I managed 7th in fun and ended the day with a “one last run” OTB head/tree incident on stage 3 which somehow also managed to loose my top cap.
8 runs in total, fish and chips refilling in petersfield afterwards. Great day!
9th in fun male and 7th for my son in u14s. All good fun, especially stage 3.
It did feel good to put a number on again. I think it was a southern xc in 2019 before this.
Anyway, we both really enjoyed it.
Edit: 20th and 9th on roots and rain.
Well done all. I think fitness was making up for lack of talent in stages 1&2 for me. No way to hide on stage 3 though!
The Mud tyres were a terrible idea. Managed to swap the front for a Hillbilly after pinging down stage 2.
18th in the Vets on my Hardtail. Or tenth in Hardtail if they had put me in the right category.
Stage 3 was brilliant, only got two goes on it and had traffic from two riders on one run.
Binned it at the start of stage one after daring to go near a root.
Yeah it dried up well considering the rain in the morning.....but the roots were slick early on. I went with wild enduros front and rear, ditching the aggressor that was on the back before.
Really fun race.
Have some 2 year old well loved tyres on which I'd left on as the race was going to be on the trail centre so thought would be fast. Couldn't be bothered to change them then it rained. As it turned out the tracks dried quickly but first run down each stage was pretty wild.
Got 11 runs in but only 2 on stage 3 as the queue was so long I couldn't be bothered to wait.
Great atmosphere even with the restrictions, and was nice to be out chatting to people again. I really like the mashup format,Can't wait for next one.
My lad and his best mates first race yesterday. I surprised them and joined in, mainly because I was worried how they'd fair in the conditions. They both loved it! No proper bins, and managed to complete all their stages plus 1 extra S3. Think I'm going to be taking them to a few more races in future!
I would have liked to have gotten a few more stages in myself, got held up a bit and had a dropped chain, but managed 4th in HT. Considering I'm not far off grand vet, I'm pleased with that 😀
Well done all. I think fitness was making up for lack of talent in stages 1&2 for me.
Stage 3 was brilliant, only got two goes on it and had traffic from two riders on one run.
Binned it at the start of stageonetwo after daring to go near a root.
Saved me the bother of typing that myself own, cheers! Nice chatting to people in queues. Fun stages (apart from the first 1/2 of #2!
Stage 2 was so frustrating. I had 5 goes at that one, determined to get a clean run with no stacks or traffic. I could not get my head round not braking mid-corner on the roots! Pretty basic bike handling stuff, but just couldn't help myself!
+1 on stage 2 being tricky! Definitely my worst stage but didn't get a chance to go back and do more runs on it as my son was keen to do another lap on the mega fun stage 3! I may have chatted to you in the stage 2 queue? You were on go #4 at the time.
Anyway - thought about cornering on yesterday's family ride and drilled some flat corners. Simple things, but if it takes a race for me to rethink some body positioning then that's good.
https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/events/?series_id=594
My lad is in for round 3.... Apparently there's an option of me riding on the Sat for £40 and then being pit-crew for the Sunday, but i'm waiting for confirmation on that one.
Course looks fun and if need be, i may even enter it if no other option.
I was similar @nedrapier, was overcooking it into the corners, then touching the brakes making everything unstable on the roots resulting in ending up too deep in the corner. Then had to hammer the pedals to regain speed. The odd corner I managed to stay off the brakes during the cornet I was running scared of the roots and drifting way too wide anyway! Basic handling that is missing at the moment. Just occasionally I'd do the right thing and the corner would feel great but it was rare.
Slow in, slow out seemed the order of the day.
My lad is in for round 3…. Apparently there’s an option of me riding on the Sat for £40 and then being pit-crew for the Sunday, but i’m waiting for confirmation on that one.
Course looks fun and if need be, i may even enter it if no other option.
Sounds fun.
I'll definitely be doing some more racing. I wasn't fast but still enjoyed it. Probably give some XC a go as well.
In a bit of a suprise a pic of me also made the PB article 😆, though their description of my technique is rather generous.
OK, we're back to game time !!!
http://minienduro.tv/2021/06/machynlleth-18-07-2021/
Enduro racing !!!
[s] Is there a sign up link for that (or at least one to be told its a waiting list /sold out) or am I being blind? [/s]
Edit its just not obvious in landscape.
you're being blind
Enter this link https://minienduro-mach.eventbrite.co.uk
It only opened up on the 15th so shouldn't be full yet... well, my entry was accepted for both me and the boy !
If anyone is attending, he'll be sporting his new jersey, so give him a high 5 and a hello...
I'll be the fat middle aged IT nerd with him on the pink Bird
[url= https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51164916830_1f1093749e_z.jp g" target="_blank">https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51164916830_1f1093749e_z.jp g"/> [/img][/url][url= https://flic.kr/p/2kXgzds ]51163130957_c690b06f38_k[/url] by [url= https://www.flickr.com/photos/152318156@N08/ ]Steve Weeks[/url], on Flickr
Considered any of the [url= https://www.sientries.co.uk/event.php?event_id=7752 ]Pedalhounds[/url] races, weeksy? Short descents, so may not be your cuppa tea, but pretty local and cheaper than most. Me and my lad did one together a few years back. Good day out.
Thanks for posting that up weeksy, assuming nothing goes wrong twixt now and then I'll grab you a beer if I spot you there.
Considered any of the Pedalhounds races, weeksy? Short descents, so may not be your cuppa tea, but pretty local and cheaper than most. Me and my lad did one together a few years back. Good day out.
Team/Dual sounds like a good laugh... i'd worry about holding him back.
Up to now we've just got this new one and then one a few weeks later at Caersws in the Gravity Events series.
Thanks for posting that up weeksy, assuming nothing goes wrong twixt now and then I’ll grab you a beer if I spot you there.
we've booked a place nearby, i think we'll spend the day before at the beach eating ice cream in Aberystwyth.
Aye, booked a B and B for Saturday night so I'll maybe get a practice lap in to try reducing my minceyness on Sunday.
Will depend on Mrs brain and what she would like to do with the day really.
After enjoying the Haibike enduro, me and the lad are both entered for Southern Enduro rounds 4 and 5... Milland and Minehead...
Anyone else coming out to play ?
i'll be at Milland 😀
As an aside, or semi-related; if you're in a club and they need volunteers to manage a race, do it if you can spare an hour.
New organiser here and not having people step forward very readily for even a short spell is kinda discouraging, and definitely putting me off ever taking on this hassle again. Volunteer requests are where races go to die.
got an entry to Milland. Probably won't be riding unless I can heal a grade 2 AC separation in a month.
Anyone else playing then? Looking forward to it now I've got the bike I want
Brrrr 417 today for final DH race of the year. Cold cold foggy dark. Lol
Been out for 1 run in practice, went ok I think but wasn't exactly flying
Let's see what run 2 brings
Good luck 🤞👍
Fingers crossed, hard part today will be keeping him warm between runs. At least you aren't stuck on a hill side in the middle of nowhere. 😎
Fp1 was a 2.14
Fp2 was a 2.10
Fp3 was a 2.08
Got to be happy. Trying to pump the kickers and let off brakes earlier.
Kept my lad honest for the first 45s of that run until he gapped me
Fingers crossed, hard part today will be keeping him warm between runs
He can look after himself today lol.
Sub 2 min in the pipeline then.
Looking like a foggy hillside today too...
Foggy and cold, but it's running well.
Not convinced I'll improve over this morning though
Meh, crap run I thought.
But I am officially a DH racer now ha ha
Well the day ended with i guess disappointment for me and mid-pack race status for the boy.
He went from a 1.51 last race we were there to a 1.49 finishing in 7th place, but once again only 2.2s off the podium, he just needs to find that smidgen more ! Again he was up against the 16 year olds, so was i think the youngest in his Cat, but i'm not making excuses there, he did ace.
Me, i struggled, whatever i found in the morning, i clearly lost in the afternoon and only recorded a 2.08 in the races. Which was on a shortened course than the strava segment due to timing beam position. If i'd ridden in the races as i had, i think i should have been a 2.05... but i never.
It's all immaterial though as i needed to be in the sub 2.00 bracket for anything other than propping up the field. So i'm left in a bit of a spiral of despair with the results... However, i had an excellent day out, chatted with loads of people and had laughs, rode as hard as i could and played out there with my lad..... which takes the results into context of completely (but not quite COMPLETELY) irrelevant.
I would say the most important result is you've shown yourself to be a great father, well done.
And well done to your lad as well, sounds like he is really coming on and holding his own.
Look at it another way Weeksy - you are only 14 seconds of a younger, fitter version of yourself! And you only have to find a dew seconds. Im sure you will improve next year.
You showed up, raced, had a good day with your lad - which is more than I did! I cleaned the oven, that was my achievement for Sunday.
Sounds like the weekend was a success.
Time to start planning the 2022 race calendar 😎
Time to start planning the 2022 race calendar
Start ? LOL.... i wish... it's been planned, re-planned, then planned again, and again.
Southern Enduro
10th April - Milland Rd1
15th May - QECP Rd2
19th June - Tiverton Rd3
11th Sept - Triscombe Rd4
25th Sept - Milland Rd5
PMBA Enduro
1 May Llangollen
28-29 May Graythwaite
13-14 Aug Llangollen (wifes birthday, so maybe)
11 Sep Kirroughtree
DH nationals.
16-17 April Rheloa
7-8 May Fort William
28-29 May Llangollen
23-24 July Glencoe
13-14 Aug Caersws
17-18 Sep Revolution BP
23-24 July Glencoe
DH Regional Gravity DH
02-03 April Rheola
14-15 May Hamsterley (clash)
25-26 June Berwyn
30-31 July Caersws
03-04 Sept Cwmcarn
The Southern Enduro are 100% and booked/paid for. The rest.... are ... well, debating... What, where, when, classes, etc...
You showed up, raced, had a good day with your lad
This
Well done.
Thanks guys.... is makes me feel slightly better 🙂 not much, but slightly.
Tomorrow is Bike Park Wales.... then Weds is Afan... phew.. It's fun, but it gets hard work being a parent.... could be worse though, he could still be doing flute concerts.
