Oktoberfest

wallop, it probably better than your average local XC race, despite having a much bigger field on a short circuit with a larger percentage of singletrack than most. I made an effort as the passer and the passed, if I heard someone coming up behind I’d look ahead and give them a shout where I intended to pull over before they’d even asked, and always gave a hearty thank you and as much room as possible to those I passed. It is a race so some people are going to get adrenaline fueled and aggressive but the enduro nature of it means there’s as much cameraderie as competition (even more evident in the 12hr and 24hr races).

Though if it was my local I’d ride it when it was relatively empty and gloat, I got chatting to a female racer (possibly soloist) from Bristol Uni whilst in a s/track queue and she said she night rides there all the time. Tres envious!

Came 5th in 8hr old gits Team and was happy with that. Skillfully came off in the first lap trying to overtake on the perimeter trail. Doh!!!!

As these are my local trails, I was v conscious to be polite, there’s always little red mist out there unfortunately. Especially annoying was being overtaken when 10 or more riders ahead in a train. What’s the point?

Also the “bmx” section could benefit with some overtaking slots. The red downhill was always bunched because of that IMHO

Overall a very well managed event with a nice “nerdy” event feel ( according to my wife!)

I was leading Bikefest 12hr Solo this year, when I was given clearance to overtake a rider (who I asked politely to overtake, like I do all riders).

Unfortunately a very impatient rider decided to overtake myself and the other person, forcing the rider I was overtaking into my line and ultimately me into a tree.

The culprit didn’t stop despite the shouting from other guys behind us who saw the incident.

I ended up with a broken wheel, broken helmet, damaged rib and shoulder and had to retire from the race. Wrecked my season, just as I was hitting some top form.

Last week I spoke to a British Cycling representative who said Ashton Court is not designed for racing, I happen to agree.

I worry so much about holding someone up

I was going to feign complete ignorance and ride AC in the wrong direction. 😉

“There’s a race on?”

Ha ha!

I always find that any enduro event settles down after the first couple of hours, possibly due to a lot of the adrenaline coming from people trying to put in a fast first lap. Obviously with teams it takes a while for everyone to do a first lap.

I had a “difference of opinion” with one ignorant **** on the lower quarry trail who tried to push past me with no warning even though there was about 8 riders in a line and he nearly had us both off. I don’t have a problem with close racing but I really don’t like ignorance.

As has been said before the proper fast guys will either be patient and wait or be good enough to pass anyway. IMHO it’s the people who think they’re proper fast that cause the problem.

Great event as always anyway. Congratulations to Paul and his team.

PSA: Photos are now available on http://www.rightplacerighttime.co.uk

Can’t see any.

video from Big foot 😀

http://www.sleepmonsters.com/photosystem/rightplacerighttime/digital_photosales.php?event_id=9336

Seem to remember alot more people taking Photo’s

are there anymore anywhere else?

Really enjoyed the event, with the exceptions of the first lap cheating by so many and the event timing going a bit wrong. The Bristol guys always put on a great event and I thought the new course was great. Its obviously not ‘designed’ for racing, but with the exception of the Dalby WC course and the Olympic venue, are there any ‘man-made’ trials designed for racing? It works, it was fun 🙂

Unfortunately, Timelaps cocked up the results in the Solo male race which meant all the frantic racing in the dying hours was against incorrect information. I finished second which I’m chuffed with, but after ‘leading’ for over 4 hours and not being passed it was all a bit confusing at the end to find I’d actually finished second. If its not technically possible to credit a rider with a missed lap, mid-race, the best thing to do would be to pull the live display.

Bit of a blog if anyone is interested here

Agree with you there Rich, we had a similar issue – not for podium, but 4th and 5th. We were in 4th from a good way in, chasing the Charge team after an incredibly poor start from me, dropping about 10 minutes from the grass cutting and not being able to recover the time on that lap.

Unfortunetly, we were actually in 5th for most of the race and lost out by 4 minutes – which I think we could have reeled back in my last few laps, or just put in a double.

It’s always going to be a bit of an issue when the laps are recorded by sight, and to be fair to timelaps they seem to get it right 99% of the time and are a really cool bunch of chaps. RFID chips would be a great addition, to give some extra coverage – but I’d assume that would increase the cost to Timelaps, and therefore entry costs would increase; the chips themselves are pretty damn cheap when I was working with them (circa £1 each), but it would be development costs and the readers that would cost.

That all said, I’ll still be back in June and October again, as it’s my favourite event 🙂

PS. More loos for the men would be awesome.

Ah you got stung aswell. I counted 4 stings on my right leg – ouch!

4! jesus. I only managed one. Spoke to a chap who had 3.

I’ve been stug before, but that felt like someone had put a staple through my achilles!

Yep, when I was racing forgot about them. Altough itching now still.

RichH – Once again sorry (don’t know why it wasn’t my fault) for the missed lap. If it’s any consolation I didn’t have any feedback on my position until 2 laps from the end until somebody told me I was in 6th. My head fell off at this point, although I still ploughed round, and it was only when I finished that somebody noticed I was down as having done a 54 minute lap at some point in the race.

Thanks for being so gracious about it all. Don’t think I would’ve done the same.

Rob

Oh and I didn’t cut any corners and made sure I was extra polite to everyone, just to keep the rest of you happy.

Had great fun in the pairs!

Tried my very best to be one of the ‘polite’ overtakers and all seemed to go OK. Said and got thanks as went passed. (Also got scalped by a few lycra clad 29ers too!)

I do remember following a guy down beggar bush who was pretty quick but then silent when he came up behind slower people – had to shout for both of us! Surprised that someone who could obviously ride then kept quiet and sat a mm from the person in front’s back tyre. Wierd.

All in all, great day out.

Are there any more photos? The guys at Rightplace have lots of lovely action shots of my team mate but none of me. Ego me up!

moonboy: I know I did that a few times but I was soloing and going quick when it was easy to do so but not necessarily having the energy or motivation to ask for the pass and then wind it back up to speed again…

Quite often it was easier to wait a bit for a known passing spot rather than going charging off round the outside off piste and burn another match.

Gary, thats totally fair doos…

but this guy was so close to the point of sometimes actually overlapping front wheel along side the back of the rider in front and at other times being a few mm’s away, all without saying a thing.

Not much fun for either rider really.

I loved the race. We came 41st in team open. There were 3 of us and if I wasn’t there the lads would have been much higher up. Didn’t help that in a moment of incompetent thinking I went out without my spare tube or repair kit. Typically that was the lap I got a puncture. happened on the red downhill bit so not too far to run.

I always got out of the way, often asking if the rider wanted to get past before they mentioned it. Almost everyone was very polite indeed. What did annoy me is riders who were desperate to get past on the very last bit of a climb, who were then really pants on the fun and twisty downhill/level single track, where because of pace it’s harder to overtake.

I do think the organisers need to sort out the transition though. It’s way too small. They should look at the 24/12 set up. Also the timing was a bit poor. Again 24/12 used ton have timing chips in the numbers. I’d rather pay a couple of quid more or have that instead of a pint glass.

On balance though, it was brilliant fun

Spotted on facebook that Wide Open have just put their video on line:

well, i thought it was worth watching anyway…

cool stuff