Mud, Sweat and Gears 2012

number2

C0LL0 wrote:

I'm looking forward to the last round I'm sure Matt and Graham will put on a tremendous course and run it as great as they have done all year, Hylands and Codham weather conditions were not ideal, but lets face it we live in England do we let a little bit of rain spoil our outdoor fun, NO I WILL NOT.

My best results have come from Hylands and Codham I'm not sure what that means but slow and dirty over warm and dusty seem to suit me

VWsurfbum

anyone seen any other pictures yet?

bigdawg

well unless the weather forecast dramatically changes in hte next 24 hours thats me done with MS&Gs for 2012! Im not driving 140 miles for another bike wrecking mudfest, no ones fault I guess the weather is what it is. Still trying to understand why there were no races in july, sept and oct though, but I guess they have their reasons...

On the upside Ill be at langdon hill doing the open race, hopefully it will be traditional Langdon weather... (ie no more rain!!!!!!!!!) and may be in a team for Brighton big dog..

Speaking of teams anyone fancy getting together for Beatways team race..??

evo3ben

No licence needed and no age group as far as im aware for National series at Langdon, same set up as MSG.

How does the Beastway team race work? Been racing there the past few weeks and really enjoy it. Seriously hard though and personally i think it harder than MSG even though its only 1 hour race.

Thetford Summer Enduro CANCELLED :shock: gutted! Was looking forward to this. Not enough interest apparently. Might have something to do with this wonderful weather we have been having.

IhateDNS

I'm paid so going to R5 at Ickworth House.
Wound how long many miles in a lap.

IhateDNS

VWsurfbum wrote:

anyone seen any other pictures yet?

No you should have swapped details.

VWsurfbum

IhateDNS wrote:

VWsurfbum wrote:

anyone seen any other pictures yet?

No you should have swapped details.

sorry

C0LL0

I'm entered into the Veterns at Langdon hills, but after 1st July licence fees are half price so will upgraded then

Beastway team race count me in, four persons per team points are awarded 1 for win,2 for 2nd and so on, so team with least points win, different catagories depending upon team memebrs.

I won't be racing at beastway tomorrow but might volunteer as a marshal, pulled a back muscle last night, so resting until Sundays MSG round 5.

bigdawg

evo3ben wrote:

No licence needed and no age group as far as im aware for National series at Langdon, same set up as MSG.
.

Licence is needed for all categorized races (ie masters, vets, sport etc..) only the open class race is licence free...

Ooh may look at the licence costs come july then - tbh Im still training even though no actual race to train for at the moment?!

C0LL0

I wonder what time the licence office opens on 1st July, I'm sure there will be lots of people trying to get a cheap licence for this event.

evo3ben

bigdawg wrote:

evo3ben wrote:

No licence needed and no age group as far as im aware for National series at Langdon, same set up as MSG.
.

Licence is needed for all categorized races (ie masters, vets, sport etc..) only the open class race is licence free...

Ooh may look at the licence costs come july then - tbh Im still training even though no actual race to train for at the moment?!

I was responding to you question about the open category as no licence is needed for this not the rest of the series.

C0LL0

Spoke to Matt last night, siad course for Sunday is looking good, some gravel tracks, a small section of woodland track, some fields , they have had to be very conservative with the course being the 1st time they have held a MTB race here. If we go along and cut the parkland up they may not want us back so it's fairly basic with no technical bits. It should be a fast race, nice wide tracks so overtaking should be a doddle but some hills . I like the sound of this place, I shall be on it from the start 1 1/2 hours should be good last half hour I could be suffering.

bigdawg

I did think they'd have a 'cautious' course because it was national trust land and they wouldnt want to ruin it if it rained.

I really liked the sound of this course, think it would really have suited, and now it looks like the weather's gonna hold off Im really annoyed I'm not going...

Have a good one guys and give us a full report of what the course is like...

Ill start sorting a beastway team next week!

sdminus

rode the corse today. Its very very poor. it would struggle to host a good cyclo cross race. Im gonna search bc for a differant event this week end

a truthful description is as follows

ride round a mowed field
ride round some sheep and up the side towards some woods. we are now about 1.5 miles in and still on the field
go into slippy woods with no features at all only slippy mud. even if dry they would be dull.
then back out on to the sheep field.
up a hill which has some token stones on it and thats the end of the lap
4 miles

VWsurfbum

Oh dear, glad im not racing then!

evo3ben

Going on what Matt and crew had done so far this year, i think the course will be great and much more testing than people think. It will be a bigger field of racers sunday due to last race of series and also the dry weather only crew should be there lol

C0LL0

Well I don't care what the course is like, I'm racing and I'll race the course thats put before me good or bad, I think this may suit me I'm not a gifted technical rider but I have the legs and stamina for a good fast blast around a field (I hope)

IhateDNS

Not long now guess who is racing will be on the two hour race.
I'm on the Open.

I hope it rains only to slow down the fast rider :P

VWsurfbum

Careful what you wish for, I think it will be the wind that will be the main issue for you.

bigdawg

well...?!?!

Nicemonkey

From what some people had written on here I was expecting the worse but it wasn't that bad, yes the first quarter was bumpy as hell and yes there was 0 single track but the site has potential hopefully some of the woods can be used to make a more interesting single track section next year. The sheep chicanes were a interesting added feature.

bigdawg

maybe they did a 'safe' course because of the recent, and forecasted weather - being trust land it would have been daft to turn up trash the course becasue of weather and not be able to race there again...

Kind of annoyed I missed it when I saw the weather yesterday but went climbing with my son instead...

pilch

Very little mud, very fast, lots of grass, the odd sheep... quite a punishing course as you were on it all way round, nice venue but as said previously not very testing technically, however I think they did a great job considering the restrictions involved with the NT.

Did the practice lap & changed my tyres to semi slicks, good move, what mud there was to start with turned into draggy hard work by mid afternoon, the tyre choice made a big difference in those sections

I think it will be a better technical course next time as this one seemed to go down without too many hitches from what I saw...

I got 4th in the vets... my mrs won lady vets and finished 1st out of all the ladies.... good girl!

IhateDNS

I was on open class course was bone dry and bumpy. I did two laps my second was better less back pain bouncing about!
Technical there was that log in wood had to hop over There plans next year to make it more technical bloke on mic was say on Start\finish line.

Reading the other other day made it sound sh!t I glad I did the 120 mile to ride it it wasn't that bad.

Wonder how comfortable a full suss would be any feeling on them bumps.
Back aches today surprise :evil:

From the Timber Team : http://vimeo.com/44211366

Edit: Would had been nasty if wet with all that cut grass.

bigdawg

a full sus bike will obviously be more comfortable but youve obviously got the weight issue and the drive/transfer (never feels quite as fast as a hardtail - whether it is actually slower Idont know)

I raced for years on a carbon FS giant - never felt quite as beat up as I do riding a HT but you do get just as tired becasue of the extra (bit of!) weight.

It really is half a dozen of one and 6 of the other, the ideal would obviously be to have both! Keep meaning to rebuild the giant but just cant afford another bikes worth of components!

evo3ben

Well i didnt think that was too bad No technical bits to speak of really but boy was that a testing course! In all honesty it was nice to have a course that purely tested your fitness and it did a good job of it. The sticky mud, the grass and the hills. And then there was the bumpy bits! I ride a cannondale carbon flash hardtail as i like a light bike and the carbon save frame done the best it could to soften the blows thank god. For me, a hardtail was the right choice, not that i had a choice lol. Only thing i would change was my rear tyre from a racing ralph to a renegade.
I raced in the 'open' cat this time (mainly for social reasons) as i had raced in the sport cat the previous 4 races. After they gridded everyone (top 30 i think) and then asked rest to fill in at back, i was shocked how far back i was, must have been 40 riders infront of me :shock: Hmmm, need to do alot of overtaking here and thankfully this was a wide course with overtaking space all around it. Still, overtaking so many people does take it out of you and come the end of the third lap i had run out of puff to push for top 10 Finished 15th (out of 67) which i am pleased with but with a better start position think i could have placed better. The guy who finished 1st, super fast but wrong category mate

All in all a great day, great weather, family enjoyed it and if i am totally honest, most enjoyable race this year so far (atmosphere, banter etc) Me thinks next year i will race open cat.

Great job by the MSG team on delivering a fantastic series and already looking forward to next year. Only thing i would like to see changed is the amount of races, a few more to make the series longer. I will be at Langdon for the open race and also at the next Southern xc series race, a few beastway races then time for a rest before training starts over again.

Great to race with you all at MSG!!!! 8)

C0LL0

Very well organised again by Matt & G, great venue & course was expected a fairly easy course to respect the NT so that we could return in future years.

What I hated was the first third of bumpy grass, I nealry got the full susser out of the van after the warmup lap, but knew that I would be quicker on the rest of the lap on the 29er hardtail. As it turned out the grass section killed my race anyway just couldn't ride it fast enough to hold off other riders, the hilly grass sheep covered bits was good the draggy mud was okay and the long downhill grass field was a doddle, maxed out on the gears I flew down that bit.

So well done to MSG another great series see you next year.

bigdawg

Im loving the idea of the sheep obstacle course...

This is nuts though June and its all over already..

IhateDNS

They (sheep) seemed to come over when I shouted mint sauce.

Who doing BC Langdon Hills next, will this be the same a MSG course?

bigdawg

As last years course was I think what got it into the nationals I doubt they'll deviate much from that, which suits me tbh...

although when they used to swap the loop over the back round (carry straight up instead of turning right on the steep climb) it was imo a better choice, but I dont think MS&G's have ever done this... And it was only better for me becasue I could go up the more gradual climb in the big ring...

Really hope the weather hold for this, it's always sunny for langdon hills!