Well mine is an 08, and has 2 spacers on the drive side and one on the non-drive side (also running HT2 XT).

2 spacers are not 50mm wide though!

There are plenty of MTB race results available on the Timelaps website.

Not all of the Surrey Hills is at bursting point. Never see many riders at the Punchbowl or Puttenham Common, and none at all on Hascombe Hill.

There’s more than just Peaslake!

Metres for height gain, because that is how the maps are marked. Then km for distance to be consistent.

I usually think that if I or anyone else cares enough to want to know the equivalent imperial stats, then they’ll be able to work it out. After all, conversion rates aren’t a secret!

+1 oldgit.

To be fair, Open is and always has been the biggest bunfight of any of the Gorrick categories. Large field with a very wide range of abilities from almost complete novice to fast and furious.

If you start near the back in Open, you WILL get held up all over the place from the first bottleneck onwards.

Get to the start line earlier, or just politely ask people to let you through towards the front. If you are quick then most of the slower, less-skilled or more nervous riders would much rather you start in front of them anyway, instead of having you breathing down their neck on a technical section.

I assume they put in difficult bits to reward the stronger or more skillful riders? Otherwise it would just be fireroads. Having said that, I didn’t see anyone stall on anything during my race. Which category were you doing?

If you don’t want to get caught out by someone else’s mistakes then you need to go hard at the start and get out in front. If you get stuck in traffic and someone screws up, well that’s just racing I’m afraid.

I liked the course even though I didn’t really have the legs for it today. Always something going on, very little fireroad compared to the previous one.

Sounds like McQuaid and Verbruggen are getting a taste of their own frivolous litigation medicine.

What a shame.

Bad luck Jon. Shame to ruin a ride as it was a great day to be out with hardly any mud.

We passed you carrying the bike along the singletrack by the sports field and stopped and said hello. Obviously that was before you got back on – very brave!

I’m very close to Tunnel Hill and yes we’ve had a couple of showers but nowhere near enough for a mud fest.

This.

I rode there today and it was fine this morning and during the heavy shower early afternoon. It won’t be bone dry but it won’t be much to worry about either.

I’ll be there, moving up a category so will get a beating from the fast boys.

No need for mud tyres even if it’s wet, not the kind of soil for that.

The course won’t be heading along the Old Guildford Road (although it might cross it), so the big puddles shouldn’t be an issue.

Nick – you’ll regret it if you don’t! Just do Sport or something?

At the Gorricks, you can also do Super Vets, which is basically the same as Vets, but 4 laps instead of 3. The faster guys are nearly all in Super Vets. Jason – that’s what you need to do!

There’s also the Ratz Rampage series based near Reading – that runs over the summer.

If you’d prefer a bit of a climb and slightly less intrusive traffic, then climb Tunnel Hill via the road from Mytchett, then Pirbright-Fox Corner-Worplesdon. A323 is pretty much a flat blast, for you and the cars.

Although plenty of idiots overtaking inappropriately whichever way you choose.

If you do go via Pirbright, be aware that the minor road to the west (past the church) is partly one-way (westbound). So take the B3405 when going east.

Pants – maybe you could blow the Ash Ranges course from 2 years ago while you’re down?

Seems like I’m the only one who rides it, and its a bit pine coney too :-)

I had the same thought watching him climb today. He has got a similar swaying style while climbing on the drops at less than full gas.

The wrappers are stickier on the way back into the pocket than on the way out, and don’t fall smoothly back into the pocket once there’s no gel inside to weigh them down. Sometimes the wrapper sticks to the hand as you remove the hand from the pocket again.

Still requires a fair amount of clumsiness though, so no excuse…

So who does drop gel wrappers then?

I have, on rare occasions.

I can see that you could drop one by accident when trying to put back in a pocket though without realising especially when working hard.

For this reason.

But I’m gutted when (if) I notice. Certainly don’t go out on a bike to strew rubbish around the countryside.

Hopefully doing the occasional post-event litter pick has rebalanced any inadvertent bad karma :)

Inspirational stuff!

What the others said. I’m also 5’10” and have a Soloist 18″.

Thanks zbonty, you guys were superb! Its that kind of thing that keeps weary soloists plugging away on the graveyard shift :)

Jason – you too will be old enough for the legends category next year ;)

Thanks for keeping me motivated, even though I’m sure that wasn’t your intention. And you bagged Four4th place to keep our sponsor happy!

Anyone know exactly how long the laps were?

Awesome race wasn’t it? Course changes worked really well and it coped superbly with the previous day’s deluges – a bit draggy in places for a while but nothing to worry about.

Didn’t feel remotely fit enough for the race, but entered solo anyway through inertia. Felt an almost overwhelming desire to quit from about 3 hours in, but forced myself onwards and eventually outlasted the pack as the night laps wore on. Lap and a half behind Rich Rothwell though – he’s a bit handy :-p

Please post up a report if you write one.

Must give MTBO a try sometime.

Good stuff!

Were you taking part?

Nice write-up.

Quite tough, isn’t it :-)

Thanks noodle for agreeing to ride, knew you’d love it!

A great weekend of socialising with a bit of hooning around awesome singletrack thrown in for good measure :)

(I think I’m thinking/worrying about this too much!! I’ll be passing plenty of shops/pubs, so actually will have ample opportunity to fill up!
I understand the actual SDW doesn’t pass too close to civilisation and would be more of a worry!)

There are quite a few water taps on the SDW. Check out the South Downs Double website for grid refs for most of them.

It changed a while back in terms of signage I think, although the original route is still all bridleway or road so perfectly legal to use if you wish (and a bit easier).

If you have the excellent Harveys SDW map, it only shows the new route (via Meonstoke), but gives a little background on the change.

The South Downs Double website also has some info.

I don’t know if the change is permanent, it seems there are still ongoing negotiations as to what the “official” route should be – but I don’t know how they have progressed.

Is it just me, or is the Epic website 404ing?

Surprised you’ve emerged from bed this early Anne :-)

Not sure if these are hosted in a location anyone else can see, but lets try:

Good luck Simon. I am meeting him at Bury, if you’re still there I’ll see you too. Seriously worried that he’ll be too fast for me even after 250 miles!

And now its updated, he’s climbing out of Jevington.

His schedule for Firle Beacon is shortly after 8am. Looks like he is maybe 15-20 mins ahead of schedule at Eastbourne.

Latest tweets confirmed he’d left Eastbourne, I think Endomondo updates in chunks rather than continuously, so I doubt he’s stopped.

Great stuff!

Anne, have you managed to infiltrate his brain with more terrible music?

Indeed, a fantastic course (as it has been every year) and a great chilled-out vibe. Excellent manners from everyone I passed or was passed by. Probably my favourite event on the calendar.

But please, don’t do the prize-giving quite so soon after midnight!

I know the organisers (all volunteers) will be desperately tired by the end, but at least give folks a chance to put something warm on over their sweaty kit.

I had to sprint (well, hobble quickly) back from my tent when I heard applause, and I think some soloists completely missed their podiums, which is a shame.

amt27 – there are two 6 hour races, one starting at noon and one at 6pm. I think that was the case last year too.

So far there are less than 10 people pre-entered for the 6pm race, so it won’t be a horde of whippets, and if anyone is shoutily aggressive then just ignore them. The decent racers know how to overtake without a fuss.

As others say, the event has a nice chilled-out vibe.

Done. +1 to unklehomered’s comments.

Do a rectangular ride based on the NDW, Downs Link, SDW, and the nascent Shipwright’s Way (Buriton to Alice Holt).

Hopefully 6hr night solo, provided the cold I seem to have caught has gone by then.

Graham – there isn’t a veterans category as far as I can see, which is a shame as I am also old enough. They scrapped it last year when they introduced the 6hr categories.