3 of us going down tomorrow to have a go at the 80k loop, if the legs will take it and theres not to much snow about.Should be good fun,just hoping for some nice weather.
So that was umm, quite tough!
But the descents made all the climbing worthwhile, much more fun than the marathon events
As the first rider through on the second half, I thought the signs and marshalling could have been better
Overall, a cracking course and a good day out
That was a tough event.It's the hardest 80k I've ever done.The descents where gr8,glad to have some proper steep stuff to go down for a change.would have liked to see some marshalls about,bit concerned if things went tits up for someone,help would have been a long way off.Still a gr8 event just a shame more people didn't have a go.Need to get fitter for the next one.
Dont get me wrong! Enjoyed it (I think) and was a good day out in the hills.
Descents were great, some fun lines down through the trees, just spent a lot of time on fire roads grinding back up. I saw a strava trace 'first rider home' @ 4.26, is that you Chris? Chapeau to that time!
I thought the trail marking was ok really, momentary hesitation when going down one fireroad (before the road section and 30km split) there were lots of orange arrow and riders appearing all over the place. Just kept going and picked up the red arrows again and it was all good.
No, 4h26 was Gareth Payne way out in front on the 80k.
I was on course for second or third in the 80k but opted for the 60k (which turned out to be only 9k shorter!!) so I came in before Gareth. Glad I did as I bonked big time at 50k. Not surprising, never climbed anywhere near that far before. 2300m! Brutal!
I reckon I lost about 15 mins due to signs and marshals. OK, the enduro detour was partly our fault due to colourblindness, but when I got to the feed station the second time they wanted me to go round all over again and then had to ring up to try and find out where to send me... I might have seemed a little tetchy... Sorry...
But then it wasn't a race 😉 And I'm still smiling now!
The orange arrows where not there when put our arrows out on Friday, so sorry for the confusion just before the split. Most of the riders said they had a great day out, maybe a bit too much fire road climbing - we will cut out some of the fire roads at the next events as much as possible. Routing was affected by the snow and that the farmers had not been able to move ewe's and lambs.
Our next MTB challenge will be the Elan Valley (Rhayader) - proper old school mountain biking - basically a big tough day out - very little fire road (maybe 10k of fire road and even less of tarmac) buts lots of ancient tracks, water splashes, big moorland sections, long downhills. I have worked for 6 months with various organisations to get permission to do this ride - it will be worth it. 9th June www.redkite-events.co.uk
Thanks to all the riders, medics (they where out there and in radio contact), marshals, timing guys (times out later this week), the land owners, Nuun, Continental Tyres, Mule Bar, Green Oil.
midwales - great event, spoilt by my son leaving my camelback at the finish carpark. I don't suppose it was found/handed in by any chance? Cheers.
got it, email me with your address at events@redkite-events.co.uk and I post it to you tomorrow.
Good man, wonderful news! Will do.
