Whinlatter Challenge Roll-Call

Just got my entry in 8)

I’ll be riding my bright green Pipedream Sirius, pretending to be capable of keeping up with the fast boys 😳

White helmet, might have a white Bike Shop Hexham jersey on if John has any left.

I had a chat with (who later turned out to be) Eldridge off these here parts while we both suffered last year. Looking forward to more pain again.

When is it?

Next weekend (20th?) I’m in and hoping the weather isn’t as bad as it was at Kielder today.

Ages since I’ve been there is it still slippery as ‘eck when it’s wet?

I was at Hammers this morninh Jon, weather was fine.

Yes, Whinlatter is slippy as anything, seemingly all the time.

Race is Sunday 20th, entries close midnight tonight.

bam bam, me , bigdugsbaws and ijs556 are in.

Although on 33 miles long it was the constant climbing i remember. Hoping not to puncture or crash this year and maybe a better result as well.

Since i hate the sprint out of the blocks mtb mentality, maybe i should try and persuade everyone to take it easy for first few miles or so until i’m warmed up

I’ll be there, although I wimped out and will just be doing the 15 miles. Fairly sure there were 500 entries last year, so expect it to be busy. I’ve put in a fair bit of training, so would like to put in a good run. Agree with the weather comments, although I’ve rode Whinlatter in all seasons and it’s never too bad.

I’ll be there, black spesh fsr xc with pike fork, probably in my s-works jersey. We’re staying at derwentwater youth hostel.

I’ll be there too on my red Nicolai Helius CC with White forks. Hoping not to puncture or bonk like last year!

Full distance for me too.

Forgot to say, I’ll be on a Giant XTC XC bike (blue/white/silver) with white Fox forks. Wearing a Bike Bank bright Orange jersey.

Driving up from North Wales early on Sunday morning. So I will be the one with pink eyes !!
Riding a red specialized Epic. Re thinking my tyre choice now, seeing as that you guys say its a slippy surface. May take my race tyres off 🙂

i’m in

Anyone know if the course is going to be the same as last year?

Just as long as it is not the same as the first year (2009) as that was a really tough one.

Got an email that said it was 17 miles for the first lap and shorter event then we do another 14 after that.

I’m in, doing the 17mile “short” course again. Came 10th out of 63 last year so I’ll try and better that hopefully or at least my time. The climbs are evil so I’ll be using the thinner tyres this year, slip and sliding down the muddy double track near the start should be fun. Hopefully its the same route so I have an ideal where to rest etc, and maybe get closer to the front, the mad bottle neck into the woods at the top of the first climb will be interesting, couple of “handbags came out last time” There should be a few marshals at this point as people cut in etc but I doubt there will be. It’s a good route and the majority of the banter is fun and supportive, so looking forward to it.

Riding a full stealth black Kona, so if you see a chubby lad on one that’s most likely me!

fingers crossed for good weather!

Well I hurt today 😆

How did everyone get on?

postierich got 3rd spot in the SS category and his mate nabbed 2nd 😀

3hr 8min. my climbing wasn’t so good. otherwise enjoyed it, some nice fast flowing downhills

P.S. Does anyone know ‘Bob’? Yorkshire sounding, nose piercing and shaggy blonde/brown hair, riding a Ti 456. Had some great banter with him round the course and we exchanged places.

Top fella, just wanted to say thanks again 🙂 He would have finished 21st/22nd so I’ll find his name when the results are published.

The positions on the printouts we were given are wrong, some people were missing somehow, I was bumped from 35th to 42nd, a friend was bumped from 104th to 128th, so looks like a computer glitch somewhere. Anyway results are here:

http://www.sportident.co.uk/results/2011/WMBC/enduro.html

Suspect you mean Bob Adey at a guess.

positions were wrong on the printout because some were wrongly placed into the half enduro (me + others) but it has been corrected on the website.

A plentiful supply of pictures on my Flickr[/url] page if anyone is interested.

Jon Taylor – is this Bob?
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256th! Not bad when I started right at the back as i hadn’t realised how far away the car-parking would be!
Dread to think how much time was lost in traffic jams. I guess that’s why its a “challenge” not a race, your patience is tested aswell as your fitness…

You won the SS Jon?

Had to retire at the end of the first lap due to concussion! Gutted. Some of that single track was pretty slippy.

Cracking day though, thoroughly enjoyed it… Apart from the stack, obviously.

The positions on the printouts we were given are wrong, some people were missing somehow, I was bumped from 35th to 42nd, a friend was bumped from 104th to 128th, so looks like a computer glitch somewhere.

Paul, It’ll be something to do with the second checkpoint a few peoples splits didn’t registered for some reason. My friend who was 6th didn’t get a time. The system won’t have liked that at the finish and won’t have registered the result.

Yes it was a good event, the parking situation was not the best to say the least, but hey ho you can’t have everything. It certainly didnt spoil the day, and I cant really see what else they could have done. My first ride on the Whinlatter trails, and they are as has been well documented on this forum, pretty damn slippy, but not unrideably slippy by any means, just a good challenge. Saw a few decent crashes, but no injuries to anyone thank goodness Enjoyed the day. Rode with my mate, who had a lengthy mechanical early on we lost 20 mins, still happy enough with a 3hr 20 min ride time though. Hard event, will do it again next year.
The little village shop in Braithwaite before you drive up the Whinlatter pass to the trail centre has bacon and egg sarnies to die for !! Real traditional old school friendly shop, deffo worth a pop in there before next years event 🙂

Handsomedog/paulrockliffe – yep that’s him, no. 3, so I figured an low alphabetical surname.

ir_banjo – yep, shame you’re not out to play this week, let me know if you’re free at short notice. We need to get a proper lakes trip done soon.

Anyone, have any “clean” comments on that sneaky climb at the end of the day, just when you thought you were heading into the trail centre finish. MEAN, OFFSIDE, EVIL were some of the more family friendly words I heard being muttered on the way up 🙂

Singlespeeders – How many teeth did you run on the back?

I was being a tight Yorkshireman and refused to buy a bigger cog for one event, but paid the price for running 16t. Still had a great day but walked more than I’d liked…

I had last year’s route on my GPS and rode all the trails when I was a kid before the biking trails went in, so I knew what was coming. I enjoyed it, but I’d picked up about 30 places on the second lap, 5 on that climb, so was more than happy for the climb to continue.

I do remember thinking “WTF” when I over took a chap with only two cogs on his bike up that last climb – hats off!

good event again although was looking forward to another mug at the end.

Timing issue got me as well. was in top 10 somewhere, think about 8th but not too sure. A better starting position instead of where i was might of got me a top 5. Still, good event again

a good day out, quicker thn last year, but still felt like i was going backwards on the 2nd lap. would have liked to have ben 5 mins quicker but there’s always next year!!

I was running 33:18. Always have done since I started SS last October.

Didn’t have to walk anything (except when someone was stalled in front of me), I managed to ride everything 2nd lap.

EXCEPT the final climb. I could see the aforementioned Bob a couple of places in front of me, I was going to catch him and yell “BOBBBBB!!! I’M COMING TO GET YOU”.

But then I blew up and had to stop. Didn’t push though 🙂 Little victory.

Earlier he had been goiading me up the switchbacks, telling me to hurry up 🙂 I needed to get him back!

I’m beginning to think I might need a lower SS ratio for Dyfi…

I was there! Greig – kept thinking I was seeing you but was sure it wasn’t – you had a doppelganmger??

Anyhoo, I bailed after about 23 miles – got a stinking cold and someone had a great idea of getting drunk the night before. Despite 2 Clif Bars and a Powerbar I had nothing to give. Didn’t like the course either tbh, nor having to queue into the first singletrack section and all the way along. All in all, £30 (plus the other £80 on fuel, drinking and B&B) would have been better spent on… errr… something else and just riding.

btw waqs PostieRich sat in the gafe afterwards with (assuming) wife and little daughter? Beard? Green & red top?

big D

link won’t preview…

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ed_rollason/5544278502/in/set-72157626309448892/

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WhinlatterEnduro_MTB_132[/url] by Ed Rollason Photography[/url], on Flickr

Oh dear, not my best look!

The queuing wasn’t too bad, it gave you a well-earned rest! Actually, I found it quite entertaining as there was a girl a few places in front of me getting aggro with someone for slowing down for a technical bit, only for her to spin out on all three steep technical bits and cause a 4 bike pile up each time! 🙂

Anyone running a gps have the total climbing figure? It certainly seemed like alot…

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/74271922

Thanks for that, I remember you overtaking me! Tried keeping up butto no avail…