spam winter challenge, Salisbury Plain 50km on the 30th Dec ?

I’m staying on the SW edge of the Plain (near Mere / Stourton) and its the wettest ever in my 40 odd years. The fields are all swamps, rivers and streams all as high as ever. I tried to go off road a bit on 23rd and 24th and just hopeless and since then have been on my road bike. I dont want to be unsupportive but it is hard to see how tomorrow’s ride can really take place unless they re-route onto an all tarmac / track option. For those unfamiliar Salisbury Plain turns into proper sticky clag when wet. and it as never been wetter than now.

Just a little weather update – there’s been very strong winds overnight as well as rain and it’s continuing now.

Agree with hh45 – it would have to be on fire roads with no fun in the woods! Remember it’s chalk here.

I do feel sorry for the organisors.

Hi all – they’re out marking the course at the moment; so we should have a good idea of what it is like in a while….if they make it back. 🙂
The route does use a lot of hard-track and the army road through Imber and we don’t use the singletrack through the woods; it just would not sustain 500 riders in these conditions. SPAM have had a lot of issues with the MoD/Landmarc over use of the woods for our events and we don’t want to jeopardise the Erlestoke12 event by trashing the singletrack and upsetting the powers that be. We’ll leave that to the MX riders…..
Just see it as something daft to do with your mates at a time of year where you might need cajoling out onto the bike, with all proceeds going to charity – so you’re doing some ‘good’ as well.
Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow. I’ll be the one shouting into a megaphone stating the bleeding obvious about partaking in a mtb event that nobody will be able to hear anyway 🙂

Any update on the final route would be appreciated. I have paid already so not a money issue but I know from experience that it can be so muddy as to be unrideable and frankly that is worth missing. Bad weather is OK but not being able to ride whilst trashing my drivetrain is silly.

I do feel sorry for the Spam team as I can imagine how much effort and good intentions go into the event but this year is (hopefully) a one off rain wise.

Just been chatting to a mate about whether to bother doing spam this year .It`s always grim on the plain the scenery is dull as is all the road riding and I could spend 20 quid elsewhere.With the shit weather I may hide in the local woods riding for an hour or two instead

Wondering if this will be worth the 200 mile round trip from Worcester?

No

Well, the good news is that the gusty winds have eased considerably. The rain did get heavier for a while but has now reduced to a drizzle.

There are bluuueee skiiiies in the shire 🙂

But it’s still **** raining 🙄

Thanks for the above comments.
Edric64 – thanks for your constructive criticism; think you covered your thoughts in your first post – we’re not forcing you to come and ride around the plain 🙂
Rain stopped here at the moment, and quite pleasant out! Route’s are marked out, so see you tomorrow (but not Edric I guess)

@FuzzyFelt – how far round are the route splits? I.e. for those wanting to drop down from the 50k to 35k if it’s hard going..

Also, are there feed/water stations on the way round?

Cheers!

Split is after about 20Km (just past Imber village) and there will be water (for drinking!) at this point.

I’ve just done a 20 mile road road instead…. and another 30 mile road ride tomorrow…

Sorry Fuzzy… just not for me this time i’m afraid.

Once you get going your be fine.Suppose to be dry from above thats something.At least you will be able to keep your tyres free from mud just keep riding through the puddles.

Despite my earlier reticence i shall be there (and riding). Having had today off the bike and gone stir crazy with family I just have to ride. I’m guessing it will be an even more weatherproof course than ever bearing in mind this rain has been falling for over a month.

I will be there too, another orange bike…

After vowing last year never again, I’m currently heading towards Salisbury…… Any reason just to get on a bike

Good luck to everyone competing today 🙂

Indeed… Hope you have a brilliant time lads.

Sad I won’t be riding due to chest infection. The plain drains really well, I’ve been riding up there all winter no probs so it should be a nice day out today.

weeksy; “i’m REALLY looking forward to this… this is my big test of what this years training has been all about.”
singlecrack “Lol ……. 😉 “

A bit harsh ?

I posted something similar about SPAM’s Winter Challenge once as I’d never ridden 50km in one day before and it really was a challenge for me.
A few years on and I’m doing reasonably well in 12 hour solo races.
Stick at it weeksy.

MidlandTrailquestsGraham – Member
weeksy; “i’m REALLY looking forward to this… this is my big test of what this years training has been all about.”
singlecrack “Lol ……. “

A bit harsh ?

I posted something similar about SPAM’s Winter Challenge once as I’d never ridden 50km in one day before and it really was a challenge for me.
A few years on and I’m doing reasonably well in 12 hour solo races.
Stick at it weeksy.

It’s cool mate. All good banter.

FWIW, it wasn’t THIS specific event i’ve been training for, but this type of event, that came across slightly incorrectly in my OP. I’ve trained hard this year, lost weight, put in over 4200km on the pedals and it’s this sort of event, the Maxx Exposure, Afan Monster, Brecon Beast etc that my training has been tailored to. So for me, missing out on this particular ride isn’t the end of the world, i’ve done a 20 mile road ride this morning and spending time with my wife/son now, so it’s all good.
The distance of this event isn’t really an issue, i’ve done almost 3x the distance in other events and have a 132km event planned in May (i think or is it April lol). But i’ve been trying to work on my speed overall for the longer distances… i guess when we get a decent day in for an event we’ll see how it’s paid off (or not).

Ha …it was the “I’m REALLY looking forward to this ” bit I was lol’ing about

I think MTG misunderstood

Well, I made it there.. the first 10km was very hard going due to claggy mud coupled with some long climbs, leaving me wishing I’d got a rear mud tyre for my Scott (very little clearance with 2.2s on the rear).

Once that was out of the way it opened out onto mainly roads/gravel tracks which weren’t too bad.. in the end I bailed out onto the 35k route at the drinks stop split (the hail/rain shower helping my decision!) not liking the idea of encountering any more sections like the opening ones on the long route. The end came up really quickly though and I half wish I’d persevered with the long route!

An uninspiring day (and brutal wind) was the decider for me doing the 35km. Ground to a halt on the mud climbs, smashed the granny out if it on the tracks. The CX trade off. Did anyone else only make it 31km in total or dud my speedo lose count?

Yup, I made it 31km too..

I think MTG misunderstood

Ah, OK, all’s good then. 😀

The 50km was also some what short, and it rained was muddy and windy. But then, hardly a surprise on Salisbury plain in winter!

Bit of an institution, back in the day it was considered a challenge, now it’s a chance to catch up with friends, stretch the legs, and work off the xmas hangover.

Thanks to spam crew for organising

Wet, slippy, far to much road, but I’ll probably do it again next year as it’s a good end of year slog! As CB above said, cheers to the SPAMers for arranging it all.

Cheers guys! Thanks for coming and supporting us, working on results…..not that they are important on an event like this 😉

I thought it was excellent and the first 5 miles held up ok. I had a great day and appreciated the mainly metalled or stone surfaces. I just wish it was a bit longer and hillier. My Garmin made it 29 miles and 535 metres of climbing. Not really enough I think. But great anyway so thanks all.

Yes, cheers to the SPAMers for arranging it all – all done with a smile and exquisite food – I found the family run one deep inside barn the best.
I found the mud during the first 10K an absolute hoot, no problem at all. Mud-X, massive mud clearance on the superlight29er helped, yes the hail was something else and very painful on the face (lightweight), I had 31.65 miles listed – nearly spot on 50K. The road I did not mind, I think it was so very wet that it had to be this way. I did get above axle deep at one point – Yes I will do next year, my only request would be an additional water stop 1/3 from end. I missed the only one (wally) and dried out. Fun day out with very chatty friendly people. My mate puked twice in the first hour and had to drop to 25K – a good rider, bug I think.

SPAM Winter Challenge Results

Results from today can be found on the link.

Cheers all

Fuzzyfelt – The posted results look like they are last year’s…

I think the results are right, just listed under the wrong heading. At any rate my name’s in there.. and I don’t remember doing it last year!

PS. I didn’t actually come 5th in the 50km as listed.. I bailed out onto the 35km (as quite a few I think).

Yep results are right. My PC was calling up last year’s until I cleared the cache. 😳

Great event with lots of sloppy mud – after the first 5 mile slog, i thought i’d need to get some lights, then the pace picked up with less slop

I was so disappointed to discover halfway through that the event wasn’t sponsored by Spam – i was well looking forward to some 1970’s processed food to keep me going!!

Cheers and see you next year!

Many thanks all the spam team, another great ride and even I’ll keep coming back until I break this damn 3hour mark!

Any photos up?

Photos now up here..