Viewing 34 posts - 81 through 114 (of 114 total)
  • QECP Day & Night Enduro
  • Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    46km including a practice loop?

    Yes, 46k should be two laps.

    I am to Enduro what Officer Hooks is to Police Academy driving tests so it’s a good thing I have an early start time 🙂

    AnyExcuseToRide
    Free Member

    His other bike was stolen, not the transition

    Edit* realised both are transition, his hardtail not his fs

    johnny
    Full Member

    46k sounds a lot, but remember there’s nothing stopping you from pushing up, both in practice and racing.

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    hughjayteens
    Free Member

    Ah b*llocks, think I might just come and ride and take it easy. Leg feels OK once it’s warmed up a bit and it does sound like a lot of fun! Unsure the bottle of red and late night was the best prep but I was never going to be troubling the podium so it’s all good.
    I’ll be on black Hightower and have an orange helmet so come and say hello (Chris, not Hugh!)

    hughjayteens
    Free Member

    Racing blind is half of the fun so doubt I’ll be doing a full practice loop. Come on Jamba – we can potter round together if you want.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Sorry guys I whimped out and at least offered Scott the chance to sell the place to someone else. My average ride is 25-35k and that takes 2.5 / 3.5hrs plus rest stops. My last ride was 20k in September. Yes as above thats 23k practice and same to race but I thought it essential to see the course in the light first. When I booked in March I assumed I would have ridden at keast once a week from then till now but it hasn’t happened. 46k I am sure would not hav ebeen good for my knee, I’d wanted to do this race before the surgery as who knows when / if I’d be able to do it again. A bit depressing really not feel capable.

    All a load of excuses I know.

    OwenP
    Full Member

    Well, I really enjoyed that!

    Great event and lots of good chats on the transition stages gave it a really friendly feel (even the heckling spectators). The mixed greasy/dry conditions and stages seemed to work well to me, for variety 🙂

    Probably should have camped to have made the most of the beer van though. Maybe next year…

    Thanks Scott and the organisers – nicely done.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Well done ! Can I ask how long the practice loop took assuming you rode the whole thing ?

    OwenP
    Full Member

    All of the practice time, and that was a challenge!

    Started practice around 4.30 ish and ended stage 5 bang on 6.30 when the course closed. I actually think it worked pretty well in terms of not dragging out practice, but completing all the stages including regular stopping and checking out lines etc etc would be a big ask without being too knackered!

    Kept it fun and a bit more blind for the race, though! No complaint from me.

    hughjayteens
    Free Member

    You missed a cracker Jamba! I am so pleased I decided to go at the 11th hour – was probably the must fun I’ve had on a bike for a long time!

    I ended up parking next to johnny by accident so we rode most of it together (nice to meet you sir, and hope today’s mate’s race went well!) and another guy from vets joined us (looking at the results, we finished with 12 seconds of each other despite several crashes etc) which kept it a bit more fun and sociable.

    We rode stages 1-4 in practice which came to just under 14km, and the race with all 5 stages was only 17.5km so only just over 30km. Stages 1 and 2 were quiet steep and techy so I’m pleased we managed to get a practice session in and then race those while it was still light. Despite a clean run in practice, I came off almost at the end of stage 1 on an off camber corner with the finish line almost in sight and went OTB. No harm done and thankfully that was it for the racing crashes.
    Stages 3 and 5 were quite long a pedally which suited me quite well and I made up some time on those but I think stage 4 was my favourite with some great flowy sections.

    Racing in the dark really is something else – I’d got dialled in a but more by stage 5 and was really enjoying the tunnel vision affect (although I did manage to totally miss an unsighted 180 near the bottom and went straight into the tapes).

    Roll on next year – I wish I’d planned to camp as their was a great atmosphere and the journey back was a bit crap due to the M25 being closed at the A3 junction..

    I think the smile says it all..
    [url=https://flic.kr/p/TywcnH]QECP Day/Night Enduro[/url] by CJK007, on Flickr

    Lummox
    Full Member

    Just got in, as always a fantastic friendly event. I sucked but then I rode all the stages blind so that’s probably to be expected lol.

    Just a bit of a moan to get it off my chest, stayed over in the camping area as had a busy week and back on it Sunday. Really didn’t appreciate the to$$ers blowing an air horn through the night till at least 2 in the morning. Perhaps a voluntary curfew next year, noticed some young campers staying over bet their parents enjoyed the night.

    Moan over top work everyone involved.

    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    It was a really good event with a great atmosphere. Stage 2 had me most scared but actually went well in the race, stage 3 had me breathing so hard by the end I sounded like a sex pest and stage 5 I didn’t get around to in practice so was a comedy run where I found myself pointing in the wrong direction all too often 🙂

    Can’t describe the elation of finishing in one piece and grabbing that beer on the line 😀

    BTW #enduro is not for the unfit. I was knackered

    jamesoz
    Full Member

    Just a bit of a moan to get it off my chest, stayed over in the camping area as had a busy week and back on it Sunday. Really didn’t appreciate the to$$ers blowing an air horn through the night till at least 2 in the morning. Perhaps a voluntary curfew next year, noticed some young campers staying over bet their parents enjoyed the night.

    That’s the first time I’ve properly lost my temper in about 20 years, I’m afraid they managed to fix the air horn and find the cartridge where I threw the cartridge.

    Hob-Nob
    Free Member

    I had great fun. Few of us practiced the full loop, I flatted at the top of 5, so just rolled down the road – time was tight & I needed to get back & fix the rather large hole in my tyre.

    It was super slick out in practice, and I felt like crap on the bike, but hey it’s racing, just have to get stuck in.

    First 2 stages went reasonably well – looking at the results I was 2nd in masters. 3 went south, I was catching the guy in front of me & I dropped my chain, ended up losing about 10 seconds on that. 4 was wild, the moisture was a lot more noticeable but I had a fairly safe 6th place. Stage 5 was a total disaster for me, didn’t have a clue where I was going, or how hard to go. I lost about 15/20 seconds .

    Just about stayed in the top 10, not my finest result 🙂

    40km round QE however, is tough as hell.

    johnny
    Full Member

    Great event as ever, though I would have liked more of the steep stuff! Pretty pleased with my 17th in Vets, especially when considering I clipped a tree stump when pedalling out of the saddle on stage 3 and landed about 15 feet in front of my bike…! It would have been a pretty competitive time otherwise, but that’s racing. Highlights were:

    Silencing the hecklers on stage 2 when I hopped up onto the high line for the steep switchbacks- Felt ACE!

    Going back up after the race was finished and finding my Garmin after my crash on stage 3- thanks to the Marshall clearing tape for your help.

    And beer!!

    @hughjayteens- great to ride together, and today’s DH race I ended up 10/40. Not bad as there was only 5 seconds between 1st and 10th!

    jamesoz
    Full Member

    Have to say, great event. Loved stage 2 and 4. Thanks to all involved. The beer crossing the finishline evaporated on contact!
    Not my best and not my worst performance but fun.
    I would like to apologise to anybody on the campsite as my interaction with the lads in the shelter with the air horn may have made them louder.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    Well that was bonkers

    set off with wife and kids on saturday around lunchtime, weve done it b4 with the boys (4 & 6) but now have 11mth old twins too so a bit apprehensive

    arrive to lovely sunshine a bit later than planned only to find no tent poles!, cue very unhappy wife, it got worse when we realised no tea bags either!

    some frantic messagng % Superfi from here agreed to lend me his (humongous) family tent which was extra generous- as well as being busy on the qecp team his daughter was getting christened today so I owe him big time!

    anyway, by the time id got a tent put it up, cooked a bbq for the family I only had 90 mins for practice, managed stages 1,2, 4 & 5, bashed back to race village got a tea and chips for the wife, back out for the race, stage 1 was fast and steep, it was brilliant, enjoyed stage 2 as well even if I did loose it on the final corner, by the climb up to stage 3 my legs were complaining, after that it became a bit of a slog tbh, still lots of fun

    good post ride entertainment, I now know its impossible to burst a fatbike tube!

    off to bed….

    cue Team Bean? having their raucous piss up, the 2 am horn blasts were taking the piss and woke up my kids, think I heard you jamesoz, and applause for taking that airhorn off them

    When at 3 am they were still being very loud dicks I lost it and went over and had a bit of a rant until they shut up

    so when the babies were up at 6am If id had an airhorn Id probably have returned the compliment

    was a brilliant event and good mix of stages and friendly people (Hi Dr P)
    and top organisation by the southern enduo/qecp/hargroves lot

    jamesoz
    Full Member

    Kimbers, assuming you you have dreadlocks, I was camped next to you (silver transit).
    You should have asked, had loads of tea bags.
    Some of the threats shouted by those guys were quite unpleasant.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    ha yes taht was me, cheers jamesoz!

    dantsw13
    Full Member

    So if we know who the knobs being dicks were, can we ban them next year??

    Rubber_Buccaneer
    Full Member

    Maybe the site needs a quiet end? In the distant past I could have been one of the dicks being a knob without really meaning to

    kimbers
    Full Member

    Rubber_Buccaneer – Member
    Maybe the site needs a quiet end? In the distant past I could have been one of the dicks being a knob without really meaning to

    +1 ive certainly been guilty aof that and ive done this race for a giood few years, Id like to think that if people had come and asked me to be quiet id have made some sort of effort rather than just becoming louder and hurling out offensive abuse- either ive got older & grumpier (well a bit) or they were out of order

    Im also not sure that continually blasting an airhorn from around midnight until 2am wouldve been on my party itinerary

    Im happy for people to have their fun so a quiet/ noisy end of the camping field would be a good idea!

    jamesoz
    Full Member

    Absolutely no issue with partying at all, the air horn and threats I have issue with.

    scottfitz
    Free Member

    Hi Guys, well what a weekend.

    Start off with the Team Bean camping issue, I will give then a wrap on the knuckles and will also suggested to Hargroves about having camping zones (knob area and Family area). Hopefully a combination of both will stop something like that happening again.

    So the race, we stepped it up this year extra stage, 3 steep ones 2 peddly (good feedback so far) most people practiced 4 stages.

    I have organised 12 Enduros now and this is the first one I have raced. I put my self in elites so I didn’t upset anyone’s results in there categories, I did beat a couple of elites on a couple of stages (I think they crashed) 😉

    It was great being the other side of the tape chatting to the racers.

    Great to see Anus finish 2nd in seniors on my FS.
    As my HT was stolen I rode my mate’s HT.

    Thanks to everyone that came, the atmosphere was brilliant and the day and night is my favourite race I organise. Big thank to everyone from QECP trail collective and Hargroves for bringing the show and all the brands to town.

    The race made about 5k and that will all go back into the trail development at QECP. This will help finish the blue trail and then move on to extending the red trail.

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    Congrats to@anus and everyone who made it. I feel bad I kept a place away from a rider but I checked my rides on Endomondo and an average Surrey Hills ride is 25-35k with 400-600m climbing and I average 10kmph plus stops being another 30-60 minutes so 3 to 4.5 hours say. Last 3 rides (August and September) where 20-25k on gravel/road and took 1.5-2hrs elapsed. So 46km at QECP would take me 5-6h hours elapsed if I was somewhat fit. Last time I rode fhere I got lost on the red but it took quite a bit more than an hour. Clearly bit off more than I could chew even entering. All rather lame.

    Edit: I did see above Hugh say the course was 17.5km

    Suggestions

    Have a standby list, allocate no-shows at close of registration for a donation.

    Also a guideline in planned route, length, climbing, time cut offs.

    weeksy
    Full Member

    Suggestions

    MTFU you big pansy 😉

    scottfitz
    Free Member

    Have a standby list, allocate no-shows at close of registration for a donation.

    I cut it off on Thursday as we are on site setting up its a bit of a distraction/PITA.

    Also a guideline in planned route, length, climbing, time cut offs.

    I normally do length & climbing. Don’t have cut off (Well last rider) We always have a sweeper that will go around last and help any straggles finish, which is what I did on this race, I walked the last 2 transitions with 2 of the back runners to help them to get to the finish and keep there moral high.

    jamesoz
    Full Member

    Hi Scott, so you know team Bean then? Will they be racing at any of your events?

    scottfitz
    Free Member

    jamesoz – Member

    Hi Scott, so you know team Bean then? Will they be racing at any of your events? I don’t know them personally but they do always race at QECP and sometimes help at dig days.

    I have had a word with a couple of them via FB messenger and they have assured me it would happen again and they got carried away. Gave them a bit of a final warning.

    I have also emailed Hargroves about a family camping area, its them that are responsible for that side of it.

    singletrackmind
    Full Member

    I am going to guess thats a typo Scott
    Looked well attended when I stuck my head in on Sat. I did get alot of sneary funny looks due the road bike and lycra . But then most dont know I did alot of digs in the past and have raced and marshaled before.
    Maybe they could put the loud campers opposite the arena , and the family quiet area over the road?
    Then wife and kids could go to bed during the racing and the yoofs could stay up till 3am being prats annoying each other

    scottfitz
    Free Member

    Yes sorry won’t not would, my bad!!!!!!

    I will see what Hargroves come up with for split camping. But its a really good idea and happens at lots of events.

    40mpg
    Full Member

    Great event again, many thanks Scott and the team. I trundled around on my fatbike without falling off (result!), getting in anyones way (another result!) and I wasnt even last (fantastic result!!).

    We were camped up by the loos (the Big Bike Bash lot) and whether because we were playing music in the awning, we were pissed (me only after the race, the others all blood day!) or knackered, didnt really notice the air horn up there. Maybe the top/far end of the field would be best for quieter area. Also get the evening sun up the slope a bit, not like the table shufflers!

    Course was great, liked the 5 stages. I didnt bother with practice as I’ve ridden most of it previous years and I’m not likely to worry the podium places, plus I’d been riding round the red & blue with mates earlier. Was glad of the fat tyres on stage 2 but forgot the drop after the 2nd fire road, overshot a bit but managed to ride round the top of the berm. Shakey legs and arms that was a bit close!

    Stage 4 was great but finished sooner than expected – missed the steep bit and gulley of chalk lumps but at least it saved a bit of up after!

    manox432
    Free Member

    Great event as always! Stages were spot on, even if a bit greasy during practice! Thanks to all that organised and helped run it.

    Its the third year racing the event and every year ive had the worse cramp in my legs. Never had it any other time, just when racinng this event at QEP. Anyone else get it?

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    MTFU you big pansy

    That remark is entirely justified ! I do however have two broken knees from not knowing my own limitations.

Viewing 34 posts - 81 through 114 (of 114 total)

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