Thinly disguised “what tyres” thread – sorry.

Kept Ardent/Ikon combo on for the last round, but this constant freeze/thaw makes me wonder if something a little grippier would be good. South Downs conditions aren’t much help.

Ta.

Its been very dry down here for the last 2 weeks, but that could change significantly between here and Sunday

See – no help at all! 🙂

Still running Ignitors for Swinley / Tunnel Hill riding and they are awesome – reckon I could get away with SB8’s if I wanted to, particularly on the rear. Very dry at the moment, however not sure it will stay that way…..

Just rode a lap, not even a puddle. Don’t think it’ll be like that tomorrow though 🙁

Literally just got back from there and ridden at least part of the Brass Monkeys course. It’s mostly bone dry with the odd damp bit or puddle.

Bit of rain and a couple of laps might stir things up a bit!

I’m planning on leaving my geax sarguros on.

Mostly as they’re the only 29er tyres I have…

Oh wells…

DrP

What a fantastic race once again at Caesar’s. The course was tweaked from previous years, with the flat bits at the top being cut out due to logging. This meant shorter laps and equivalently more uphill (well it felt like that!) as there was very little in the way of flat.

The usual faces made up the start line for the 4hr race; I had decided I’d just gun it from the beginning and try to build a lead. Caesar’s can be a brutal course when you get tired and I wanted to have a gap in case this happened… I attacked for the first lap and up the big climb on the second, then backed it off a little as I was worried about blowing later. The first 3 laps were dry and largely backmarker-free and I knew this would be a good time to build a lead, so I kept on it until I started catching the slower riders and it started raining… The rain kept coming for the next 1 1/2 hrs, and the course got pretty splashy and slippy. It all remained ridable despite this – this would make a fabulous 24hr race venue other than the lack of water, and camping space, and… Unsure of how far ahead I was, I kept pressing on – it’s really stressful not knowing how big your lead is or if you are pulling away or bring caught. I’m not sure how much I won by in the end, but I did and that was great 🙂 Still got the 100% record at Caesars 🙂

Apologies to whoever I crashed into on the last lap – I had absolutely no brakes at all left by that point and stopping to avoid you just wasn’t happening.

GB

Great, (if slightly brutal!) race today.. really wasn’t looking forward to it while getting kitted up but once it got going I enjoyed it. Not as much rain as I was expecting and the course held up really well considering the traffic..

Somewhere mid-pack in the vets 2 hour..

Nice one Gee, well done. I was in the 2 hour race, which started wet and just got worse – I was probably pointing forwards about 10% of the time! Still, really enjoyed it – a tough course, and I blew with 10 mins to go as I dropped my gel for the last lap, but managed to crawl across the line with a smile.

As Gee said, a really great course – the elevation changes are gruelling, but in a positive way. I so had the wrong tyres for that mud though – worn Fasttrack on the rear and a worn Ralph on the front. Still, sliding is fun!

I took some photos today before the drizzle/rain finally got the better of me…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31852911@N07/sets/72157638703230245/

Not brilliant quality but free of charge if you want any.

Muke – nice pictures there 🙂 got a good one of me, which I’ll download if that’s ok?

The race was a tough one for me – just getting over chesty illness (couldn’t do last round as could barely breathe) which meant less riding time leading up to the race.
Regardless, manage to squeeze out 6 laps on the SS. The last 3 were pretty painful – I was ‘bouncing off cramp’ in the thighs, which made crunching up the hills pretty tough!!

DrP

Thanks Muke.

Yeah I really enjoyed that. I thought the changes to the course were good and it rode really well even through the rain. I was on Rocket Rons which seemed to work nicely even as it became more slidey.

I also thought the start layout worked much better than last year.

Finished 4th again. Which normally I’d be happy with if it wasn’t for spending nearly the whole of the race in 3rd place only to lose it on the last lap due to having to stop to remove a tree from my rear wheel and a phenomenal last lap from Rich Jones.

Next time…

great race, it kinda got more fun in the wet, thank god for Castelli Gabba jerseys, kept me functioning for the last few laps!! class ride from George again!! happy with 7th, but missing 6th my 4 seconds is painful!! until next time

http://chris-noble-mtb.blogspot.co.uk

p.s great pics Muke

Thanks guys, help yourselves they are all downloadable.