lucky Epicyclo? how would this weather be better than mud? im presuming you managed a sub-2hour ride on your el pompino or something....
sets of pads- check.
spare brakes- nah!
spare bike- nah!
working bike heading into event- nah!
sense- nah!
cullen-bay - Member
lucky Epicyclo? how would this weather be better than mud?
By the time of the race there would be some nice hard grooves worn into the snow - mainly by yourself - we're relying on you 🙂
Mud's fine too.
BTW couldn't fit my Snow Studs onto the Pompino with enough clearance at the rear, so that idea is out. Not willing to risk riding it without them.
Anyone riding a Pugsley?
I wouldnt mind a pugsley right now. Only problem would be having to look at it through the rest of the year...
off out to walk the course again, looking forward to the view rock decent, might do it a few times....
Couldn't get my car more than 10 metres past the highway at Contin today....
thats not good. im sure it will be fine on the day.... 😯
When this lot melts it's going to be mental 🙂
EXACTLY! forecast is for 5 degrees the week leading up to the event!!! WOOO!
EDIT: just checked metguess and apparently it will be around -7 to -10 leading up to it... Hah, i love that site. http://www.metcheck.com/V40/UK/FREE/14days.asp?zipcode=IV14
Here are some of my pics from last year.
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/30973426@N06/sets/72157622326565395/show/ ]Puffer slideshow[/url]
Looking forward to even more dramatic scenery this time round.
After a nice 4 hour walk round today, I don't think anything other than full summer temperature rain and wind for the next fortnight is going to make much of a dent on that snow. It's likely to still go sub zero every night so the best we can hope for is icy slush I reckon. It was mental. I couldn't even ride the descents as the front wheel kept digging in and pitching me over the bars.
Whoever is going round the course on XC skis should keep doing it.
RPRT - those pictures look fantastic.
So, either it's knee deep snow and we're walking (what's the criteria for a "bike"? Can I carry my 2 y.o's bike round 😉 )
OR it thaws and it's MUD. Cold, gritty mud that eats disk pads.
OR it's in the process of thawing and it's a repeat of 2008 - start ice, thaw overnight to provide 24h of the world's slipperiest surface. That was horrible. At least the gales look unlikely.
Last year was perfect. Apart from me breaking my knee at 2AM. Still, I raised £1000 for Sick Kids Hospital.
Say those prayers!
Cheers, al.
I'm hoping for full blown grim. I want it to turn into a war of attrition. 😀
I'm with Goan on this one. Last year was too easy, or rather, "insufficiently challenging". And I, like AK also want to know the minimum kit definition of a 'bike'....
If its currently taking about 4 hours a lap then that's only 1 and a bit laps for a quad team.....great 😆 Does skiing round holding a grip or saddle define a legal lap??
Dismantle bike, strap it all together, attach to camelbak or similar back pack, XC ski round. Bosh!
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[url] http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2006/12/?p=3 [/url]
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[url= http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/photos/2008/tech/shows/nahmbs08/index.php?id=/photos/2008/tech/shows/nahmbs08/nahmbs084/Moots_snow_bike ]Moots_snow_bike[/url]
Cheers, al.
Yesterday the first one pictured there would have been most effective...
LOL just looked at metguess just now and it shows minus 16C for early hours of Sunday morning - nice!
Pack your goose fat peeps!
With no sign of a thaw over the next 7-10 days the main question should be ,has the puffer finally fallen to the weather?I know people are getting out there and pushing their bikes around.This will only make the course worse if there is a thaw as the compressed snow will turn to ice which will take even longer to clear.Best to keep of the top rocky section and hope nature takes it course
I was planning building something like that Moots last year, but commonsense dictated otherwise - why have a snow bike for a few days a year?
That sound effect is me kicking myself....
Like JoJo I found that even where I could ride, there was always a large hole lurking to swallow my front wheel.
I think if it stays like this we need to send out the heavy riders first - a few hundred of them will soon have the track compacted into nice shiny ice 🙂
hah, it wont be melted, but us locals should have ridden a groove that anyone competent on a bike will be able to ride...
I fully intend to be at the back of the pack allowing all teh young fit keen ones to clear a route for me.
Hi young cullen when you say ride you actually mean walk.Good idea though turn the course sheet ice,lets see how good you are then 😕
Niterider. SHeet ice on the entire course, plus gale force winds didn't prevent people riding the race in 2008. It was just more interesting. AT least ice is more rideable than 2 foot snow drifts.
About 4 times more rideable going on lap times...
Sheet ice on the course means no medics.No medics no race.Unlike 2 years ago the camping is in cotin,no access to campsite no race
Whoever is going round the course on XC skis should keep doing it.
That's one of my friends from work :o)
Shall I ask her to take this week off as well to keep tamping the course down for us?
I'm am kinda hoping for ice as I have a set of these:
http://www.snowbikers.com/nokian-extreme-294.html
more chance of getting into contin campsite than there is the field.....
iirc they used a unimog that year of the ice ...
Two years ago the access to contin was sheet ice and remained so for the weekend.At the last minute the medics got a quad in thus allowing the race to go ahead.The marshells had to walk to their post at the top of fire road.It is access to the campsite that is more likely to scupper the race,becauce if they cant get campervans and the like parked on the fireroad(due to sheet ice) the campsite cant cope with the volume
how about everyone who takes part brings a 25kg bag of sand - that's 400 bags = 10tonnes of sand = nae ice on fire road access? I've got three in the garden, its a start!
FC would have a hairy fit if we did that
All this speculation's killing me. We can't even travel unless we can offload the 4 kids to 2 sets of relatives, and getting them there safely in this weather is a challenge in itself. Then the drive up to Contin. As niterider says, the campers were parked all the way up the 1st climb, perhaps for a mile or so? If that road can't be used then could a nearby field be used? In 2008 we were dead lucky that the farmer was so accommodating - after the marquee blew away (1 metre tent pegs and all), he emptied the barn to let the event organisation in. Then he spent the weekend dragging people's vehicles in and out of the field. I seem to remember a 6 or 7AM meeting to announce whether the race was on. I arrived on Fri evening to be turned away and camped at the shinty pitch with loads of others, where my car promptly sank into the mud. I never moved the tent, and commuted through Strathpeffer to the start line for the duration of the race. The BBC's Dougie Vipond with his physical, dietary, mental, mechanical trainers & support and great big warm camper van on site beat me by 1 lap (very low numbers : my 6, his 7).
Somehow I entered again the next year. Hmm. And again this year.
All we can do is plan to travel and wait.
Cheers, al.
Any 29er riders looking for a set of ice tyres give me a mail, I've got a set of bonty jones with studs in
I would sell.
Been round the puffer course successfully a few times on glassy ice. Not much help when you stray into 400mm deep snow though 🙂
Can meet at Strathpeffer day before the race or whenever suits.
I'm not doing the race this year so don't mind getting rid of them.
bedmaker ygm
Guess what? snowing again
There has never been a more apt time to say MAN THE **** UP than now.
wow thats harsh
Is it? It's the Puffer - it would be shit if the conditions weren't horrendous. I dont consider the Puffer to be a race, it's more an adventure than anything else.
>There has never been a more apt time to say MAN THE **** UP than now.
Give it a rest hero> You're getting very dull.
How about you give it a rest?
I know its the puffer,and I wil be out every day next week preparing the course,the event centre,taping the course as I do every year and staying behind for the clear up. O by the way also doing the race,so instead of teling me to mtfu, why dont you come and help out.You can contact me at the local bike shop with your offer of help
NR - I'll see if I can get up on either the thursday night or early on the friday if that's any good to you.
would be great we wil need all the help we can get this year
