Sweet fifth from last! Considering I got a puncture on the prologue (which it seems did count to the overall time?) and crashed pretty badly on the last stage I am happy with that.

Wonder where the guy who had never been mountain biking before placed?

just amazed nobody had a go at you for using flash on a drop like that-I know I wouldn’t have been too happy if I was riding!

Doesn’t really matter where someone is using a flash as long as they are using it sensibly.

looks good, I reckon I will make the effort to go up there next year for that, even though its a long way from Bristol.

There is some serious shopping trolley style on some of pictures of the drops.

Was there anything very big on the course? as it looks like a HT would be the best choice from the pictures

Was there anything very big on the course? as it looks like a HT would be the best choice from the pictures

There are no enormous drops or mega-rocky sections, but the general surface is pretty rough. There is one section with a few reasonable drops/jumps that a few of the hardtail riders seemed to get punctures on, but the landing were fairly smooth so I guess if you are a smooth rider it should be ok.

Quite a few of the other people at the back with me who had also got punctures on the prologue/seeding run were on hardtails.

Having said all that a hardtail would def have helped on some of the more pedally sections.

All of the top pros who won were on 5-6″ full suss all mountain type bikes I think.

just amazed nobody had a go at you for using flash on a drop like that-I know I wouldn’t have been too happy if I was riding!

thats a tiny drop ;0)

only kidding, i use a remote flash (well, its on a wire anyway, i cant afford a wireless one) so it can be placed out of the line of sight of the riders and allow me to get photos from wherever i want without being a distraction to them. If you do any races youll soon see you hardly notice flashes going off, even when they are infront of you (as long as your focused on riding not twiddling along looking at the photographer)

oh yeah, and hardtails would be fine but if youve got one a full sus would prob help with the general roughness of the course, its all down to what your used to that makes it fastest (my mate was the one on the rigid!).

Stato-I do race & Photograph too (but not at the same time), just not something I’d do or advise that’s all.

really? what about all the guys/girls who do it professionally? I cant say ive ever heard people complaining about photographer flashes at events, even 24hr races. I even did the Scarborough Night DH race where every spectator was firing flashes at you and it wasnt a problem (the lack of spotlights was mind).

It is something I do professionally & just something I wouldn’t do. Guess I’m just a born worrier & something that stems from my Equestrian Events,where flash is a huge no no for the horses & riders perspective.

Well i can totally understand in that case, horses are mental!

Most bikers ive talked to at events are happy for flashes to be used as long as you are sensible, ie. out of riders line-of-sight, or if a particularly dark section then not infront of the rider. I respect your thoughts tho, that worry was part of the reason i bought a remote flash. I wanted to take head on shots but without blinding the rider, the remote flash allows me to light the rider from the side and still get the shots i want.

there were plenty of other photographers there with flashes sat infront of riders and i dont think there were any complaints (as i said it was nice and bright so you only needed the flash to light the rider from underneath and you could hardly tell it went off most of the time)

As someone not really used to DH racing, I did find the amount of flashes a bit disconcerting at times but I wouldn’t say it particularly distracted me. It actually gave you a bit of a buzz really! I nearly had a off on the rocky corner just after a flash on stage 3 but I think that would’ve happened anyway :).

Either way, I reckon it was worth it for the shots going by what I’ve seen so far. I just need to find one where don’t look a complete tool 😉

after going past Mr Stato and his flashes 4 times i cant say i was ever bothered by them. at the point he was at was a busy section of trail with a lot to think about if your going at any speed. of course some riders will find any thing they can to blame for one thing or another. im a keen amateur photograhper as well as rider. i think a lot of us are, they seem to go well together. lets face it every one of us would like a pic of us ACTUALLY riding and not some posed for shot that our mates are taking. without paying a pro to follow you around its only from people taking shots and being generous to share them that that’s going to happen.

I was a bit surprised by the flashes the first couple of times but after that I can’t say it was a problem. As above it made it feel quite exciting.

Anyone get any pics of 251? I had quite a few flashes go off at me so someone must have.

It was a brilliant event. Can’t recommend it highly enough (unless everyone decides to enter before me next year on the strenght of how much we enjoyed this year, and I don’t get a place)! Hello to the guys around 50, anyone who cheered us on, everyone else who made it such good fun, and thank you to the weather.

Grumm, just worked out what ‘funnels’ you mean… 😉 yes, it was me. My dementia is kicking in seriously.

Just had a scan of the results and have to do a “Me!me!me!me!me!” post and say I GOT THE SAME TIME AS TRACEY MOSELEY ON STAGE 5!!!!!! Woot, wow and double woot!!! She must have been having an off run! However, I’m going to dine out on this for, like, ever![teenage intonation] 😀 😀 😀 😀

grumm you’re in luck! Its one of the best pics I took 🙂

Did anyone else have problems with the timing for the prologue?

Both me & my bro are convinced we had 30 seconds incorrectly added to our qualy time –
Our times for Stage 4 & 7 were within 2 seconds of each other on sunday (ie pretty consistent), yet my time on saturday was ~30 seconds slower, despite feeling no different in terms of pace!

Dont’t forget the chicane thrown in for 4&7 even the fast guys were 10-15secs down on their prologue times.

Dont’t forget the chicane thrown in for 4&7 even the fast guys were 10-15secs down on their prologue times

Exactly! I was faster on Stage 4/7 than on the prologue!!! Despite being **** from having ridden all day!!!

grumm you’re in luck! Its one of the best pics I took

Nice one – there’s the 2mm of air I was talking about. 😉

Think that’s worth 2 and half of my pounds – cheers!

Oh and congrats jojo – that’s quite a claim to fame! Saw Tracey Moseley go off the rock drop near the start of Stage 4/7 and she looked very smooth, as you would expect.

Just looking through some more of fresherjon’s pics – jojo is this you?

Nice ‘race face’ 😛

even if it is you jojo you have nothing to worry about.
here is my race face in the prologue aprez crash.

Has anyone found anywhere else with Avalanche photos for sale?

http://www.ksgphotography.co.uk/gallery.html.

Loads of photos on here now. Some really good ones too 🙂

Oliver Coats has a shedload of great shots.
http://www.olivercoats.co.uk/

Yes, that’s me, Plenty of gurning going on that day. 😀 I prefer this pic tho.

Edit: I think I look quite good as a little red cross…. don’t know how to edit the code stuff to make it not a direct link.

I’m now set up so here’s my first post.

I was number 196, lost my chain on the Prologue, but I was slow on SS4/7 anyway. A great day, it was like part of France had invaded Kielder. Most pedaling I’d done in a long time – I was originally entered for the first round of the National Downhill Series at Rheola, but when it changed to Ae I couldn’t get there early enough due to school. My legs were killing me on the 7.5 hour drive home.

Many memories :
– catching 195 on SS1 (thanks for letting me past, sorry for immediately crashing in front of you),
– just making the start of SS5 at my due time, thanks to everyone for letting me ride straight in,
– getting so close to crashing at the very last corner,
– discovering that I like pain d’epice,
– finding that Kielder forest and Kielder Water were really big,
– being happy that there were no midges in Kielder,
– everybody being really nice.

I also came third in Junior, but there were only three of us ! At least it made up for not getting my first in Cadette award at the Megavalanche last year (long story that Olivia was explaining on the podium if you wondered what she was on about).

I wish I could make the next event at Ae but I’m in to exams now. I’ll have finished for the next round in Andorra though …

“- just making the start of SS5 at my due time, thanks to everyone for letting me ride straight in,”

That’s one of my lasting memories, watching you coming up the hill as the marshall counted you in! Time did seem to be a bit tight on that link section, my mate stopped to help someone with a puncture and as a result was 2 minutes late for SS5.