[Closed] spam winter challenge, Salisbury Plain 50km on the 30th Dec ?

may be up for a bit of that , looks good.

I'll find something unsuitable to ride and give it a crack.

I think I should be there. It will be my first time on the mtb for years. I am easing myself in by lurking on the forum before doing any real life offroad riding 🙂

If anyone wants to say hello, i'll be on the Orange Spearfish so should be easy to find. 🙂

if i make it i will be on an orange Tranny so should also be an easy spot, let's hpoe there are no other orange bikes or it could all get a bit hard to find people.

Should be there, may be on a CX bike...

Inless it freezes that will be a slog.Good event though did it few times many moons ago.

I'm praying for Frost 🙂

Prob be there also a orange spearfish
This could et confusing

Spam must be the dullest coldest mainly road ride there is .I shall be there again on a cross bike this year though .I may put tribars on for all the road bits.

I've entered the 50K, seemed like a good idea at the time but judging by today's obvious lack of fitness on my commute to work I may be regretting it come the 30th.

Unless there is a sudden drought or hard freeze then er no!

What Edric said last time I did it it rained from start to finish one of my worse times ever on a bike so no thanks.

That doesn't mean it will rain this time all day 🙂

Well, it certainly won't rain on me... i'll be at home 🙂

Out of interest, the forecast shows the weather getting chilly and frosty

Cant remember what year it was going back abit and it was totally frozen, super fast.Ollie Beckensale won it in about 2 an half hours.It was brill every other time i did it,it was a mud bath and evil cross winds.

Did it last year, vowed never to bother again, lots of road work joined together with slippery down hill tracks through open fields.....see you on the 30th!

Am planning to do this on my Single Speed, currently running 2:1 gearing, does anyone know if this is too high? Will I spend all day spinning out?

I did it on ss a few years ago - span out on road sections. I'd say your gearing was too high though, not low?

I have done it a few times. Over the years it seems have incorporated more and more tarmac sections. Which is a shame. I have single speeded it a couple of times and I am pretty sure I stuck to 2:1, tough on some of the climbs and spinny on the flat bits - I don't think I would have wanted anything harder.

I don't think I would have wanted anything harder.

I'm riding this with Jak, also on a SS running 34,16. Not done any serious riding for a few weeks, so should be "interesting".

Hmmm, looks interesting... From the above posts i'm getting that is a pretty non-technical course though? What are the off road sections like? I don't mind any kind of off road riding but I would be disppointed if I entered and it was all roads....

Might try and rally up some friends to do this too!

Its mainly dull mod roads across the plain with little of interest and next to no single track They even took out the slightly interesting wooded bit just before the finish last year to make it duller .The hill from the start is just doable on 32/16 but you will be woefully undergeared on the road on a ss and over geared on a couple of hills if its a quagmire

I'll be there, thought about SS bike but after comments above i think i'll be on my blue Solaris. Look out for a Brad Pitt lookalike turning up in a Porsche (or a rotund fella in red berlingo van if you want to find me...)

Thats a shame years ago it was nearly all off-road other than the start.

Assuming the weather's picked up (even just a little bit!) by then I might give it a crack.. sounds like a good leg spinner to get some miles in..

I did this one 7-8 years ago it was a muddy old slog fest.

Sounds like more MOD semi metalled road than when I did it. Most likely will give it a go this year.

Unlikely this is a superb tech fest a la Dyfi Enduro but it's a spin if nothing else.

Just back from a pootle on the Plain although east of Erlestoke. The wind on the ridge was something else!

I'll be there on my trusty ss canfield nimble 9....I'll look out for you Weeksy ...only doing the 38k ride though as all my mates are puppies and can't handle 50k on the plain ...in the wind ....and driving rain....and cold ....and mud .....

Done that a couple of times although not recently. I hated every second of it.

Both times I've done it were ludicrous cross winds and horrendous mud and my average speed was about 5mph with the head/cross winds and stopping to clean the mud off the bike. Hated it.

The guy who'd given me a lift there was a former National Vet MTB Champion, super fit guy. He'd done it in 2.5hrs, cleaned, changed, gone to the pub for Sunday lunch, come back and still had to wait another hour for me to finish. Took me about 6hrs. 🙁

ludicrous cross winds and horrendous mud and my average speed was about 5mph with the head/cross winds and stopping to clean the mud off the bike. Hated it.

Ah, sounds like the first time I did it - it was several years before I went back again! Not done it for a few years now, it was always a fun day if it was properly frozen, pretty grim otherwise. Which I guess is why it has slowly gained more road-y sections. I may still be tempted to get the cross bike out if the weather is not too ghastly.

TBH after being down that way today and seeing the general area is a flood plain over by Avebury/Calne. So i've decided to blow it out and not do this one. IT's £20 entry and say a Tenner or so in fuel and maybe £10 for lunch too... £40 to get covered in mud and ride rubbish trails... i can do that on the Ridgeway within 100m of my doorstep.

Enjoy guys.

i'm REALLY looking forward to this... this is my big test of what this years training has been all about.

Lol ....... 😉

Indeed mate... However there's MANY other events in the coming year... and many more interesting events not in a swimming pool 🙂

and many more interesting events not in a swimming pool

You're feeling more confident about future weather than me then!! 😯

Time to take up Bog snorkelling

Its a bog fest everywhere at the minute.Forest Of Dean was very wet and muddy other than the verdeerers the other day.I think you done the right thing.Its a good event just needs half decent conditions not a swamp.

Undecided here, any local inside news on what to expect tomorrow?
177 pre-entered for 50K

It's mostly on MOD roads and tracks, so will be fine. The wind however...

I'm staying on the SW edge of the Plain (near Mere / Stourton) and its the wettest ever in my 40 odd years. The fields are all swamps, rivers and streams all as high as ever. I tried to go off road a bit on 23rd and 24th and just hopeless and since then have been on my road bike. I dont want to be unsupportive but it is hard to see how tomorrow's ride can really take place unless they re-route onto an all tarmac / track option. For those unfamiliar Salisbury Plain turns into proper sticky clag when wet. and it as never been wetter than now.

Just a little weather update - there's been very strong winds overnight as well as rain and it's continuing now.

Agree with hh45 - it would have to be on fire roads with no fun in the woods! Remember it's chalk here.

I do feel sorry for the organisors.

Hi all - they're out marking the course at the moment; so we should have a good idea of what it is like in a while....if they make it back. 🙂
The route does use a lot of hard-track and the army road through Imber and we don't use the singletrack through the woods; it just would not sustain 500 riders in these conditions. SPAM have had a lot of issues with the MoD/Landmarc over use of the woods for our events and we don't want to jeopardise the Erlestoke12 event by trashing the singletrack and upsetting the powers that be. We'll leave that to the MX riders.....
Just see it as something daft to do with your mates at a time of year where you might need cajoling out onto the bike, with all proceeds going to charity - so you're doing some 'good' as well.
Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. I'll be the one shouting into a megaphone stating the bleeding obvious about partaking in a mtb event that nobody will be able to hear anyway 🙂

Any update on the final route would be appreciated. I have paid already so not a money issue but I know from experience that it can be so muddy as to be unrideable and frankly that is worth missing. Bad weather is OK but not being able to ride whilst trashing my drivetrain is silly.

I do feel sorry for the Spam team as I can imagine how much effort and good intentions go into the event but this year is (hopefully) a one off rain wise.

Just been chatting to a mate about whether to bother doing spam this year .It`s always grim on the plain the scenery is dull as is all the road riding and I could spend 20 quid elsewhere.With the shit weather I may hide in the local woods riding for an hour or two instead