Mud Sweat & Gears 2014

evo3ben

Two venues still to be confirmed for this year. Any news Graham?

sdminus

Thanks.
Not sounding great. Will see how it is on sat and decide from there.

paddingtonpad

Well I don't know about other people, but I though that was fucking brilliant. (The national at Codham I mean).

njee20

Better than I expected, wouldn't go that far though. Bloody glad it was dry, would've been horrendous in the wet!

Certainly a course of two halves - half CX, half BMX. That grind up through the start was grim!

paddingtonpad

It wasn't that the course that was amazingly fun (it was in places, but some bits were a bit draggy) all the way round, it's more that it raced really well, plenty of places to overtake and attack, crush your legs (and your opponents?) up steep climbs, but then enough singletrack and little tech(ish) sections to get a gap on the CXers.

njee20

Yeah, it was good! Just not "fucking brilliant" ;-)

bigdawg

Sounds like a really good race, shame it looks as though Im missing both codhams this year - one of my favourite courses (in the dry!?)

berm bandit

It went V well BD, not *********** well but V Well ;-)

pilch

I was a little saddened that they didn't let Graham on the Mike, tbh

PuttyKnees

Fun race. As a regular cx racer there wasn't much on there that resembled cross! We'd have been up/down/across the banks a few more times!

berm bandit

I'm pretty glad they didn't to be honest pilch. Last time they did that at a National I got confused between the mike, my radio and my phone, and confidently told someone where to go over the PA thinking I was talking into the radio!! Bit embaressing. :oops: :oops: :oops:

Regarding the course: Matt and I did talk to a number of the MTB worlds glitterati after the race, and it went like this:-

Lee Craigie : Not technical enough
Nick Craig : Not going to be a favourite but raced well
Phil Dixon : You could see a lot of thought had gone into it.

Overall, what we tried to do was to introduce a course with a lot of variety that you could race on and was a test for the best. I think we just about achieved that. So I’ll take that.
Especially pleased with the start. What I wanted was for there to be no tailback at the bridge. So we had lots of thinning measures in place and it worked a treat. Every single race was down to single file well before getting to the bridge. Bit of a bar steward for the rest of the race though as that climb up through the feedzone was a killer lap on lap.

pilch

yeah.... I thought the glue section after exiting the feed station was a bit excessive though

berm bandit

On Thursday I posted up about it being sticky. To tell you the truth I'm amazed by how dry most of it was in the end. The woods has a number of natural springs in it, and with the aquafers being so full after the winter the gorund is not draining at all well, so when we had those showers I was worrying that we'd have a greasy mud fest everywhere. Shouldn't have though should I ? Overall pretty dry throughout.

pilch

I still have bad memories of the 2012 round when my bike weighed more than me after 2 laps... so a very pleasant surprise to find it in such good condition at this time of year, good job as ever by you guys

paddingtonpad

I suppose it could have done with some more tech sections, but for a field in Essex, you can't really ask for much more (unless you're at Hadleigh!).

I think it was more the race in general and the atmosphere that did it for me, and the weather! Come to think of it, I haven't really had a race this year that I wouldn't describe as "*expletive* brilliant".

njee20

Overall, what we tried to do was to introduce a course with a lot of variety that you could race on and was a test for the best. I think we just about achieved that. So I’ll take that.
Especially pleased with the start. What I wanted was for there to be no tailback at the bridge. So we had lots of thinning measures in place and it worked a treat. Every single race was down to single file well before getting to the bridge. Bit of a bar steward for the rest of the race though as that climb up through the feedzone was a killer lap on lap.

And you absolutely nailed that, well done. The Elite race (and others to an extent) had a bit of a bottleneck at the RH corner before the bridge, but wasn't too horrendous.

bigdawg

where is this bridge - have I just been riding codham with my eyes shut for the last few years?? I dont ever recalling a bridge..

berm bandit

First time into the woods from the arena, immediately before a 110 degree turn that takes you out of the woods and uphill before coming back to the paddock and turning off to the drop by the workshop.

bigdawg

oh that bridge... :oops:

sorry tuesday morning brain not working..!

PuttyKnees

The bridge was a bit of a bottleneck on the vets, but not horrendous - it was all moving. It was my only opportunity to get a bit of overtaking in, so wasn't upset about it. It's hard to see how it could have been any more technical really, unless you were able to dig out some drop offs or were able to put in some feature instead of the long straight double track. What that could be I don't know.

berm bandit

I think it proves that it is possible to get a fast flowing field into single track without massive problems in a relatively short distance even if you don't have massive climbs to do it. Not sure how it would have run with say a D2D size field though. Probably the biggest worry for me of the weekend that one.

Also quite pleased with the lack of carnage in the BMX/Sand Pit/Ravine areas.

paddingtonpad

The climb worked a treat to separate the field out, although in the juniors, everyone bombed it off the line and up the hill, then slowed down again across the top. I made up a whole load of places over there, trying to make up for my typically abysmal start. I also managed a cheeky overtake on the bridge!
It was a whole lot better than the Cornwall race, which I hope they've changed, where there was 80m or so of flat grassy start before a single file gate! Graham, you should go down to Fully Sussed and sort it out for them with your organising expertise! They may have the terrain but we have the good starts!

berm bandit

Thanks Paddy, I'm sure they know what they're doing, besides it'll be the same comms dictating whats going on, so it should be safe.

YellaBelly

berm bandit wrote:

Also quite pleased with the lack of carnage in the BMX/Sand Pit/Ravine areas.

The BMX track caused me some carnage! :oops:

berm bandit

I had a little go on the Quad.....more difficult than it looks isn't it :shock:

IhateDNS

How was yesterday then?

Edit: unusual not to hear BB

berm bandit

We thought it was pretty damn good, others may differ, but feedback generally was very positive.

WindyG

I thought it was a great course, had little bit of everything to test most people, gravel start was a little unnerving but I went wide and it was all fine, I didn't like the drop in but that was my issue and not something that made the course bad in anyway.
In my race it looked like a lot went off pretty quick but suffered for it later, I got quicker each lap and caught a few of them up and enjoyed a great sprint finish to grab an extra place. So far meeting my aims of point finishes.

evo3ben

I thought the course was really good fun! Had nearly every type of surface you could ask for which if you wasn't on the ball would bite you hard. I think it did for some unfortunately.
The log drop to gap jump was good even though i didn't jump the gap i just dropped my front wheel over it. I did use the 'B' line on the first lap of the sport race as there was a bit of congestion. Should have been patient as i lost a few places. Got caught behind a few crashes on first lap which held me up a bit.
All in all i thought the course was one of the best MSG courses from the past 4 years i have been racing MSG and a massive well done to all involved!
You cant please all unfortunately but if someone didn't think it was hard enough then maybe they should be racing National series races and not just regional. In my opinion (on the technical side of things) Regional series racing should be easier than National series racing and National series racing easier than World Cup series racing if that makes sense.

berm bandit

Total sense evo and they should also be a natural progression. Sadly the gap between Regional and National, and then National and International is too big currently and thats why we struggle on the big stage as a nation. I think we all figured that out last year at Hadleigh. No reason why all of those steps shouldn't be broad churches though, just needs a B line in the odd appropriate place.

Personally I was well chuffed with it, and I especially liked the B line with a little challenge i nthe middle.

G