Strathpuffer 2010 and all this snow

Yep agree – full lap

leave length as is is my opinion – Lemans – ride the fire road – stop at our pits and have a cup of coffee or 2 – couple of hundred riders will flatten it a bit 😉

Full lap, c'mon you're Scottish, can't wimp out because of a bit of snow.

another vote for full length

I guess the only limiting factor would be if emergency vehicles can't get to the strategic points for effecting rescue if necessary.

Anyone want to e-mail Strathpuffer organisers to let them know we're canvassing opinion on here?…

I think there's one or two popssibly on here already
Cullen-bay?

Anybody know what the driving conditions are like from the south?
M6, A/M74 and the A9?

we're comming upal the way from southampton leaving friday morning 😯

A9 from Perth is passable (but susceptible to drifts if it gets windy), as are the roads on from Inverness. Anything south of that I'm not sure. Lots of webcams of roads on the traffic advice sites. Have a lookie on them. There's certainly ones of the Slochd and Drummochter passes on the A9 which are the main spots that get blocked.

Just ridden the possible sortened lap.37mins and only 20-30 metres of walking.Normal puffer lap time for me 40 mins.In these conditions short lap was still tough going when of the fire road.Stray of the centre,bye bye front wheel.Decent from veiw rock was great ,hardpacked all the way to the finish and riding very fast.Spiked tyres don`t you just love em.

The roads are fine from Glasgow/Edinburgh north. Past Aviemore there was some snow on the outer lanes of the dual carriageways so overtaking was only on the normal roads unless you had a 4×4 and limited understanding of the physics involved. The only potential problems with the roads are the high winds forecasted over the next couple of days but they'll clear them very quickly if they block again. The smaller roads were fine all the way to Strathpeffer too, no real ice or snow.

That's a long drive though, good luck!

Just ridden the possible sortened lap.37mins and only 20-30 metres of walking.Normal puffer lap time for me 40 mins.In these conditions short lap was still tough going when of the fire road.Stray of the centre,bye bye front wheel.Decent from veiw rock was great ,hardpacked all the way to the finish and riding very fast.Spiked tyres don`t you just love em.

Interesting, how long would you estimate a full lap of the normal course to take in it's current state?

If they clear the fire road,stii1.1.5-2hrs as it is.however the thaw has arrived,up to3 today.Anbody remember what grass looks like………?

A vote here for the shorter lap because:

a) better chance of getting medics/marshalls on course and not so far to take out any casualties

b) you can always do double laps to give team-mates a rest (which I know doesn't help the solos but those types usually relish anything that makes it harder)

c) small field for a 24 hour event so won't take that long for the traffic to clear

d) if conditions worsen unexpectedly you won't be spending half the night standing around the changeover area as the lap times have become a lottery, only a quarter of the night…

e) selfish reason: my radios will work better !

8) good news

yeah along drive, all 4 of us are insured to drive so will take in in turns and just try to get there asa(safely)p

cheers

Good points Helen, well presented. 🙂

Trouble with a short course for me is getting lapped over and over and……

Trouble with a short course for me is getting lapped over and over and……

And for me, it would be the increasing number of laps not matched by a commensurate decrease in the amount of time left to go…

getting lapped? I fully expect to be lapped before the end of my first lap 🙂

As for shortening the lap – I would say go with whatever is the most fun – I'd rather have to do a bit of hikabike than the whole lap be dull.

at the end of the day i dont really care – whats left of my minds getting put in a wee box and left in the pits anyway.

just wanna ride my bike and have an excuse to eat lots of food

just wanna ride my bike and have an excuse to eat lots of food

8)
me too

Just back down from the course with two of the organisers. Looks like a long lap is a goer unless there is more snow in the next few days.
We were discussing the merits of clearing Vs trampling so we tried a short section trampling and after a few passes back and forth on a short section of fresh snow(equivalent to 20 – 25 people walking) it was perfectly rideable. As people then ride it, it may polish up a bit but hopefully the folks with studs on will scuff the polish off again.

There should be approx 200 people passing round on the first lap so if everyone is walking the snowy bits then this should theoretically squash it down nicely. Either that or it will be partly thawed by then and turn into a quagmire 😀

If you can get hold of studded tyres, get them!!
Hoping for a few more bodies to join in on Wednesday.

boilerplate ice 😀

Any updates as to where they are parking us all?

Another vote for shorter laps if it means more time actually riding the bike than slogging your bike around over the shoulder. A shorter lap and less walking means more consistant lap times and hopefully drier feet.

I vote long laps. It's the Puffer: it's not supposed to be easy.

Anyone with a day off tomorrow,you can turn up at the shop for 11,going out to work on the top single track.Bring a shovel and food.Any assistance would be great.

(yet) another vote for the full lap – esp if it's the same course as last year 🙂

it's supposed to be tough and us soloists won't get quite so dizzy 😀

Yes well there is "tough" and there is "event cancellation because the medics can't get on the course and the Forestry won't issue permission".

I am sure the organiser will make the right decision to ensure event goes ahead safely…

I am also sure that whatever happens it won't please everybody. I am more worried about getting up and back the A9 than the actual bike riding !!

Right, some explaining is in order i think!
1) the full lap is the right length in the dry/mud. (normal conditions)
2) the course is covered in around 15 inches of snow.
3) riding the snow yesterday revealed that actually, even although you stand on it or ride the track, its still very squashy and spongey.
4) rescue medics have to get everywhere.
5) event organisers can make a better judgement than people hundreds of miles away!

so what im saying is, leave it to the event organisers, they know best!
and dont worry, it will be tough enough!

Spanglefish website is down at the mo', must be updating it- antisipation is killing me!

by the way niterider, apparently you can only do the puffer in 45 minutes, you have something to prove!

EDIT: the site now says the event is a goer.

and i kinda hope it only uses the lower half of the track, even though it means all of our work will have been for nothing! except making our own riding easier of course!

website still not back up down here in Edinburgh. is the snow having some affect on t'internet?

Live cameras for nervous people:
http://www.trafficscotland.org/lev/index.aspx

Drumochter's going to be worst. Looks OK just now. (Click on the camera icon north of Perth).

Cheers, al.

yippee! now I can even more excited – spose I should think about making ice tyres now ❗

Website he say

Forestry Commission inspected the course today, and are happy for the event to go ahead.

The whole race will be on snow or icy fire roads, so Ice Tyres will be an advantage.

We've got teams digging furiously to prepare the course, so we still have to decide the final design, depending on whether we can make the whole original course rideable.

If you are nearby, and have a shovel and some spare time this week, get in touch!

One of the lads did a lap of a shorter course in 40 mins on ice tyres today, and he would normally do the full course in 45 mins in good conditions.So whatever the decision, it will be a classic Puffer!
If you are coming with a 2WD and trailer, you might be further away than usual, but we're doing our best to clear as much as possible.

Twinklydave: like you I'm worried about getting dizzy, whizzzing round in tiny little circles 😉

In truth, my Dad making it up to pick up the kids worries me a bit more.

al.

Check my lap times if you want Cullen.I know and you know my average.By the way,hope you won`t turn back half way round this year,say no more

Great news that it's going ahead!
Not so great news that one of the team has backed out now! 😡 Everyone else I've asked has said something along the lines of "Are you 'kin mad? There's no way I'm doing that"
And further bad news is that I had to tell the wife that I'd left it too late and the Ben Wyvis Hotel was fully booked 😯 I'm popular! 😀

the walling's place is nice though Barney!

anyway, Niterider, your average was fantastic at the summer puffer, and im better than i was last yeam, what with all the training i've managed in the 15 inch deep snow for the last 3 weeks. 😯

"Niterider"- Iain who was out digging on monday was wondering if you could post up a map of the shortened route that you did,

Was is just from the firetrack up to view rock, or did it encompass the quad track as well. Also, could the shortened route maybe go around the loch to extend it?

Don`t worry to much about the short course Iain ,its not set in stone yet.