Mud Sweat & Gears 2014

cycleclinic

Well that was good and bumpy. 159 bpm average could I have worked harder, I will see next time.

WindyG

Was a good race and yep very bumpy not to sure about the standard of some of the riders though, saw so many make daft moves on the first lap to just go and bin because of those ruts. One rider got past me messed up went over the bars came back past me again and then crashed again, never saw him after that, I came 27th so was happy with that, my bpm avg was 177.

berm bandit

Tell you what, when I cleared up it was silky smooth.... ;-)

Hope you had a good day

G

WindyG

berm bandit wrote:

Tell you what, when I cleared up it was silky smooth.... ;-)

Hope you had a good day

G

lol I bet it was, I enjoyed it the lap was good and did make you think a bit, any lapse in concentration was going to end badly, the bomb holes were good too. The only thing I wasn't sure about was the start being on the corner and not a few foot further forward on the straight.

evo3ben

Was a good race but im glad its out of the way. Very rutty and humpy. I thought Thetford was bad for the humpy woops things lol. The ruts made it technical with the slightest loss of concentration causing problems. You needed to be wise with the rutty single track, hold back a little and be patient as these were the places where your race could be lost (or someone elses).
Parking was a bit of a mere having to park so far away from the start area. When i turned up at midday, it still busy from the morning races. Not the most ideal lay out but definately the best was made of it.
All in all i thought that as usual Matt, G and crew done a great job, atmosphere was buzzing and was a great start to the series. The weather certainly helped so if Matt and G could book the nice weather again for the next round that would be cool

berm bandit

Yep Windy, you're not wrong the start was a difficult one. Problem with the fire road is that you can't drive stakes into it and we could only reasonably get 5 across which would have left the grid queueing half way to Lowestoft. Actually it ran very smoothly and was no issue from a safety viewpoint, which is what we're after. My big concern was the corner just after with the stack of logs, spent a lot of time there digging holes to get it staked up and taped off, but it was worth it.
The original plan was to have the arena at the other end of the course where you popped out of the trees after the little pit and before the first big one, but a lesser spotted fern eating warbler or similar showed up, so the arena and parking was very much last minute.com

bigdawg

Berm Bandit what kind of course is the next one, flat / fast, bumpy, hilly techy..??

berm bandit

Carver: Flat, will be quick if dry with some interesting technical challenges.

I meant to say on my last post that evo3ben is also right with his assessment. I knew a lot of people would be rocking up thinking easy peasey, flat as, and so on, but in fact it was a very challenging course to ride well. Much like Hadleigh, it demands concentration virtually the whole way round and a moments inattention will bite you. Mind you the penalty for failure is a lot less at Rendlesham as was reflected in the medics report which was pretty bland.

WindyG

Fair point about the start, I hadn't thought about the stakes etc. Most of the off's I saw were on the first lap due to people being too optimistic, of those I did see riders just jumped back on with no issues.

berm bandit

Yep, I and many others have learnt the skills to ride on rocks at Rendlesham and Tunstall. The basic concepts of looking further ahead and picking your line, not closing up too much on the fella in front are all there. Finding the smooth flowing line is the key. Defo don't be dropping it in a rut. Bottom line though is the penalty for failure is sooooooo much lower than on rock. :-)

Overall I think it had the appropriate levels of challenge for most people and pretty much everyone I asked said they had enjoyed their day, which is what its all about ultimately.

WindyG

100% agree there wasn't a single bit I didn't like, it had decent bit of everything for all skill levels I thought.

stylish

One thing I would like too add about the start for the afternoon races is this, the wind seemed to have dropped a little meaning the dust cloud held in the air a little longer than it did in the morning, G was stood on the exit of the first corner and was in radio contact with myself and the other commisaires to ensure a clear gap and good visibility for each category, and too allow riders too make it into the first singletrack, hopefully this didn't cause too many problems for people, but its a tough call to make when there are a lot of fast riders all fired up to race.

Round 2 could be different, as im hearing of a tarmac start straight......think of the speed on that!

paddingtonpad

Great race Graham! I actually loved the course, it just felt fast the whole way round with no real slogs. Although I did crash twice in the first lap, both times while following Stephen James!

Carver Barracks sounds like it will be interesting, an old runway as a start straight I hear. Should be wide enough this time! Could have the whole field on one row. Also Andrew (Callum's dad), after hearing of my lovely new set of 710mm bars, told me that there's a 720mm gap between two trees at Carver. :shock:

stylish

Andrew was telling me about the gap in the trees, my only idea would be too close your eyes and see if you get through! That could be an interesting point for photos, had better tip the old man off about that one.

Paddy, did you crash while Steve was sneezing? He was rough as hell when I spoke too him before his practice lap.

paddingtonpad

I heard that Steve was feeling rough, but I was really surprised when I found myself keeping up with him, I guess that's why.
He was a bit indecisive about which way to go around a tree, so I didn't notice that the tree was there and hit it!

berm bandit

....ahhhhh that'll be the too close to the rider in front conundrum young Paddy-wan.

Too close and you can‘t react to what’s coming quickly enough, too far back and you can’t take the overtaking opportunities. It requires a lot of concentration and a good plan for passing points.

Thanks very much for your kind words. I fretted a lot about the course, because I could see that there was a lot of potential for criticism. However, if you look at it as rocks made out of mud it makes more sense. Line choice and race planning being the premium qualities required.

I was really chuffed to see you young guys getting involved with coaching the youngsters. Made this old biffer proud it did! How did it go for you??

G

sdminus

Regarding the national xc race being organised by MSG. Can you give any information as to what the ground is like there at the moment. also any other info !

basically is it muddy ?

Thanks

paddingtonpad

Yeah, I was following him too close really, I wanted to get past and chase Rich but he just took off on every fireroad so I had to try and get by on the singletrack.

The coaching was pretty good, it was really fulfilling to see them progress through the little session we did. Although a lot of them did find it pretty hard because of the uneven ground (we were doing the riding around squares thing).
Also we were a bit clueless at first, but we all got into it by the end.

berm bandit

To be fair I always had you down as Clueless ;-)

bigdawg

SD Minus - are you talking about Codham?? Im sure BB will put me right if im wrong but I was under the impression there were two rounds at codham this year - the national and the MS&Gs

Codham is a great course, but can turn to nightmare conditions within minutes, and its always the forest section. One year we started in glorious sunshine but literally 15 minutes from the end the skies opened and a particularly clay(ey) section literally stopped riders in their tracks I remember riding through a group of about 15 riders who tyres were about 4 inches thicker than when started.

With codham, if in doubt use tyres that clear easily.

Its also on private ground so unless youre on one of the courses its no go...

sdminus

Thanks but I am fully aware of the restrictions and what the place can be like.

that's the reason for asking.

Thanks

berm bandit

Codham current conditions are dry, much as last years MSG event :-)

We are forecast a couple of showers between now and the weekend, but nothing major.

G

berm bandit

We have now had the "couple of showers" and conditions in the woods are currently greasy, but we expect after dragging it will be much improved.

bigdawg

is it the same course as last year BB..??

PuttyKnees

What's the course at Codham like? I tried to find some youtube footage but it wasn't very enlightening. Is it technical? Hilly?

bigdawg

it quite literally has everything - a really good course - one half is a sandy drop off into berms with short sharp climbs, into (if the same as last year) part of a prof bmx track, out uphill round the course to wider open places to overtake with drops and thne into singletrack into the forest, they even through a rock garden in last year..!

PuttyKnees

That sounds good. The youtube footage looked like a cx course, but that sounds fun!

berm bandit

Similar to last year BD. Not the same, but similar.

We are using the whole BMX track this time, (I‘m busily making up signs saying as follows :- 1) In the Land of BMX, 2) Speed May Not Be Your Friend, and 3) Try Before You Fly…. Presuming you recall the carnage from 2013. :shock:

We have a new line into the ravine at the back of the sandpit which is pretty awesome and quite a bit of the sandpit has had to change due to wind damage to the trees. This has a B line that goes via Daventry or somewhere, the rest is not B lined at the moment.

The arena is in the field rather than on the hill.

That apart very similar.

YellaBelly

Weather forecast for Codham is dry. Having never ridden there, and being up north where it's quite drizzly at the minute, would those in the know recommend low profile tyres front and back, or should I keep something with a bit more bite up front? Or even on the back too?

bigdawg

if its dry dry then low profile front and rear, but if the course is dry but forest still a bit muddy youll need something to shed mud easily. A few years back the whole course was bone dry but the forest was still very muddy