The first laps were very slippy and caught a couple of people out but then it was fine… and fast! Everyone was good natured as ever too.

I had a 2.5 minion up front so had no trouble with grip on my start lap. Couldn’t be arsed to change it for something more XC.

Great course. B & A lines should have had the naming reversed. On 3 occasions I came barrelling down the roots to find someone stood still in the middle wondering what the hell to do and why they took the ‘b’ option. 😆

Had fun despite awful nausea on the last lap making me stop and concentrate on keeping my insides inside. Managed 7 laps which I’m pleased with, that’s about my limit.

Pivot 24/12, Ard Rock and Brighton Big Dog in three weeks, got to be three of the best independent non series races around. What a blast it’s been. Had my Mrs and kids cheering me on which made it so much nicer.

DrP came 6th on a rigid singlespeed. 🙄 he’s not right.

It was sunny dry and fast. Cracking race, thanks Big Dog.

Saw (and heard 😕 ) Some horrible injuries to people though, lots of ambulances, one had a double police car escort back up the A27. 😥 Always awful to see, no one wants to end a bike ride like that. Hope everyone is ok.

Blimey. Heard from a Marshal after the race that over the radio they announced that they were performing CPR on someone but hoped it was a misunderstanding. Really hope they’re ok.

Fantastic as always, really enjoyed it despite feeling absolutely terrible for the first two laps! Must have been doing something wrong though as that’s the first two in a long time the other half and I haven’t made 9 laps (or heroically failed to make 9 laps by seconds).

It did sound like there were a few serious injuries although I didn’t see any on course- here’s wishing a speedy recovery.

Roll on year ten and another teapot! Anyone else on here done the lot?

I’ve attended them all. Does that count? 🙂

Raced in 6 and watched the others. 1 due to injuring myself a week before the race and the first 2 I came along to watch as had family members and friends competing.

Again another enjoyable Big Dog. Mixed team this time. I missed a chunk in the middle due to a cub camp pack up, but bookended that with a couple of fun laps. Good to briefly catch up swanny853.

Best wishes to all injured.

Yes, good to see you!

Great event. Can’t believe how dry it was given the heavy rain on the week and the night before. It was the flat sections that were floppy rather than the climbs or descents so a bit surprised at the injuries.

Guy I saw with a splinted leg going into the ambulance at base didn’t look good.

Most dramatic crash I saw was on the seafront last night. Guy ripped past us, pulled a impressive skid before dropping the front wheel into a sandpit and launching himself over the bars. Soft landing luckily.

Hello. I was the numb nut who tossed his cookies and had the leg in a splint. Despite the first responders, paramedics, and doctors being quite convinced my femur was broken it actually held up okay and my quad is at best very bruised and swollen or worst the quad has been torn from the knee cap (something like that). My Renvale team mates were fantastic, driving me home (bit of a detour from Suffolk). Few weeks off the bike now but I’ll be back on it soon.
Cheers
Ernie

Pleasant event.Didn’t know what to expect, as it was my first dog and competition in a while. seemed friendly. Thing about fun was a bit overrated 😀 it was fun, just with little bit of masochism. favourite moments of lap were those at the end, on last descent B line ( tried A in the first lap and somehow didn’t seem as fun as B )and last 2 laps that techy uphill bit with shouting referee was also fun )

Good to hear it’s not ‘that’ bad Ernie. ❗

I did say, stay rubber side down!

Event photos. Anyone know of any other photographers that were there?

Kevin Sheldrake

Dave Hayward

I had a great time other than dropping my chain on average twice a lap. The shame of riding a singlespeed, calling on your left to come past someone, putting the power down off line and flying over the bars is hard to overcome. Sliding dropouts are the work of the devil. Thankfully only one crash as a result, and nothing catastrophic.

Heal up well Ernie!

Well it was a fan-ruddy-tastic day…However, beasting it around stanmer on a rigid SS does beat you up and I’m aching like buggery now!!

Was, as always, a great course..

Typically I went out too hard to avoid the queuing and was bashing out 32 min laps for the first 2 or 3, then was sick in my mouth a few times, had gut ache, and slowed down!!
Managed to keep plodding on, keeping up an acceptable pace!

Had a funny pit stop after lap 5 where my front end was ‘tinging’ over the roots – I loosened and readjusted teh stem/headset about 3 times, then fixed the issue by simply tightening up the front skewer 😳

No crashes, no injuries, huge smiles!!

Was pleased with 9 laps (90km) in 5 1/2 hours – I always think if I was 5% faster, or didn’t stop to faff at the pit, then I could get a 10th lap in…but then you know what they say.. if my aunty had balls she’d be my uncle…!

Top work organisers!!

Bring on next year- that 10th lap shall be mine!!

DrP

Great work Dr P. Solo looks an absolute bastard and averaging sub 36 minute laps for 5 1/2 hours is madness.

The go faster vest worked then DrP – chapeau 🙂

It’s a singlespeed e-bike isn’t it Dr P? That would be the only way I’d handle six hours at that pace!

I didn’t do very well on the photography front, only managed to snap this young shredder – waiting for his partner to come in:

Full descending commitment:

🙂

The only E-thing powering that bike was all the e numbers in the sweets and gels!
However, i’m probably bouncing off the ‘new bike placebo effect’ – the travers Angus SS is a cracking machine – hoons it in the singletack too….

Here I am not enjoying myself..

Likewise..a right misery here too!!

DrP

Great work Dr P. Solo looks an absolute bastard and averaging sub 36 minute laps for 5 1/2 hours is madness.

That’s a savage pace. Not being an XC’er I absolutely turned myself inside out to get round so my team mate could get one more lap in & just snuck into the 35’s.

Good fun though, I enjoyed the single track & downs – just dislike the ups at a race pace. As always, if I was XC fit, i’d be dangerous 😆

I’m guessing there will be photos here too (check the 2017 tab)

freeze photos

Yep you were right DrP… vest is best!!

Well I overtook DrP, so pretty happy with that (yes, OK he was standing still in his pits, but still…)

Despite being fitter on a bike than ever, couldn’t quite break 40mins for a lap, but was about 5mins a lap faster than last year. Also only got cramp during the prize giving, not in the middle of the night as I had been expecting, which was a small blessing.

Can barely move today though

Had an absolutely great time. Love the course, the atmosphere and the format. Lovely to catch up with so man familiar faces. Had great fun doing a chilled out pair with Oli from Morvelo. Pre and mid-race beers were well enjoyed. I had my first ride on a new grit.cx test bike – a Kinesis Tripster ATR with Lauf Grit forks. A gravel bike definitely wasn’t the fast option around the course, but it was a hella lotta fun, especially once things dried out a little. The gravel tyres were more than a little sketchy on the first greasy lap.

Party afterwards was great as always, but did make the train journey back to Leeds a little more painful.

Was a bit scared for you when following you down the descent with the log drops on the first lap! Seemed to cope pretty well though!

Was a bit scared for you when following you down the descent with the log drops on the first lap! Seemed to cope pretty well though!

Yeah – especially tricky on the first lap. Too much traffic to get a proper drop off them, so bounced down and hoped for the best. All good in the end 😉

Well that was a hell of a lot drier than expected and what a blast it was!

I couldn’t get a pairs team together this year for various reasons so ended up doing a couple of single laps instead, this meant a reduction in traffic on each lap as is was later in the day. Sorry to the poor sods around me on my second lap, I was the one with the vocal front rotor rubbing noise. It was ticking me off a tad and the only way to stop it was to speed up or pull on the brake level a tad.

Anyways a great event to go to. Well done all.

REsults are out..

DrP

putting the power down off line and flying over the bars is hard to overcome

Pretty sure you did that just behind me- I was expecting a pass imminently as my leg was going into cramp-esque twitching and just heard a bit of a bang instead! Hope you were ok

Nothing other than a grazed knee and dented pride.

Looking at the results it seems the regular chain drops didn’t actually make any difference to my result but it would have been nice to squeeze in that extra lap.

muggomagic: Blimey. Heard from a Marshal after the race that over the radio they announced that they were performing CPR on someone but hoped it was a misunderstanding. Really hope they’re ok

Unfortunately this was the case – a friend of mine suffered a cardiac arrest and was ‘out’ for several minutes before he was found (having wandered off the course a bit in his disorientated state).

Following several days in an induced coma he is now on the long road to recovery – full recovery is unlikely but he is already making more progress than initially expected.

There is a Just Giving page if anyone would like to make a small donation to aid his recovery and his soon to be expanded family (twins on the way – he found out just days before), details in my other thread. There but.. and all that..