Tunnel hill xc race.

Th3 Firestarter

Tomorrow sunday 12/10/08 tunnel hill xc race at mychett near Farnborough Hampshire. It's a seniors (30+) event although there will be a fun and open categories in the afternoon that is open to younger riders. I'll be racing my Marin rock springs in the open category. Go to www.gorrick.co.uk for more info. See you there.

Tranced

Wish I'd known earlier.
Looking to start taking part in some events again after longggg break.

Th3 Firestarter

Entry is available on the day. The next race is the autumn classic at crowthorne woods on november 2nd.

Th3 Firestarter

Yay I got 30th out of 37 in my category, go me!!!! Linkage: http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/upload ... pen%20Male

breezer

I had pre entered the Fun class but my leg was giving me grief and so coupled with moving house that weekend I didnt go

I will be doing their autumn classic in November though!

Th3 Firestarter

Im booked in for the open category at the autumn classic (what have I let myself in for?) See you there.

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I've thrown myself into veteran.... also begining to wonder what I've done?

breezer

Im wondering what u have done as well lol! I did a 3 lap masters last year, one of their autumn rounds and it nearly killed me. The highllight was talking to my friends in Vets at the start and not realising that the masters had left LOL, "luckily" I would have been almost last anyway heh.

Earlier this year I did all 5 rounds of their spring series but in the fun class, only 2 laps so 1 less, still painful but I at least managed to enjoy the downhill bits of the courses!

I am doing fun this sunday at the autumn classis, cleaned the bike etc yesterday in preperation

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Breezer
So 3 laps = +-?? miles?
How long did it take you? Just some basic indication? At this point I don't mind coming stone last, but I want to get some idea of where I am relative to others, hence going for vets.

breezer

Well the courses are normally only about 4 miles long a lap, they aim them so the top riders can do 20 minute laps. You may scoff at 4 miles but below is the elevation data from the spring rate at Crowthorne! Mileage is bit less as gps only samples once a second. Reminding myself of the results I was 13th in fun out of 101, lapped in 25:24 and 26:15, now if I had done 3 laps and rode the 3rd at a similar pace I would have been roughly 43rd out of 50 in masters but I couldnt have ridden another lap at the same pace so would have been even lower. Now do you see why I only do the 2 lappers! :shock:

Tranced

Interesting... Tx for that.
Well I'll give it a bash... even 50/50 will tell me something... :roll:

HT or FS...?

breezer

FS! I have 2 hard tails but ones for commuting, one for hacking, gave up riding XC on a HT a few years back, i wanted comfort so I could ride for longer heh, ok bit of a weight penalty but far more traction uphill and I can ride longer which is what matters to me. I was faffing with different frames then, think I was on a Blur LT, let me find the photo...ah no, I was on my old 4" four bar Azonic https://www.theimagefile.com/?skin=6899&Action=VF&id=349854240&ppp=0&ppwd=ng9968bv

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Brils.
Tx for the info. Looking forward to this.
Last "races (not compeditive)" were about 10yrs ago so.... 85km offroad in Marin Bear Valley, with loaner 1" shock hastily installed in place of the fixed fork.

"the race starts in Rhodes at 1845m, peaks out at 2665 m and drops down to Rhodes again. It boasts one of the steepest descents through the Carlisle Valley Corner Kloof cement strip road dropping some 300 m in a very short distance. The race passes alongside the Lesotho Border with a magnificent view over the Lesotho mountains, from “Lesotho View” at 2665m the highest point in the race. The race also pass the unique Tiffendell Ski Resort situated on the slopes of Ben McDhui the highest mountain peak at 3001m in the Cape Province. "

Those were the days... wonder if I can get to that level again. Sure want to try....

breezer

Sounds good! I have a friend that road races all over the place, France etc, problem is getting the fitness heh, thats why im staying in Fun! As for the race, heres a post I did in the race section here, the start really is utter madness, you can lose so much time if not near the front when you get into the first bit of tight singletrack so worth thrashing a bit as you can back off and recover and almost impossible to be overtaken

"I would get there 2 hours before race start, go and do a practise lap so you know the course but take it slow, I walk up the steep/hard hills, this will take say an hour. Then time to calm down etc, do 5 mins warm up and get to the start for 15 minutes before race start time. The start is always carnage heh and I make sure im on the front 2 rows of the grid. "

mme69

Hi,

New here, but thinking about entering the Crowthorne race. My only concern is how technical it will be. The crokscrew in particular looks rather daunting... do some people walk parts of the course or is it relatively straigtforward?

Also, can you practice at anytime after the start?

breezer

The courses do have technical bits but the friend I mentioned that only rode rides did the autumn one last year and was ok despite not having ridden off road for years. I have walked the odd bit and consider myself quite good at downhill thrashing (except jumping!). Sometimes it can be quicker ie at one round into this dip and up, almost impossible to ride so I just ran it.

Yep you can practise the course at any point, just keep an eye out for racers and move out of their way. Take it slow, you can repeat bits if required, either walk or take it slow on the climbs so you dont wear yourself out for the race. Its good to do the lap so you know any hidden bits or sudden corners into steep climbs so you can change gear earlier etc