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yep bring the mud tyres it could rain more but for now you dont need them and ive been around the course 3 times today.
oh also sorry forgot to mention the night shots, I dont like to blind people with flashes all over I used to hate that so I only do the shots without flash guns.
Latest report from STW via twitter is it's dry and sunny 😀
One of our team headed over last night. He sent me a vid this morning and it looks bone dry! 😀
Bet it wont last though!
I'm hoping Sleepless will be as good this year as it was last year. My first lap was dry (about 5pm), although it started to rain towards the end of it, then it hammered it down and our teammates that had to ride had a fairly awful time - Mr Toast rubbed off a load of paint on his frame from the wheels collecting mud, and ended up posting a longer lap time than me!
By the time I had my second lap at 1am, it was dry again. \o/ So I'm hoping it'll be similarly fast drying this year...
I thought that thuderstorm last year was really going to make the course harder, but didn't seem to affect it that much.
I've got Racekings on, and i'm not changing them! 😆
Condition reports sound promising.
I've just wrestled a set of Aspens off my rims and slapped on some knobbly Beavers (phnaar).
I'm pondering whether to slap the Beavers on straight away, or to wait and see. Got a Captain on the rear, it's not great in mud...
Official reply from Patrick and Provelo Support team.
Isn't that verbatim the press release pre-Mayhem!?
Good luck to all, hope it is a dry one!
Not racing Nick?
twitter peeps now saying sections of the course being closed due to weather conditions 😐
i might take the kids for a run round tomorrow, teach 'em how to heckle at the downhill run at the end of the campsite
Short version: The heavy rain for about 30 mins at 4pm destroyed the excellent fast course & our times went from 50mins to 85mins a lap including about 50% unridable pushing thru mud so after 10 laps we stopped for the night at 10.30pm. Planning a lap each starting about 9am just to say we 'finished'.
Shame!
Not racing Nick?
Nah! After Mayhem and 24/12 just couldn't face another one! I reckon there's only one dry endurance race a year, and Bristol got it this time!
Hope all enjoyed it though.
Pushing a bike round a muddy field isn't racing.destoyed £400 of parts won't be doing that again.
Just found the classic mud-covered bike pics on Twitter... Lovely looking SS Niner with a full clay chain device!
Surely it must be time to bin Catton and Eastnor as venues and have it somewhere properly all-weather.
GB
Surprised how little rain it actually took to destroy that course. Thought it was totally uninspiring even before it rained though. The second half sections across and along the fields were just awful, and that final wooded section was badly thought out imo.
agreed it was fun in a aggghhhh kind of way, it was just man against mud with a metal/carbon ball and chain at times
We were dicing for the lead in the mixed team until 1pm when we decided to call it quits. I've never ridden in mud like that, and I've done the last two d2d's....
Any pics, glad I didn't go
First two laps were brilliant and really quick, which meant I got a 43 with the run and then a 38. After the initial storm that rose to around high 40s then longest was a 1:12! I rode MM this year and whilst conditions were grim this was just as bad. Bikes became 50 plus pound weights and you couldn't even stand let alone walk 😆 despite a broken bike I still very much enjoyed it, however have to agree a more all weather course would make more sense!
Also, very pleased they removed the half mile bit through the trees, great move.
This picture sums it up for me:
[IMG] 
[/IMG]
Terrible photo quality, obviously taken in the dark on the phone...
We were dicing for the lead in the mixed team until 1pm when we decided to call it quit
Was that not 1 hour to go?!
Looks grim, well done to all!
Finished at 12 this year, and I assume Flange meant 1am?
Just back from Sits and I really enjoyed it, all the singlespeeders and people that chose correct tyres were the winners .Surprised at how many wimped out @ 12am I binned it @ 1am as there was hardly anyone else to heckle,got my arse into gear and crawled out of my pit @5.50am to continue giving encouragemant!
Seems as though people are struggling with the concept of 24hr racing you ride for 24 hrs come rain or shine 🙄 well done to Pat loads of trackside camping which was not taken up .
Rich
didnt see many people on ss or with any mud tyres riding the off camber shit that they eventually closed,when peoples rear mechs are hanging off and no stalls have bothered to turn up that carry decent stock what chance have we got
in the end you have to ask yourself if its worth the damage to your bike imo
Yep, 1am we packed up. My team mate came in and looked like a broken man. I was one of the last to go through the off camber section before they closed it and it destroyed my bike
Postierich - i think it's fairly easy to criticise those who pulled out but for most of us (my team included) we don't do a lot of those sort of events - I raced on the bike I use for normal races and it just wasn't the tool for the job. The option of either further wrecking my bike or dragging it as a dead weight round the course for another 12 hours wasn't that difficult to make after I'd destroyed my mech, chain, cassette, brakes - I've not yet brought myself to add up the cost. You're right, skinny mud tyres on a ss 29'er seemed to be the way to go and fair play to all those who finished, a fantastic effort.
For what it's worth I really enjoyed the course, the single track through the trees was lovely and the last bit coming into the start/finish was ace. The course did cut up badly but I don't think many courses would have stood up to that many bikes riding over it
After doing mayhem this year as a solo virgin and only just getting my bike back on the road after a £200 repair bill I couldn't afford sits this year both mentally and financially. Pretty glad I didn't do it after hearing about the conditions. These events are great in the dry but after the rain weve had this summer the course was always going to be horrendous. I did the wiggle 6 enduro in may and it was pretty tough course then and it's rained a hell of a lot since then. You pays your money and takes your chances I'm afraid, I'm sure if we'd had a really dry run up to the event then it would have been booked up anyway.
"Cough" not being critical just an observation 😕
I did it last year and it was dry 99% of the time, Im quite glad I didnt do it this year. Bristol Bike Fest is good as the course is waterproof.
It is pretty hard to find somewhere that would work for a race that lasts 12 / 24 hours for hundreds of riders that will not turn to poo if it rains.
Apart from Bikefest, I dont know of any others.
I just wanna say thanks to the two girls who were Marshall's at the top of the muddy wood trail. Who were the most cheery happy people from the whole event. It was a real pleasure to see you throwing so much into it in those conditions. I know a lot of riders who would like to thank you 🙂
all the marshalls were ace mate,on a night lap that fire the one had in the first bit of singletrack looked so inviting,proper torture
Nice to see you hang around and give Tim a hand packing away! 🙂
me and Dave raced in the pairs. It was going well. We were in the lead with a 5 min gap after 3 laps.
happily tearing round and loving the course for once.
It rained for about 20 minutes and the course immediately changed to a slow slog. No fun really, just grinding it out. Not 'racing' any more.
We knew from experience that once wet, large sections of the course would either be loose clag or sticky, draggy plasticine.
if we bailed at that point, we'd still have a chance of packing up, getting home and then riding somewhere else the day after. so that's what we did.
it's a shame, because Pat knows how to organise a 24 hour race better than most. this almost pig-headed perseverance with sites such as Catton and Eastnor however is threatening the reputation of his events and driving people away. Both sites are far too weather-dependent and in the UK that's just silly.
Apart from Bikefest, I dont know of any others.
I can think of 3 besides that. One of them is held in January.
From (bitter) experience, it's the type of soil at Catton which is the biggest problem. Something with a higher peat / less clay composition would wash off and stick less. Having that type of mud and then picking up forest litter and grass cuttings on the way round is simply asking for trouble.
I just wanna say thanks to the two girls who were Marshall's at the top of the muddy wood trail. Who were the most cheery happy people from the whole event. It was a real pleasure to see you throwing so much into it in those conditions. I know a lot of riders who would like to thank you
+1 & congratulations on staying up the full 24 & still be smiling when I passed on the last lap this afternoon.
I just wanna say thanks to the two girls who were Marshall's at the top of the muddy wood trail. Who were the most cheery happy people from the whole event. It was a real pleasure to see you throwing so much into it in those conditions. I know a lot of riders who would like to thank youagreed those two spurred me on at 2am and it was much appreciated. Thank you
In terms of all weather venues, that can handle large events, there's obviously the Olympic venue at hadleigh farm?
Presumably someone has plans for this and the potentially huge south eastern audience/entry it would appeal to?
Or am I way off the mark?
These 24 hour events, any organiser can tell you they rely heavily on fresh blood. After the Last two years this must be . Moving to the south east on an all wear her course, with it's Olympic heritage would surely be a no brainier?
Or is that going to be too expensive? Perhaps some of the ridiculous prize fund of several thousands would be better spent on an all weather course! Do I really give a monkies if the top few teams won't bother coming if there's less prize money up for grabs? No, I don' t think so.
I'm sorry, but I think it might be time for a bit of fresh thinking regarding organising endurance
racing if it is to thrive for another ten years.
I think that only Mayhem has prize money and that is only for Elite mixed and solo. Other cats have nothing. SITS has nothing at all, save a few quid in Wiggle vouchers. I think several thousand tonnes of gravel plus manpower and planning would cost a lot more than the £8k-10k prize fund. Also, Eastnor has a rule about the trail having to 'disappear' I seem to remember.
The Olympic track is a bit short for a 24hr race. Not sure how long these new trails post-Olympics will take to appear.
Bikefest-esq courses would be perfect but try to find that in an area with 25 acres of camping, water, access, cheap enough...
GB
Lefty and super skinny tyres ftw. 15 laps solo and apart from a knackered knee, it was fine. Yes, it would have been better dry, but it wasn't - deal with it. Give up if you like - just means others get a better position 🙂
To be honest if the organisers don't do something they might find themselves in serious trouble if next summer isn't much better.
It is one thing to do one of these and to have bad weather, but at what point do people just not bother?
As it is numbers are down this year, and with the switch in the bike market from MTB to road, the pool of riders willing to do these events may growing smaller.
It's a shame both venues are so weather dependant as I LOVE 24hr racing and the feel at Mayhem and SITS, it's just I'm over pushing my bike for 10 miles to get a result. Been there, done that. The first couple were character building but nowadays I just lose the will to live. I am happy to save the £200 a time these events cost me and have a nice ride locally instead rather than take the risk of another push-fest.
I'd love to see people trying the A line of Dean's drop on the Olympic course at 2am! 🙂
Catton isn't great, Eastnor is usually bearable but this year was exceptional.
There are very few places that can handle the amount of camping needed and other facilities as well as having a good course. 24/12 took 3 or 4 years to get to Plymouth, the previous years were awful.
What about dalby/north York moors area?