Joined Mar 2006
2K Posts | 4+
mid-wales, uk
Nant y Moch Enduro. 12th Sept 2010.
First lets get the excuses out of the way;
Overweight.
Unfit. (How much mountain biking do I need to do!)
Rough most of the week.
The squits overnight.
Now the mistakes I made;
Not going with my original idea of staying in bed.
Wearing my MSR jacket because it looked like rain (the sun came out)
Picking the wrong line at every multi-line choice ( not joking, every time)
As you can tell things didn't really go to plan. In fact the whole week was full of bad luck;
Thursday the car windscreen cracked as I was driving it to a buyer viewing.
Saturday ran the bike up the road before loading it into the van and punctured.
Sunday was just a continuation of this...
Tried to make things a bit easier for myself by dropping down a class but I really should have just stayed in bed.
Completed one lap and threw in the towel – didn’t feel so bad about this when I realised that there were quite a few doing the same.
I was riding that badly it was embarrassing and I was glad that it wasn’t closer to home where there would have been more people I knew.
The course itself was quite nice but the were a few really snotty pieces and more than a few commented that the first lap was a bit harder then it really needed to be, quite a few pieces were cut after the first lap but I wouldn't know that.
Course started with an untimed lap of the special test which was 50% tight rutted, stumpy trees and 50% open moorland.
First hiccup of the day was within 100 yards of the start when the bike coughed and stalled just as I needed to give it a little gas up a short sharp climb, think this was down to the fact it hadn't had time to warm. Increasing the tick-over 2 clicks, I'd dropped it quite low as I was running the Dyna ring, solved the problem.
If only improving the rider was so easy.
Died a death in the tight trees but liked the open moorland. Speaking with some who actually got to ride a timed test, people were talking about getting hung up on roots in the trees and loosing 2-5 minutes at a time!
As long as the track was at least 12” wide I was fine but where we were going through tyre width ruts, of which there were a lot, I just couldnt get my act together.
The rest of the course was pretty much ok apart from two climbs, one was covered in brash and if you hit the right line with some speed in 3rd then you flew up it, naturally I chose the wrong line then someone fell in-front of me right at the steepest most root infested part so that was me screwed. 10-15 minutes to get out of there.
The other bit that really defeated me was a wide slick muddy climb that got steep, rooty and rutted in the last 30m. Again blast it in 3rd or 4th and people were flying up it and carrying momentum to get over the roots. Me on the other hand went up it half-hearted in 3rd and chose the wrong rut at the top.
Again 10-15 minutes to sort that one out which was to go to the bottom and try again.
A Couple of places I could have skipped along the road but thought, “No must make an effort”. Boy did I regret that. I dropped into a rut and the bike wedged tight, if I wasn’t for another retire e giving me a hand I’d probably still be stuck there.
Whether the 'Berg is lower or wider than the bikes that had gone before I don’t know but it was well and truly wedged.
Then I haven’t yet mentioned the fact that I boiled it twice, luckily each time it was just as the track dropped onto a forestry road so I was able to blast up the road, ignoring the fact it was the wrong direction, just to get some air through the rads and cool the engine.
Looking on the positive side it was a lovely day with fantastic scenery in a part of the world I'd not ridden before.
Going to get some maps out and plot out a trail ride between some of the numerous old ruined mine workings that we passed by for a future day out.
The Revloc Dyna ring worked a treat and at least I didn’t loose my transponder...
Will post up some pics when I come across some.
First lets get the excuses out of the way;
Overweight.
Unfit. (How much mountain biking do I need to do!)
Rough most of the week.
The squits overnight.
Now the mistakes I made;
Not going with my original idea of staying in bed.
Wearing my MSR jacket because it looked like rain (the sun came out)
Picking the wrong line at every multi-line choice ( not joking, every time)
As you can tell things didn't really go to plan. In fact the whole week was full of bad luck;
Thursday the car windscreen cracked as I was driving it to a buyer viewing.
Saturday ran the bike up the road before loading it into the van and punctured.
Sunday was just a continuation of this...
Tried to make things a bit easier for myself by dropping down a class but I really should have just stayed in bed.
Completed one lap and threw in the towel – didn’t feel so bad about this when I realised that there were quite a few doing the same.
I was riding that badly it was embarrassing and I was glad that it wasn’t closer to home where there would have been more people I knew.
The course itself was quite nice but the were a few really snotty pieces and more than a few commented that the first lap was a bit harder then it really needed to be, quite a few pieces were cut after the first lap but I wouldn't know that.
Course started with an untimed lap of the special test which was 50% tight rutted, stumpy trees and 50% open moorland.
First hiccup of the day was within 100 yards of the start when the bike coughed and stalled just as I needed to give it a little gas up a short sharp climb, think this was down to the fact it hadn't had time to warm. Increasing the tick-over 2 clicks, I'd dropped it quite low as I was running the Dyna ring, solved the problem.
If only improving the rider was so easy.
Died a death in the tight trees but liked the open moorland. Speaking with some who actually got to ride a timed test, people were talking about getting hung up on roots in the trees and loosing 2-5 minutes at a time!
As long as the track was at least 12” wide I was fine but where we were going through tyre width ruts, of which there were a lot, I just couldnt get my act together.
The rest of the course was pretty much ok apart from two climbs, one was covered in brash and if you hit the right line with some speed in 3rd then you flew up it, naturally I chose the wrong line then someone fell in-front of me right at the steepest most root infested part so that was me screwed. 10-15 minutes to get out of there.
The other bit that really defeated me was a wide slick muddy climb that got steep, rooty and rutted in the last 30m. Again blast it in 3rd or 4th and people were flying up it and carrying momentum to get over the roots. Me on the other hand went up it half-hearted in 3rd and chose the wrong rut at the top.
Again 10-15 minutes to sort that one out which was to go to the bottom and try again.
A Couple of places I could have skipped along the road but thought, “No must make an effort”. Boy did I regret that. I dropped into a rut and the bike wedged tight, if I wasn’t for another retire e giving me a hand I’d probably still be stuck there.
Whether the 'Berg is lower or wider than the bikes that had gone before I don’t know but it was well and truly wedged.
Then I haven’t yet mentioned the fact that I boiled it twice, luckily each time it was just as the track dropped onto a forestry road so I was able to blast up the road, ignoring the fact it was the wrong direction, just to get some air through the rads and cool the engine.
Looking on the positive side it was a lovely day with fantastic scenery in a part of the world I'd not ridden before.
Going to get some maps out and plot out a trail ride between some of the numerous old ruined mine workings that we passed by for a future day out.
The Revloc Dyna ring worked a treat and at least I didn’t loose my transponder...
Will post up some pics when I come across some.
