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Went over the bars in Epping, nothing big being done just an unlucky fall. Gives me time to save up for a new ride

Ouch, unlucky man, how long cant you ride for

I'm out for another two months I reckon

Bungalistic - sounds like some real bad luch there - sorrry to hear it.

Jon - will probably get there for about 09.30 / 10 ish - not in a hurry to repeat the 5+ practice runs from last time.

Ran the course this afternoon after work - in really good condition - much less pedalling. My view is the middle section needs some practice as it is hard to carry speed due to very loose ground and berms (that aren't quite berms) - the upper third and lower are pretty much the same as usual.

It is all rollable for anyone that may be considering it but not sure

Some support is coming with me as well (wife son and dog so should be a laugh.

Nigel

Nice one - should be there for 9.30

Hey guys. Hope it was fun, how did you get on?

Hmmm - a bit humbling to be honest - I didn't realise it was the Central and eastern champs series so there was more than double the people there from the March one.

I came 37 out of 49 - had an average first run and 2 crashes in the second run. John took a bit of time off in his second run so placed above me but not sure where - will leave him to confirm.

Once again though a very well run day (everything worked to time), good atmosphere, big crowds and a lot of laughs. Even my wife (who I thought would be bored) said she had a good time watching, the crowd can be very amusing. The course was fantastic - they had taken some of the iffy areas out to make it flow faster (e.g. large tree stumps in landing zones etc), and really built up some of the berms.

One note - I considered the hard tail race - after watching them it looks like fun but god they are fast and also on the raggty edge. (about 50% of them stacked it going for it so hard).

Shame they can't run them more frequently...

Yea id agree with Nigel - you learn so much from these events. To put it in perspective it was a UCI cat D event.

A is world champs
B is world cup or continental champs
C are nationals
D are regional

....so the standard was reasonable and loads more people than previously. Results here - http://www.mikrotime.com/mtb/ast2010/ast1002.html - there is a pic of you there Nigel with me in the blue in the far background.

Nigel came 38th and I was 32nd out of 53 which makes us the 38th and 32nd fastest masters in the whole of the Eastern and Central region. Sounds good when you say it like that eh! Not bad after only 2 races mate.

Anyhow I had a massive stack on my practice run off the first turn in front of the crowd...I ran wide and clipped a tree. One of the kids at the side of the course said 'man that was ugly' lol - thus my first race run was a bit of a feeler although I got a bit out of shape on the first jump and drew some gasps from the crowd..... got down in one piece anyway. After a few tips from Nigel for a couple of the corners I shaved 2 secs of my second run. Another run and I think I could have gotten in the 1.13's but not gone any faster than that without a skill transplant.

It was a real fun course with real 'hero' loamy dirt which was both fun and difficult to ride in and it rained a little but not enough to cause an issue.

Nigel - it seems like there was a pretty big crash after we finished. Few details here - http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/i ... 775.0.html - that musty have been what the medic was heading down on the quad for. That kid who piledrived into the floor on the first jump is also on that thread - you were right he was trying to clear the road... what a nutter.

Joel - I think I saw rob cole there on a Devinchi Wilson and he finished a couple secs up on us. He is a master as well.

All over a fun day and it such an education just watching other people ride. Might try a couple more events next season. Nigel - nice to meet the family mate.. catch up soon. ill keep an eye out for some pics.

From Ian Cross' photostream http://www.flickr.com/photos/22716426@N03/ + diniwiti from sdownhill

I think Nigel takes the win on 'style' in the photos

Awesome stuff gents - some very respectable times and looking classy in the photos.

Very disappointed not to make it but next time I should be at the front of the line - TLD jammies and all.

Ouch!

http://www.southerndownhill.com/forum/i ... 842.0.html

course was rapid in parts and it doesnt take much

Looks and sounds great fellas, nice going on your runs too.
I'd seen on the old twitter updates that it was a complete sellout beforehand, must have been a great atmosphere with so many people down there.



You wanna get yourself some narrower bars

lol true true bro - loving the wide bars though - thinking of getting a bit more width on the trail bike too

quite a good vid here of the race day as a whole http://video.mpora.com/watch/Z4BAw2mJY/hd/ http://www.rideastonhill.co.uk/2010/09/ ... -race-vid/ - and yea the track was as nice as it looks