Mud Sweat & Gears 2014

WindyG

I thought that was a bit harsh too, anet367 do you know what is takes to organise these events? sometimes it is out of the control of the organisers due to restrictions imposed by the Forestry Commission let alone any other factors, I'm pretty sure no one would have wanted either of the dates to clash. I was hoping to do both.

bigdawg

theres some good races there, unfortunately some a bit too far for me, but saying that I currently havent even got a rideable bike at the moment!

berm bandit

anet367 RE the clash of weekends.

We knew well in advance that MSG 5 would be an issue for us, which is why we formulated our dates months ago, registered them with BC, and published them as far back as October. (You can even see on this thread that we posted them here on 27/10/2013). The reason for the date is as follows, and if you can find me an alternative in there that will work please feel free to suggest it.

8-6-2014 MSG Round 3
15-6-2014 British XC Points Series Margam Park
22-6-2014 Mountain Mayhem
29-6-2014 MSG 4
5-7-2014 Tour De France UK stages (in which we are involved so we cannot work on this weekend)
13-7-2014 British XC Points Series Sherwood
20-7-2014 British XC Nationals Hopton
27-7-2014 Currently free
3-8-2014 MSG 5

Unfortunately, the other promoter decided that the 28th belongs to him and there is nothing we can do about that, but I suggest you follow up your complaint here http://www.thetfordmtbracing.com/forum/ , as the clash is nowt to do with us.

anet367

Blimey, you're a sensitive lot !!

Re the dates, two races in the same area on the same weekend would seem more of a "clash" than with say Mountain Mayhem - but what do I know. Of course all dates are now set and it will be interesting to see if numbers are affected at one - just seems a shame.

Summer Enduro for me

berm bandit

Not at all sensitive just factual. I agree though, I'm sure it may have been better for the summer enduro to have gone for MM weekend, but that wasn't the choice they made, and its not for us to question their decision.

bigdawg

G as Im currently without a rolling bike, and tunstall is not very 'technical' would I be able to race vets on a cyclocross bike??

It is literally a 29er with drop bars.... kinda!

berm bandit

Short Answer : No

Longer Answer is : Clues i nthe name, i.e. MTB race, however if you look at the rule book the definition of an MTB is very hazy. So in essence it comes down to the Commissaire on the day to look at the course and make decisions about what he considers safe or not. So basically you can roll up on one, but knowing what I know about Commissaires and the course I would say you may well get turned down, so if you do it’s an on your own head risk which in my judgement is likely to go the wrong way for you.

bigdawg

No worries G, had to ask as at the moment Im struggling to get my MTB back to fitness for racing...

berm bandit

Totally understand. Any chance of fitting some straight bars or similar? Might be a way out.

WindyG

So anybody else signed up for this? only a week to go, really looking forward to it.

jimbo33x

WindyG wrote:

So anybody else signed up for this? only a week to go, really looking forward to it.

Yep, did five rounds last year, really enjoyed it, never raced before. Signed up for the full series this year.

WindyG

I've signed up to do all 8, I did 6 last year, got the last round of 5x3 this weekend so a nice warm up for Rendlesham.

jimbo33x

WindyG wrote:

I've signed up to do all 8, I did 6 last year, got the last round of 5x3 this weekend so a nice warm up for Rendlesham.

Be there myself, have a good race

evo3ben

Yep signed up for all 8 and only paid for 6, great deal 8) In the Sport cat this year, did Open last year.

WindyG

evo3ben wrote:

Yep signed up for all 8 and only paid for 6, great deal 8) In the Sport cat this year, did Open last year.

Ben your showing in both Open and Sport. Tough Cat sport with a couple of very quick riders. I've enter all 8 in Open again.

bigdawg

FFS!!!!!! Bikes now ready but cars gone pop! Looks like Im out of this weekend

WindyG

bigdawg wrote:

FFS!!!!!! Bikes now ready but cars gone pop! Looks like Im out of this weekend

Where are you coming from? Might be worth a cheeky shout on the FB page and see if anyone near you might offer a lift.

evo3ben

WindyG wrote:

Ben your showing in both Open and Sport. Tough Cat sport with a couple of very quick riders. I've enter all 8 in Open again.

Little mistake on my behalf lol, Matt hasnt taken my name off the first Open race yet.
Def some fast guys in Sport and I will be down the rankings for a while but hoping to change that

'bigdawg', where abouts are you?

bigdawg

im in southend - I have had a few offers of lifts, thanks guys - but ive got to wait to see what the bill for the cars goingto be!

May get there yet - everything crossed

stylish

I'm going, big change though, I'm pointing and blowing a whistle.....

WindyG

stylish wrote:

I'm going, big change though, I'm pointing and blowing a whistle.....

And shouting at me :-)
Adam has entered Vet cat, I reckon he'll do well.

bigdawg

just a general question here, im not in any way questioning decisions, but just after general opinions.

back up there I was asking G if I could race on my cyclocross bike, and he quite rightly said it'll be down to the comisare on the day and their interpretation of a bike fit for the course. This got me thinking, about a couple of things, Ive ridden most of the olympic course on my cx bike so if I can ride that on it then there arent many other courses that would cause me problems (no I didnt even attempt triple trouble!).

But question thrown out, would you say or do anything if a cx bike rolled up to the start line of a mtb race you were entered into?? At the end of the day its literally a 29er with different bars...

I would say in the past (pre 29 wheels) I have actually questioned cx bikes being allowed to race and gain points in mtb races.

pilch

Why dont you enter a cyclocross race?

bigdawg

i do - cross season is over now until september...

and it was just a rhetorical question...

berm bandit

In essence these are the MTB rules regarding the bike.

3. EQUIPMENT
3.1 The Bicycle
3.1.1 Bicycles used in competition must be capable of safely
and efficiently completing the task and must, as a
minimum, be mechanically sound, have efficient
brakes on all wheels and all reasonable steps must be
taken to ensure the safety of the rider and others. As
part of the latter, bar plugs are compulsory.
3.1.2 If, in the opinion of the appointed commissaire, a
bicycle fails to meet the above criteria the rider must
take immediate steps to ensure the necessary steps
are taken to remedy the shortcomings and ensure the
commissaire’s requests are met.

My personal view would be that a CX bike is not capable of safely and efficiently completing the task. As you yourself said you didn’t attempt Triple Trouble, one of the less demanding of the obstacles on the Olympic course, which kind of proves the point if you think about it. So as you can see you are very exposed to an on the day decision by the official.

Like I say I reckon the clue is in the name….MTB race. ;-)

bigdawg

I was just after opinions tbh - my mtb is ready to roll, and Im still running 26'' whcih have never held me back, I just had a wonder when I saw my cx & xc bikes next to each other this morning.

I hope your tounge was firmly in your cheek though with.... ''one of the less demanding of the obstacles on the Olympic course''



thatll be a twice gold medalist!

berm bandit

Tongue In Cheek: No not really, I'm not saying it's easy, it clearly isn't. Just that there are others which are much harder and much more challenging. You will notice that we left it in for MSG, but took out some of Deanes Drop and all of the Rock Garden, logic being that far fewer folk trash themselves on TT. So out of all the obstacles on the original course I'd rate it 3rd or even perhaps 4th most demanding. :shock:

bigdawg

actually the more i think about it youre right BB - I have more trouble with leap of faith than triple trouble

but thats another story...

berm bandit

And I still wouldn't do it on a CX bike!

cycleclinic

That course scared me half to death I don't ride on rocks normally so I have no experience on how my bike/tyres behave on them and thats when the fear starts.

I know where I am on dirt = round 1 of moorish mono sodium glutamate here I come.