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

C0LL0

You'll get fitter racing than just normal riding, it will amaze you how much you will push yourself in a race. add to that some training rides and your have got the best of both, especially with Thetford on your doorstep. See on the winter series race 1 start line then :-)

WindyG

The getting fitter has been a bit tougher for me as I am trying to cope with long term illness, I agree though about pushing harder in a race. Can't do the first race anyway but might consider the 2nd one in Dec.

evo3ben

As C0LL0 said, racing is great for fitness. Treat it as training. Racing in a couple of races before MSG will fill you with confidence and give you some valuable race experience. Dont get too hung up on how unfit you think you are, you never know, you may suprise yourself

bigdawg

the good thing about winter training is that whilst riding round those muddy cold courses you can rest assured that come summer youll be racing round on dusty dry trails in the sun....

just like this year... :shock:

VWsurfbum

yep and enjoy that day i did!

Jimboliana

WindyG, I started racing only last year, I done the last two MSG races and didn't do very well, I then entered the Thetford Winter Series in the two hour race and came something like 147th out of 152! My view on it was 'I can only get better', I raced in the MSG series this year and done better as the season went on.

I was also racing in a series with evo3ben and C0LL0 on a Wednesday night over the summer and I think we all improved slowly (it was hard work) but the results are quality because as you get fitter you enjoy it a whole lot more.

evo3ben and myself done the Oktoberfest 8hr pairs and managed 15th out of 49 so you will get better.

Just get out and ride! I'm off to do some training on the turbo :0)

WindyG

Jimboliana, looks like you have done well and thanks for the encouragement same goes for everybody else.
I am going to be entering a 1hr amateur race on Sunday, looking forward to it, there are 4 rounds left in this series and this could set me up nicely for MSG. Hoping to get my 10 year old into MSG as well.

evo3ben

You will love it, very addictive indeed!

bigdawg

seriously dont worry about where you finish - my first race I think I came 2nd from last, the whole thing was like WTF just happened there..! Although in hindsight a banana in my jersey pocket as energy prob wasnt the best thought out plan!

Enjoy it make the most of the trails being occupied just by bikes and have fun.

hopper1

Well, I just checked out the 2013 dates against my rota for next year, and I can make 6 of the 8 events
Just wish it was open for entries now...

C0LL0

soon, my pretty, soon........................

bigdawg

thats last thing I need before christmas!

IhateDNS

Guess you all got the email with locations.

Who doing what?

Codham Park & Secret Nuclear Bunker Yes
Langdon Hills & Ickworth House Maybe. Ickworth did take time to get there have to see what plans are for new track.

bigdawg

Ive not got that for some reason, can you post up the dates and venues please...

On a slightly different note though the olympic mtb course is having coaching sessions so you can ride it before it gets altered / made safer. Ive done it, well when I say Ive done it I woosed out on a lot of it, will be back in december to have another go though..

IhateDNS

Event Details



17th March – Tunstall Forest, Suffolk
21st April – Codham Park, Essex
19th May – Thetford Forest, Norfolk – Regional Champs
16th June – Ickworth House, Suffolk
14th July – Secret Nuclear Bunker, Kelvedon Hatch, Essex
4th August - TBC
8th September – Langdon Hills, Essex
29th September - TBC

bigdawg

Cheers for that.

I think the two to be confirmed will be hylands and the olympic course (if the work is done)

evo3ben

Yes got the email and looks good 8) I too think and hoping for Hylands and Hadleigh Farm!

C0LL0

hopefully doing all 8 rounds, as doubt a holiday will be had next year.

VWsurfbum

Personal opinion here.
Hadleigh farm "WILL" feature, as it was said at nuclear blast by the british cycling guy who was setting up the track when we chatted to him. also i got to think it will be the september slot as thats roughly when the were planning on opening the track to the public.
August more than likely Hylands before V festival, as after then they will start putting fences up all round the place and would ruin the track. they stay up well into september.

Anywhoo, i'll be trying to do most of them next year, but also going to try and do some gravity enduro's, see how that goes?

bigdawg

theres likely going ot be 2 races at the olympic course next year, one MS&G and a NPS race too.. As well as the under 16s race in october.

VWsurfbum

so thats 3?

bigdawg

ok, its early, brains not fully engaged!

the last one I tacked on as this year spectators weren't allowed on the course - it was a showcase from all over the UK of under 16 racers (and the biggest female xc race the UK has seen!) and no one other than the coaches and those of us marshalling saw it...!

Watching 12 years old riding some of those obstacles was (a) awe inspiring (b) embarrasing - realising I probalby wouldnt ride it as well as they were!

VWsurfbum

Ah but steve, we all know that kids at 12 bounce, we dont.

I have been getting quiietly anoyed reading all the stuff recently about the Hadleigh track, i have seen it first hand, i know it looks tricky, it looks positevly dangerous at some points, but people still portray it as flat and no skill needed to ride it :shock: but on the other side of the coin there is these rides with a coach. now it would be a good idea when the place opens, but for the people who pre-registered to say they were confident black grade riders, we should be allowed to ride it, pay a nominal fee and then have someone near by to call the ambulance when we dont bounce, but surely that would be our decision? £45 is a lot of money to not ride a course as it was intended.

I will not be paying £45 to ride it, i'd rather wait to ride it for free (yeah right)

[/rant]

bigdawg

I can see where youre coming from, but I get the feeling this was a council decision, the guys doing gthe coaching were telling us how many forms they had to fill in and sign and red tape to get through just to get on the site, taking people round was another matter.

There are 2 main problems with the course (a) it was specifically designed to mess with your head - eg you cant see the exits or roll outs to some decents until youre halfway down them (already holding on for dear life!!) in some cases you can't see the entry points unitl youre commited. Its a course that needs total comitment all the way round not just on one or two parts of it. When I rode it someone ended up needing 10 stitches, the course after someone snapped their handlebars, and whilst building it a frame was snapped on one decent. And (b) its made of rock, something in the UK we don't see a lot of, so automatically you're on your guard before even thinking about riding something.

The coaches are there becasue if you don't take the one not very obvious line on some parts you will crash, if you don't know how to enter some of the less obvious entries you will crash, and when you crash here its gonna be big, its gonna hurt.

As for the people who are saying its easy - they havent ridden it, in fact Glenn has had to keep replacing rocks as people are going over there trying to remove the rocks thats they don't want there / are giving them a problem, riding a bit of it, and then saying its easy... They haven't ridden it, it's not easy. The only way I can describe triple trouble A line to any one - get a dinner table or desk, put it right at the top of a flight of stairs (with the legs literally on the top step) then ride off the table straight down the stairs... Theres a couple of parts of the course in the normal park (not fenced off) one's an uphill rocky section that Ive seen no one ride outside of the races just be casue they cant.

Yep £45 is a bit of money (it was orig supposed to be £20 for 2 hours but in 2 hours you would have dont maybe 3 things) but well worth it, the coaches are really good and will give you loads of tips on improving your riding in general not just about the course, Ill be honest I was a guinea pig and got to ride it for free, and may have the chance to do so again, but Ill be paying for another go in December and hopefully in January too. At the end of the day its a chance to ride the course as it was, we don't know how theyre gonig to change it next year but it def wont be like it is now.

VWsurfbum

Fair points, tripple trouble looked gnarley when watching the mens race, i must admit the way you described it is how i saw it too.
If i'm bored one weekend or have nothing planned, then maybe i'll sign up, but theres other things that require riding

bigdawg

it wasn't a dig at you, but like you im fed up with guys saying how easy the course is when all theyve done is seen it ridden by the worlds best riders and a couple of U tube videos

How that canadian girl rode it with a broken collar bone is totally beyond my comprehension, esp when I see good black run riders stopping to drop their seatposts before trying bits of it..!

you racing next year..??

stylish

It scared the beejeezus out of me watching the mens race at the olympics, and i recall standing with my mate and trying to figure out how we could ride it, now i like to consider myself as a master at crashing, and after hearing how one of the CCN guys broke a rib and his collarbone last weekend, im not to keen at all at the moment!

Spent far too long in and out of hospital this year, and i cant afford to have any more time off work!

hopper1

Bugger! I miss the Thetford and both TBA rounds
I'd love to pay the £45 and ride the course, but how do you prove competence?...
Thetfords Black run is hardly in the same ballpark, is it...

stylish

Thetfords Black Route has been downgraded to a mild grey, as for the skills test, i suppose you have to show you can balance a bike and bounce.....

evo3ben

Hopefully going to do all 8 races 8) Days that working have been booked off with work and family holiday can be worked around them I train flipping hard enough not to miss any of them.

I would love to have a ride around the course at Hadleigh so long as i can chicken out and take the easier lines on the big stuff like Tripple Trouble lol. I have done black routes before in Wales etc but im not the most confident on the big stuff which needs confidence and commitment as hesitation will prob put me on the deck :oops: