Mud Sweat & Gears 20....13!!!

bigdawg

I don't think you do - however matt is very approachable and very visible at the races, and always contactable via the MS&gs site, wouldn't hurt to ask.

Weffywoo

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend

paulbingham

Does anyone know if teh course will be marked out on sat for a trial run? Plan to head over that way and do a ride anyway, need teh practice casue last race over that side almopst damn near killed me (so unfit!)

evo3ben

Usually can practice on Saturday as is marked out in one way, shape or form but not seen anything on the MSG facebook page yet. It is weather dependent as they would rather preserve the course for race day than have people practice on it the day before. Go to the MSG facebook page, keep an eye out or ask away
You will be happy to know that this course will be no where near as technical as Codham. Thetford is mainly flat with the odd bomb hole and mostly singletrack and fire road.

VWsurfbum

Well family vw will be there again, look for No1 & No2 in matching t-shirts and ill be in whatever makes me look thinner and fast
Taking full on dry tyres and hopefully will use them, if not ill have my back up wheels with me

bigdawg

good luck vw - it looks like its been raining there for a few days

VWsurfbum

well its a good job its not an hour and halfs drive away then :? :roll:

bigdawg

the courses over there usually drain and dry quite quickly so you should be good - but its 2 1/2 hours for me and theres not really any room for the kids to mess about at this one..

WindyG

20 mins for me, hope it's not raining though as I don't have the family support with me if it does.

stylish

It's on what we call the dry side for a reason! Not sure of the layout but I would expect a good fire road lead out and lots of sleepy singletrack to enjoy, no bomb holes either, they are all on the high lodge side.

By all accounts the rain has helped pack down the surface and it should be nice and fast come Sunday morning.

VWsurfbum

And tyre's?

paulbingham

Its 45mins for me, bike ride that is! Gonna bike there and back from Thetford as i did for winter series (get a good warm up that way!!)

If its Fire road 6 and similar to teh winter series over that side, it'll be mix of open fire road, short singletrack sections through the trees. And if its been raining there maybe one section that was very muddy during winter series race, very deep mud too if i remember right. But yep, no bomb pits that side, but also more "hills" (ok short small climbs lol)

CUBEical

paulbingham wrote:

If its Fire road 6 and similar to teh winter series over that side, it'll be mix of open fire road, short singletrack sections through the trees. And if its been raining there maybe one section that was very muddy during winter series race, very deep mud too if i remember right. But yep, no bomb pits that side, but also more "hills" (ok short small climbs lol)

god i can not wait to get into mtb racing sounds really technical

VWsurfbum

CUBEical wrote:

paulbingham wrote:

If its Fire road 6 and similar to teh winter series over that side, it'll be mix of open fire road, short singletrack sections through the trees. And if its been raining there maybe one section that was very muddy during winter series race, very deep mud too if i remember right. But yep, no bomb pits that side, but also more "hills" (ok short small climbs lol)

god i can not wait to get into mtb racing sounds really technical

yeah this is the polar opposite to tge last race at codham, that was epic

stylish

It might not be technical, but you will be bloody knackered at the finish! much pedalling to be done....

paulbingham

OK, just got back in from my round of MSG. (7mile bike back home and a quick play in toms pit on way back!!).
Was an ok race though i thinki ended up last due to lsot water bottle (next time i wont run back for it!), almost hitting someone who came off on a corner (Sorry!) and almost coming off a few time myself!
Thing is, on teh 2nd lap, approaching teh finish line i didnt gun it as i though i had another lap left (they said 3 laps at start). But i was pulled off saying race was over. Now i timed it at roughly 52mins atthat point, so surley i shouldve had anotehr lap?? While watching, there were others going past for a 3rd lap. I dont get it, so can someone explain?? please?? (just to clear confusion, liek i said, i think i was last anyway) :oops:

grony

Paul, The race is effectively over once the first male completes their three laps, in this case Paddy Atkinson finished first (I am guessing in around 50 mins). Once Paddy has crossed the line and completed the race, all other male riders finish next time they cross the line.

The only people carrying on would have been females involved in the 1 hour 30 min categories.

paulbingham

I was in the open cat and i'm sure at least 2 or 3 men went past after i was pulled out. As that was the only male cat racing at that point i dont know why they were going round again.

Oh and Well done Mel P! great race by her again in the Ladies cat VETs (i think??) Come a long way from pottering about in the forest with us lot a couple year ago!

I've got to say, the mornings race went well, good organisation and i had no problem with any of the riders during the race despite me being slow and getting in the way at one point. Now looking forward to Ickworth.

evo3ben

Good day had by everyone i think. Weather was brilliant, course was bone dry and just goes to show, dont take any notice of long range weather forecasts as they arent worth shite lol.
Was good to catch up with people, good to speak to you again WindyG even if only for a few minutes

I thought the course was a little bit humpy bumpy, alot more than other Thetford races. Hard to keep momentum up and needed alot more work out of the saddle. All in all though a good race and well organised once again by the MSG team!

96 racers in the Open cat which is huge compared to normal numbers of around 60. Regional Championships definitely raised the numbers but should see them return to normal for the next round.

Race went fairly well for me but did have a couple of people wash out on corners directly in front of me causing so quick reactions to avoid hitting them. Thankfully they were ok. I lost a couple of places on the last lap which was a shame but happy to finish in 8th 8) Looking forward to R4 @ Ickworth House next month

VWsurfbum

Results page.
http://www.timelaps.co.uk/assets/upload ... 19/05/2013

As i've said before, the gridding system they are using is crippling, as i didnt do the first round so couldnt finish in the top 30 there, there is almost no way of breaking into the top 30 its almost imposible!
So i spent my race quite enjoyably overtaking constantly, which was nice for a change but i'd like to know how fast i would of been without being held up through the singletrack.
Looking at bens times, he was a minute a lap faster than me, so i reckon if i started in the pack i could of held my own?

So 39th, but starting 90 places behind everyone else, i'm happy with that, I enjoyed it and proved that i can pedal too shame that there's still people who cant go round a corner, saw more stacks here than any other course :?

Right now to hunt for pictures

VWsurfbum

http://www.flickr.com/photos/randomoldbloke/

berm bandit

Hi,

Just been perusing the various fori post MSG 3 as you do trying to pick up a flavour of our customers views and noticed this comment, and which I think there has been a similar post on our facebook page.

As i've said before, the gridding system they are using is crippling, as i didnt do the first round so couldnt finish in the top 30 there, there is almost no way of breaking into the top 30 its almost imposible!

Quite interested by that, as we actually grid further back than 30, and even then at a grid of 8 across, thats only 3 bikes back from the front even if it were 30, so by rocking up early for gridding you could be just 3 or 4 bikes back at the start. The system we use, (given that its not necessary to compete in every round to gain a series placing), is that we take your average position, so 1 race finishing 10th and you'd be number ten on the grid next time out, 3 races with placings of 3rd, 14th and 13th and you'd also be 10th, albeit we would give credit to the rider with more races under their belt should there be a tie for a grid place.

So anyway, the $64,000 question is, given that you do have to be in it to win it, what is your suggestion for a better system of gridding? (Overall idea is that the faster riders don't have to ride through the pack at the start for safety reasons).

Look forward to your ideas.

Cheers

G

VWsurfbum

Hi G,
When bringing little ones for there training and races its not possible to sharpen my elbows quickly enough to get to the front, but that said I dont see much alternative other than reducing the amount of people being gridid?
The problem with the last two rounds has been the bottle necks too close after the start, I know thats always going to happen to an extent but there was a very long run up to the start finish line that could of been better utilised?
All in all I cant complain, its a fun series and I should treat it as such. A few years ago when I was gridid in top 16 of every race I wasn't complaining

VWsurfbum

"berm wrote:

Look forward to your ideas.

Cheers

G

One more, separate the start times by a few mins in each category

grony

I think the gridding system works reasonably well, most people know where they belong and tend to gravitate towards their appropriate position. You'll always get people making excuses and blaming external factors for their own performance limitations. I don't wish to get personal, but looking at VWS's lap times for lap 3 in the last two rounds, when the field is fully strung out, it's not suggesting someone storming up the placings being held back by a lack of gridding.

VWsurfbum

grony wrote:

I think the gridding system works reasonably well, most people know where they belong and tend to gravitate towards their appropriate position.

I too think it works ok, but as previously stated, i think it needs some tweeking.

grony wrote:

You'll always get people making excuses and blaming external factors for their own performance limitations. I don't wish to get personal, but looking at VWS's lap times for lap 3 in the last two rounds, when the field is fully strung out,it's not suggesting someone storming up the placings being held back by a lack of gridding.

I wasnt aware that you were riding my bike?
The trouble with assumptions like that is your looking at figures and not personal accounts. As i stated earlier up, I was overtaking all the way through the race and even on the finish straight. I was held up on the 3rd lap almost as much as the 1st due to people getting slower and slower as the race went on.
As performance limitations go, I'll be first to admit i have flaws, but being penalised before you've even started is harsh.

Anyhow, I didnt particully want to do this race, I wont be doing Ickworth, doubt i'll bother now with huntingdon but i'll go to Hadleigh as i'm already booked into it.

Toodles

evo3ben

Personally i think the gridding system that MSG use is very generous (which i think is good). The 'Open' category has about 50-60 entrants for a normal round (not regional champs) and to grid up to 30 is more than if not half of the racing field. All you need to do is come in the top 50% of the field and you have a chance of gridding.
The guy who won the race wasnt gridded but managed to get past 30+ people and the youth racers to win it. As your kids are racing before hand meaning timing is tight for you then surely no matter if its gridded up to 15 or 50, you will always start at the back?
Did you race Codham Ian? Going by what you are saying you should have been near me (or in front of me as i had a bad race ) and got some points which would have got you possibly into a gridded position for Thetford. You could overtake at Codham pretty much everywhere.

Personally, and i dont mean this in a nasty way so please dont take offence, but not being gridded or starting at the back of the field isnt really an excuse for not doing well in my personal opinion. If you are good enough to break top ten, you will get near to it at least, even at Thetford.

If you want to do well, and as 'G' said, you gotta be in it to win it! and that starts at round 1.

VWsurfbum

so what your saying is the griding is taken from the last race and not from the series, so i could of been gridded for this race if i was in the top 30 at codham? (I wasnt, I only just made the start as it was)

There's no chance of me finishing in the top 10 anymore, first few years i was there or there abouts but nowadays there's too many "fast" guys in the "fun" catagory. and to be honest, the only reason i'm there at all is because the 2 hour race starts at a ridiculas time if you have kids.

its all me me me today isnt it

evo3ben

Gridding position is given by your total series points. 30th position on the grid at Thetford had 14 points over last 2 rounds so finishing in front of me a Codham would have given you 20+ points and got you gridded for thetford as your pseries points would have been higher than 14 if you see what i mean

I must agree though that the 'Open' category is becoming very serious with really fit racers in it and we are only getting older lol.

Oh and just to correct you in post at top of page as you are using me as an example, you were 7-8 minutes behind me overall which is about 2min 30sec a lap, light years in bike racing :P

VWsurfbum

evo3ben wrote:

Gridding position is given by your total series points. 30th position on the grid at Thetford had 14 points over last 2 rounds so finishing in front of me a Codham would have given you 20+ points and got you gridded for thetford as your pseries points would have been higher than 14 if you see what i mean

I must agree though that the 'Open' category is becoming very serious with really fit racers in it and we are only getting older lol.

Oh and just to correct you in post at top of page as you are using me as an example, you were 7-8 minutes behind me overall which is about 2min 30sec a lap, light years in bike racing :P

Well i obviously need to go back to the drawing board and get new excuses