Rejection in! Assume there will be few folk bumped up from waiting list after first round of acceptances and people deciding not to go ahead or forgetting to accept and pay up. Anyone have experience of how many from waiting list get bumped up?

Anyone know what time you’d need to be there Sat morning to get space for easy up in the pits?

I wouldn’t rely just on cake stop, you’ll need something more substantial than just that to keep going over 7hrs plus extras such as electrolights and salt etc (hot day and a lot of climbing, salt really helps keep the cramp away later in the day)

I’ve been solo past 3 years and have done all I can with that so doing pairs this year. Does anyone know what time you realistically need to be there to get a space for an ez-up? Usually just rock up last minute and put a box in solo pits but would rather have space and shade for inbetween laps. I’ve heard folk say pairs is harder than solo so not sure what to expect! Good course but the braking bumps in final descent were horrendous last year! Not going to get any better!

Well after all that and the final prep etc on Thurs and Fri I drove up Saturday morning and hit a deer on the Laggan to Spean Bridge road meaning I couldn’t make the race. Gutted to miss it but there’s always next year. Looked like a good one as well (apart from the last couple of hours from what I hear).

Thanks for info. Have signed up now and had a look through the race pack: 1400ft of elevation a lap! Ooooft! And I thought GT7 had a lot of climbing!

I’ve done it a couple of times in the other direction from North Queensferry to St. Andrews (then Leuchars to get the train back). Boarhills as you mention is to be avoided. The rest is all bikeable apart from a couple of small sections of stairs and a wee bit along the coast by Crail I think (which is still nice even though walking). Did it on hardtail as didn’t have cx/gravel bike but have cx bike now and this year it will definitely be done on that. There’s a high tide/low tide option on the bit between Kirkcaldy town centre and Ravenscraig park. Haven’t done the low tide option before.

The bit beyond Kirkcaldy to North Queensferry is really nice if you manage to get further and the option of a train station in every town you pass anyway to help spur you in to the next one and get as far as the bridges. In fact that would be a good (Tay) bridge to (Forth) bridge ride.

Haven’t seen the geograph app, looks most handy! Had a look at Strava for segments before but there weren’t any. Always forget about the heatmap.

<span style=”background-color: #eeeeee; color: #444444; font-size: 16px;”>Suisnish Loop looks pretty good, just looking at the map, has anyone come back via strath beag rather than the road? And if so is it a rideable track?</span>

Road are all completely clear now, M74, M8, M9 and A9 so no problems there. Roads around Strathpeffer will be fine. The forest road on the otherhand might not be. I’d advise snow chains as once it gets compacted by the first few vehicles…..

I got one of these at Xmas and want to mount it on the bars as well. You can get a few different mounts, I bought one in decathlon but haven’t had a chance to try it out yet.
In decathlon it’s “CO-NECT HANDLEBAR MOUNT”
PRO do one as well called “Camera Mount for Handlebar 31.8mm diameter”
or theres one you can mount centrally called “Tate labs the bar fly gopro mount” which you can get on merlincycles.com

Brilliant thanks. The link I had from the moredirt website had it in roxburghe estate beside the castle. Much appreciated

I’ve found crits to be the most difficult/horrible thing. Especially as I spend most of them on my own…
CX races said to be the toughest hour on a bike, would take it over a crit anyday (not saying it’s easy obvs)
Hillclimbs brutal but over quicker and I quite like them.
Nothing compares to running a 5k flat out though imo

Space what ring?

Thanks, double chainset crank arm onto single chainring sounds like the answer. Will see what I can do.

I don’t want to have a double chainset on and I’m not sure if there is a double that would have a 40t inner ring. As far as I can see there’s nothing off the shelf from shimano that would work, thinking the only option might be a crank arm fitted to a single ring from another manufacturer with the same BCD

Brilliant thanks for help have ordered one now

No the tool on its own is too big and with the adapter it’s too small so there must be some other adapter or tool I need. The tool I have is this one I used for an sram BB on the mtb.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-performance-external-bottom-bracket-wrench/?sku=5360540773

I’ve already got the tool sorry. This fits fine with the adapter I have to install the new BB, it’s just the adapter I need to take out the old one that I’m unsure of.

Tri/duathlon shorts and cycling top or thin bibs if you don’t want to buy anything. The shoes thing is always an interesting one. It’s not just the time taken to change shoes (which is pretty nominal). By being clipped in you use different muscles in your legs thus saving more energy for the final run, though you don’t mention if there is a 2nd run. There’s also the time taken to run in and out of transition with cleats on rather than trainers, a longer run in on wet tarmac might benefit trainers more for example. There are adv and dis of both which will change from person to person, race to race.

Are these results still showing a lap less though the final times are including the final lap they’ve taken from the lap count??

25-30mins for the red route. Strava has it as 3.8miles. Lactic ladder is on the black route, the red climb is pretty straightforward. Amazing trails, really good fun and well built with some great and cleverly built features especially on the black. Would probably say my favourite trail “centre” out there. Enjoy!

I’m delighted with my 9 laps knowing it would be touch and go to make the 6.5hr cut off but gained some time on the first 2laps and made it by 3mins. The last lap I made it to the top in 35mins as the heavens opened and rode a sketchy tunnel of love then was redirected down the fire road before zoom or bust. Correct and quick decision by the organisers, it would have been carnage on the trails and they didn’t have unlimited supplies of first aiders to deal with the inevitable. Interesting finish to a race anyway! Does anyone know where the results are? Can’t find them on sport ident site.

If you have garage storage the right car won’t lose anything on it and perhaps get you a return. I’ve just bought a Renault Clio trophy. More fun than the money in the bank and should make a return on it. Focus RS MK1 or BMW z4m coupe could be decent acquasions though the BMW about £18k. Depends what you’re into car wise, or if you are at all. Good to invest in something you can enjoy as well.

Hebridean way, 185 road miles through the 10 islands. Absolutely stunning.

Definite for a pit bitch. You don’t want to spend your rest time between laps queuing at the bike wash. Even if you have a spare bike and you can get one of your neighbours to wash the bike down for you whilst you’re on the spare bike for a few laps.

I’m going to drop something into the conversation which might give some food for thought that I was reading recently and found quite interesting, more for the folk going for top places and not planning on stopping for much.

Power files of 24hour racers have shown that putting out more wattage in the first 4 hours of a race creating a gap on the competition can be a huge advantage later in the event. In an ultra race (over 6 hours) most athletes fatigue at the same rate over the next 18 hours, so a gap of 45mins from rider 1 to 2 at the 6 hours mark is most likely going to hold for the next 18hours.

I did my first cx race recently. My immediate thoughts were I should have tried to get up the start grid as much as possible but I panicked after seeing the start of the race before and started at the back. I reckon starting at the back cost me 20 places at the finish. Go hard, everyone fatigues but if you try to pace it too much you’ll be too far behind to make up the difference. Practise, practise, practise. Mounts and dismounts, go to local park/field and just ride up and down and do loads the week leading up to it. Same with riding around trees/off camber turns/short sharp hills, in your practice rides. Get a couple of practice laps in on the course on race day, no need to ride them fast, just try to take in the course, which bits you’re comfortable with and which bits are more of a struggle. If it’s a really muddy course just get in a big gear and get through it. The race I did was incredibly muddy, the people walking the muddy sections weren’t going that much slower than folk trying to ride it but I found when I tried to run through it it was sapping more of my energy than if I tried to ride it at the same pace. Pick out the best lines lap on lap, these might change each lap but you’ll get a decent idea, if you ride 2 different lines on a particular corner then by the 3rd lap you should know which worked better. Enjoy it!

Just wanted to follow up on this for anyone that it might be handy for. Just back from Club La Santa yesterday. Absolutely brilliant holiday and brilliant resort. The bikes they have are pretty decent for free hire and they didn’t have any problem with me taking it for the day (normally just 3 hour bookings, suppose it depends on demand). Did a 100miler around the island for which I hired one of the better bikes for 25euros for the day. Cannondale supersix evo I think, full carbon, ultegra. Bikes are all well kept and work properly. Went out on intermediate group ride which was too slow at times and then picked up a bit at others. Just depends on the group I suppose. Roads are decent for best part but not quite Mallorca standards. The scenery and landscape is stunning though.

The resort and the amount of things to do which is included in the price is massive and the staff are really helpful and friendly. Did the 5k race and the duathlon, both chip timed which I was surprised at. And all in 22deg sun! I’ll be back next year for sure.

I read somewhere about putting a few psi in then rolling it around to try get it to seat might help (it didn’t). I’ve had it at 60psi plus and still wouldn’t work.

I had a cayman S after the rs4. Doesn’t even compare.

Try 8250rpm for the rs4 😀

It might be costly, there are faster cars out there for less money, there are newer cars out there with less problems for the same price. Jees there’s even diesels out there with so much torque they’d give it a run for its money. But there aren’t many cars out there with a NA V8 engine. With a manual gearbox. And there won’t be again. It’s a thing to behold. Test drive one then try to convince yourself that you don’t want it in your life. One of the greatest engines ever made said a certain Mr Clarkson.

I had a B7 a couple of years ago, awesome machine, still miss having it to this day. Full res miltek exhaust on it so incredible sound but for day to day use could literally give you a headache. Running costs as expected fuel, tax, insurance. Consumables are pretty pricey. Engines are pretty bullet proof (if serviced). As mentioned they can get coked up a bit so budget for a full carbon clean, about £1k+ if it hasn’t been done already. If not that 420bhp headline figure will be closer to 300. I sh1t you not.
A lot were written off due to the bucket seats being stolen (and put into r32’s). Thieves would smash window, rip out alarm sensor in roof console by interior light and proceed to unbolt seats whilst hanging out the window. Seat was removed through the window as well so not even a need to try break into the door. The seats cost £19k from Audi as they’re not made anymore so it’s an instant write off. It’s a 10 year old car so it pretty dated interior but that’s not what you buy it for. Value will hold pretty steady if you spend a little bit more for decent example with lowish miles. Your £20k will get you that. RS246.com has buyers guides a plenty for all the things to look out for.

All booked for a couple of weeks time. Cheers for feedback, looking forward to getting some summer biking done again (not that the mtb in the snow hasn’t been fun!)

Wow I’ve opened a can of worms there! Some interesting comments. From what I can gather the benefits are potentially:
Aero gains for the faster riders
Possibly easier to grab onto when the bikes on the shoulder
Narrower to allow easier overtaking and line choice (the flat bars on my MTB are obvs wider but you could of course use flat bars that are same width as drops)

From what I can see not any overwhelming benefits of them over flat bars. Seems to be more to do with tradition, history and rules than anything. But mainly a case of it is what it is, if the pros do it then we all should do it!

Cheers for comments. Think I’ll give it a bash, don’t mind doing a couple of rides myself and trying to get out on group rides when there’s other folk going out. Would be good to try out a few different sports as well whilst it’s on offer.

Ah that seems to be the problem. Yeah I’ve got the heatsinks in, didn’t realise they were optional. Will have a hunt around and get the correct ones. Looks like I’ll need to get a bit more of my money’s worth out the old ones for a few days! Thanks for the help.

T130 is a cracking bike. Never noticed the weight too much. I’ve got 2016 yari and changed the tyres and will change the brakes from the sram db5’s soon (though tbh initially they weren’t great but I’ve become more used to them recently)

Some good info there which is backing up my plans which is good. First time doing anything like this. Definitely think the cx bikes will struggle on the sand (12km on day 2) so my 29er should be perfect and I’ve ordered some tri-bars for it to help a little. First day looks predominantly on road with 1mile over beach to Vallay. I’m definitely using spd’s on bike to help distribute the fatigue! The run sections aren’t too long so I was thinking of taking running belt to put in backpack so I can leave bag along with bike to save carrying it when running. Thinking I need water,bit of food,phone and the mandatory first aid kit and map when running. Depends on weather as might need to carry extra top/jacket.

Deadline for signing up extended till 28th if anyone is keen.

I’m thinking of doing this. Will be on 29er carbon hardtail as I don’t have cx bike but think that would be best as seems biking part is on road and fire road from what I can tell so nothing too rough or technical.

If your budget stretches and it’s not a 27.2mm seatpost then get a reverb. Or a nearly new one on eBay will fall under your budget.