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Hi!
Doing 8 hours pairs with Noel from the forum. You can make teams of 3 or 4 Anyone wants to join us? How is Ashton Court course?
http://www.bike-fest.com/oktoberfest/

Heard good things about ashton court but never ridden there.

you back in the uk ?

Just a couple of weeks for the MOT

Oh well!! Was another dirty weekend!!

Went on Thursday afternoon to inspect the course but it was raining and needed to prepare bike so I just went around. Found Supernova red trail, which I didn't know at that time it was part of the race course. Then followed arrows for the course but it was getting dark. Finjished completeley soaked in the dark, barely distinguishing anything but was back to the van safe haha!
Course it's mostly man made trail centre type, left right left right tight singletrack on hard surface so it looked it'd be fast. Just a short and easy rock garden in supernova trail and a couple of easy climbs (with fresh legs and clean of mud)

Friday 2pm gates were open and I was there ready! Parked van and went for a proper ride. After all the rain from Thursday and the sun on Friday course was much better, did it in 36 minutes on Ralphs 2.25 fattish and 2.1 rubena Scylla lower profile. Didn't bother changing tyres..some guys told me Ralphs would be the right choice. I pushed hard anyway for a practice lap. Haven't ridden just a little bit the previous Tuesday and needed to wake up my legs somehow.
Cleaning and lubing bike and waiting for the rest of the team, we were 2 teams of two doing 8 hours. Raining on Friday but for the race no rain, fortunately. Mechanics helped me early Saturday to sort my front brake and bike looked fast but not faster than the race the weekend before in Ornans.
We did 12 laps in more than 7h and half. 18th out of 49. After first 2 laps we were 31! I didn't do the start, with bottle necks and traffic jams.
Anyway, we had a lo of fun, course was a bit muddy and hard pedalling in some points but was good and fast! For em I'm happy I was pretty constant with my laps. Felt strong throughout the whole race, clocking almost same time. I checked other teams that finished 19th, 20th...and they were much faster but got slower at the end, which is normal. I guess all my riding and climbing in Alps helped a little bit.
I'd have prefered a bit more hills and more technicals bits but in general was fine.

I had read in website there were showers available. I asked stuff on Friday and said NO showers at all. Fortunately the guys next to us said at the Rugby club there were free showers (5 minutes from the campsite). Later on I checked website and the information was correct!

This is a good race but there are sooo many subcategories..I don't know..it's too much! Just 8 hours solo, pairs and teams + single speed enough. Then there were 4 hours am solo, pairs and teams and 4 hours pm the same..not sure about teams anyway.

We booked pitches but I won't do it again. Plenty of space, no one said here or there to park...also there were no bike wash facilities!! But found the coin operated machine at Goldano services were you join M5 didn't need coins haha! Spent quite a lot of time removing crap!