all morning, was really hard to keep any speed up.
11:25 for me, 201/321 overall
Great day yesterday. The mud was ridiculous in places. I spent 20 seconds at the bottom of Stage 3 with my bike stuck under a tree! I didn't come last though so achieved my lofty goal for the day. I'll try to get on one later in the year where the mud might not be bb deep! ๐
There were only 2 places I really struggled with the mud, middle of stage 2 and the end of stage 3. Rest of the off piste was slippy but fun, I prefer natural to trail centre hard pack. (Although saying that I love Homebaked)
Happy with 32 in vets, although I'm sure I could've gained a few places if I'd plucked up the courage to hit those drops on stage 4......
Mud and ruts were laughable in some places, middle/bottom of stage two I had to stop and pick a guys bike off him.
I really need to learn when to stop trying to ride through it and when to pick up and run.
Had a great time but a bit disappointed with my result, I just didn't feel tip top, need to get my fitness up.
But saying all that was really pleased I did the drops on stage 4, wasn't too bad even on my hardtail ๐
DNF for me ๐ stupid broken eyes...
What went wrong?
Just squeaked into the top half of Vets.
Was riding like a bit of a fanny TBH, only started loosening up on stage 4 and then I fell off on the muddy bit just after the fire road with the angry marshall. Determined to do better at round 2.
Anyone got pics of themselves racing to post? I'll put mine up when the photographer sends it me.
Don't feel too bad yorkshire89, I didn't fall off but came in about a minute behind you! I almost dropped out after practice but glad I stuck with it. Strangely I thought I blasted s1 but it was my worst ranked stage, with s2 my highest - go figure.
It was the little drop near the end of stage 2 that caught me out, in practise you could hold a decent speed and cut the corner into it, to give you a nice run out into the next section. The braking area was a bog on my race run and I just came into it sliding on my bum...
Here's a couple of me from rootsandrain
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Total time of 10:13 for me, finishing 17th in vets. I stupidly decided to go near the end, just before the pro/elite guys and it was an absolute bogfest ๐ came off twice that cost me quite a few seconds but then again who didn't have a mishap somewhere. Enjoyed it though and looking forward to the next round. Well done to Mike/Kev and the rest of the organisers. Couple of picks of me mincing :
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^ nice spaz gap
Was my first PMBA enduro Sunday. Loved it. Finished 20th in masters (out of 128 so not bad!) anyway, I decided on a 1 '0 clock start time. Noticed a lot of faster guys going later....what's the advantages of this, as I'm aiming top 10 at round 2, and wondered if that a later time and riding with faster guys would help. I.e better lines developing etc?? Cheers guys
Cheers chakaping, I shouldn't winge. It's just that I'm a competitive so and so ๐ When I get back and find out my time I always like to ask myself:Did I do as well as I could of ? If I get back and think I couldn't of gone any faster I'm happy. Sunday I missed a couple of lines I had planned and came off twice (but then again who didn't ๐ ) so I think I could've made a few more places up but its racing and these things happen. Home Sunday night after several beers I'd forgotten all about it ๐ One of my problems is I've not been riding my mtb much this winter, I've been out just five times this year (including the weekends racing) so my skills and "flow" have certainly dropped off atm. All my time has been taken up by turbo/road work to get my fitness up in readiness for the Fred Whitton. God I must stop whining and mtfu !
Was my first PMBA enduro Sunday. Loved it. Finished 20th in masters (out of 128 so not bad!) anyway, I decided on a 1 '0 clock start time. Noticed a lot of faster guys going later....what's the advantages of this, as I'm aiming top 10 at round 2, and wondered if that a later time and riding with faster guys would help. I.e better lines developing etc?? Cheers guys
That's a great time for your first go at gravity enduro, well done !
I decided to go in the last group before the pro/elite guys on Sunday. My thinking was that in the other rounds I've done when ive set off earlier is that although there's a thirty second gap between riders when you set off on the stage I've sometimes caught up with the rider in front. The right thing to do if a rider comes up behind you is to let him past when safe to do so, after all they're riding at a lot quicker pace. Sometimes I've found it doesn't happen which can be frustrating if your after a quick time. A case in point for me was last year at the pmba round at Keroughtree. I came up behind a rider and despite several shouts from me of rider behind he wouldn't move over so I tried to do a stupid overtaking manoeuvre and came off, snapping my chain. The rest of that stage I had to freewheel it, ruining my time. Kinda frustrating after spending all that time and money traveling up to Scotland. On Sunday during the stages I never saw anyone so that part of going near the end worked well, it was just the amount of mud after all the practice/majority of racers had been through that stuffed me up ๐
I think the pro men had to go in the last group and riders that thought they were fast were told to go in the groups leading up the that.
I went at 12.45 in the hope that the course wouldn't be too badly cut up.
Simon - Member
I think the pro men had to go in the last group and riders that thought they were fast were told to go in the groups leading up the that.
That's my problem, I "thought" I was fast ๐ณ ๐
I know I'm not fast ๐ I still love racing though.
We seemed to miss the queues at the stage starts and we were able to leave gaps bigger than 30 seconds between riders. Except stage 4 where I went 30 seconds after the rider in front and I caught him 3/4 of the way down the stage, luckily it was just before the off camber bit where there were a few different lines, so I passed him without losing any time.
bjj.andy.w - MemberThat's my problem, I "thought" I was fast
You are Andy, well faster than me! ๐
I enjoyed riding around at the back with the Elites, never saw another rider on the trails because Andy is faster than me, Paul who was behind me got passed by the faster riders though, as I could hear the whistles getting closer and closer. I rode a bit too conservatively and never even fell off, messed up my entry into the forest at the bottom of stage 4 after cheering at the Marshal and promptly taking the wrong line into a cul-de-sac of trees, and that was my fastest stage that I ****ed up, so lost 10 secs there.
Paul and Andy both fell off and were faster than me, so need to find a happy medium, although my best result, 37th out of 71 in the Vets. Very slick organisation and a chilled out day's riding for me for a change, can't wait for Grizedale!
Tom


