Whose going up. We are setting off on Friday. Hope the weather is better for Abigale and everyone else whose competing than it was last year and at the PMBA Enduro at Gisburn last weekend.
Just had some goodies baked for me to take up, Cherry and Almond Cookies, Parkin, Creme Egg Scotch Eggs and Terrys Chocolate Orange Fudge

The best of luck to Abigail this weekend Tracey.

It’s rained today, pretty much all day and still hammering down now…

But, should be dry from tomorrow morning right thru the weekend – I reckon semi-slicks will be the tyre of choice 😀

Thanks, will pass it on. No goodies for her, just need to hide them in the camper.

Wet, dry, snow, our tyres of choice never change. Butcher front, Purgatory rear. They only come off when they are worn out

Yeah I’m in. Stages look to be awesome and the weather might finally play ball after the last 2 years!!!

I’m not racing this year due to niggling injuries but hopefully it will be great. The first year was one of the best races i’ve done to date (Tweedlove, have it at yair again!) and last year wasn’t bad though the weather couldn’t have been much worse. I did get a little bit fed up of racing similar trails doing the triple crown last year but I suppose they’re all in the valley so are going to be of the same character.

Not going for it this year

trying to cut back on the travelling for races

and if im being honest yeah last years weather was grim, the thought of all that mud again…. 🙂

A little snow on some of the stages yesterday but it ought to melt off. It’s going to be squishy! Have fun folks. Weather looks to be a hell of a lot better than last year.

I’ll be there 🙂

Stopped raining about 6am, forecast is good now right through 😀

http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/2640526

So stage chat. Not sure about order but my impression is

S1 = Either Plan B or Zorro into Fairy Liquid
S2 = Carl’s Lane, Spooky Wood, Mud and Roots, Steep Loam
S3 = No More Ewok, Double X, The Bitch, Ponduro
S4 = Zoom or Bust, Janet’s Brae

hang on,..never mind this enduro nonsense, Cream egg Scotch eggs?!

That fits well with the closures I think. It’d be good if it was zorro- I love B side but zorro adds so much variety to the stage mix.

If Steep Loam is what I think it is (drops to redemption?), it’d be carnage 😆 It’s the only trail that ever managed to completely mud-block my old Ragley Ti’s immense mud clearance.

They are so scrummy

Creme Egg Scotch Eggs. Cadburys Creme Egg surrounded by chocolate brownie, dipped in melted milk chocolate and coated in crushed Cadburys Flakes

If Steep Loam is what I think it is (drops to redemption?), it’d be carnage It’s the only trail that ever managed to completely mud-block my old Ragley Ti’s immense mud clearance.

Yeah that’s the one. Was down it on Monday and it wasn’t too bad. Quite well bedded in now and a lot of grip though 400 folk down it will no doubt change that.

Plan B has had a fair bit of work done but it’s still tricky as hell. It may be a wee bit too much for Vallelujah???

If Plan B is b-side/trailfairy plan then it was pretty wet n wild last weekend, but good fun. Is steep loam the one down the fire road a bit from the brown trout start? I’ve only done that a couple of times but it’s been off camber clay mud doom both times 😀 Mud and roots is an awkward little sod too. Yous are all going to get wet bottoms.

S1 = Either Plan B or Zorro into Fairy Liquid
S2 = Carl’s Lane, Spooky Wood, Mud and Roots, Steep Loam
S3 = No More Ewok, Double X, The Bitch, Ponduro
S4 = Zoom or Bust, Janet’s Brae

60-70% of those may be correct. It’s going to be a good mix of pedalling and challenging.

I did notice the barrier to Secrets and Lies had been removed…

Unless the wind fall has been dealt with, SnL is out. I think the barrier was probably there due to the same reason Deliverance/Redemption was shut, to keep people away from that area of hillside as they’ve been working on the fireroads.

I think there will be a couple pleasant* surprises in trail choice.

*my idea of pleasant may vary from others!

I was intrigued by the “stuff we’ve never been allowed to race before” comment in one of the earlier emails and some Strava hunting showed Neil D riding some trails directly above the hydro that appear to drop right in there…

Oh yeah, the naming of trails is a difficul matter, it isn’t just one of your holiday games. Like Bigjim says it’s not Plan B, it’s B Side. Not a very good name tbh but Well Greased Arsehole was rejected in a Boaty McBoatface-alike scandal.

(Fairy Liquid is a brilliant name but I don’t think it’s a trailfairy trail ironically)

mc – Member

*my idea of pleasant may vary from others!

Stage 3, instead of riding a trail you have to rebuild a lawnmower

BoardinBob – Member

I was intrigued by the “stuff we’ve never been allowed to race before” comment in one of the earlier emails and some Strava hunting showed Neil D riding some trails directly above the hydro that appear to drop right in there…

There’s some really nice stuff up there but tbh I’m not sure how it’d make a race stage. I could be wrong, or there could be new developments. (they did a “tweedlove ride” aaaaages back which was blatantly race stage scouting and feedback and I think it’s the only part of that ride that’s still never been raced)

Well Greased Arsehole was rejected in a Boaty McBoatface-alike scanda

. 😀

I was intrigued by the “stuff we’ve never been allowed to race before” comment in one of the earlier emails and some Strava hunting showed Neil D riding some trails directly above the hydro that appear to drop right in there…

Is your money on Bluff or Double Bluff?

Quick, create a strava segment called Double Bluff

Have they really taken 500 entries for this? Queues are likely to be massive if they have

Wasn’t too bad last year legend.
Under 5mins for all sections except one.
Just the last section that Northwind was responsible for 😛

First riders are out from 8.30am so shouldnt be that bad.

#wishingIwasgoing…

AlexSimon – Member

Just the last section that Northwind was responsible for

For some reason people were rushing through the stages as the day went on, can’t think why 🙂 So people got started over about 4 hours and then the entire field came through stage 5 in about 2. It was pretty bad tbh. Just as well we never had a red flag or people’d have died of exposure on that fire road!

“Can I have a longer gap mr rabbit?”
“Ask the 100 people behind you how they feel about that”
“20 seconds it is then”
“Good decision, now **** off”

400+ last year and I don’t think I queued any more than a couple of minutes. Vastly better than the hours wait at stage 1 in 2015 😥

2015 was Yair yeah? Yup that was shit, completely exposed as well.
Cademuir (King and Queen iirc) before it was felled had a hefty queue for stage 1 too, made even better by snapping my chain off the start line 🙄

2015 was Yair yeah? Yup that was shit, completely exposed as well.[/I]

Should’ve pedalled up harder, I only had a couple of mins 🙂

And this is Scotland in March BTW, wear/carry the appropriate gear.

Yes, those two things you say were definitely the issue

Northwind
Just as well we never had a red flag or people’d have died of exposure on that fire road!

Everybody was good humoured when I was there. Soon warmed up on that pedally section 🙂
Nasty stretch of weather though. Looks like it will be a good one this year. Sorry to miss out!

Really looking forward to this , the last two years have been brilliant in a if it wasn’t a race there is no way I would be out in this kind of way .
I did wonder if that ews stage that people hated would be in it as it mentioned stages not entirely downhill but I’m not sure if the tree blocking the start of broon trout is still there .

I’ll be marshalling at it again 8) .
I was near the top of Cademuir on the last stage last time, hopefully this time I’ll get a spot where it doesn’t snow :D. .

Course map

http://tweedlove.com/onthehillside/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Val17_riders_map.pdf

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend, hope it’s a great weekend. Enjoy the climb of death on Stage 4!

Sort of mixed feelings about it having seen the map. Should be a lot of fun as the weather looks good, but I have raced most of this stuff at least once before, so sort of glad to have sat this one out.

so that’s why everyone was looking for dave’s trail a couple of weekends ago 8)