Torq 12:12 is twisty singletrack interspersed with fireroad. Fairly flat, with only a couple of short climbs, nothing very technical. You are unlikely to die. I have raced it solo and as a pair and it has plenty of fun bits to keep it enjoyable. The event is smaller than mayhem/sits, but the atmosphere is very good – the free beer at the end might help with that.

Do you have any favourites just out of interest? Always get tempted by this and SITs purely for the scale I think.

Bontrager 24:12 and Torq 12:12 both have great courses.

I have been at every Mayhem (raced some and pitted at some) since 2005, so I was pleased that this year they were using a new venue, as Eastnor was feeling a bit stale.

The good things for me where:
The short lap. I measured it at 6.5 miles, it gives fast riders a sensible double lap, but each lap doesn’t become an epic for novice riders.

The campsite was great, flat and solid. It all seemed fairly close to the arena, some of he Eastnor site was a long way away. I easily drove of site this year after being towed off last year, although the preceding few months where very wet in 2012.

Lots of passing places on the course. From memory there were only two places where I had to wait to over take; they were the bit by the lake, and a little section on the Red Bull run.
Not many courses hold up to the rain with lots of riders. Gatcombe seemed okay. I went out when it was probably at it’s worse and rode most of it without any problems*, with mud tyre it would have been better. After the rain stopped it dried very quickly.

A minor thing, but camping starting on Friday morning seemed to create more of an atmosphere. At previous Mayhem’s I have turned up on the Friday to find loads of space cordoned off with one tent in, and then the riders not re-appering until Saturday morning.

Bad things:
After a pre-ride on Friday the course was pretty uninspiring, okay lots of passing places, but only a couple of bits of very short singletrack. Hopefully if the venue is used again some trails can be made. The first descent was good fun, but there didn’t seem to be any reward for any of the climbs. Personally I am not a fan of fast fireroad descents – I would rather have more twisty downhills.

The hills were pretty steep. I rode most of them, but not many people were. I think even in the dry most would be pushing. I am not sure if the venue has an easier options?

The jet wash situation needs sorting out. The queue was taking 45-60minutes at one stage, either more cleaning stations, a timer on how long bikes can be washed for, or let people wash bikes in the campsite.

Overall I think it was a good change from Eastnor, but I think it needs some work on the course to make it a great venue.

*did anyone get a picture of me crashing on the ‘Coffin Descent’ at about 2pm on Saturday. I was wearing black and red Four4th kit and had a bit of a heavy landing on the way down there!

I have been using one of the 740mm wide flat ones since the start of the year, and I have been very pleased with them. No problems at all.

It is hard to tell from the map how big the camping area really is. Pat and his team have lots of experience in running these sort of events, I would be very surprised if they underestimated the amount of space for us all to put tents ups – but I don’t think we will actually know until Saturday morning! In our group we have 14 of us racing plus a few support people.

I went around in 39 minutes a few days ago, that was in the dark so maybe a bit quicker in daylight – although the forest was empty so I didn’t have to slow for anyone. That was on a hardtail 29er, I would think I would be about the same on my full suss bike.

I really enjoyed that. I thought the route was great, I did the 80km (88 in the end) route and the Collingbourne Woods sections made repeating some of the climbs on the 50km course worthwhile. Glad I took the full suss bike, even then some of the dried bits in the woods were hard going.

Only downside for me was ripping the sidewalls on both my tyres. The rear one tore shortly after the first drink stop. the front one failed a mile or two later, I guess they both got damaged on the same bit of flint. Neither would seal, but were fine with a tube in.

i would agree with the recommendation for Trainer Road. Combine that with some of the Sufferfest videos and the focus on the turbo trainer is much better. I have been very impressed with Blender for helping improve speed on long rides. My normal riding is something like a fast 3-4 hr ride on a Tuesday night, 2hrs on the turbo Thursday night, 4-5 hr ride early Saturday morning, and a easy 1-2 hours on Sunday. On the back of that I can do okay in long events, relatively rubbish in normal XC races. With 2 kids, a busy job and a wife who races too I struggle to find many more hours to get out on the bike.

Any dive shop will help you choose a mask that fits. Unless I had used it before I wouldn’t buy a mask off the internet.

Closed foot fins are fine for the Maldives and for a little bit of swimming, but can rub after a while. Long term open foot fins and light weight neoprene shoes are the best option.

I have used snorkels with and without purge valves, overall I would say go without one as the purge valves can let a bit of water in if there is any dirt in the valve. I think all the snorkels I have used have had a cover over the top, can’t say it is ever a problem to clear water out.

Enjoy the Maldives, really good snorkelling. We went when my wife was pregnant and she couldn’t dive, but the snorkelling straight outside the room was fantastic.

Fine on Renegades around Swinley earlier, a bit splashy on Seagull and the fireroad after it has one muddy bit, but apart from that it is all pretty dry. Any puddles there are can easily be ridden around.

I find anything too nobby feels strange on the new trails, especially on the berms. Given the choice I would go with a high volume tyre with not too much grip, something like a Ralph.

Clink, I have one of you, from your earlier post I saw you were on the 12hr SS podium. Drop me an email and I will send it over.

No trackside camping isn’t too much of a problem for team riders, there has never been that much trackside camping anyway, and what was there was all fenced off by Thursday morning. I can see it being an issue for solo riders, if I was unsupported I am not sure I would want to leave a spare bike, lights etc unmanned in the solo tent.

I have been to Gozo twice, but haven’t stayed in a hotel. The first time was a few years ago, when we went for a long weekend of diving, which was very good, then we stayed in a basic flat in Marsalforn. Last year my inlaws where celebrating a wedding anniversary and they hired a large farmhouse villa for a couple of weeks in Gharb, no diving this time, but me and the wife did hire bikes while we were there and explored the island a bit, with a bit of hunting there was some reasonable off road routes

It is worth hiring a car to get around the island, as despite it’s small size there is lots to see. The best place I remember for snorkelling was a little bay called Mgarr-ix-Xini, which was shallow and fairly quiet, I think there is a small cafe on the beach, but nothing else. There was a nice looking retreat hotel at the top of the hill not far from here, but I can’t remember the name… Xlendi and Marsalforn are the two biggest resorts (they are not that big really) Both have snorkelling in the bay, not sure how good it is.

Like everywhere in the Med don’t expect to see loads of fish, but the water is generally clear. The water temperature is pretty cold at the this time of year, a lot of people will currently be diving in dry suits, but gets very warm later in the summer.

Overall I really like Gozo, it is very laid back with lots of nice, not too expensive, restaurants dotted about. I have never felt like a tourist while on holiday there. It is totally different to Malta.

My son runs one on his 1×10 24er and it works fine. He has a 11-36t cassette. I would imagine it would also work on a 29er.

I am a bit of a hardtail fan, but have to admit that I really like the ride of my 29er Epic. I also have a Rocky Mountain Vertex 29er carbon hard tail which is a bit lighter than the Epic, but the Epic is far more versatile. I have ridden most of the south Wales trail centres on the Epic and have been surprised at how capable the bike is, it also climbs very well. 29er wheels and a small amount of rear wheel travel seems to work well.

A 2 minute timer on the jet wash station would be good to reduce the queue. Too many people have to get every last bit of dirt off their tyres before riding away on the muddy fire road.

More bike stuff on the Friday evening. Less running and dog events, I don’t think they ever really added to the event. The massive Dirt Demo event was great a few years ago.

Music in the woods is always good at night.

Accurate and up to date results during the event.

I have found the warranty support from Rocky Mountain (via Evans) to be very good. My 2012 Vertex frame failed (an issue within an internal guide) at the end of last year, and they sorted me out with a top of the range 2013 frame as a replacement. Glad to see that Rocky Mountain bikes will still be sold in the UK.

Same for me. Slightly faster on a short travel full suss 29er, rather than a 29er carbon hard tail – I actually thought it would be the other way around. Still occasionally ride a fully rigid bike around, but mainly save that for the winter.

I am about 80kg and tyre pressures between 25 and 30psi depending on the volume of the tyre I am using. 2.2 tubeless Racing Ralphs are fine at around 25psi. 1.9 tubeless Renegades need about 30psi to prevent me hitting the rim, they also feel a bit squirmy at lower pressures.

Do as Dales rider suggests. When I went to Gozo last summer I loaded the Open Source map for the island onto my 800 and it worked really well, even worked as a satnav when needed.

After plodding around for 23 and a bit hours pleased to finish 4th. Overall I didn’t find it too tough, very glad I put a waterproof on when I did, although the zip failed after a while… A check on the Garmin data shows the temperature dropped from 10 degrees to about 2 within about 30mins when the heavy rain started.

My wife has written a blog from the pits up : http://www.xcracer.com/viewblogpost.php?blog_id=513. If I get chance later I might add a few of my thoughts onto there too.

Andrew the first picture in your blog was one of the ones my wife took for her blog, didn’t realise it had appeared in another blog too. No problem with you using it, let me know if you want the original.

I had mine done just over ten years ago by Ultralase. I have had no problems with them since then what so ever. Before surgery both eyes were about -5 with a bit of astigmatism. As mentioned above go for a consultation and see what they say, not everyone is suitable.

I sold my Planet-X SL Pro for £750. Mine was Dura-ace where yours is SRAM Red, and the wheels on mine where Planet-X Model B, other than that the same. I never got around to putting it up for sale, but spotted a wanted ad on here and sold it to somebody who lived local, so no issues with postage.

You would get around fine on a CX bike. It is a mixture of roads and bridleways. I have always ridden the summer one on a mtb, but have ridden the November Test Valley tour on a singlespeed CX bike before and that shares some of the same route. A few bumpy downhills, but generally all fairly easy, Overall I would say a CX bike would be a bit quicker than a mtb.

I will be there, plodding around in the 24hr race. The forecast seems to have changed a bit, so am currently rethinking my tyre plans.

I raced at Wasing last year in theSouthern XC, that was dry and the course was running pretty quickly. No idea how bad it will be if it is really wet. Some sections appeared to be well draining forests, while other bits of the course were around the edge of fields, which I guess will get muddy if used.

If it does turn out to be a 6 mile lap I can see the challenge will be staying motivated for the 24hrs.

Lou here (I am hacking Jason’s account!).
Great course today, feel battered now and I only rode 3 laps. Really enjoyed our little blast at the end Nick, but judging by your cramp attack you probably didn’t feel the same way. It’s been a long time since I managed to get a man on his back that quickly! Hope you are feeling better now!

I have just bought one of these:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B005VBNW2G/ref=noref?ie=UTF8&psc=1&s=electronics

It only turned up this morning, so haven’t used it in anger, but it charges my Garmin 800 while it is turned on.

I live about a 25min ride from the start of Deerstalker and used to ride Swinley a lot, and still ride it a lot now the trails have opened. I think most of my rides on the new trail have been on a 29er hard tail, which has a fair bit of flex in the seat post and it is pretty good around the trails. I also have an Epic 29er and that does allow pedalling on some sections where it gets a bit bouncy on the hard tail. Overall I would happily ride either bike around there.

I think the great thing about the Blue trail is that it has been designed to suit all people, if you want to ride it flat out it is a challenge (to be fair more on fitness than skills) and it is equally suitable for beginners. I have done a few laps with my 7 year old son and he can ride all it apart from the one sharp short climb. I have also taken my Father in Law out for a lap, he is very much a beginner mtber in his late 60’s, although did ride a motorbike when he was younger so has some bike skills, he managed to get around without any incidents and I think enjoy it.

Some improvements are needed. Better signage would help, both direction signs and warning signs. A few skull & crossbones signs would be good at the start of all the downhill sections.

The carpark was chaos at the weekend, hopefully that will improve as the novelty of the trails wears off, but maybe not.

I can ride most things on my cross bike, but generally keep it for the smoother long distance rides. While it will cope with root twisty singletrack with the odd drop thrown in, I find those sorts of trails are much more fun on a proper mtb. If I am doing a ride with a bit of road distance and some bridleways then the cross bike is great, it makes the bridleways a bit more interesting, and the road bits fly by, rather than being a slog on the mtb.

Normally when I ride with my son I take my single speed, he nows associates riding up hill with standing up. Now he is on gears I spend most of our rides reminding him to switch to an easier gear…

Mine started going grey at about 18, just a few grey hairs creeping in at the sides. So far I have survived to 39 and am okay so far, just a few more grey hairs really. In my 20’s a lot of my friends started to gain bald patches, in comparison I am happy with a full head of partly grey hair.

I found out the other day that you hide segments in Strava (I too was getting 100’s from a Swinley ride) On the ride page each segment has an option to hide it. Once you hide it doesn’t show up after a ride or give you any awards, although you still show up in the leader board of that segment. If you want to you can still view it by showing hidden segments.

I stuck with 32h just because it keep it all simple when changing components around. I did consider Revolution spokes, but wanted black spokes which i don’t think you can get in Revolution flavour. Plus I have been really pleased with how my first set of wheels has performed so didn’t want to change it.

I would agree very easy to build with, much easier than a light weight Stans rim. Just don’t loose a nipple into the hollow part of the rim, as I found it took ages to get it out…

Jason – thanks for the info – did you order direct from LB and if so how long did they take to arrive?

Yes I ordered direct from LB. They are very easy to deal with. I ordered on 2/4/13 and I had the rims in my hand on 22/4/13. The rims I wanted weren’t in stock so that includes their manufacturing time too, the rims were despatched on 9/4/13. I had to pay £16 custom charge (most of that was Parcelforces’s handling charge!)

Yes 292mm spokes worked fine for me. I think the spoke calculator I used gave lengths of between 291 and 293mm.

I have posted these before, but here are a couple of pictures of the wheels (my older ones)


The wheel has the Bontrager rim strip fitted. The roll of Stan’s tape on the floor was for my wife’s Crest rims in the background.

I haven’t weighed them built up but adding the bits up gives 1,735g, so not especially light.

Rims are 388g and 392g (so about the same as a 29er Crest rim)
Front Pro2 Evo (15mm) 179g
Rear Pro2 Evo (142x12mm) 306g
64 x DT Swiss Comp 292mm black spokes and brass nipples 470g

The obvious place to save weight on these would be the spokes and nipples.

Mine are the wider (AM) rims made with their new process. My old rim are made with their old process and were about 20g heavier each.

All mine have been the wider style. There is a massive thread on mtbr about these rims and most people on there have the wider ones.

I had both and ended up selling my road bike as I wasn’t using it. I don’t race, and rarely ride in group rides on the road, so the road bike didn’t really offer any advantage, apart from being slightly faster rolling, which is a bit academic when you are out by yourself. From checking my times on Strava I am probably about 1.5mph slower on the CX with nobby tyres rather than on my road bike. Skinny slicks on the CX would probably help speed it up.

The CX gives me more route options when I am out, always fun to include some off road on a ‘road’ ride.

The only downside is my CX bike only has one bottle cage, which is limiting on longer rides – so sometimes find myself riding it with a small camelbak (not sure if that is allowed really 😀 )

I am just building up my 2nd set of Light Bicycle 29er carbon wheels. I have been using a set on one bike since September last year, and they have covered about 1k miles without any issues, so thought it was time to upgrade my other bike too. I have built them onto Hope hubs, so not especially light. Combined with Bontrager rim strips they work very well tubeless.

Gary, you can buy a set of end caps that push into the hub letting you use a thru axle hub on a normal wheel jig. I got a set from ebay from the US.

The ones from JRA are the best bet. Although I managed to get a suitable tube for Evans for my wife’s 650b, it was a Specialised tube, but can’t remember the actual size something like 27.5″ x 1.5 which worked fine when she ripped a tubeless tyre. Otherwise a 26″ tube will fit okay.