Southern XC rd1
Discussion
http://www.southernxc.net/
So I'm bailing out of the TT on Sunday as the bike is not ready 'insert additional random excuses here' and I'm still recovering from Turkish flu.
I remembered that these events were mentioned before and Slough isn't far and the course is supposed to be a good flowing one. Entry went in yesterday and if any of you are there post up, it would be good to put faces to names
As before I will be at the middle to rear of the chasing group and will probably wimp out of the final lap if not before. Looking forward to it as it seems like ages ago the last time I scared the crap out of myself on the mtb.
So I'm bailing out of the TT on Sunday as the bike is not ready 'insert additional random excuses here' and I'm still recovering from Turkish flu.
I remembered that these events were mentioned before and Slough isn't far and the course is supposed to be a good flowing one. Entry went in yesterday and if any of you are there post up, it would be good to put faces to names
As before I will be at the middle to rear of the chasing group and will probably wimp out of the final lap if not before. Looking forward to it as it seems like ages ago the last time I scared the crap out of myself on the mtb.
I'll be there racing in Open.
I was there today with a few other guys from my club clearing the course and sorting out a couple of new bits of singletrack to avoid a couple of the muddy bits. The majority of the course is bone dry, almost dusty in some places
It's a flat course with next to no elevation change on a lap and a lap is about 3.5 miles or so.
The weather forecast is looking good for the race and they've got the biggest pre-entry yet for the first round of the series.
I'm looking forward to it and I'm just starting to realise now that I've not done anything like enough training this winter!
I was there today with a few other guys from my club clearing the course and sorting out a couple of new bits of singletrack to avoid a couple of the muddy bits. The majority of the course is bone dry, almost dusty in some places
It's a flat course with next to no elevation change on a lap and a lap is about 3.5 miles or so.
The weather forecast is looking good for the race and they've got the biggest pre-entry yet for the first round of the series.
I'm looking forward to it and I'm just starting to realise now that I've not done anything like enough training this winter!
neenaw said:
Yep, you start at 12:30 for 5 laps and the open starts at 12:36 for 3 laps.
I'll be floating around in red West Drayton/Specialized kit riding a black Niner Air9, possibly still singlespeed if I don't get my finger out tomorrow and stick some gears back on it!
I'll keep a look out. I'll be in a red/black VC10 top riding a Scott hardtail. Having a nightmare with a new rear tyre. It's got fI'll be floating around in red West Drayton/Specialized kit riding a black Niner Air9, possibly still singlespeed if I don't get my finger out tomorrow and stick some gears back on it!
king pinholes in the sidewall and is proving a bh to seal, even with Stans. Very pissed off with Wiggle. I'll have to switch back to the Crossmark if it goes flat again, bleedin nuisance. neenaw said:
Yep, you start at 12:30 for 5 laps and the open starts at 12:36 for 3 laps.
I'll be floating around in red West Drayton/Specialized kit riding a black Niner Air9, possibly still singlespeed if I don't get my finger out tomorrow and stick some gears back on it!
I'll keep a look out. I'll be in a red/black VC10 top riding a Scott hardtail. Having a nightmare with a new rear tyre. It's got fI'll be floating around in red West Drayton/Specialized kit riding a black Niner Air9, possibly still singlespeed if I don't get my finger out tomorrow and stick some gears back on it!
king pinholes in the sidewall and is proving a bh to seal, even with Stans. Very pissed off with Wiggle. I'll have to switch back to the Crossmark if it goes flat again, bleedin nuisance. Another early bath 
Slippy and technical (for me) I was all over the place on the sighting lap, off three times on roots and generally lacking confidence to carry speed. Dropped the pressures on the line (twice) and it did help a bit. The race was ok but the falls messed the shifting up, lost the inner ring initially and then it started jumping and jammed the chain. The longer it went on the more bloody annoyed I got, one more jam and it was almost tree eating time. It went into the double hole and I ended up dragging the fker through it, PITA. That was it, crawled back to the car making lots of grinding noises.
The course was good but for me a minefield, showed up my lack of skill on the bike when it came to the bomb holes, very tight in places and easy to catch the edge of a tyre on a root. that's prolly it for racing, I'll stick to trails and messing about locally, today the faster lads just tore through, I wasn't breathing hard, too much concentration on the roots etc. Basically I'm a road rider and more than ever today it was shown up Shame as I was well up for 5 laps, never mind. No injuries, bike's ok, etc it can always be worse.
As usual great atmosphere and lots of happy riders.
Slippy and technical (for me) I was all over the place on the sighting lap, off three times on roots and generally lacking confidence to carry speed. Dropped the pressures on the line (twice) and it did help a bit. The race was ok but the falls messed the shifting up, lost the inner ring initially and then it started jumping and jammed the chain. The longer it went on the more bloody annoyed I got, one more jam and it was almost tree eating time. It went into the double hole and I ended up dragging the fker through it, PITA. That was it, crawled back to the car making lots of grinding noises. The course was good but for me a minefield, showed up my lack of skill on the bike when it came to the bomb holes, very tight in places and easy to catch the edge of a tyre on a root. that's prolly it for racing, I'll stick to trails and messing about locally, today the faster lads just tore through, I wasn't breathing hard, too much concentration on the roots etc. Basically I'm a road rider and more than ever today it was shown up
Shame as I was well up for 5 laps, never mind. No injuries, bike's ok, etc it can always be worse.As usual great atmosphere and lots of happy riders.
Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy it
I uhhmed and arrghed about going myself, but with only one ride in the last 4 weeks under my belt, and the prospect of having to ride my son's bike (mine is still broken), I decided to back out this morning when I realised I was still in Farnborough with less than an hour to the race start time (Doh!
).
Seems to me that I made the right decision, as racing without any training or proper preparation on what sounds like a techy course would no doubt have been a recipe for disaster.
I hope to be back on a road bike within a week, so I'll probably switch my focus to that discipline for a while, to try to shift at least some of the belly I've been nurturing this last month, before perhaps trying a round or two of the Southern XC if I pull my finger out and fix the MTB before the series ends...
I uhhmed and arrghed about going myself, but with only one ride in the last 4 weeks under my belt, and the prospect of having to ride my son's bike (mine is still broken), I decided to back out this morning when I realised I was still in Farnborough with less than an hour to the race start time (Doh!
).Seems to me that I made the right decision, as racing without any training or proper preparation on what sounds like a techy course would no doubt have been a recipe for disaster.
I hope to be back on a road bike within a week, so I'll probably switch my focus to that discipline for a while, to try to shift at least some of the belly I've been nurturing this last month, before perhaps trying a round or two of the Southern XC if I pull my finger out and fix the MTB before the series ends...
yellowjack said:
Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy it...
Ah it was ok glad I went today but I'm so far out of my comfort zone I prefered the last race only because it was more flowing. There wasn't anywhere to pull it back on this track and climb. This is the first time I've ridden bomb holes, logs and ramps so good experience. The bike was just unfortunate, it was fine last night but I wasnt shifting like I do in a race and under load. The aim was always to prat around with it, have a go and see if I was ok at it whilst avoiding crappy winter roads, I've answered my question and it looks like a factory ride is some way off I really enjoyed that today.
I rode a sighting lap and found that the back and was slipping and sliding all over the place, the summer tyre wasn't a great choice for the conditions. In the end I just ignored it and it seemed to work fairly well for me.
I managed to get a terrible start as I couldn't hear a thing when the commissaries was grinding everyone and there was a bit of confusion at the back as to which race was starting when the horn went. As a result I started about 4th from the back!
Due to the poor position I went balls out from the start and aimed for any gap in front of me so probably made up 10 places or so by the first singletrack, from there on in it was just a case of pushing as hard as I could to try and reel a few people in. Overall it worked out pretty well for me, managed a 10th place in the Open category and I know what I need to work on for the next round.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series now, there's nothing like the first race of the season to get you pumped up!
It's a shame to hear you didn't enjoy it yonex, practice makes perfect with these things so hopefully you'll be around for the next round and I'll try to catch up with you again as I didn't see you about today.
I rode a sighting lap and found that the back and was slipping and sliding all over the place, the summer tyre wasn't a great choice for the conditions. In the end I just ignored it and it seemed to work fairly well for me.
I managed to get a terrible start as I couldn't hear a thing when the commissaries was grinding everyone and there was a bit of confusion at the back as to which race was starting when the horn went. As a result I started about 4th from the back!
Due to the poor position I went balls out from the start and aimed for any gap in front of me so probably made up 10 places or so by the first singletrack, from there on in it was just a case of pushing as hard as I could to try and reel a few people in. Overall it worked out pretty well for me, managed a 10th place in the Open category and I know what I need to work on for the next round.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the series now, there's nothing like the first race of the season to get you pumped up!
It's a shame to hear you didn't enjoy it yonex, practice makes perfect with these things so hopefully you'll be around for the next round and I'll try to catch up with you again as I didn't see you about today.
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