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

bigdawg

it has been going on forever - I remember a 'fun' race at gorrick in 96/97 which was won with a faster lap time than the sports winner.

the 'winner' got pretty shirty because there was no prize for the winner, only spot prizes for random finishers.

sdminus

Does anybody know the current condition of the course ?????

stylish

There are some pictures up on the facebook page, its looking quite sticky at the moment, but the local forecast for tomorrow wont help at all, but sunday has changed to cloudy according to the bbc local news map pointer smiley lady.

Ditch the mud tyres and slap on the drys, im hoping for a heatwave............

hopper1

stylish wrote:

There are some pictures up on the facebook page, its looking quite sticky at the moment, but the local forecast for tomorrow wont help at all, but sunday has changed to cloudy according to the bbc local news map pointer smiley lady.

Ditch the mud tyres and slap on the drys, im hoping for a heatwave............

Oh, please... My chest is sore enough as it is, without your one liners...

sdminus

Has any body riden it this week or today ?? I've seen the pics and they say very little

grony

sdminus wrote:

Has any body riden it this week or today ?? I've seen the pics and they say very little

I suspect the photos selected for Fbook tell us very little about tomorrow's conditions, especially given the forecast for the next 24 hours.

stylish

A big concern will be the wind, had a warning come up on the work phone of 50mph winds across East Anglia, and coming in from the coast, that could be more of a problem than the rain if im honest.

Very wet ground + sandy soil base + trees + high winds = lots of stuff falling over in a hurry.......

GringoJimi

stylish wrote:

Very wet ground + sandy soil base + trees + high winds = lots of stuff falling over in a hurry.......

A different obstacle to negotiate on each lap! Should keep us on our toes

stylish

Well that was fun, the rain held off and the course wasn't too bad in the end, really enjoyed it if I'm honest. Fast in bits and tricky in others, big thanks to Matt and all his team on the day.

Next time I shall talk myself out of giving a chicken run a try, cost me 4 places, it went so far off course it was in another postcode area....

grony

I really enjoyed it. Thanks to those whose encouragement persuaded me to give it a go. The course, though extremely muddy in places, was not in as bad a shape as I was expecting. That would be a stunningly good loop if it was dry.

WindyG

It was a great course, yeah the muddy bit was tough but overall quite a fast flowing course, Darren I told you the chicken run wasn't a good choice did you cross that stream/ditch bit?
Well done evo3ben getting 4th place.

grony

Chicken run was a good bit longer, but have you seen the number of people in the photos who came a cropper on the descent in the technical section?

cycleclinic

I did today. I was hoping it was not going to be muddy. Half the course was O.K for my tyres, half was not and it was like being on ice. Still managed 8th in the Master though. I enjoyed it too. Back to my normal tyres though, no more experiments. I took the chicken run on the first lap, spent the second catching up with the people I passed on the first. I though that decent even on my Geax tyres was easy. In the mud they gave no grip. In the dry however they wold be ace.

Given Cobban park is liekly to be a mud fest how hilly is it? I do not fancy trashing my drive train and may run one gear for this race. Would a 1:2 ratio suffice?

Where are the photos?

WindyG

grony what pictures are you looking at?
I had Rocket Rons on, I slid around a bit but still kept upright apart from when I went wide and hit a tree. I did the chicken run on the last lap and went through that stupid stream bit, it was worse than the pit. Saw a lot getting off and walking the muddy section at the top of the hill.

grony

Go to Flickr and search randomoldbloke.

stylish

i think my dad got some cracking shots in the junk pit, he is fairly easy to spot, he always has this huge furry hat on.......
Windy you cleaned that bike yet? i couldnt leave mine covered in crap, so had to do it when i got home, and its restored to shiny again now so im happy.

see you at Codham.

WindyG

Cleaned up the chain and cassette and lubed them, brushed the bulk of the mud off, i'll give it a proper clean in the next couple of days.

guity

I enjoyed the course overall. The boggy climb was painful but I just used it to count down the laps and was happy to get to the last one! Good pictures from randomoldbloke too here.

anet367

Some "crash" pictures from Junk pit - everyone said they were OK !! Just wish I'd started taking them earlier!! No idea who they are, so if you know them, please pass the picture on.

ollie51

That was a nice little race, weather held out luckily and I found racing ralphs to be adequate, just about. I managed to win by a decent margin so it was nice to mess around in the singletrack on the last couple of laps!

That long draggy muddy section was far from inspiring though...

I wrote at little blog post about it too, linky: http://oeracing.blogspot.co.uk/

grony

Get on with your History

evo3ben

Was great to meet you 'windyg' 8) Hopefully will catch up with you again at Codham!
Was a good race but not sure my tyre choice was best. Dirty Dan on the rear seemed to hold me up in the mud more than anything. Ron on the front was ok. Led for first part of first lap but had to settle for 4th in end. Good start to the series 8) Well done to everyone!!!

WindyG

Good to meet you to Ben, I'm all signed up for Codham so see you there.

cycleclinic

Thanks for those pics. Phil buick went down, he's quite skilled too and bloody fast. Still it makes me feel better than on my tyres which were more like slicks I managed to go through that pit without falling off. Now I know why some people clapped had not realised people were falling off.

IhateDNS

Well done all and who getting in top five.

anet367

Whilst the race turned out well weather wise, I still think the format is a little questionable.

In the ladies races, they only had to do 3 laps, with the winner finishing in just over an hour (this used to be a 2hr race).

Also in the men's race the elite/expert riders went off well over 5 mins ahead of the vets, however once the lead Elite rider had finished the race was over for everyone - only 7 vet riders out of 50 managed to get in the full 5 laps!!

It is not surprising that an Elite rider will lap others in the field, especially when they get such a head start. This is a very unfair approach.

VWsurfbum

Agree'd.
I think the whole format needs looking at, I dont think "laps" should be a hard and fast rule, I think Time is better, ok to give a estimate, but not 3 laps and thats it. 1 or 2hr and finish the lap your on, how it used to be.

bigdawg

oh look, winning vet won in a time that would have put him 2nd in Elite.... :roll:

got to be time to change it to two different categories:

Expert (ie non licence holding fast people)
Elite/pro (as it says)

If anyone does have any complaints always email Matt andthe team at MS&Gs - they have in the past always helped me and sorted some things out in the past.

pilch

I thought it was well organised tbh, it's hard to please everybody... they did a good job IMO - they need to have some space between categories otherwise it would be carnage with a mass start.

It was a pretty rapid course which didn't help matters as the fast guys were lapping in well under 20 mins, so thats why so few vets got to do their 5th lap...

bigdawg

trouble with bigger gaps between start times is that the elite guys would be coming round for their second lap, which nearly happened when there was a crash on the start line I think in Thetford a year or so back.

The year before last they did have mass starts towards the end ofthe sdeason as there were a lot of complaints about some grand vet riders who were literally barging their way past slower riders in the groups before them - causing accidents and riding over one riders bike that I actually saw and reported.

It was the first race of the year though, other than the conditions Ive not heard of any real complaints other than the under 12s race!