SITS camping area…

Mr Agreeable – Member

In Pat’s speech at the prizegiving he did cryptically refer to a dispute between two riders that they “sorted out like gentlemen”. I wonder, was it pistols at ten paces?

I think it was between the 1st and 2nd placed vets teams – just going to show that there is passion in that age group and lot of us race very hard. The 3 vets teams were in the top 7 of the Sport Men and top 10 over all.

Mark – where does it say on the entry that it is not an ‘official’ category? If it says ‘sub category’, does that mean it is not official? To race hard for 24 hours and manage to podium in terrible conditions, only to be told that you wont win a prize is tough to accept. Yes – getting to stand on the podium is nice recognition but surely people watching the ceremony must think that we aren’t important enough to win a prize, so it undermines the achievement.

You should not alienate the middle aged participants. After all, in general, that’s the age group where a lot of money is spent in the world of cycling and a lot of us race hard. The 4 in our team wont be coming back but will choose Bikefest and Oktoberfest instead, as they offer prizes (and a better course).

An interesting article on Bikemagic about the water repellant coating on GB’s bikes.

“We’ve been out and weighed mud and how much mud a bike can carry and it can be 4-5kg on a really claggy day,” Boardman told The Sun.

Clearly Boardman has never been to Mayhem or SITS when it has rained.

GB

sp

You should check out the Geax Barro Mud 1.7’s – look similar but more spacing between the knobs. Fantastic tyre for those conditions – not a single clogging issue as they shed the mud exceptionally well.

If you manage a podium you should @ least get a free entry for the next year!

^^ +1

A couple of pressure washers in the solo area would have been good, lost a couple of hours waiting in line, not that it realy matters as I’m never going to win!!

Overall a good event , didn’t think so in the early hours of Sunday morning when I was sitting in the first aid tent.

All that said I will be entering next year.

Sticky SITS

I’m almost falling off my chair laughing. We came fourth in vets, what, about 40 or 50 minutes or so behind you guys I think and were racing strictly for amusement and because we like riding bikes. Nothing to do with prizes or podiums or owt like that. I guess it takes all types. If we hadn’t lost a mech in the small hours of the morning, we’d have been about an hour closer I guess, but I don’t think it wouldn’t have changed anything for us. It’s just a game… 😉

Are the results up yet – couldn’t find ’em just now.

Swampthing

Bikefest is a great event, but it’s never been about the prizes. The other year my girlfriend and me came third in pairs, and we won a tenner each and a hat.

Nobby – Member
Are the results up yet – couldn’t find ’em just now.

Are you a premier member of the forum? 😉

Mr Agreeable – Member
Bikefest is a great event, but it’s never been about the prizes. The other year my girlfriend and me came third in pairs, and we won a tenner each and a hat.

You did better than 3rd place in the open team category at this year’s mayhem

You haven’t seen the hat.

My 2p worth… First SITS, was with a great bunch of people (riders and willing pit crew providing hot food and brews), felt really good after my first lap in the dry but completely knacked after a 2hr slog in the mud. However, my choice not to go out again and no-one else’s. I wonder how many of posters here have organised a race? I’ve run a couple of Friday Night series races when Chicksands was XC friendly and seriously hard work/stressful to make it work so God knows how much goes into a big event like SITS !
Easy to moan about everything but to weatherproof an entire course would be almost impossible I reckon? If you hate it that much do road racing I suppose… And there’s always the chance that one year it will be dry for the whole event.

big_n_daft – Member
Nobby – Member
Are the results up yet – couldn’t find ’em just now.

Are you a premier member of the forum?

Am I being thick?

If you hate it that much do road racing I suppose…

Or save up your pennies and do this next year. It’s got views. It’s got ice cream. It’s even got a (small) queue for the jetwash.

I wonder how many of posters here have organised a race?

I couldn’t run a bath.

Not listening to your customers is not good though.

Persistence with the venues is breaking the habit of 24hour racing for a lot of people. Categories without prizes and very poor prize funds doesn’t encourage the hardened racers, the lack of media coverage/ interest in the riders and events killing sponsorship. Event villages dying on their feet due to high charges and restrictive agreements with main sponsors. Thefts of bikes etc

I’m sure it will all be better next year when the rain stops

Nobby, you are not. I’m referring to the weekender results also sponsored by STW.

I’m sure they will be up soon.

Ok, I am usually…..

Results are up on Pro Velo website, zip file so I can’t open on my phone.

Results went up on the front page story earlier this afternoon. Our technical number cruncher is away on holiday this week but all the individual category CSV files are linked to the top threes – if anybody would like a spreadsheet with all the data in it, to perform their own number crunching, then send me an email and I’ll sort it out tomorrow.

Friends and family of Singletrack fielded two women’s teams – one novice, one try-hard. Between us we spanned the full breadth of race experience – I’ve probably raced more 24s than is healthy, while Lisa had never raced, or done a night ride, in her life. My team were pleased to win, but I’m prouder still of the other team, who could quite easily have stopped at two laps apiece to officially finish, or even just sacked it off after one, but instead kept plugging on all the way through the night to do themselves, and the event, proud.

Racing isn’t meant to be easy. If you choose to race in the UK then you choose to deal with the weather conditions it throws at you. I’ve never raced a course in the UK that doesn’t become more challenging when it’s wet; ‘weatherproof’ courses (Strathpuffer, Newcastleton, Swinley) bring their own challenges – like a set of brakepads per lap…

This year’s weather has made racing more of a challenge than ever but with preparation, realism and a dose of M/WTFU in your bottle, it’s still fun. The number of smiling faces I saw over the weekend confirm that.

Sermon over 😉

Sorry but a bit of rain meaning that the course is unridable in large parts for many folk does not make for a good cycle race. I have been to the strathpuffer and to sits in the rain – I would never go back to sits and know many other folk who will not for this reason.

Having soloed strathpuffer in deep snow then I know what tough is. SIts is just crap riding. A combination of dull when dry and unridable when wet is no good at all.

And if you have the right kit strathpuffer does not eat a set of brake pads per lap.

Still, it’s good of the Singletrack staffers to come on to the thread and give us their completely unbiased opinion.

+1
and forgetting to mention the lack of stalls selling spares once the mechs started ripping off,3 jet washes between hundreds and hundreds of riders
and not to mention the t shirts we ordered not actually being at the event

Well somehow my name ended up an amalgamation of other people’s names on the team, the riders on each team were totally mixed up, we ended up in the wrong category as a result of this. Even though we’d paid for a team of 4 chaps, we somehow had a mysterious rider called “?” who was clearly female, as we ended up in the mixed category.

Something did go a bit wrong this year, constant calls for teams to check in as the timing made no sense.

Big shame about the track too, it was genuinely good fun in the dry. Shocked at how badly it knackered it with about 1 hour of rain, we rode last year as well and it did similar but recovered.

I did enjoy it, we’ll be back next year too undoubtedly, but it’s a shame about the niggling little issues through lack of organization. No idea who’s responsible for any of it, but it clearly reflects badly on all the big sponsors proudly proclaiming they’re hosting the event.

Do we really have to do this every time?

Yes, it rained, it was muddy, there was a chunk of pushing which is a bit depressing but no one made you go. ( And yes, no one is making me read this either 😉 If you don’t enjoy it then don’t go, decide you’ll do something else next year but honestly, saying, “it’s like this every time it rains and it’s dull if it’s dry, why don’t they hold it elsewhere” after you’ve entered and turned up just seems daft.

Too many people that enter SITS have probably not done enough real time riding like crossing moors and climbing big hills/mountains, and have got a lot of their racin/riding experiance on a man made trail centre and struggle when they have to be out on their bike for more than an hour and a half and not have a comfort of a cafe/centre to get their bacon sarnie then decide to call it a day because its rained.
Yes its a bit soul destroying to have to push/drag a blinged up bike and worry that the claggy mud is scatching their pride and joy but its an endurance event get a friggin pub/trash bike.I only spectated but was in awe of those guys/and gals that kept on going mostly with a smile on their face for the 24hrs yes some might have binned it for the night but were back out there in the morning.Catton is a great venue easy for people to get around to various parts of the course and trackside was superb this year well done to Pat and his team and well done STW and their efforts with the nice touches ie free food and beer 😀

I went home for a comfy bed and a cooked breakfast 😉

@postierich – Was that you who handed me a cold corona with lime at the end then? I may have confessed to being overcome by man love at that time…

If terrahawk and twinklydave jack it in, there’s something to be learned.

druidh – Member
If terrahawk and twinklydave jack it in, there’s something to be learned.

+1000

Badger glad you enjoy it easy on the manlove thing though.

If terrahawk and twinklydave jack it in, there’s something to be learned.

Gears are making them soft and they are getting on a bit 😉

Big shame about the track too, it was genuinely good fun in the dry. Shocked at how badly it knackered it with about 1 hour of rain, we rode last year as well and it did similar but recovered.

I think a lot of the problem may have been the underlying ground was still pretty waterlogged. I was there for the running the week before and was surprised how soft some of the ground was that looked dry and solid.
And I think that Catton had to cancel the event prior to that due to flooding.

I seem to remember a blog post from twinklydave a couple of years ago jacking it in at SITS when it was dry.

I’d prefer to see one big 24hr event rather than two, what really is the difference now between MM and SITS other than more prizes at the one than the other . . . ?

Both these events have become more diluted over the years, we used to have a big screen, loads of shopping opportunity, companies showing off there gear, fly overs by army helicopters all sorts . . .

The best venue for this was Trentham, really good riding, unfortunately that can’t happen anymore, so since then for me it has been on a downward spiral . . . it’s not as good as it used to be FACT.

I think it just needs a freshening up, they have been very unlucky with the weather over the last few years, which hasn’t helped – but i think if the course was more enjoyable the weather wouldn’t be such an issue, that’s why Relentless etc have such a good reputation . . . i understand it’s not as easy finding a similar place down here to do it, so it’s not easy.

How about moving it to September, we always seem to have better weather that month, i know it would mean more darkness, but would that matter?

I admire the organisers for keeping going though, and i understand why some people enjoy it come whatever. It’s just not for me, not like this . . i’m heading north or abroad next year to get my taste of 24hr action.

I seem to remember a blog post from twinklydave a couple of years ago jacking it in at SITS when it was dry.

I can’t actually remember the last race he actually finished. He’s a bit of a quitter really.
Terrahawk can do what he wants, he finished 2nd in the World Champs so is a bit of a hero 🙂

I seem to remember a blog post from twinklydave a couple of years ago jacking it in at SITS when it was dry.

Yup, I was just over tired and in no fit state to race. I gave it a go though; if you’ve not tried you’ve no real reason to complain I reckon.

I can’t actually remember the last race he actually finished. He’s a bit of a quitter really.

😛
(It’s true though, I do seem to be battling my innards a lot ATM, but not enjoying the riding doesn’t help ). Oh and I finished the Worlds, in 8th. Ha.

When you’re doing 5 or 6 24 hour solo races a year I reckon you’re allowed an off-day every now and then.

This thread is a lot like the racing! Lot’s of people whinging but still going around and around in circles!

This was my first 24hr race for 4 years and I wasn’t sure whether I’d enjoy it, especially when the rain started. I loved it!
I’ve done SITS a few times and I’ve carried my bike around Catton in worse mud than that before. I knew what could happen so I packed mud tyres, a jet washer and a sense of humor and I had a great time.

Well done to all the teams / pairs / soloists who kept going and a huge thank you to the organisers and sponsors!