Brighton Big Dog 2013 General Chat

Another great day. I was first loser coming over the line to complete the 10th lap 20 seconds after 6pm!
Great vibe, great people, great food and beer, great music.

Course was tougher than last year in my opinion, and seemed to be more suited to fitness rather than trail skills compared with last year. Still really good fun to ride.

Only strange thing was going to Oh So for the after party. I’m sure it said we’d have our own area but I couldn’t see it. Some of us left and went to The Basketmakers to get a decent pint of ale at about 10ish.

Busted today.

Great event our 1st bigdog will be back again next year great track over all a great day out racing,other events should take note this is how to please a lot of riders from racers to backpackers young to us old boys never been to an event and see and hear so many riders loving it. Thankyou
ps how about a VETS class next year for us old boys just a thought.

yep defo harder, gps data said there was 916ft per 5.5 mile lap last year was 1000ft per 8 mile lap. legs told me same!!!!!

only managed 6 laps solo vets class , not sure will do solo again but we’ll see.

some seriously quick boys and girls out there so respect to all of those who came flying past me!!

downhills/singletrack yet again awesome and personnelly better then last year

There was a Vets category as I was racing in in it!

anyone got links to any of the photographers?

Pics up tomorrow I believe.

ah cool, cant wait to see just how **** i looked

Another Big Dog comes to an end!

Things you did right

Things you would change

Ambition for next years event

Niner Air Nine was perfect as was my pace for my goals.

Wish I had gone out one more time to get seven laps and beat TimP.

Next year i hope i get a good run withjout illness and push a little harder and feel a little lighter.

Yet another great Big Dog. The course was hard on a singlespeed but at least I walked up the chalk climb! The descents were flipping great, even if I was spinning at Rollapaluza revs at some points. I think if you didn’t clip a tree a couple of times you weren’t trying hard enough…
The fantastic atmosphere and organisation is matched only by the prizes; I was almost embarrassed by the swag we got for winning the singlespeed pairs!

It definitely felt like there was a lot less flat this time.

The stats seem to bear out my soreness which is nice.

GB

Now I’ve had time to think about it (recover).. what a great event, the organisation was spot on, the finish beer being handed out was a great touch, and I’d like to thank the following marshals:
Guy on the wall, class..
Girls at the top of the wall – gorgeous and made me 😀 with a bit of banter,
Bloke by the car park – great motivation,
Lass by the last “tight right” before the open to the finish, you’ll be saying that in your sleep, but you were all blooming marvelous!

I felt a bit retro on my steel 26″ HT and baggies, being a trail rider I’ve never seen so many big wheels and Carbon, although most of them were a blur as they whipped past me at every opportunity, a distinctly average 8 laps but I just couldn’t go any faster, I don’t think I overtook anyone on the last two laps!!

You get a different quality of spectator heckle in Brighton, not your usual ‘keep going mate’;

Yes, extremely high heckling standard on that climb.

Fantastic event again. Can’t wait for next year but may leave the SS at home!

eight laps is not average by anyone’s standards.

You should be proud of that.

n.b. I’m the only one who thinks this year was easier than last – i just felt that on the ups apart from the really steep ones you could recover a little.

Or it could be my new (to me) niner air nine on the other hand. Went like a dream. For that kind of riding the bigger wheels really do help.

Don’t tell Giant!

I was one of the photographers. My pics, searchable by rider number where I could see it, should be up tomorrow night. In the meantime I’ve put a little slideshow together with some of my favourite images:

http://www.flickr.com//photos/30973426@N06/sets/72157635033081174/show/with/9487846827/

Things you did right

Didn’t take it too seriously.

Things you would change

Take more gears or no gears. Maybe drop 20mm from my forks to tighten the head angle a bit, a Yelli Screamy is a tad slack for all those tight bends.

I barely used the dropper, remove it maybe.

Somehow get close to the front of the bunch for the first lap (but I’m not really fast enough from the off to do that). The processioning was a bit silly, especially in Coldean where basically everybody was walking and there was a static queue to get up those stabby little climbs, which were totally rideable with a bit of attack. Perhaps folks who want to procession should hold back a minute or 2 at the start.

Alternatively, if I’m on the first lap, let the field go and pace myself better.

Ambition for next years event

Nothing I can think of. It’s not like I could make a bit more effort and get on the podium!.

I actually find I prefer the Gorrick style format (race hard for 2 hours then finish that lap), because everyone rides together, so you naturally end up in the right place in the field around riders about your pace, then the race within the race develops. It feels more like racing. That doesn’t happen in relay/endurance style events.

But that’s my preference not a comment on the Dog. The Dog was fun. Wuff wuff!

Things you would change

Buy my mug at the beginning, so I can get tea, rather than at the end.

http://www.flickr.com//photos/30973426@N06/sets/72157635033081174/show/with/9487846827/

many good pics there

That was the best year yet and a fitting tribute to 5 years of the BigDog, I have to say the beer tokens were working fine on Sat for me, I was in a real mess Sunday, but then again 26-27 min laps x4 will do that.

Paul, amazing course design and so nice to freshen it up, being able to race on your training patch really is such a privilege and to hear so many people echoing what fabulous trails we have down in Stanmer is wonderful.

Rory, Oli, Nige et al, mega work as per usual, thanks for the support this year and by way of recognition the Mens team top step was for you guys.

Marshalls are the real heroes and the music setup on the outpost at the top of the course was genius, I thanked everyone of them on my last lap, also all the lovely riders who let me through, even on the ST sections, that was very nice xxxx it’s so much fun to be racing with a huge range of riders, everyone in their own battles and yes the climbs were bloody hard, I felt my arms tingling at the top of the chalky one everytime.

Great event as always. I was unable to race this year so just spectated but I did take some video on my cheapo camera and bodged it together, nothing special but here it is

3:30 version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z2y4PxKiOE

11:15 version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9wbhRCv2-o

In a mass start race with Singletrack, there will always be queueing and running on lap 1. It even happens in XC World Cup racing. No real way to avoid it other than being at the front.

Re racing format – you just need to work out who you are racing and how far ahead of you they are. Then it gets exciting….

GB

For sure gee, that’s the nature of the beast. Am more making notes about myself really.

My first Big Dog, will not be my last either, it’s easily the most fun way of absolutely destroying yourself on a bike!

Managed 8 laps but am definitely feeling the effects. The chalky cliff was only cleaned 3x, but the speed that some of the guys went up it (especially a couple of the guys on Swifts) was very humbling. Course was great, first time in Stanmer but will definitely come back down one weekend for an explore.

The marshalls really made it a pleasure out on course, the random comments and giggling girls definitely helped block out the pain. Some of the overtaking was less than polite though, although most of teh seriously quick guys were great and gave us newbies plenty of warning that they would like to come through.

Hope the chap that did a front flip at the ‘double-down’ arrows section is ok too, pretty sure I saw you upright at the end so assume all was ok in the end!

Oli et al, can’t say enough about what a great event you put together, just gutted I missed the previous 4

Great event, loved the atmosphere and general fun of it… here’s my video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk7ovyxPWsw

Photos are now online:
Big Dog Photos

Enjoy!

Was our first big dog (mixed 3) and our first ever race of any kind…… LOVED it!!

The course was tough, especially the cliff climb!!! What a killer way to start the lap!!

I know I have no previous experience with race formats etc, but thought it was very well organised!!
The marshals were ubër positive, really don’t think I would have made it round the last lap if it wasn’t for their positive & very funny comments!!! You guys & girls made a massive difference… Top work!!!

Notes to self…

1. One local ride a week isn’t enough practice.
2. 150mm full Suspention bike is NOT the right weapon of choice.
3. 2.35 high rollers are murder
4. 720mm bars aren’t great
4. Fit handle bar mirrors 😉
5. Stop smoking….. It may have been “cool” in the 1920’s, but doesn’t lend itself well to endurance racing!!
6. Book up for next year ASAP.

The only thing I would have liked is harder faster dh sections….. A bit of pay off for dragging a 30lbs of full susser to the top & allow us to claw back some of the slow up times!!! We all know Hardtails fly up & full sussers fly down….. Just think it really played into the hands of skinny tired hardtails.

But maybe that’s what a xc racing is (as I said its my first experience at 1) and I’ve been doing to many trail centres and getting sucked in to the “more Suspention rules the world”.

Think I need to get a hardtail, some Lycra a bloody grow a pair!!

In all seriousness, I loved the entire day!!!

Nice 1 peeps

Yep, def a case of bring the right bike

Things i did right.

Enjoyed it. The first half was hard but the downhill singletrack made it all worthwhile. Not many events where i enjoyed the suffering so much that i was genuinely disappointed a 5th lap wasn’t going to be countable.

Things i’d change.

As said before, pack more gears. Not really a conscious decision, although my 1×10 keeps me going round most stuff in the Surrey area, I would have ridden my Anthem with a double, if it hadn’t been in bits.

secondly – don’t clip trees with my shoulder. Christ it hurts still, although the bruise makes up for it partly as the wife winces when she sees it.

On the organisation side – only gripe seemed to be that the numbers at sign on were all screwy. Didn’t seem to be a major issue, they were reassigned – until I just look at Joolze’s images and see there’s at least 3 riders under our number, yet we were a pair. Not a major issue, was there for fun which we had in bucket loads, but it’d be a concern if if messed up lap counting / timing for the guys at the sharp end.

Ambitions for next year.

Solo – with gears.

It was a very tough course SS for a fat bloke. I am used to 2hrs on a Sunday round Stanmer and for that there are very few disadvantages to running SS but we NEVER do the chalky cliff, (why would you?) or that much climbing in general. Plus a few of the downhill fireroady bits were rubbish as I lost loads of time on them as I couldn’t pedal on them and geared riders were whipping past me (and yes before you say it darkcyan they were whipping past me on all the downs and “flat” bits too).

Was delighted to see
1)that had I was the fastest with 6 laps and that had I gone for a 7th I would have been slower than the slowest with 7 laps so would have really run myself into the ground with absolutely no gain
2)despite crossing the line with darkcyan I clocked a massive 2 seconds faster over our 6 laps. Shame I wont be out for a ride for a few weeks but the glory will last for the rest of the year, trust me.
3)having tightened up everything before the race it all stayed tight (well apart from the stem and tug nuts which I had to tighten at the end of the first lap as both had come loose, but for me that is pretty good)
Downsides were
1)being stung by a hornet (was probably a wasp but as I didn’t see it properly and it still hurts like a muddy funster now so I am sticking with hornet)
2)hitting a tree and falling off all in the same lap as being stung
3)being broken totally yesterday and still a bit today
4)putting my aerodynamic stem on and not riding it before the race meant it felt like I was on someone else’s bike and I clipped more trees than I should have.
Next year I hope to
1)start training more than 2 weeks before the event
2)have an option to maybe put some gears on just in case

being stung by a hornet (was probably a wasp but as I didn’t see it properly and it still hurts like a muddy funster now so I am sticking with hornet)

lightweight, one of my buddies OTBd (bars too wide) into a wasp’s nest and got 7 stings for his trouble

that said ****dy well done on several laps on an SS

Cancel this one, too OT, I’ll make a new thread.

I also had a great time dragging my old overweight unfit body around the course!

Thanks to all the riders that were polite when passing, curses to those who didn’t even say thanks when I dismounted and got off the racing line in the tight single-track (on more than one occasion) – I could name and shame, but I won’t!

A big thanks to the organisers, it’s only my second Big Dog and I thought the organisation was slicker than last year, the marshals were top notch and threw polite jests at me when I past them wheezing and swearing to myself, so thanks – it does mean a lot. Thanks to the two guys at the entrance to the Carpark who welcomed me with a smile. I promise I’ll remember biscuits next year!

This years course – it’s all down to preference, I loved the flowing single-track and I’ve never had my bike banked over as hard as I did on the last few turns sweeping back down to the Start/Finish, but overall I did prefer last year’s course. I do understand why it had to be changed – Too much ripped lycra 😉

My only injury was skin off my knuckle on one hand and a split in my kneecap where I started a fight with a tree and lost!

I’m still on a high now….great weather, great people, loved it. Now want to book for next year!

The only negative was OhSo. We turned up at 8:00 only for the ‘bouncer’ to look blankly at me when I held out my armband and asked for one for my partner, the bar staff were poor (and the selection of drinks worse). We ended up going to the Fortune of War for a few drinks before going back to OhSoCrap. Again, staff still clueless but there were a few Doggers(!) so I donated my token to their evening and we left. I know it’s got to be hard booking out somewhere on a Saturday night when you are unsure about numbers and have a limited budge, but the Fortune has great staff and a good selection of drinks so maybe a return for 2014?

Next year I promise to train…..(I remember saying that after last years event!)

TimP:

despite crossing the line with darkcyan I clocked a massive 2 seconds faster over our 6 laps. Shame I wont be out for a ride for a few weeks but the glory will last for the rest of the year, trust me.

Love it 😀 😆

Absolutely loved it 🙂 the climbs hurt as ever , and the singletrack was ace fun to ride in the dry .
Well done chaps , we’ll be back 🙂

TimP.

Out of respect (I mean this) for your SS efforts I decided not to go out again.

Just so you know!

DC

Pro photos are online from Joolze Dymond and John Brooke, you can search for your race number via their websites linked from:-

http://www.brightonbigdog.com/gallery/

Can’t find any Big Dog photos on the other guys site – John Webb.

3rd time there, but the first time I’ve been bitten…

I have a 2013 Big Dog story to share. We rode as a mixed team and were having a great day until about 16:55. At this time our teammate had just come out of the forest onto the grassy slope heading towards the finish line when a cowardly rat clipped their bike while passing and sent them flying. If this person had shown any kind of sportsmanship or common decency and stopped to help or call for help I would think a lot more of them. However, they just rode on. From the eye witness accounts there is no way this person could not have known about the crash they caused. I have held off on sharing this story for a few days as I would have initially called this person a lot worse names. Now I know racing has inherent dangers and we all accept those risks. However, I don’t accept that in a race situation all decency is thrown out the window. Moreover, if you are skilled enough to be riding at high speeds you should be skilled enough to pass safely. Now this may seem like a bit of a rant but the actions of this cowardly rat have had a huge impact on our teammate’s life. They broke their wrist or as the ortho doc said, “you have crushed your wrist”. So they just got out of the hospital yesterday after surgery to install some plates and bolts to hold everything together. Luckily the long term prognosis is for a full recovery. But this post is not really about the crash as accidents do happen and that is fine. What I am all fired up about is that this person did not even stop to say sorry as they rode away with screams of pain behind them. What a f-ing jerk! Now if my wish comes true and you read this…..You know what you did and now you know what the outcome was, I hope this ruins your day! Perhaps you will have the balls to fess up and say sorry but I doubt it. We will be going through all the pictures looking for your light blue lycra crossing the finish at roughly 16:50 to 17:00!

Sorry to hear about your mate. Hope he gets well soon.

It’s also a shame it ruined your day.

Sounds like he will come back ok from what you say.

On the whole I think (hope) this is an exception to the rule.

There certainly was some fast riding going on.

Of all the places on the course this seems one of the less likely / unlucky spot to have a collision.

All the best with the recovery.

DC

[3rd time there, but the first time I’ve been bitten…

]

looks nasty – chain ring?

ahhhhh – how do you do proper quotes with the box?????