Met mr and mrs Foxychick for a beer "or four" on the Saturday evening,managed to have a bit of a crash on the first decent (45km) 😥

apart from the crash I thought it was a great event,numbers seemed down on previous years though.but well organised as always. 😉

I enjoyed it – I thought the course was good although it seemed tougher than when I last did it. That was in 2005 though so I was probably fitter then!

Did the 85k route in about 5 and a half hours I think. The Innerleithen XC climb was a bit tough with all the climbing before in the legs and as I did the event on the hardtail my arms are battered now.

The marshalling, signage and food stops etc were excellent. I was a bit disappointed with the final descent although in hindsight maybe the fact that it wasn't that tricky or tech was a good thing as I was knackered. The cheeky last climb up past Broadmeadows Youth Hostel was nasty although thankfully the road spin back was nice and flat.

AFAIK – number were up on previous year. Just more spread out.

Course was much better, but more brutal.

There is always a cock that goes into an event like this with the wrong attitude – see the next time you try and laugh at someone who is walking a section make sure there not a local who knows whats round the next corner.

I had a great time. Dry trails lovely sunshine and good craik in the bar Saturday night……………so, who else was in the bar?

Oh yes… we were "in the bar" 🙄

great night though, and nice to catch up with FC 😉

Not at the bar…. I live just over an hour away so drove down on the day.

TZF – which bit/section? Everyone I encountered were pretty chilled – no egos on display at all.

One of the bits in Yair forest. The steepest of the chutes. Just one tosser. Never saw him again after that though. They seemed to struggle to keep up through the next section. 😀

Superb event… even though I've fresh flesh wounds in knee and elbow…

I did the 90mile road sportive on the saturday. Which, despite the shocking rain and headwind for the first half, was a lovely route with lots of friendly folk.

I'd gone down with my buddy phil who wanted me to ride the 70km Merida route on the Sunday. He had a lovely rack of lamb prepared in the camper van ready for my return on the road bike (I love camping with a chef). My legs felt pretty tired, but all in all a good day… though I was getting a little worried about how my legs would cope on the Sunday.

Having never done one of these events before, I didn't quite know what to expect. It's a pretty long route and it's for a wide audience, it's bound to be fairly tech free and the climbs shouldn't be too bad. Boy was I wrong.

All that said, by the time we hit the first climb, after about 4km of road to start, my legs were nicely warmed up again and I was feeling pretty good. I settled into a nice stead pace in the granny and wound my way up and up and up.

Skip to the end, past some fantastic trails, another relentless climb up to the southern upland way, then a nice bit of descending heading toward the second feed station…. yes the end to my ride, not the route.

I hit a nasty loose gravely bit on a particularly fast bit of fire road (just before a massive patch of deep mud on the fire road… remember?) and the bike went sideways and I went straight on, tumbled down the track a wee bit and stopped in a bit of a heap with some nasty gravel rash to my side, knee and elbow. I was patched up by some super helpful riders who stopped to help – Huge thanks to them, didn't get their names, then I tried my best to make it to the second feed stop in another 7 or 8 km.

I couldn't pedal so had to walk the ups and flats and freewheel the downs as best I could. This meant lots of wincing and cries of OUCH Ya ***** along the particularly bumpy, rooty and tech steep bits of lovely looking singletrack to follow before the second feed stop. All the time thinking how much I'd enjoy this section if I wasn't hurting so much.

Got some more first aid from a very kind blonde girl (Annwin?) at the feed stop. A medical student apparently, and clearly going to be good at it. I waited for Phil who'd then decided to cut it short and head back on the 45km route as he'd (also) completely underestimated the severity of the climbing involved, then I got a lift back in the organisers van with their son, Thomas, but not their daughter who'd have to wait a bit longer for a lift coz I'd stolen her seat…. sorry about that.

Still got my free T shirt, was super impressed with the whole event, was very pleased with the new light marathon setup on my MSC zion, am pretty impressed how well my legs coped, enjoyed camping stove rack of lamb, had an all together lovely weekend and will definitely be back next year.

Any one of those climbs was a brutal climb on it's own and should be commended. Well done to all who finished… whatever distance.

First Merida for me. All was going well, got about 16km in, got overtaken Got a fair bit of sped up into the heather descent only for my rear mech to dive into the spokes….

I was the guy stood next to the upturned on-one summer season, kicking the bike over!!!!

I singlespeeded it up to the three brethran, stopped for a bit, then took the 25km route back.. On the way home, there was a young lad who had just crashed, poss broken collarbone???? Hope he was ok? I alerted the next marshal, but they already knew, and had an ambulance on the way. As it happened, I finished 32nd in the 25km, just wish I had the chance to carry on for the 85km route.

I'll be back next year!

Oh no MMTM had that happened when I caught up with you?!

nice one stooo,I find the meridas are always good for the support and banter as your riding round,met some really nice people this year.

I hope the wounds heal quickly,and glad you found the "blond first aider" "that was clearly going to be good at it!"….been looking for one of those for years! 🙄

CM – No, after the sharp right at the top of the singletrack climb, i got about 2km further on before it let go!!

You were going at a fair old pace, how did you get on?

My first Merida as well. Didn't know what to expect but when the guy said the route will be dry and quick I believed him 🙂 Well it wasn't completely dry but still loads of fun, I did all the scary (for me) descents, climbs weren't that bad, just kept it steady. Wanted to do 75km but chickened out and went for the 45 in the end, still pretty proud for finishing it. Got a nice sun burn on my arms and neck, plus managed to come off my bike only twice (both reasonably soft landings on the grass) which is an achievement considering my lack of skills on a bike 😉

Properly mangled….

later, at home…..

I was out on the road bike today and saw a lot of the Merida riders on the Innerleithen – Elibank road section. Gawd some of them were right miserable b&str&rds – mostly those at the front. Had a wee bit of banter with some of them – as much as you can at closing speeds of 20mph or so, and most seemed to be enjoying it.

Oh, and to the rider who thought it was OK to be riding 3 abreast, chatting to your mates on a windy single-track road – next time it might be a tractor coming round that corner and not a svelte me on a skinny road bike….

thought it was a good weekend.Saturday 120 mile road was good, hard work. The wind was horrid though, and the rain for the first 4 hours wasn't much cop. The 100km was a really good day, weather was brillant, the course was great, the new start bit worked a lot better i felt. Will be doing it again.

Trail rat……. good race at the end, i'll get you next time. I'm sure you used some illegal tactics on some corners tho. Next year, lighter and faster

Bigdugsbaws……… get fitter for next year gay boy and start stretching. Oh yeah, get a faster car, you've been Type R'd 😛

How's the ankle Gav?

Somehow or other MrFC managed to miss the 75 cut-off and ended doing the full marathon!!! He got in about 4.45pm so not a bad time. But not quite what he planned…I think the fun of Innerleithen was lost on him!! 8)

Oh, and huge thanks to Chris Ford for another great CycleActive event.
Kids learnt loads and it kept them out of my hair most of the day! 8)

Also thanks to Nick Craig. Finished the 100km and then helped out teaching the kids to bunnyhop!!

Like the new route a lot better – didn't see one queue at any point in the day. The longer run out and steady gradient up the first climb made the difference I think. The first big grassy descent was great. Just did the 45km but it felt like 75 after the big steep climb a few kms after the 2nd feed station. I was losing it a bit at that point. Thanks to the excellent mechanic at the second feed station sorted out a problem with my front mech. Did not encounter a high tosser factor, everyone really nice and wee groups were swapping front place on the steady gradient climbs to share the load, all very civilised.
My 6th year of doing the Merida, will be back next year if it comes back again, which I'm sure it will.

It was my first go at a Merida marathon event. Very pleased to complete the full 85K. It was extremely tough tho! Some pretty darn technical descents, The mud was ammusing at times, but could have been much much worse. I fell off about 5 times, but no lasting injurys.

Good event, well signposted, well organised and great atmosphere. 85K is such a very long way!!!

Would have liked to have gone & met folk (FC!) but had to stay in town due to work.

Full course was brutal, even for a climber like me. Getting lost for 15minutes didn't help much.

Someone in the top ten gave me a tube when I punctured the second time on the southern upland way just after the inners climb. I think it was a guy on a white Giant with a Merida top? If I can find out who this was I'll gladly stick a tube in the post.

thats some nasty sun burn lol.

Greig i was doing anything to stop you passing……i just towed you in the road section at 50kph in my wake and you repay me by trying to overtake :p lucky i has the 4x skills….shutting all the doors – felt a bit like cavendish ! Course was ace , weather was good . favorite bit . Speaking so ss stu and amanda when my forks went ptoing ….stu 'whats tha' me 'i think my forks jus exploded . sure enough all damping gone …..one of the benifits of knowing your equipment inside out is i knew exactly what was whong and that id do little if nnot no damage if i rode them. Fixed them last night in trolling zoo fighters shed and am now off round glentress shortly. – pies from the innerleithen bakery need to settle.

Oh and i cannot express my joy of real tubeless set up for the wheels enough . Tried the rim strip method and the ghetto and kept rolling tires off the rim. Did the 85k yesterday riding with a locked out front fork on 400 gram rocket rons set up on hope xc sp3/stans 355 the bead lock is awesome. Has really transformed my merida….no longer have to ride on eggshells due to tubes and narrow rims

Court

Was not only my first Merida but my first ever competition. Went for the 45km and really enjoyed it. Found it really tough since I am only used to trail centres and found the climbs a killer. Managed to finish it in one piece in a time of 5 hours 11 mins. Dont laugh too much I've only been biking serious since the start of this year and was only a week recovered from swine Flu so was Physically ****. Wont be my last but I will be putting in alot more traing. A few runs around a tra\il centre each week and a few longer distance runs did not prepare me for that!!

If its the same route next year i'm going for the full on XC set up as the course felt like one giant climb to me and the downhill sections were really not challenging enough on the stiffee (although still good fun).

The highlights were blasting the downs, amazing weather, amazing views, great company and doing my good deed of the day.

The low-lights were not doing the distance i wanted due to exhaustion, endless climbing and the guy who looked like a shark had attacked his leg at the first feed station!

I'll be back 🙂

My first "event" and I think I enjoyed it. Did the full 85k in 6hours.
I think I need to learn from it though as I felt sick from what I was eating (energy bars) and got cram on the Innerleithen climb. If I hadn't had to walk up most of it and keep stopping to stretch my legs I might have been quicker. A 456 with 140mm travel and flat pedals was not the ideal bike either.

My back is killing me as well. I thought I was fit, but apparently not that fit. What's people's opinion on a "good" time? I think the guy said I came in 87th but I don't know out of how many.

Oh and if number 20 is reading this did you get lost on the way down the last grassy decent, you disappeared in front of me and then finished behind me I think?

First Merida, longest race i've ever done and only once done a longer day on the bike full stop, but loved every minute of it!

Druidh, i hope that wasn't you yelling abuse from a road bike as we cycled along, something about "tell that guy in front to come back here and say that to my face, i'll knock his ****** block off" – slightly empty threat we though given that he was riding in the opposite direction…

The murmur of appreciation i got from the crowd at the end for my 2 metre stoppie before the line made my day 😀

Hmm, slightly worried about the 'tosser' comments, if i was behind someone and they had a 'moment' that didn't result in a crash I would sometimes give a laugh or a shout of some sort, but only in a sort of 'its all good fun' sort of way…

So, if anyone is harbouring any grudges towards the noisy ass in the bright green and yellow Kona top, sorry about that!

Was a great weekend… full of extremes for me.. Saturday i rode in rain spinning my legs off on the singlespeed.. Sunday i rode in glorious sunshine grinding up the climbs..

Everyone i met en route was super friendly… rode most of sportive with the same guy until he turned home after 90 mile cut off leaving me last 30 of 120 mile to do on my own… Merida 85km there was always someone to chat to or catch up..

Excellent weekend.. will definately do a few more

Was great fun…………….hard work though!! Think I did OK (only did 45)

I remember "talking" to JohnClimber two thirds of the way-ish up the first climb……….by talking I mean breathless one word answers! sorry Juhn as I said I'm usually much more chatty!!!

Waether was ace. so lovely to be able to lie on the grass in the sun afterwards rather than scraping all the mud off people and bikes!!

Yes it was good to meet you clareymorris, I did the full route and it was just perfect for weather, trail, technical and climbing.

I dropped about 20 mins when I split the side wall on my getto tubeless rear wheel and I put in a tube only to realise my pump had bounced out of my bag somehwere on the trail, luckerly my CO2 pump got it up to a good pressure until i caught a rider with a pump sticking out of his pack and I asked for a borrow, Thanks if it was you.

I just got the the top of Minch Moor when I got a text from the wife who was at the cam saying "the first 100km rider has just finsihed how long are you going to be" thanks for the support luv

I would like to thank whoever it was on STW, for the 'dont use small block 8s' tip, i swapped my small block 8, for a racing ralph on the morning of the event. I think it would have been even more difficult had i not changed tyres.

I keep finding new bruises and other parts of me that hurt!

'dont use small block 8s'

no problem …. they are my favorite tire but even i had to admit defeat on that one. Hasty tire change on saturday morning – not a problem normally but im new to this tubeless malarky…

another + for the stans rims – tire changes are as easy as tubed tire changes- trackpump inflates first time every time with me – seated non tubeless sb8s , a steal beaded panaracer cinder , a dread tred ust , some rocket rons in the evo casing (ie super light ones). Used and new , all inflate no bother !

Hammered my bike round glentress black this morning also – it is rocky as owt up there the now and not a single puncture or rim roll which given i lowered my psi to give me some shock absorbtion over all them rocks is quite something

How tight was the Merida prize draw?

50% off a bike you don't really want to own 🙄

JohnClimber, a mate of mine was drawn out for the 50% and is getting £1500 off a marathon race bike with a great spec and super light frame so it's a great deal.

As for the event, damn that was a tough one. Firstly I thight I was fit as a 3 hour ride at Afan or my local trails is easy. But 7 hours in the saddle and I was totaaly ruined. If that last 3 miles wasn't downhill on the road I think I would still be walking it with jelly legs.

Was not really impressed with the downhills as they either seemed very short or just a peat bog to ride through. Also the idiots that decided to lay their bikes on the route through the first feed station was very intelligent (NOT)

That aside I thought it was a great event with all the onsite bits and bobs catered for.

But what a ****** of a second climb, didn't think that was going to end.
The ride up to Minch Moore was not as bad as people made out as it was nice a gradual.

Will definatelly be travelling 400 miles to be there next year.

On possibly a Merida FLX3500D 😆

The climb up the minch moor road is magic – if you know what is coming and dont set off too fast.

good choice of bike dimma dan 😉

its better than giving away something you dont want to own ….neither partys happy then … costs them money and your sat with something you dont want …

Did the 75 and suffered big time. Found it a lot tougher than last year and was a bit dissapointed with the route this year,mainly the downhill bits,as I thought the old route was more fun but was certainly a challenge. Agree that new start thinned out the field very well as intended and I found no bottlenecks. Well organised event has to be said.
Dissapointing seeing the amount of litter we left round the hills. Gel rappers.

Loved it all.
Only disapointment was no Corbie Lynn descent.
also last 4 miles on road were not the most entertaining (especially when there is flowing singletrack that runs parallel to the road)
Overall, course was better than previous years.

I was happy with my 7.5ish hour time for the full distance.

Looking forward to doing it again next weekend

13thfloormonk – Member

Druidh, i hope that wasn't you yelling abuse from a road bike as we cycled along, something about "tell that guy in front to come back here and say that to my face, i'll knock his ****** block off" – slightly empty threat we though given that he was riding in the opposite direction…

Nope – I was the happy smiley one 😆