Gorrick Spring Series Rd 3 - Hungry Hill

23rd March 2014

Spring has arrived with blue skies and firm trails but just a tad cold.There were 6 riders representing the team and club with mixed fortunes for two who had punctures and in such short races there is not much you can do. Will managed 1 lap but a puncture not long after which left him no option but to retire. Alex Taylor had his first ever DNF with a badly cut tyre. Ian Petherbridge carried on where he laft off in Rd2 by destroying the field again and he should tie up the overall in Rd4. Simon MacNamara in his first outing this year came an excellent 6th in the Super Master. James D'Arcy in a really loaded Grand Vets came 7th and Ollie Fenton finished 15th in the Sprint well done to all.

Simon Mac

Gorrick Spring Series Rd2 - Caesar's Camp

2nd March 2014

A return to Caesar's Camp for Rd2 a regular Brass Monkeys venue and the usual rain throughout the week meant the Gorrick team were out for many hours drying the course out. They had come up with a challenging mix of short power climbs and some long fireroads with a great downhill singletrack section into the finishing arena. How would the guys cope, well Ian Petherbridge is in great form at the moment and won his category by over 4 mins, Will Taylor racing in the Expert cat had a great ride coming 7th managing 5 laps with the winner the legendary Jody Crawforth just 8 minutes in front. Ollie Fenton had a great ride finishing 14th  in the Sport cat with 4 laps and Alex Taylor also riding 4 laps in the Super Masters was 22nd.

Ian P powering his way to 1st

Pump up The South Downs 31st May

Pump my Ride, www.pumpmyride.co has organized a Mountain Biking Event, sponsored by South Downs Bikes on 31st May 2014.

Two routes will be available, 23 and 31 miles, fully signed and a feed station will be available ‘en route’ to boost you on to the end.

High 5 Sports Nutrition will be supplying the energy and Hydration products for the day, and bookings made via the website, before 30th April will receive a bonus High 5 mixer bottle and 7 energy products taking you right through a days ride.

There will also be a goody bag that will contain sponsors products and information and a £5.00 gift voucher from South Downs Bikes.

The whole event will be followed by aerial video with our friends at Skynet, who will make this available on our web site after the event.

This is the first event, and the second will be released shortly, once the plans are complete.

Finally, £1.00 of your entry fee will go to http://www.accesssport.org.uk/ to help other inspire youngsters into sports activities of their own.

Club Website

The new club website is up and running here is the link:- http://www.sdbcc.co.uk/

Gorrick Spring series Round 1 Crowthorne

Well done to all the team members who braved the elements on Sunday! I must admit that I was in two minds about riding myself. In the end it worked out pretty well for me and the other SDB riders who made the effort. Hoping to see a few more SDB riders out for Rd 2 Ian Petherbridge 1st Senior Vet (with a winning margin so big he could have stopped for a cup of tea after his 1st lap) Me - D'Arcy 2nd Grand Vet (first race since september '13 that hurt!) Oliver Fenton 17th Sports Alex Taylor 18th Super Masters (red shoes were worth at least a minute per lap apparently)

Big Dog Photo's 2013

Fay Cripps

Lorna Dennison-Wilkins

Simon McNamara

Ian Petherbridge

Roger Smith

 

Andy Goodyer

  

Andy Jarman

John Reay

Olive O'Leary

Marc Clothier

Emma Craddock

Karen Dixon

Julia Hammond

John Davies

Cliodhna Duggan

Pete Wilsden

Steve Calland

Smile!

A few photos from the final round of the Brass Monkeys series. Same determined expression on all three faces!

Mr Connor

Mr Goodyer

Mr Petherbridge

Brass Monkeys - Round 4

The final round of the Merida Brass Monkeys had all the ingredients familiar to those who had attended the previous rounds. Gruelling hills, grin inducing singletrack and 7 miles of glorious mud! Storm after storm has battered the UK this winter and with predictable timing the latest struck just as the riders gathered for the start of the 4 hour race!

Some excellent results for the club, both on the day and for the series as a whole:

Cat	Name	Race Result	Series Position
2hr Junior	Will Taylor	1st
2hr	Olive O'Leary	5th	3rd
3hr Grand Vet	Ian Petherbridge	6th	3rd
4hr	Ben Connor	9th	5th
2hr Vet	Andy Goodyer	30th
4hr Vet	Andy Jarman	42nd

Brass Monkeys - Round 3

I’d been readying my wetsuit and snorkel in preparation for the race on Sunday. Much of the country is currently knee deep in water and the weather forecast for Sunday was laced with phrases like “severe weather warning” and “flood risk”. Yet I woke up to a crisp, chilly morning which added the prospect of ice into the equation. At the Ash Ranges venue bright and early, the grass was still white with frost and there was an early detour in place to avoid a stretch of sheet ice. 

It was a tough course with little opportunity for respite. I’m not going to say it wasn’t muddy, but the course was amazingly dry considering the amount of rain we have had over the past month. The challenge was finding firmer ground, riders tip toeing along the sides of the trail, or even through the heather, in search of traction. The woodland sections stood up well and remained grippy throughout the race. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for the open trails, which deteriorated as the race progressed. What had been the best line only a lap before might be impassable just 40 minutes later. In the end, I was finding that due to its firmer base the original track was often the best bet, once your tyres cut through the upper layer of slop.

Plunging through areas of mud and mirk our chains and brakes began to complain more and more. Each turn of the pedal was met by a graunching, grinding noise as sand and grit was ground between chain and chainrings. I’d fitted new brake pads before the race, which was good as I could feel the resistance as the disk forced it’s layer of dirt through the calliper.

Ian just missed out on anther podium, finishing a few seconds behind Rob Jackson in 4th. I had my best result of the series so far coming home 13th in the 4 hour ace. Andy was 33rd in the 4 hour vets. I also passed Peter on his way to 45th in a large 2 hour field. It was also nice to hear Olive cheer me across the line, having finished 10th in her 2 hour race.