Two threads on the go! Bike washed, MudX tyres staying on the bike. My thinking is if I’ve got them on it’ll be nice for you guys… Please remember the sacrifice I’ve made when you’re all hooning it passed me!!

The rigid Kona may get an outing this weekend me thinks!

It’s gonna be ice-rink-tastic…..

Stopped raining in Brighton maybe? A sudden outbreak of staggeringly hot weather the like that has never been seen before? Just wondered…

It’s not raining on the beach 8)

Can we move the race there? Best tyres for dry sand anyone?

Sat in Gun Wharf and it’s not too bad. I’m getting tempted to change tyres now :-/

Can we move the race there? Best tyres for dry sand anyone?

I take it you’ve not been to Brighton beach.
I’ll be there to cheer everyone on tomorrow. I managed to injure myself last weekend and I’m gutted not to be racing tomorrow. It’ll be great tomorrow whatever the weather.

Oh right, it’s pebbles…

I admire / pity anyone who is riding anything other than mud specific tyres tomorrow.

Last time it rained it was pure comedy.

I think someone was thinking of riding race kings – now that would be interesting!!!!

Am thinking perhaps the trailraker might be a possible rear wheel option.

DC

N.b. not raining at the moment but was heavy earlier with more forecast to come. Shame really.

Crossmarks would be the best tyre to use. 🙂

Conti Speedkings again Darkcyan? 😉

just back from Stanmer, that heavy shower this morning didn’t help, you won’t need mud tyres, just grippy tyres that clear well

I was thinking Race Kings but now I’m thinking Nobby Nics. With a set of Mud X in the boot just in case.

Jo – it’s a bit complicated as I only have Ralphs in 650b – is it a zero grip slipfest? If you think Ralphs would be bad I need to swap wheels…

i’ve never ridden Ralphs, get some to be between now and midday tomorrow and i’ll get back to you

but they’ll look like they’ll be ok

Haha – ok I’ll send you round tomorrow morning to scope out the course for me 😉

I’m back on my normal tyres. Taking MudX tyres too but don’t plan to change. Fingers crossed it was the right decision as I’ve never had such an issue to seal some tubeless tyres!!

weather forecast picking up a bit – seems there will be less rain tomorrow than anticipated.

Famous last words and the source is the bbc so take with pinch of salt.

That said the son is shining in this part of brighton.

DC

N.b. I rode on speed kings when it last rained and still have the scars on my legs to remind me.

Would only use these if the trail was bone dry.

taff does that mean i can keep my intermediate tyres on. This morning was on the verge of digging out the nuclear option, the trailraker.

I don’t know!! Not sure I’ve made the right decision but it’s nice today with the same forecast for tmrw!

well good luck if you need the mud tyres at the last moment if you are running tubeless.

Still thinking mud x at the moment and adjust tyre pressure to suit.

Spesh Purgatory front, Maxxis Beaver rear for me, been running that combo around Stanmer and the Downs for the last month, been ok so far 🙂

Good luck everyone tomorrow btw.

I’m leaving the Crossmark on the back until i get a chance to pre-ride the course tomorrow morning. Then if it looks bad i’m pressing the big red button called TRAILRAKER.

Trailraker 2.1 UST front and rear for me. Good luck everyone!

What’s the best post code to use BN1 9QA? Presumably it’s well marked off the A27?

Just out of interest…im taking it that you collect team numbers etc on the day?

Nowt has come through in the post

Have email confirmation etc

Ha ha trailrakers v stanmer roots ha ha ha

Enjoy!

Ming – that is what has made me take the MudX tyres off. Slipping on Ralph’s etc is nothing in comparison to MudX/trail takers on roots!

Rubber Queen 2.2 front, X-King 2.4 rear, all singing and dancing tubeless black chili versions. If the mud is in a sticky mood it’ll look like I’m riding the fattest of fat bikes!

Crap… It’s pissing it down here

I’m near Stanmer now, it looks like its been raining overnight, but looks to be clearing now. The mud tyres are staying on for me. Good luck today, I’m sure it’ll be a giggle if a little slower than last year.

Will be on a blue Tallboy,

Paceman

accept it’ll be a slippery day and bring a sense of humour!

Yep, go with the flow… You’ll need too 😆

looks like the rain is moving away – few dark cloud in the sky but also a fresh wind and some blue as well.

Ground is wet from last night but fingers crossed thats the last of it.

Yesterday they were predicting lightning and rain to start at 12.00 sharp so things are looking up.

Really must start to get ready and stop watching the olympics.

DC

I’m a bit behind! Aiming to be there for 10ish and not had breakfast or packed the car yet!! I have replaced my ‘slick’ on the rear as not changing anything during the race

Hi guys – how did you all get on.

Roots were on top form!

I went with the mud tyres which i was glad of but noticed plenty of slick tyes out there – rather them than me.

Tough race in tough conditions.

Ride reports please!

DC

N.b. didn’t see that many offs – thought there would be a lot.

Went with Ralphs hoping it wouldn’t rain and was lucky. Had 2 slippy laps but was fine. One crash when I rode into a hole on the trail at the top of the long climb. Mud tyres really were overkill as so much was dry and firm.

At the last minute, I decided as I’m not doing SITS this year (good decision – parts of the course are apparently being closed due to thunderstorm…) I bought someone’s entry to this 6hr solo race.  It started off a slippery muddy mess but dried out in about 2hrs and rode really well – amazing trails, massive climbs and brilliant descents.  I rode with Ben Thomas again for the first 2hrs, then dropped back as I was feeling dreadful – obviously 2 weeks in France eating cheese and croissants not the best race prep…  The next 2hrs really hurt, then my saddle snapped then I got constant chainsuck.  Not a good middle 2hrs.  I put lube over everything and the chainsuck got better, then the BB started making a hell of a racket.  Anyway, I ended up 3rd only 10 mins down on Ben in 1st and 4mins down on 2nd.  Pretty happy!  The event had amazing prizes from USE, Lezyne etc… Makes a nice change to win something posh.

Had a really fun race! We lost a man from our team so moved into the very competitive male pairs class, and neither of us have the XC race fitness to come close to podiuming. My tactic was to blast out fast on the first lap, as I can go pretty quick for about ten minutes, which worked beautifully, right up until ‘Badger’s Plunge’ when a flint slashed open my rear tyre and I spent 12 minutes fighting with anchovies and goo getting it to reseal. That put me right back with the slower riders so I spent the rest of the lap fighting my way through traffic, which cost me even more time but I had fun overtaking both up and downhill. My teammate managed a surprisingly fast first lap and turned up at the changeover point whilst I was just running back from using the facilities but despite that organisational fail we started working our way back up the table (we were 60th at the end of lap 1).

My lack of XC fitness started telling halfway through my third lap when cramp reared its ugly head (I could have done with a granny ring for once!) so I spent the rest of the race doing pain management (lower back from pedalling sitting down vs cramp from standing and stomping – usually my preferred approach). So that was the bad bits – the mechanical and the nasty pains. The good bits totally overwhelmed them though. This is my local stomping ground, I’m fairly quick on the downhill bits, my tyre choice was pretty effective and I was feeling in the zone. I actually rode some of the downhills substantially faster than at last year’s bone dry Big Dog! And fortunately no-one seemed to have a problem with my shouts of “coming through fast” and much of the time I managed to overtake cleanly. Totally lost the back end through ‘Into The Jungle’, the boggy heavily foliaged bit near the end of the lap, and was reovertaken by a Klein retrobike but that was my only off. Had a satisfying moment when I heard a “leader” shout at the top of A&E (the rutted swoopy descent up near the top of Stanmer) and then didn’t see so-called leader until I was well back onto the fireroad climb. I think that was when I set the fastest Strava time of the day on that segment, there was no way anyone, leader or not, was catching me down there!

So apart from the leg cramp and back spasms hurting a bit, it wasn’t as tough as I was expecting – last year was too hot for me really. And I loved the conditions, there was way more grip on offer than most riders realised, and I know the best line choices so I could really push the limits on the descents. One small bug – I think the chicken run was a lot quicker than the bombhole but I rode the bombhole each time because it’s more fun! By the end of the race we Phoenix Knights had worked our way back up to 28th and it looks like we’d have been in the top 20 if we hadn’t lost all that time with the puncture and then getting stuck working through traffic, so we’re pretty damned pleased! And after the ignominy of placing much lower than I expect in my first gravity enduro race I realise I’m pretty fast when I know a trail and am not against DH racers and suchlike! I ache rather a lot today…

The whole event seemed to run really smoothly and the marshalls and so on did a great job. The course marking was excellent this year, no moments of confusion on my part. I’ve been to every Big Dog, onederdog in 2009 (my lap took over an hour and I was scared witless much of the time, I’d only just started riding MTBs for the first time since the early ’90s and it’s a pretty techy course for an XC race), marshalling and onederdog in 2010, team in 2011, pair in 2012, and I swear it gets better every year! Didn’t actually get to say hello to any STWers but I realise I must have known fifty odd riders yesterday with it being my local race. If you saw an orange Cotic Soul with a rider in a fluoro yellow helmet, that was me!

Now that’s a ride report! Good work CGG. I think I may have seen the haze of your yellow helmet fly past Mes few times 😀