Gorrick Spring Series

miss notax

Ok, so I am considering entering this in the spring

Just been looking at the website but I am obviously having a bit of a blonde moment..... How does the race ACTUALLY run? I have only ever done the Brass Monkeys when you do the max number of laps you can within a timeframe - what's the system here? Also unsure what categaory to put myself in. Age wise i'm in the Masters (hmmm :shock: ) but I don't get where the 'ability' category comes in? Would I be in the Master Female or Open Female groups????

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks

benpinnick

Its a straight 'race' - start together, do the number of laps appropriate to your class as fast as you can, first one to cross the line wins. Whether you want to be Master or Open (or Fun) is up to you. My experience is that the Masters (or Super Masters in Male) tends to be a bit more competitive, as thats a 'real' category per se.

benpinnick

Probably the biggest deciding factor for you will be start time. As you're coming up from Romsey(?) then the Open is probably a more reasonable time of the day than Master. They are both 2 laps so no distance difference.

miss notax

Thanks

So I literally ride the 2 laps or whatever and then that's it - cool!

Fair point about the start times. Still unsure about what category would be best to enter though, open or masters. I would like to give myself a crack at getting a decent result, but not sure which category that steers me towards!

benpinnick

Open looks a slower pace, but more riders do it. Difficult call. I'd just go on start time as its your first.

miss notax

Ok, fair enough. I'm a competent rider (most of the time ) but certainly no racing snake, so the Open category would probably be better anyway.

If I do the first one in the Open category, but then think I should swap to the other one (or vice versa), do I lose my points in the overall series or does that put me at a disadvantage?

benpinnick

Your points will only count by category, so if you split across two categories, you will be at a disadvantage as its a total points by category calculation, and thats all (no dropping of a race or anything like that). Entering all rounds in one cat giving a distinct advantage therefore. Also, FYI if you don't enter at least 3 rounds in one category then you are automatically out of the points competition for that category, even if you won it twice.

Taking a brutal view on 'doing well' points aren't related to times, so coming 4th in a small category, whether you come fourth by 1s or 10mins gets the same points, so it might be worth entering the smaller cat (Masters) either way - sorry to offer contradictory advice Look at last years results on the Gorrick site to see how they panned out.

miss notax

True - valid point!!!

Thanks for all of your help

benpinnick

You're welcome. If you fancy riding the Crowthorne woods course for some practice over Chrimble drop me a PM. I'm only 5 mins ride away...

miss notax

Cool, thanks, may well do that

njee20

Additionally there are no series points in Open, so if you want a series prize do Masters.

Laps are far shorter than Brass Monkeys - 4-5 miles not 7-8, so 2 laps is less than an hour racing.

There are far fewer people on the course - you start behind the men, so until the leaders start lapping you you'll be riding around largely on your own (as most womens categories are not well subscribed).

They're good events, often a few more technical features than the Brass Monkeys courses, worth doing.

benpinnick

I thought there was Open points. The 2011 series lists the places for Open? According to the gorrick site (which of course might be wrong) its only Under 10's, 12's, Beginners & Fun that dont qualify.

The sites lists the following prizes for series points on Open Female:

Open Female £60 £40 £20 donated by Cycle Kingdom (Fleet)

miss notax

Weird :?

I definitely want a stab at series points, so if this is the case then Masters it is (although I had pretty much decided that anyway as fewer riders).

Bizarrely, due to turning up and riding rather than speed, I am currently 3rd in the ladies 18-39 2 hour series for the Brass Monkeys

JasonRwmb

Go for Masters. The problem with the Open race is it starts straight after the men's Open race and you catch the back of their field very quickly (probably at the 1st bit of singletrack!), you will then spend the rest of the first lap fighting your way past them. Master's race starts after the Vets who are quicker riders and don't have the same bottlenecks at the start. That is what Lou has told me anyway. She is planning to enter Expert this year. I am still trying to work out which race I will enter, probably Masters, but I will do Sport if we can get a babysitter for the afternoon.

Well done on the current 3rd place in the series.

miss notax

JasonRwmb wrote:

Go for Masters. The problem with the Open race is it starts straight after the men's Open race and you catch the back of their field very quickly (probably at the 1st bit of singletrack!), you will then spend the rest of the first lap fighting your way past them. Master's race starts after the Vets who are quicker riders and don't have the same bottlenecks at the start. That is what Lou has told me anyway. She is planning to enter Expert this year. I am still trying to work out which race I will enter, probably Masters, but I will do Sport if we can get a babysitter for the afternoon.

Well done on the current 3rd place in the series.

Excellent, sounds good to me so decision made! Thanks very much

njee20

I take it back re Open then - never used to have series points, it was an 'open' race!

miss notax

Thanks for the advice on this - have just entered the Masters race

benpinnick

Maybe see you there!

Dave_P1

Can you practice the course at any time during the day?

JasonRwmb

Yes you can practice at any time during the day. However keep an eye out for people racing. The course does tend to get busy at certain times of the day, so try to work your practice lap around the start time of other races. I find starting a few minutes after a group of races have started works best.

Dave_P1

Cool, thanks for the info.

Good idea about heading off just after a race starts.

andi1363

see you guys there! Am going in super vets !

njee20

I quite like heading off 5 minutes before the start of fun, wait in the first bit of singletrack, watch the carnage, then plod around behind. 100+ people going into one narrow trail never ends well!

CalumR

Hi all,

Looking at doing a few of the spring series races this year with the uni mtb club, but the problem is we don't have the luxury of a minibus or cars so it looks like it's going to have to be trains.

Anyone know how suitable/how far it is to ride from the nearest station to Surrey Hill, Crowthorne Wood or Frith Hill?

Thanks

benpinnick

Surrey Hill - Martins Heron startion (Reading to Waterloo Line) approx 2 miles. Crowthorne Station (Reading to Gatwick line) around 5 miles.

Crowthorne wood - Crowthorne station approx 1.5 miles, Martins Heron, around 4 miles.

Frith Hill - Farnborough main (Waterloo - portsmouth and other lines) 2-3 miles, Farnborough North (Reading - Gatwick line) 2-3 miles, Frimley (Ascot/waterloo - Aldershot line) 2 miles.

benpinnick

benpinnick wrote:

Surrey Hill - Martins Heron startion (Reading to Waterloo Line) approx 2 miles. Crowthorne Station (Reading to Gatwick line) around 5 miles.

Crowthorne wood - Crowthorne station approx 1.5 miles, Martins Heron, around 4 miles.

Frith Hill - Farnborough main (Waterloo - portsmouth and other lines) 2-3 miles, Farnborough North (Reading - Gatwick line) 2-3 miles, Frimley (Ascot/waterloo - Aldershot line) 2 miles.

Oh, and yes they are all fine by bike, really not far. Where are you coming from?

CalumR

Thanks, that's great.
We'll be coming up from Porstmouth

benpinnick

Pompey to farnborough main, and of the trains work ok, switch to farnborough north (5 min ride) to get to crowthorne, ride to frith hill and maybe you might consider going to Frimley from f'boro main by bike (10-15) mins ride, get the train to bagshot and ride from there. I'd probably just see of the farnborough to f'boro north switch works for you

campbellrae1

Let's hope the snow holds off on Saturday night :? ! If it does I will either be in the Open or Sport race depending on how censored I feel in the morning! Looking forward to getting the racing season kicked off again!

miss notax

Snow forecast all over the south - should be interesting!!

I assume it'll still be on regardless of snow etc?!?

njee20

Yep. There's only going to be a fine dusting anyway! You'll be fine!