Brass Monkeys Rd2 - Windmill Hill, Deepcut, Surrey

Olive's first race looking as if she's enjoying it?

Windmill Hill is in the same area as Porridgepot Hill and we know how tough that is, this was no different with short steep hills, testing singletrack and hardly anywhere to recover. As usual it had rained all week and whilst everywhere on our trip up was flooded the course at Deepcut was in pretty good condition and despite the previous week’s soggy outlook the weather was dry and sunny.

Andy J

In an effort to space out the mass of riders, a grassy start loop took competitors away briefly from the comfort of the arena, before the plunged into the final sections of singletrack that took them through the start/finish line. This seems to be working well as by the time we were dropping into the early singletrack the usual jostling for position and traffic jam was more or less over.

James H

Onto the race, it was brutal, there were only a couple of short areas to quickly feed and drink before you were straight into another climb or descent. The singletrack was great fun, unfortunately the two bomb holes were a little difficult to get out of with the surface breaking up and one was diverted after the first lap(quick thinking by the Gorrick crew) and the other had a chicken run just in case(which I took my last 3 laps).

We had a good turn-out with Olive coming 9th in Ladies 2hrs, Ollie Fenton 4th and James Hansford 9th in 2hr Juniors, Damian Redmond 25th in 2hrs vets, Ian P 7th, John D 24th, Andy J 48th and Kevin M 59th in 4hr Vets.

Jan - May 2013 - Off-Road Events

Jan 27th - Spring Series Rd1     -  Surrey Hill, Bagshot, Surrey - Cancelled

Feb 17th -  Spring Series Rd2    -  Tunnel Hill, Mychett, Surrey

Mar 3rd -   Spring Series Rd3    -  Crowthorne Wood, Crowthorne, Berks
Mar 3rd  -  Southern Rough Ride - Storrington, West Sussex

Mar 24th -  Spring Series Rd4    -  Porridgepot Hill, Deepcut, Surrey

Apr 7th  -   Spring Series Rd5     -  Frith Hill, Deepcut, Surrey
Apr 27th -  Ups and Downs          -  Dorking, Surrey

May 5th  -  Gorrick 100 Enduro    - Swinley Forest, Bagshot, Surrey
May 12th -  24hrs of Exposure     - Wasing Estate, Reading, Berks 
May 25th -  Erlestoke 12             -  Erlestoke, Devizes, Wiltshire

Brass Monkeys Rd1 - Caesar's Camp, Aldershot

What goes up must come down and with 750'+ of climbing each 7 mile lap we certainly deserved the awesome descending especially the last mile into the start/finish line. The club Sunday morning riders decided this would be their jump from nice sedate Wiggle Super Series to the take no prisoners Gorrick Enduro's. They all performed admirably finishing with broad smiles on their faces knowing they had just finished a particularly tough opening round and looking forward to the next.

Conditions were amazing, considering the amount of water dumped on the area in the preceding days, with only two sections that hampered the fast flowing trails. In the senior men's 4hr race Ben Connor came in 20th including a puncture break and Peter Wilsdon (above) 67th even with a snapped chain.

Moving up the cats we had a great turn out in the men's 4hr Vet's race with 5 riders. The consistent Ian Petherbridge came in an impressive 5th in a strong field which gets bigger every year, John Davies 22nd, Kevin Moore 44th, John Reay 49th and Andy Jarman (above) who had stopped to help Peter fix his chain 58th.

In the men's 2hr Vet's race Damian Redmond had an impressive 21st in a very hard category.

And last but not least the 2hr Junior male where Will Taylor(above) finished 2nd riding a singlespeed and Ollie Fenton 5th.

Great results, well done to all.

Gorrick Autumn Classic 2

Ian and his retro Kona!

It had to happen eventually – the sun shone and it was a beautiful crisp morning for Gorrick’s 20^th anniversary bash. Gorrick have been the staple diet of budding and experienced cross country racers since November 1992. In that time we have almost started to take for granted the efficient, organisation and superb courses. Gorrick have become the standard by which other events are judged. It is at these alternative races when your entry has been lost; you discover your timing chip didn’t work; or you got lost because there wasn’t enough course marking tape, that you appreciate what a slick operation Gorrick is.

After a quick count back this was coincidently my 50^th Gorrick race! (I was amazed by that stat!!) Ian must have cleared 100 because he was there at the inception and therefore got a special guest invite into the retro race. Retro bikes and kit were essential.

The course for Gorrick’s birthday was a flat, big ring blast with all the usual Gorrick twists and turns. In fact squeezing past with so many riders on track proved extremely difficult. 



In the Masters I fought hard to hang onto Gary as he lead the race away. I finally lost sight of him at the end of the first lap, rolling in two places behind him in 7^th. Alex was returning to racing after the summer break, and chased us home in 22nd.



Ian’s retro race clashed with the Grand Vets start so he showed the “youngsters” how to do it in Super Vets, finishing 11th. Including the warm-up and retro race that was 7 laps completed - great effort! He raced to 9^th in the retro race, his lap times only a minute slower on his fully rigid, old school Kona.                   



Will was up against the junior national champ Sam Stean in the Sport race, who cruised to victory. Will just missed the podium in 4th. 

Complete results:

Will Taylor                    4^th         Sport

Gary Brind                    5^th         Masters
Ben Connor                  7^th         Masters
Alex Taylor                   22^nd        Masters
Ian Petherbridge           9^th         20^th Anniversary Race
Ian Petherbridge          11^th        Super Vets
Ollie Fenton                 39^th        Open

Will

Gary

Ben



Alex

Ollie

Please let me know if I missed you on the day!



SuperTour 2012 - Oregon's Cascade Mountains

This summer I signed up for a 2 week road trip in Southern Oregon a loop starting and finishing in Ashland covering 1000 miles with around 70,000' of climbing and sunshine everyday.

Good roads, hardly any traffic, a little bit of dirt track and plenty of climbing is always a good recipe for a great time. For me the stand out days were day 3 Klamath Falls to Diamond Lake which included riding around Crater Lake(above) and day 7 Bend to Belknap Springs via McKenzie Pass(below).

The whole experience was brilliant, great food served up by cooks and plenty of local ale. On the rest day in Bend we saw the time trial for the Cascade Classic in the morning and a criterium in the evening.
If you don't like camping, you may find it a little uncomfortable but at most camp sites there were cabins you could hire.

Next year North Eastern California, probably starting from Lake Tahoe.

Endura Gorrick Autumn Classic1 - 21st October 2012

Fay on her way to winning Expert race.

James on his first outing coming 6th in the youths race.

Will a great 2nd in the Sport cat

Ollie Fenton

Richard White

Kevin Moore

XT MTB Enduro

Another race another quagmire! Swamp racing seems to be the theme for so many races in 2012. I have already had the mud syringed from my eyes by the St-Johns ambulance after one event this “summer” and I don’t think anyone who was there will ever forget the conditions at Black Park, where riders were being pulled from their bikes with hypothermia. So in hindsight maybe the  XT MTB Enduro at Hawley lake near Farnborough wasn’t that bad! At least the sun was shining! However, there were long stretches of deep standing water to be navigated and sections where progress through the gloop was almost impossible. Rear tyres slipped, gears skipped and chains sucked!

A frenzied fireroad dash got us underway, riders weaving from side to side as they hunted for grip. On the first climb my chain tied itself in a knot, coiling itself away tightly under the chainstay. It took an eternity to unravel, by which time I had lost touch with the lead group. I plunged on through the slop, brakes were worthless anyway but my brake pads had dissolved away before the 2^nd lap. As the laps progressed a racing line began to form, snaking between the worst of the puddles. Although churned by the passing of 100’s of tyres other sections became impassable. The section I named ‘comedy’ corner was the worst: as you approached steering had little impact on the bikes direction and once you were pointing the right way, the rear tyre spun and fish tailed hopelessly however carefully you turned the pedals.

Fay dominated the womens race coming home over a lap ahead –ripped shorts and all!  I caught up with Ian and we rode together to finish 4^th and 5^th from a field of 89 in the 4hour solo.

So some great results but now it’s time to count the cost. Sunday provided the opportunity to service wheel bearings, bottom brackets, chains, rear brake pads, and rebuild forks.....! Plus I’m still washing the mud from between my toes!

This will make you smile

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qmQrEM5rVA&feature=share

Brighton Big Dog 2012

Well as usual it rained most of the week and knowing what Stanmer is like in the wet we left home a little bit subdued as a hard 6hrs in the mud was envisaged. The club had a great turn out with riders in the solo, ladies pairs, mixed pairs and 3 man team cats. The first lap was a mare, slipping and sliding all over the place on the wet rooty sections and some of the climbs were a little bit of a challenge to stay on the bike and not push!  Luckily we didn't have any rain and with the high number of riders on the course it soon dried out and this led to faster and faster lap times. Steve,Mark and Roger in the 3 man team were only headed once and even a spectacular crash in the finishing area by Roger did nothing to cause concern for the guys in wrapping up victory by 4 minutes. In the ladies pairs Laura and Cliodhna came in 3rd a great ride on their first outing as a team, they looked as though they enjoyed the champers later.
Also the ever consistent Ian Petherbridge came a great 3rd in a high quality Vets category.


Another year and another successful event, Morvelo don't half know how to put on an event. More prizes than all Gorrick events put together and loads of happy faces at the presentation.
 

Isle of Wight 2 (the wrong way round)

The above photo was on our arrival at the ferry port car park in Portsmouth, we were not looking forward to our 70 mile road trip around the Island. We boarded the ferry and 30 minutes later we were bathed in glorious sunshine, funny old place England. We got lost straight off the ferry, but we finally got back on the right track after missing Ryde and Bembridge we picked up the route just before Sandown, after which it was plain sailing with temps averaging in the mid 70's everybody was happy apart from Martin who had too many sherbets the night before and struggled the whole trip but as usual finished. Some memorable parts of the day were a well deserved lunch at Freshwater with sarnies and a few beers and an early ferry back.A great day special thanks to Mike who drove the sag wagon and Sharon and Mark for another well organised day.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/207272124

Southdowns Bikes has a National Champion

Report from event website:-
As the women’s master’s race unfolded, it soon became clear that there was an almighty battle being played out with Jo Munden, Fay Cripps and defending champion Caroline Goward the main players. In a ding-dong battle the lead constantly changed hands with little to choose between the 3. By lap 3 it seemed that Munden had made her move opening up a 13 sec lead going into the last lap. However just 23 minutes later the title went to Cripps, with Goward just 19secs adrift, while Munden failed to finish, after falling victim to the hot humid temperatures, Munden had collapsed track side suffering from heatstroke.

Also a great 4th place by Steve Calland in the Masters(just 2secs behind 3rd) and Ian Petherbridge coming in 12th in the Grand Vets.

Are You Tough Enough - Porridgepot Hill

Some photo's from Porridgepot Hill July 15th, where Steve Calland came 1st in 2hr Male Vets, Matt Knight 5th in 4hr Solo, Andy G 7th in 4hr Vets and Faye and Ian 1st in the 6hr Mixed Pairs.

Ian P

Matt Knight

Postie

Faye

Ironman 70.3 California Triathlon

This year I decided not to do the usual Sprint and Olympic distance races when I spend time in USA over the summer for work, but opted to go up to Ironman 70.3 which is made of of a 1.2m swim, 56m bike and half marathon. I knew I had no chance to podium since there was 47 pros entering. 2500 signed up for the worlds most popular 70.3 event, which got sold out in 1 hour. (amazing when you think the event cost is a MASSIVE $250ea...). The event was held in Napa Valley area, California which is where a ton of wine is produced and as you would expect the scenery is fantastic.

The swim started well and luckily not all 2500 people were not starting at the same time, so they broke it down by age and set the groups off in 6 min intervals. It was a bit crazy when we started to swim past the slower groups which meant a lot of zig zagging with the usual kicks and punches to the face (cant see people that well when swimming..). 28mins went by quickly so happy with that as the average pro man did 22-29mins (29min seems a bit slow for a pro, not sure what happened there to him).

Next section was the bike and as the airline charges $400 round trip for each bike, I could only justify taking one bike for this trip and went with the road bike. I tried to make it as much like a TT bike as possible, so added the aero wheel, bars & helmet. Over the rolling hill 56m course the average was 22.8mph, so cant complain with that, cant see having my TT would have made a massive improvement, maybe another 1mph I guess ? (I was trying to keep telling myself don't push it too hard as you have a stupid ass long run after, so that was worrying me in the back of my dumb head). Completed it in 2hr 27min - pros did between 2hr 7min - 2hr 22min

The run was mainly on flatish roads, with a few annoying drags here & there, part of the run went through the vineyards, which was a nice change. The feed stations unfortunately were only giving out water & Gatorade (so no free wine samples). The goal I gave myself was to do a sub 5hr for the whole event,  and as the run went well (for me) I did a 1hr 42 half marathon (pros 1hr 11min - 1hr 25min) which gave a finishing time of 4hr 44mins.

Overall I came 116 out of 2300 which turned up, so taking out 47 pros, I was very happy with the final result. No prizes / no podium, but I feel it was my best result of the year.

Half Way There

The trail centre didn't know what hit them!

 

 

Kieron who had left Steyning at 2am and met us at Meon

Robin repairs a puncture he picked up descending Butser Hill

The Gruppetto

Well done to everyone who rode Saturday, I haven't heard of any crashes or of anyone who is still stuck out on the SDW. Many thanks to James for getting us from Winchester to QE Park definitely saved us time, as navigation on this section is a little tricky.

Really impressed with everyone's bulldog spirit to get them to the finish, we will have to re-visit the barbie next time.

Not to sure on final puncture count, I know Glyn and Will had 2, Kieron's friend and Robin had 1. I can't think of many mechanicals other than adjusting Mandy's brakes which considering the conditions is pretty good.

Eastbourne to Storrington next, looking forward to it.

A club organised event set off from  Bramley and Wonersh the start of the 36.7 mile Downs Link  to Shoreham.

The usual unreliable British weather forecasts was for heavy rain but luckily this didn't materialise and light drizzle was all we encountered for the first few hours and then sunshine with a strong headwind. The route is well sign posted and apart from a few punctures we  got into a steady pace and arrived at Southwater Country Park for lunch where we joined by another 11 riders.

 
After some well deserved food and a couple of brews we were on our way again heading along the trail towards Shoreham. Just after Henfield the path opens out onto the floodplain of the River Adur where the views of the South Downs are spectacular. From here we followed the river on it's relentless march to the coast to Shoreham and some well deserved burgers and a beer or 3.

Thanks to Sharon and Mark for their support and a well organised day.

Erlestoke Enduro

I had only heard positive things from those who entered last years Erlestoke Enduro. I have raced at the venue before – but only through the mud, snow and ice of January's Salisbury Plain Challenge. With the weather forecast predicting the week long heat wave to continue into the weekend I was keen to see the venue in a different light! At 8.30am the temperature was already rising nicely as we struggled to wrestle three 29ers into Ian's car. I would be riding the 6 hour solo while Ian and Fay were entering the Mixed Pairs.

It was great to see a large turnout of South Downs Bikes riders to greet us in the car park, all sporting new 29ers!! There was just time for an early lunch of ham and jam sandwiches before joining the huge starting grid that formed for the Noon start. Numbers were undoubtedly swelled by the glorious weather – with 80 riders in the Solo male category alone!

There was a short starting loop to spread the field and then it was out onto the course proper. After a flowing descent into the wood the course emerged onto an undulating, strength-sapping grassy traverse across the fields to the foot of the hill. The climb started as wooded singletrack but then opened onto a steep gravel road. Having reached the top there wasn’t time for a rest as the route headed out across the open hill top into a strong headwind. The field was well spread by now but I was still riding close to the front and slipstreamed a group of riders onto Ian’s wheel and then followed him down the descent back to the arena.

As we rode past the campsite Ian took his eyes off the trail for a moment to check his watch and missed a little depression in the path. From my viewpoint it looked like somebody had tossed a doll into the air! When I reached the scene Ian was a bloody mess with road rash on arms and legs. He slowly made it back to his feet while I retrieved his bike and then uncomfortably remounted telling me to continue. He handed over to Fay and was patched up by the medics and rode another 4 laps. But I bet he was sore this morning!

The descent from the top of the hill was a belter. It was fast and flowing, twisting and turning between the trees on the chalky soil we're all familiar with at home on the South Downs. Even after 6 hours I was still really enjoying myself, throwing the bike down the switchbacks! 

I managed to keep the laps ticking over just under the magic 40 minute mark, completing my 9th lap with a couple of minutes to spare. My favourite race of the year  - a combination of sunshine and great trails!

Solo 6hr
4th	Ben Connor	9 laps
5th	James D'Arcy	8 laps
21st	Damian Redman	7 laps
24th	John Davies	7 laps
50th	Andy Goodyer	5 laps
Mixed Pairs 6hr
1st	Ian Petherbridge  Fay Cripps			9 laps

Hove Crits & Steyning Tri

Hove crit road race cat 2/3 was held on 18th May. I did the first of the series a few weeks prior and came 4th on this short 1km circuit, including a leg sapping mini climb in it. From our cycling school teacher (aka Steve Calland) he gave me some useful tips on racing from Tuesdays Goodwood race (did crap) and basically kept my eye on one of the stronger riders Mike Coyle. When he jumped I went with him and we did about 6 laps together before he pulled away from me, leaving me to do about another 8 laps on my own with the pack hunting me down. In most races I nearly always feel sick with pushing hard, but this was the first time I have actually thrown up during a race and was reaching a few times on the final lap. Managed to get 2nd so that will do. Full race report is posted here (luckily no mention of me being sick ha);

http://www.velouk.net/2012/05/19/report-george-samuel-memorial-hove-park-crits-2/

Steyning Triathlon on 4th May went better than I had expected, despite the grim rainy 6'C weather. (if you think riding in this weather on a normal ride is bad, try doing it straight after swimming in a nice warm pool and run out bare foot in a tiny trisuit then hop on the bike and deal with the cold air blasting on your cold wet body (i.e no warm kit / water proofs). My arms were cold but DAM I thought my bits and pieces had frost bite, I was in some serious discomfort!!!!

My 800m (32 lap) swim was not very fast  by my normal standards, but not terrible to compare to others at 4/83, 36.5km Bike 3/83 and 8km run 7/83. I finished up as 2nd Snr male and 3rd overall. So got a nice pair of shades from Bloc plus a weee trophy.

Plans for the next tri's are another couple of local races before my Half Ironman (1.9km swim, 90km bike, then just to make things fun a half marathon to end) in California on 15th July. It will be frigging hot and it will be more of a tick box as there will be many pros doing it along with Joe average like myself. Then in Sept the London Olympic plus, which is a 1.5km swim, 90km bike and 10km run.