We’ve been out today and ridden pretty much the 50k route and the going is fantastic. Mostly dusty trails so if the weather this next week is good next weekend will be quite easy going compared with last year.
was up pootling around Cleeve Hill Saturday – dry and dusty – but just a dash of driving hail for 10 minutes as a reminder of past years…. should be good
Glad to see that road climb from the start last year has been dropped (though I wonder what the replacement will be like…)
Looking forward to it and now considering the longer routes since the conditions sound better than last year (where I did 75k on what I then thought was zero fitness but now realise that compared to this year, I was as fit as superman…).
Having ridden it several times on mtbs, I rode it on my cross bike last year and reckon it’s around 134 times better – fast on the road and the relatively non-technical stuff for an mtb is much more fun on a cross bike 🙂
It was rather wet last year though, clubber. The last time I rode it was on a crosser, but not sure I’d do so again when it’s very dry (as it was then). Good on tarmac and fun on a lot of the off road, but the rutted stuff baked solid – of which there was a considerable amount – was not any fun at all.
I had a bit of a spill last year and knackered my bike, I guy called pat alexander who was looking after the marshals I think, lent me his spanking new whyte out of his van to do the rest of the course on.
Does anyone know if he is involved this year ?
Pat will be out on Sunday.
If conditions get any dryer then some of the lumpy fields are
going to be really interesting for those with not suspension.. 😈
Oh and if he has the Whyte 19 team he was riding the other week end, you would kill to ride it.
My choices are ‘CX’ bike (i.e. my rather sturdy commuter with some CX tyres on it), a woefully undergeared (though still rigid) singlespeed or a stupidly overweight and overbiked full sus.
At least it looks like it isn’t going to rain – looked at the weather yesterday and it was dry all week except for just Sunday morning when it was going to tip it down!!! All changed today!