Cranham is riding fast and is dry.

So is Race Track and the Shrine looking at all those who tyre tracks are all over it!

Next year, each RIDER!!!!! Should be given a token for the bike wash and a token for the shower and RIDERS should get priority and get a token back once used. How many non riders were using the facilities from where there bikes got muddy riding the campsite?

3 jet washers for 3500 riders and waiting 2 hours to use them.
Plus showers not being signed of by the council until 12pm on the Saturday is a joke.

There has been some real cost cutting this year with less toilets and showers. Shame as it could of been so much better even with the mud issue.

BRING EVERY BIT OF RIDING KIT YOU HAVE!!!!!!

Only got 2 waterproof jackets and one pair of waterproof shorts so i guess I am getting a wet arse for 5 laps!!!

Looking at the map and last year experience there are a few places that may catch you out.

1) the SingleTrack SingleTrack that runs between M2 and M3 cuts up lots if wet.
2) the Wiggle Woodland never dries so is always an issue (It’s like moulding clay so never sets and is always sticky).
3) Ospray off-camber is a car crash if wet and you are stuck behind slow riders
4) Weldtite wash out is slippy at the top and people go too fast down it
5) The North Face Forest is always wet but they do try to sort it out with carpet sheets where the stream crosses.

So all in all, going to fun!

I think most of the people commenting have been to the event several times like myself. And this will be the 4th year for my team and sadly I think the course is cr@p. The courses of 2009 and 2010 were quick yet fun with reward for the climbs with some great downs. Last year was a good change to mix it up but judging by the responses here and on other sites the keeping of the same course has not gone down very well.

Will pass to Roger now

I am running crossmarks in the dry and advantages in the wet. Only 40% will be really bad if it rains. Course is normlly designed the weekend before the event once the weather forecast is a little more accurate. Expect a wet one this year

Use a tent, the worse thing you could imagine is getting in from a soaking wet lap and trying to get changed in a car when your legs are cramping up due to the confined space.

I would love that to be a rule! In fact it is, well within our team.

Was it wet?

If you did have to try and bodge it, which you dont have to now. I would of got a metal rod cut to the right depth for the hole but slightly larger OD and hammered it into the hole and then ridden it! Saves having to use liquid metal that wont set in the same way.

Plus, thats why I ride Giant!

I found hammering in a larger Torx bit gave me enough purchase to turn the thread out. Sadly that wont help you now but for anyone reading with a similar problem try that!!!

How far into the threaded hole did the drill stay central before it shifted off course?

Pics would be good

Yeah, and if you are really dedicated you can practice change overs 😆

frogstomp, that is one of the challenges of the event. Knowing how long your team member takes to do a lap so you are there ready for the change over. As the start fininsh is so full of people and tents you can’t see people until they come into the final straight.

I sugest you get there early on Friday afternoon, set up and then go for a test lap. You will get an idea of a time for a lap when you are not gunning it then take off 10 minutes and that is your “lap time” has worked for us for the last 3 years.

Had mine for over 2 years since they came out. Were built by Graham at Slam69 and have been faultless. I would say the click is comparible to hope but a differnt tone. Bearings are really easy to fit by the looks of it. Not needed to and they have done over 1000 miles. Will buy them again instead of hope.

No intel yet, but there was a big hoo har about the distance of the run.
As for the course it is normally designed a few weeks before as the weather plays a big part in deciding where is safe to ride up and down.
Hence why last year they were worried about rain so kept all the good decents as climbs and tried to avoid the sections that got super muddy like 3 years ago by the top pond.

I would like to see them go back to the course of 3 years ago where the main climb was at the back of the campsite. That lap was just right for all abilities and it also didn’t have that stupid clay/sticky mud wood about 1M into the course which is just a bottle neck.

Teachers is not sign posted at the top.
If you are comming from the Blue Bell wood, cross the road and then head left down the slope and back up the other side, over the bridle track and it flattens off, stay right and you will see a very lighly used trail that goes off right, follow that as that is the offical start.

Esure or Sheilas Wheels (Same company) allow you to specify 4 bikes a standard home or away. Combine it with home and contents and you get a discount.

I got a pair or Radars and Jawbones from DX and OK it took over 3 weeks for them to come but have used the Radars on all of my rides so far.
Quality is good for fakes, selection of lenses and what you get in the case is brilliant.
Jawbones look good and my only complaint is that when folded down the Oakley O’s are slightly different colours on the arms.
But for £10 I could not give a toss, if I scratch them I won’t cry as it’s only £10 and not £200.
Plus I have not gone blind yet due to non british standard UV ratings.

Downtube, rear stays and rub points only on mine

That guy and his mate were sat on the benches looking at the carpark 3 weekends ago. They spent the best part of 2 hours walking up and down and on the phone to someone. Mail order bikes I think

There is also lots online about the thickness and the number of layers used on boat hulls. By the looks of things lots of companies use double layers of 6mm and use the outer as a of type sacrifical skin. Very similar to how galvanising was used in the olden days for sacrifical protection. Been a while since I did my materials module on my degree so maybe resins have changed and the pre-treatment process has changed for the better.

Here is a nice report on the topic. I would get a drink!
http://me.eng.sunysb.edu/~compmech/downloads/N29.pdf

Carbon fibre is basically weaved material with a resin on to make it rigid. If the carbon itself gets wet it starts to go bad bit like getting water on cardboard. But over time it will start to get very weak and then bend rather than snap. Most people put nail varnish over small cracks and knocks on frames to stop water getting in.

I would bin them! If you get water in there your stuffed anyway as they will lose their strength. Not worth chancing your face for.

It was grinding paste over the weekend!

Any news, signed up for email notifications and not got anything yet!

They have a great warranty service but love mine.

Make sure you buy a tool as I extracted a bush with a socket to drift it out an by mistake oversized the hole. So I now have a small amount of play even after I had them serviced by TFTuned with the new polly bushes.

That clear lense is how lots of glasses manufacurers put pescription lenses in. You don’t need it.

Spoke to TFTuned and they said that I should fit them to the bike, ride them a couple of times and then the seals should have loosened slightly as they are nice and new at the moment. We shall see.

No knock between compression and rebound, just the initial 3 mm before the compression starts.

I have been told by the people that serviced it to fit the forks and ride them a couple of times as the seals they have fitted may be binding so a few rides should free them.

Not sure on that!

Each to their own but was up there last week and did all of them.

AE I thought was a waste of time.
Mabie is great and the added bonus that decender bender has been re-worked so you now have massive berms to ride with little double kickers.
Dalbeattie I thought was OK but too much fireroad and a little flat.
Kirroughtree is by far the best if you want a decent length ride with climbs and lots of technical areas. Black is the one to go for.

Been to Glentress for the last 3 years.

Fisrt year we camped at Rosetta for a week, it was ok. One of the blokes showers was broken and the other was stupidly hot. Ladies ones were lovely 🙂
But it was tired and lots of the tent pitches are on a slope WTF.

Second year we rented the tweedvalleybikehouse for 4 nights and loved it.

This year we have the bikehouse for a week as it was perfect to use for 6 of us.

I wouldn’t camp again.

If you did it via wiggle you should have received a “Your order has been processed” email about 2 hours after you paid.

Depends on what your idea of technical is? Some people think going into woody trails with a few roots is technical no matter how “technical” they actually are. This is all down to what riding they normally do and how much of it. Last year there were a few teams made up of roadies who had never done off road. But dam they were quick up the hills and awful in the woods.

Best advice I can give is treat this one as a learning experience and don’t expect too much. You will find adrenaline will take over at the start and you will run too fast. Then wish you hadn’t half way round the first lap. Lap 2 and 3 will start to get quicker as the pack spreads out and then 4,5 and 6 will fly by. 7 and 8 will see you starting in the nite and wonder what the hell you are doing. 9 will see you want to give up so you may stop for a few hours, 10 will be a blur and 11 will have your body sensing the dawn and hear the birds in the trees. 12 will be your favourite lap as the sun is on the way up and then your on the home stretch. 13 and 14 will hurt and if you can manage more very well done.

All I can say is enjoy it and if you have a friend doing it solo too, stay with them and also chat to other riders as it makes the pain go away as you can concentrate on getting words out rather than “MY ARSE HURTS”

Is Spookey ridable though Chris?? Going up this weekend for a week and that is all of our favourite sections.

Aftershock, no I am not a Whiteway boy, just know Viv and the family.

Roger, looks liek the woods have seen increased wheel action over the last week or so. Shrine, TheOneWhoWaits, Racetrack and the wall all have nice and fresh tyre tracks on.

Viv has a daughter called Jo who is now married to Duncan and have a son called James!!!!!!!!