Gorrick race 14th Feb - advice please

simski81

HI

I am planning to enter my first race on Sunday at the Gorrick event in Hampshire.

Has anyone got any advice on what I need to take/do on the day. I was planning to turn up about an hour early to enter/warm up and take enough drink/food for the race (2 hrs ish) along with puncture stuff.

All advice gratefully received.

Thanks

softlad

allow enough time to register/sign on and ride a sighting lap. Arriving 90 mins to 2 hours before should be plenty...

TonyWard

Don't know what category you are planning on but I would recommend the Beginners, Fun or at most Open event for your first race unless you know you are quick/ have raced before. I got quite a shock from the transition of being fastest among my mates to getting my @rse handed to me in no uncertain style in Vets about a year ago. All great fun though

cycleNoodle

Go prepared, have spare tyres,tubes, enough food, water etc and tools in case anything goes wrong before the race.

Definitely worth doing a warm up lap to check any parts of the course you may find difficult in the race.

Gorrick is definitely a good place to start.

Good Luck!

gezzza

Dont do what i did at my first race

i managed to lock my keys in the car with my bike locked to the rear wheel and all my kit in the car 20 mins before the race start

tim_h76@hotmail.com

The Gorrick's are well organised and provide a challenging course everytime! I started two years ago and got my butt totally kicked! All good fun though! My aim was to keep a steady fast'ish pace for the three laps (Vets), I managed to achieve this by the end of the season (which included Southern XC races). I found if I tried to keep up with the surrounding racers I bonked by the end of lap two making lap three hard to say the least!!

The main thing is to keep within your own limits (whatever that might be), have fun and hydrate!

See you there!

Tim Hughes

tim_h76@hotmail.com

How didd u get on!

simski81

hi, thanks for the replies.

had an awesome day and really enjoyed the raicing. placed 65th in the open category so plenty of scope for improvement. not at all tired by the end of the race but found the course very technical - it was 90% singletrack so no scope for putting the pedal down.

what i found was very positive was the friendly attitude of all the competitors - i have taken part in lots of racing in the past across all different sports - today was by far the best atmosphere of any of the events i have done.

you have a new XC convert. see you at the next event in march.

SimonWilson82

Great result. I joined the open men for my first ever race and also really enjoyed it.

Having looked at the results though I can't quite work it out. There's a ringer in every category! Fair play to them though. my word there are some fit bikers out there!

SiLanc

Hope you all enjoyed the race, I have done the analysis on the race timing and have posted it on my website.

http://xcenduro.co.uk/racing/races/2010 ... 010_r2.asp

Simon, you were 76th on your first lap, 69th after your second and obviously you finished even higher....well done

Si

jaredpace

Gorrick is always a great venue and very friendly. I'm a BC coach and encourage our younger riders (Team Darenth) to have a go, especially now there is an U10's cat (can you believe it). I usually enter the Super Vets (4 laps) and try for a top 10 placing. This time it was 24th!! There were certainly a lot of ringers in my event. Confirmed by the top 3 placings, who will no doubt be winning the Southerns this year! I'm sure they looked young enough to still be in the Masters cat!!!