As you know, I'm in post production having taken 1500+ images at SITS.

Three things are coming to the fore:

1) there are approx 3x as many HT as Full sus' bikes out on the circuit & this is an observation and in no way fact.

2) the 29ers are doing very well – lots of them (I am more "aware" of 29ers than others as I own one so I noticed that Brant / Ragley had some developement (?) Ti29ers out on the circuit- they looked fab!).

3) There are more "leisure" riders out on this course than say MM, Bonty, SITS 2008 and other such event. That's got to be a good developement, for sure.

I knew 9 people competing, only one guy rode full suspension but he was soloing. And then he snapped it (carbon (!)) so ended up on his Thorn. I didn't ride the course but from what I saw of it, comfort for a long solo stint would be my only reason for choosing FS. I agree with your observation though.

As a spectator I was also aware of 29ers, mostly for giving jovial abuse to them for having silly wheels. But also for the fact that at my size I should probably ride one. I was shouting in approval to the Ragleys I saw though 🙂

It was also good to see lots of riders just in it for a laugh. The event does seem a lot more friendly than some others and I would recommend it to 24hr virgins. I think they would be put off by some of the ego's on show at the bigger races. "Give me your line" and all that bollox.

Oggles – you are now on my official "worth listening to" list. Sometimes I wonder if I alone in the Universe.

Seriously, having seen things through the lens for 20+ years, I've been been critical, and complimentry in un-equal measure and quite obviously observational, well, ….I see things (not in an X File way).

My post Grad Diploma is in Photojournalism.

Not everyone agrees with my musings. However, if you want someone to witness a smash (as per Sunday on the M1 South at 7pm) I am your man!

I took my HT as I was expecting a mud-feast hike-a-bike-o-rama and I'd got bored of dragging a 50lb Trance round Mayhem last year. Four out of the five on our team rode HTs, with 3 of them having the choice to bring a FS.

Certainly agree it's more relaxed than Mayhem. Riders coming past were much more polite and would wait for you to give them space, rather than just barge past.

When you say 'leisure' riders, do you mean folk in tee shirts and football shorts with their kids and steanmy ribbons on their bars???

The ribbons on the bars – that was Bonty 24 Solo & that was 3 weeks ago. You're behind the time my friend! 🙄

But, yes, in principle, consider the people camped around you (unless you're solo – as I was in 2008) and you will witness I believe viewed a more varied X-section of the UK population than ever before.

Hey. I'm happy to be wrong.

It was an odd event. Over the years SiTS has become indistinguishable from MM but this year it was very different.

It seemed very quiet (low turnout), although the numbers were made up by thousands of kids, all of which seemed to want to walk through the middle of our camp! I'm sure there's usually 90+ in the mixed class, only 50 this year.

I was severely fat and unfit and one of our riders collapsed (on their first lap) but we finished in the top half (which is a great result for us).

There did seem to be more hard tails than usual. One of our riders has swapped from a proper bike to a hard tail.

The mud that got worse over the weekend was the oddest thing. HTF does that work? All very odd.

I snapped my Yeti 575. Gutted. Was riding as a pair and had specc'd it light for the 12 hrs. Ended up on my 33lb Commencal Meta 6. Wish I'd had a hardtail, not sure I'd want a 29er on those singletrack sections…

Did the mud get more "restrictive"?
Is this mud someting from The Hobbit and beyond?
I chatted to some Pro teams and they seem to think times remained much the same during the day-light hours, be it Saturday or Sunday, or am I wrong?

Rocketman – that's because you are yet to be converted! 😉 If U R in the Watford area, look me up. & take her out.

29ers are the way forwards now geometry is getting evolved and weights are coming down, they roll so much more smoothly that, coupled with a nice big volume tyre you can just fly through the twisty stuff. I had a lot of fun on mine and chatted to twinklydave, who had a LOT of fun on his.

Mens solo winner (me!) for Morvélo
won on a 29er hardtail. Some of my lap times were pleasingly quick for me, despite reigning my HR in on the climbs, I'd like to think that was the speed my bike carried through the trees and around the corners.

2 weeks ago at 24/12 the Open Men's Podium was locked out by big wheels: Open team was won by the GF 29ers, Morvélo were the 2nd placed team and 3 of us were on 29ers and the Trek 69ers were 3rd.

The US XC nationals were recently won, in both mens & womens categories, by 29ers and that's short course stuff, not enduro.

Now is the time of the big wheel 😉

I reckon I was faster round the course on the 29er than I would have been on a 26er. The slippery rooty downhill shitfest was definately 29er territory. Ti29er, I think I nearly took you out on that bit, think you commented that you had an on-one ti29er then I lost it and you had to dive for safety? Whoever it was got a photo of me sat on my arse 😀

the 2 mates i went to support did the run and first lap and then went to the pub!, txing me pics of them drinking, they never did anymore laps and he tells me today they didn't come last, some other pair only did 3 laps but they were slower! can you get more laid back than that?

Ti29er – The mud was much worse on Friday – I thought it was gonna be an absolute nightmare after my practice lap. It got better all the way through till 2pm Sunday I thought.

I have ridden a couple of 29ers. They should be great for me as I'm 6ft 6" but I couldn't get on with them. Really struggled on Northshore style stuff but probably my poor riding rather than the bikes (both Niners). Thought the hardtail was much better than the full sus one BTW.

Nowhere near Watford I'm afraid, but thanks for the offer 🙂

I'd agree about the mud, I got more crap on me during the one lap on Friday night than the whole race. How can the same mud be soooo different from last year?

Oggles, were you standing at the top of the last ascent?

Re 29ers. Built an On One Scandal on the Saturday morning,never ridden one before. Dare I say, I liked it.

Saw the pic of the busted Yeti, advertising the shop you got it from, i bet they loved that……………

I've ridden FS nearly all this year as I was doing MM solo so went for comfort and usually have the rear shock set to 150 – 155 psi depending on the terrain to get full travel. At MM in the first 12 hours I didn't quite get full travel (90%) but later on I did get full travel and I reckon that was due to the braking bumps.

But at the Enduro 6 earlier this year I ended up running it at 145 to get full rear travel. From all this I deduce that the course didn't need a FS !!!! BTW only spectated at SITS this year.

Oh, and I have a Simple set up for when it gets muddy as FS is so NOT the way to go in the mud.

I also noticed a lot of hard tails rolling out of transition in relation to full sus, and quite a few 100% rigid.

I was amazed also at the numbers of bikes that had V brakes, considering they are more or less extinct in UK XC racing. There were a few models of bikes that had more than a few years of riding on the clock, not to mention some of those Halford suspension bikes everyone here would suggest should not be ridden off road that were being ridden with some enthusiasm and appearing to survive longer than some of the noted broken boutique bikes I saw being carried around.

I missed last year so cannot say about the carnage only a number of riders who clearly were greatly enjoying the change and suggested they were very close to not entering after the duress of last years event almost putting them off events so maybe that's why numbers were down rather than the economy.

Probably in the end the lower numbers meant the course flowing especially in the first bit of wood giving us those great memories with the sun of how great it was, which means next year the riders will all come back and we all start cursing because we were blocked and hemmed in by too many other riders on the course wallowing in the mud 🙂

I rode my ht because my fs has crap mud clearance.

I agree the turnout was much lower than previous years – I only entered a month ago, so it wasn't sold out. I think last years weather must have put a lot of people off. However when they did the rider briefing there seemed to be loads of first timers, which can only be a good thing. I thought the atmosphere out on the course was excellent.

Manchester Trev – The Cyclery is a top LBS, great bunch of guys, fabulous service and they have really looked after my bikes. Hope they look on it as "any advertising is good advertising"!

The bike's back with Yeti now. Hopefully it will be covered by warranty. Basically the dog bone snapped, sending the seatstays down, one of which hit the front mech and caused them to snap. Bit bizarre really as it wasn't a tough course for bikes really was it.

3rd place solo here – also on a 29er.
No way would I go back to 26" wheels for racing or long rides.

'I chatted to some Pro teams'

Who?! Didn't think any pro teams ever went to SITS?

It's always been the more low key 'fun' 24 hour race. The fact that the weather's been disastrous every year since 2005 has probably just meant that a lot of the fun riders didn't see the point. Hence the high number of first timers, they didn't know what they were getting themselves in for!

Having done a number of Pat Adams' events I do appreciate what he does and the work he puts in, but surely there are better venues than those, I've never seen mud that clogs like that anywhere!

I have alway ridden a rigid singe speed at these kind of events since SITS mud destroyed my geared bike in 2004, 26inch at the moment but will probably look to move on to 29er when it falls to bits.

Finished 12th in solo this year and the feeling came back to my hands by Monday so cant see I will go back to FS

I was riding a fully rigid 26er HT (as part of a team) – I didn't miss the lack of suspension at all.

I regret not making the effort to change the 1.5 Mudsharks early on the Sunday morning as I think they were making the plasticine stickiness worse, had a pair of Small Block 8s which may have floated on the mud rather than digging in – hmmm grip or speed?!

Did anyone notice the new Rageleys (?) that Brant has developed?
There was more than one out on the course. Ti, Lynsky manufactured. They looked good – not quite as nice as my own OnOne Ti, obviously!
PS – Your SITS Pictures are now live.

The fact that the weather's been disastrous every year since 2005 has probably just meant that a lot of the fun riders didn't see the point.

It was perfect two years ago, the best 24-hour race I've ever done in fact. Dry, fast, dusty with just a quick shower in the middle of the night.

Why would anyone expect results other than the ones above? People are riding around fields, not mountain biking. Is one allowed to ditch all this niche shit and just ride a cyclocross bike? After all, these sort of events are just 24hr CX events.

Usually a bit less technical than your average CX race 🙂

I stand corrected then BWD, but it's generally been awful. Mayhem 2006 and SITS 2005 were 100% dry, and warm with it, they were lovely!

The two best night rides / races for me were Bonty 24 this year and Clic24 in 2008.
When it's warm, dry and you're out on the bike late at night or in the wee small hours, nothing else matters.

Was I the only one to find SITS got mighty cold at about 2am?

I actually started my solo on a Specialized Epic and ditched it for my rigid Scandal 29er after the first lap. I felt like it wasn't very efficient with all that suspension. The bigger tyres definately helped on the muddy bits along with the gears and big wheels I could just winch myself through the mud.

The Cyclery is a top LBS, great bunch of guys, fabulous service…

not IMO.

Autoelec – I was with a group of guys near the top of the last climb for the last few hours of the race on Sunday, we were moving around the course a bit to keep things interesting! Were you riding or spectating?

Ti29er – 2am was freezing!! We pitched ourselves on the first climb cos I think people were generally not looking forward to another lap and needed a bit of motivation. The dew from the long grass soaked our jeans too, very chilly! By about 4am I had to go warm up by the campfire.

An observation-

the sits course is a muddy hell hole if it's wet. And so I decided not to do it anymore after 2 of the past 3 years.

Certainly a hardtail friendly course if you can actually ride it.

@rolfharris this been my 3rd SITS in a row and can defo say this was the best year so far!

Of the guys in our 2 teams 5/7 were on HT's and 2/7 of us were on FS. I would agree with your musings that 3x as many were on HT.

I think this choice was down to the mud (or at least expected mud) I had brought my cross (ish) bike incase the mud was bad, but it wasn't needed. I rode my superlight on all 7 of my laps.

walleater there is some truth in that, but SITS and other lap-based events are about the social side of it more than anything, no-one claims these are really hardcore events. well unless soloing, when i think even the SITS course will get challenging after a 10, 15 or more laps. A 24 solo at a more techy, rocky course would be great but logistics mean fields work better commercially. there are a few other 24 ideas being discussed though, using harder courses or less lap / team focus.

i'd offer a spons deal to the first one to win SITS / MM solo on a 'cross bike though, that would be amusing as well as a lot harder than it sounds!

i'd offer a spons deal to the first one to win SITS / MM solo on a 'cross bike though, that would be amusing as well as a lot harder than it sounds!

They're not allowed, it's in the rules.

SITS and MM solo are two very different animals, the caliber of competition at SITS has always been much lower, I'll wager that could be won a cross bike pretty easily if the right person fancied it!

sure, but a 'cross bike and a light rigid 29er are very close to being the same bike.. so fit a flat bar to a 'cross bike and then what is it, as far as rules go?

true njee, but we could also put up a couple of riders that would give them a fair race ) from the ranting trade-team rider at the end of lap 1 i thought i was at MM, he was taking it far too seriously!
there's always a few fast guys at SITS or enduro6 too, winning it isn't easy.

Another thing I witnessed, that I'd not seen before at any other event, was the number of people smoking.
Now, what's that all-about?