I rode over the 100k course on Thursday, there were still a few puddles but conditions were as good as I’ve ever seen, apart from the horrible last section where instead of ending on a grin inducing descent down Cleave the route goes through a series of fields and gates, up a leg breaking climb, along a properly muddy track and down a small descent – very odd choice for the last section..

Should be good fun though, lovely weather here today. I’ve also got the pleasure of riding with 5 other team mates who will probably rip my legs of. If you see an old bloke hanging on the back of a fast moving group in bright orange kit, that’s me!

Thanks ferrals, I was also down on HR with pretty dull legs despite feeling good on Saturday. I did have to go back out on the last practice on Saturday to get that last A line sorted out as I kept bottling it on the lunchtime one, after getting my nerve up to ride over it, it was fine.

All my lap times were in the 21 mins as well going by Strava, the a-b line deficits as I saw it were:
Gap jump, 5 secs
Rooty descent, 8 secs
Hobbit drop, 5 secs

All seemed pretty fair.

Anyone got a link to the results today in Pembrey? I think I ended up 15th in GV but not sure, lost my chain on the sandy steep climb on the last lap and my team mate got past me, which did make him happy at least! In fairness, he was quicker than me!
Managed all the a lines which was looking doubtful on Saturday so pleased with the weekend all in all.

Likewise Ferral, good to meet you and well done yesterday. Thanks, Iain.

Ferrals – you definitely are right at the sharp end – just go for it! Hopefully see you tomorrow, raining here now 🙁

ferrals – nice video, just got the van packed and heading to Pembrey with the caravan, please say hi if you are there, I’m number 620 (I think) in GV, bright orange kit and a black Top Fuel.
Have a good one.
Iain

Spooky, YGM
Cheers

Iain.

AndyG – I finally cracked the other week and bought n+1 in the shape of a Stache 9.8 (21.5”), I’ve been using 2.6 Nobby Nics on it that are a good weight and probably a bit more puncture proof that the standard tyres – I put these on for the Cotswold mud I ride in and they grip brilliantly.
I am looking forward to getting the standard tyres on when it dries up though.
Iain.

Thanks, all sorted. Aviva – £180 ! Bargain.

Thanks guys, I’ll start with them.

Good day at Sherwood today, I think I was 4th in GV but cannot see the results yet, got passed by the winner on lap 3 and lost him in traffic, turns out the guys running first and second slid off, he caught them and won the sprint – note to self, should have tried harder to stay with him!

Pleased with the result as I have only done long miles this year with no XC type intensity, had no idea what to expect today, was thinking I’d be gasping near the back!

cubicboy – come and join us in Grand Vet’s, you’ll love it! I’ve got no pace anyway just now so plan to be tailing round at the back! It’s worth getting a licence if you continue racing as it makes you eligible for national ranking points, otherwise (I think) that your points will not count apart from in the Midlands series itself. It might be worth checking but I’m not convinced you even need a licence for a Midlands event, anyone know?

rich c – yes, there is usually time for a practice lap or two before the start, course should open at 9.00, race at 10.30ish.
See you Sunday, hope it’s dry 🙂

I was asked if we had a blog from the Andalucia Bike Race last week, my team mate Marc Chamberlain has now written his race report which is on our team Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/CotswoldCyclesRT/posts/1740602226250909?ref=notif&notif_t=notify_me_page&notif_id=1489311007675119

Hopefully the link will work, this is the first part of the report with more to come out during the week. For those that don’t know Marc, he was vet’s XC champion in 2014 and 2015 and XCM champion in 2015 & 2016, I also seem to spend a lot of time looking at his back wheel at weekends as I try and hang on.

Enjoy the story!

ps full FB page is here https://www.facebook.com/CotswoldCyclesRT/

Crosshair – worth doing but don’t go into it unprepared, the stages are hard but do-able I would love to go back and ride them on a bigger travel bike and look at the scenery a bit more if possible……one day!

Swedish Chef – we did not opt for the package and organised everything ourselves, we got lucky in that we had great hotels with ample secure, covered space for working on and cleaning bikes, the down side of this was that we had a lot to manage between sorting out kit and eating at odd hours, having a package would allow a lot more ‘feet up’ time which is really important. We also had Carlos Coloma in our hotel who helped me manoeuvring the van after stage 6 so he could get his car out, not often you can say an Olympic XC medalist has to do this!

We also hired some big vehicles (Renault Trafic and Seat Alhambra) as we had six bikes between us, having to move venues mid event meant we wanted space to transport bikes fully built up, this definitely worked well as it saved a load of trouble with not having to strip and rebuild bikes mid way through.

Thanks for the comments on the ABR, I did not do a blog but one of the guys did, if you scroll down a bit on this link you’ll find it: http://m8group.co.uk/#page_wellbeing_fitness It’s the bit with the four of us grinning at the camera, the other stages are further down.

The ABR facebook page was great, with videos of the stages each day and worth a look at: https://www.facebook.com/AndBikeRace/

If anyone wants to know what to expect, my strava data is open and you can see it easily, this is a link to the stage 4 (it had the most pictures attached!): https://www.strava.com/activities/883859995

One of the guys, Marc Chamberlain is in the process of writing a full race report, I’ll put a link on here to our website when done.
Cheers, Iain

I’ve nort contributed for a while but noticed a couple of recent postings, a little interest in XCM stage races, I did the Andalucia Bike Race last week which is a UCI 6 day XCM event in Spain, I thought it would be a bit of fun and good early season training but it is one of the biggest MTB stage races on the calendar which was a bit of a shock, it’s not often you get the chance to compete against world and Olympic champions past and present in any sport but this was one of them. There ws about 700 competitors with a TT first stage to grid riders and then mass starts from then – the starts were mental, 22 mph average on the flat before the first hills on gravel roads plus the town centre start in Codoba made it a bit of an ‘on the rivet crash fest’ at times!
The stages were brutal, 4+ hours in the saddle each day but some awesome singletrack, even more awesome descents and horrific climbs. Once you got over the fatigue, the grin factor was huge!
I finished 15th in Master 50 category which I was pleased with, best stage finish was about 208th, I went with three other team mates, one is the current XCM vets champion and he finished 5th in Master 40 – an amazing achievement considering the world class field.
If anyone wants a proper challenge I can highly recommend the ABR – much better than any training camp and brilliantly organised by friendly people- it’s a proper major event. I’m still grinning one week on after it! Mail me if anyone wants more info.

The other thread I spotted was about stages power meters and accuracy, I used one in the ABR and it was essential on long climbs and the early stages of the event to pace myself (too much adrenalin early on can kill your legs later). The stages readings corresponded well to my Quark unit and to a Wattbike so I can say that in my experience it’s pretty accurate, it’s not an ideal tool for XC racing though as the data is interesting but there is not much you can use during the race, good to look at for later analysis however.

Anyway, it’s back to UK mud now and first Midlands XC in a weeks time!

If people are looking to start racing and live somewhere near the midlands then the Friday Night Summer Series is the easiest way to start. They begin in May, there is one nearly every Friday night, £10 to enter on the day and good racing where there will always be someone in front of you and someone behind you! Races last about an hour.
It’s a better way to spend Friday night than in the pub and probably cheaper.

http://Www.fnssmtb.com

On XC race bike weights, about 9kg is the norm for a HT and 10kg for a full suss, give or take a bit.

In an act of madness I’ve entered the 6 day Andalucia Bike Race with three others at the end of this month, 6 days of marathon distance stages :oops:! Training has gone well so far with some big miles in January, looking forward to a taper!

If I survive that it will be Midlands XC and National XC in GV.
Iain.

Awful news, my son is much the same age and travels to races with me. Scares the hell out of me how you can loose something so dear so easily. My thoughts are with the Craig family.

Yes Paul, conditions always the factor, can vary the front end finish times by up half an hour. Still think a sub four hour is possible if conditions were perfect for someone (probably Marc….).

Come on ps44, just because you’ve reached retirement does not mean you can’t go under 5 hours!

Mattscom, on the entry central website there is a tab to see the ‘sign ups’ where you can check if your name is in, winchcombe cc will have no problem confirming this, they are very helpful.

The first rider home last year in the 100km was on an MTB if that helps anyone, he managed to gap the second placed guy by about a minute purely on the last descent.
A decent HT with fast tyres (Thunderburts) works well usually for me but CX bikes do have advantages in some areas as there is a reasonable about of road involved.

I’m in with wife and son, 201, 202, 203.

3Hr GV for me, in orange ‘Cotswold Cycles’ kit and a black Trek – please say hello if you see me.

Weather is looking okay and hopefully course is dry.

My lad is doing the 2 hr event and a few other team mates racing in Vet’s.

The only way I got mine set up consistently was to do them while fitted in the bike which seems a bit odd but is the recommended method. Basically put the wheel in, tighten the QR/axle and adjust the preload with a cone spanner until you have no axial play at the rim. Just make sure you tighten the lock nut as well and then double check it off the bike to make sure it’s not too tight.

Great course today and well organised, my son did his first 2 hour race and really enjoyed it. 39 mins was a good lap today bigdaddy, I only managed one sub 40min lap in the GV 3 hour :-(. Anyway, this is my lad having fun…

I had one and sold it a few months ago, replacing it with a 2017 Fuel ex 9.7 because it was probably too much bike for me, I’m more XC orientated!

I thought it climbed really well, much, much better than I expected – so don’t let that put you off. I did a badly written write-up of the bike after a family day out here if you are interested: http://www.cotswoldcyclesrt.co.uk/product-review—trek-slash-8.html

Cheers

Iain.

After advice on here I used the Clee cycles mount above, worked great on an m9000 XTR shifter.

I had a great day, riding with my 14 year old son and a mate in FoD, doing the Verderers, Dowies, Shutcastle runs – great fun and good weather.

However, I dropped my wife at the airport last night, heading to Edinburgh where she spent the day riding in Glentress with multiple world champion Tracy Mosley – I think it might take surgery to remove the grin from her face after today!!

Thanks to Criterium Cycles for arranging the ‘girls day out’, I find it amazing that us mere mortals can have such easy and reciprocated access to world champions – I’ve worked in the Motorsport industry for over 20 years and this type of thing just does not happen in other sports with the same ease and enthusiasm.

I’m 6ft 1inch and inbetween sizes which is annoying with Trek, so far I’ve opted for a 21.5 on Trek for the reach but think you might be better on the 19.5. You need to try one really.

I had a 2016 Slash and thought it was great, but it is a ‘big bike’. Swapped to a 2017 Fuel EX about 2 months ago and love the flexibility of it, not as efficient as a Top Fuel but it’s pretty close and comes down nearly as well as the Slash.
If you only have one bike, get a Fuel EX 29 or even the plus ones look fun.

The wheels are good if a bit narrow by current standards, weight is lower than expected – sub 1,700g for 29. Hubs are bomb proof and rims are okay, usual high quality DT Swiss.
I’m not sure you can convert them to 100/142 though.

Not Alpine but a 6 day XCM event in Feb/March. There’s three of us entered so far from my club. One of the guys has done it before, quite a highly rated event.

http://www.andaluciabikerace.com/?lang=eng

Leyzene make a good, inexpensive side loader, Arundel make a very nice, light, expensive one , I haven’t lost a bottle from either. http://www.arundelbike.com/product/sideloader/

Hi mcmoonter – great pic, awesome to see Bill, Rona (both missed as well), Denise (great wedding earlier this year!), Jessie, Joy (I see occasionally still), even John Murdoch (my dad rode with his dad…) right through to Dave Harris on the right hand side. The delinquent lad sitting at the front (Bruce) is still a close friend.
Can you remember the year? It must have been about 1979 or 80 I think? When I worked there it was Robin and Angela, Phil, Ian McKinley and Andrew Davis – I catch up with Ian and Andrew whenever possible, still close friends 35 years on.

I’ll try and find the Facebook page and sort some pictures, Bruce probably has the biggest collection of ageing photos know to man as every party and ride was captured by him!

Thanks for the memory, I haven’t seen some of those faces for years.

Hi mcmoonter, I guess we may have a few mutual friends from that era, it’s nice to hear about what Phil achieved on the bike, I stopped riding in about 1988 for 20 years (long time off the bike!) so did not keep up with his exploits on two wheels so much, It was good to occasionally call into his hardware shop to catch up on his family life when I was up in Edinburgh, It kind of reminded me of when I used to stop by on the ride home from school for a cup of tea and a blether when he ran the bike shop in Commiston Road – I can still picture the manky kettle in the backshop!

You might know if anyone arranged anything in the form of a remembrance ride? Robin mentioned it at Phil’s funeral that he might try and organise something but never heard if it happened or not?

Thanks for the update and hope your ride in Cairngorm went well. I’ll try and dig out some photo’s of us lot in our teens in the eighties – a lot of very retro bikes, no MTB’s then..