Salisbury Plain Winter Challenge 2013 - anyone?

photonic69

Any of you guys and gals entering this?>

http://www.spamwinterchallenge.co.uk/

My mate and I are entering to see if we can do it. Currently in training but so far have only clocked up 20 miles max in the Mendips. Has any one done this before and knows what to expect?

Also from the site it says "The SPAM Winter Challenge is a Mountain Bike Enduro run on the hard pack, all weather trails of Salisbury Plain. As a descendant of the original Salisbury Plain Challenge, this is the original Winter MTB Event. CX bikes are now also welcome!" I'm just unsure of what choice of tyres to use for this. I have Rubber Queens which are quite good on the single track and downhills, Maxxis Beavers for the muddy conditions, or small block Vera Eos (truely horrids tyres that came with the bike but are OK for tow/cycle paths) but they clog with mud quite easily. Quite happy to get a new set of tyres for this challenge as the Rubber Queens are a real biatch to get on/off the rims.

Suggestions open please.

Ta Nick

rockmonkeysc

I have done it before a couple times and it's pretty dull. About 90% of the 35km and 50km routes are road and all of the 25km route is road.
If it's at all wet the off road bits are horrible, the dirt is very chalky so it clogs your tyres straight away.
I won't be doing it again this year, even the SPAM club members I know wont be doing it.

photonic69

Ah! Really? Sounds a bit rubbish then. I know all about the chalky mud hence my Beavers (which work quite well out there). The RQ and the Beavers will be a bit overkill on all the road sections then and the crap EOS's are hopeless in anything off road.

Do ya reckon Maxxis Crossmarks would be a good choice for this?

rockmonkeysc

To be honest the course is best suited to a CX bike.