The best caption can have extra sweets on Tuesday or Thursday.

Carl is the judge – not me.

I stumbled across Brighton MTB website a few times, and as I was still in need of a good local ride, and some new faces to ride with, I decided to give the informal meet a go.

I have not been disappointed so far; I’ve now ridden with the group on 3 consecutive weeks, each week being entirely different, bringing new challenges, and new faces.

It’s great to be discovering so many great trails at Stanmer park, they’re technical and varied, but no matter what your skill level, everyone involved is always prepared to help out with advice on your riding technique, and will always ride at a pace that suits everyone.

I will definitely be riding with these guys on a regular basis; informal, friendly, and no issues if you’re not up to speed. Definitely worth giving it a go if you’re not sure!

Luke

Some of us would do quite well, enjoy the ride, have fun on the rollers, not drink at all.

Those of you who do turn up may actually ride there, you will drink far too much, may collapse onto the rollers and need transport home.

I will post the best photos….

Information on the Morvelo website.

http://www.thebicycleacademy.org/2012/04/20/exposure-24-a-race-report/

Update – Rich ran in 3 hours 44 minutes – fantastic!

Well it’s now less than 7 days until Marathon day and I’m hoping my training will pay off.

I hung up my Five Tens in exchange for a pair of running shoes at the end of November and started my training schedule for the Brighton Marathon.

Its my first attempt at a Marathon and with very little running experience it has been an eye opener. I started running gently through November, a few miles here and there and also joined a run club meeting twice a week for an hour. On boxing day I attempted my first ‘long’ run this was a 6 mile loop starting and finishing at my parents house in Melton Mowbray where I was spending Christmas. It didn’t go well at all and due to a horrible pain in my left knee I ended up walking the last mile and a half! I gave it a rest for a week and then started again, putting it down to “to much too soon”.

Through January and with proper instruction from the run club I started to be able to manage more miles and at the end of Jan I did my first successful ‘long’ run of 10 miles. This was from my house in hove to the marina and back, and I have to say I loved it and felt a real sense of achievement that I have not had for a long time. With my new found running confidence I entered the Brighton Half Marathon. I felt I should do it as a training aid for the full Marathon and also to get some experience of a race situation. Two weeks before the Half I decided to run the distance in practice, 13.1 Miles, which took me from my house to Shoreham and back, and it actually went quite well, although my knee pain, which I now know to be tendonitis, was continuing to cause me grief. Having ran the distance already I was confident on race day and luckily the weather was great. Overall it was a great experience although I started too close to the front of the field and as a result spent the first 5 miles being overtaken! This was off putting, demotivating and made it hard for me to pace myself. On the plus side it may of helped me to run faster as I finished in a respectable 1 Hour 40 mins, not bad when I think back to boxing day!

From then until now it has been a steady increase of mileage week by week, mixed with the odd bit of time off due to injuries, mainly the tendonitis, shin splints and a weird pain in my toes which comes and goes, probably my body just saying “what the hell are you doing to me!!”

I had been advised that prior to the Marathon you should never actually run the full 26 Miles in training and really the most should be 21, sticking to this advise I did my longest training run on the 18th of march in Stanmer Park of all places. It was and organised training run using a 5.2 Mile loop off road around the park. To me it felt like I was being tortured, not the running, but the fact that I was doing it in my mountain bike playground, surrounded by you lot on the trails, some of you may have seen us running around in our yellow bibs! yes that was me.

The weather that day was perfect and I managed 4 laps of the course in just over three hours which I was pleased with especially as each lap included the rocky climb from the tea rooms!

So with 5 Months of training under my belt, Im half a stone heavier and supposedly the fittest I have ever been, although my legs now hurt even when walking around the house!

Apart from my own sense of achievement, the reason for entering the Brighton Marathon was to raise money for a great local charity, Rockinghorse.

My older brother, Edward, was born severely disabled and as a family over the years we have benefited first hand from the amazing help and support of such charities. Rockinghorse in particular support local respite homes that give families a much needed break from caring for disabled children, this was a massive help to my parents when I was growing up that gave us rare opportunities to do normal family things that others may take for granted.

For more info about Rockinghorse visit: http://www.rockinghorse.org.uk/

If you would like to sponsor me you can do so at:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/richjustfeltlikerunning

Any donation you can make, no matter how small, will be much appreciated. Thank you

If you are around next Sunday and fancy giving me a cheer you can follow me using the brighton Marathon App, available on ipnones only. Enter my number (4718) to find me.

See you all again soon on the trails, whether all this running will have improved my cycling remains to be see!

Rich

This is quicker than a Thursday so it is not really for the less fit and will include hills as well as singletrack so you have been warned….

This is a good opportunity to try some bikes as well as to see how some bikes ride if you follow behind or ride alongside. There will be some familiar faces with Jimbo returning from injury to ride at 10am.

If you want to try a bike or two then take your own pedals and remember to lie about your weight. If you take your own bike then you can ride all the loops or even try some of the more technical singletrack on offer nearby.

As the weather is set fair you get to see some more trails if you have not ridden across Worthing way and even try a superlight bike that is beyond your means and your diet plan.

If you have not been on a demo day before this can be really worthwhile even if you are really happy with your present bike.

This is an email club ride so numbers should be higher than just a forum ride and hopefully the faces absent since last year will pull the bike out of the garage and climb back into the saddle. The pace will be set by those attending so is likely to be slower rather than faster.

It is an easy place to exit the ride back to the Tearooms if you suffer a mechanical or are tired so a good starting point for riders old and new. Some obstacles but everything rollable or ride aroundable.

22 – 25C,  humidity 5%, Trek superfly AL 29er,  rocky & hot

enjoy the photo’s

Ash

All the photos were taken by Russ Gillespie and if you visit the site you can order the full size canvas to hang on your garage wall. Smaller photographs are also available and he has offered some small sizes for free. http://russgillespie.com/

There is an additional selection of photographs at the end of the report.

If you would like to add your own race report then email me at the usual address info@brightonmtb.org. If I have omitted any report then my apologies and re-send it please.

So this was my first Big Dog and although I hope it will be the first of many, especially if the organisers can bring that weather again. The course was brilliant, but really tough, the first half just seem to be a relentless ascent, although it was worth if for the descents. I would like to say that my ‘local knowledge’ meant that I was able to shred the singletrack but to be honest I had nothing left in the tank so it was a matter of just sending the bike in the right direction. I really did struggle on those hills! Fortunately my partner was an animal and as result we, as a pair came a respectable 31^st. Regardless of the pain and cramp it really was a great day and every one, on and off the course were really friendly and helpful, some pretty good prizes up for grabs as well. I could have sworn my name was on that green Decade Virsa, was just my size.

I don’t think I was firing on all cylinders but nonetheless I am determined to smash my time next year and now that my legs have stopped screaming it seems like there is no time like the present to start ‘training’ for next year so I am off out. However I couldn’t help but notice that most of the quick riders (overtaking me like I was standing still) were on hardtails with clipless pedals, so just before I go out I think might have a quick nose around the internet to see what I can buy to make me quicker, besides it has just started raining!!

Thanks to all involved in the organisation and anyone who cheered me on as I looked like I might self combust up the hills.
Tom Jackson (231)

What a cracking race! The weather was very kind, sunny but not crazy hot. This is the way it went for me:

I volunteered to do the out lap, and had a pretty good one. after starting fairly far back on the grid I gave it some welly up the grass climb and managed to pass lots of folk presumably saving themselves for the rest of the hill. The rest of the first lap was spent in a fair amount of pain, but I managed to go fast through the singletrack and gain some more places. Lost a few places when I managed a painful cartwheel going up that nasty singletrack uphill on the other side of the road getting my front wheel caught in the roots (witnessed by Paul Sydney Street). I recovered from my eye-watering collision with my unforgiving square top-tube enough to enjoy the rest of my lap, popping back out into the arena in 40.33, rather surprising Tad, who wasn’t ready at the changeover point.

My second lap was quicker (sub 40) with less ‘traffic’ through the singletrack, but those climbs didn’t get easier. Legs were OK until the Brighton Big Log, when I hopped it my calves cramped in a major way! I struggled up the last fireroad climb issuing expletives at my legs, which did the trick. Cramp under control I had a lovely blast down that last downhill run, passing 4 riders in the twisty singletrack before the bomb hole!

The next two laps were progressively slower (42.09, then 43.04) with those punishing climbs taking their toll on my legs, and having to slow down a bit where the the course got bumpier with braking ruts not agreeing with my rrrigid set-up. I wasn’t pushing too hard, as we had a comfortable lead but when I saw that my Tad wasn’t ready as I went through the arena on my fourth lap I headed out for another, before realising that there was no way the 2nd place team could catch us! We won the Retro Pairs by a comfortable lap and 3 minutes!
Bryan K

For me, the Big Dog has become one of the highlights of the Summer months. This was my third Big Dog and once again I teamed up with Pete (Woodsman). One thing I’ve enjoyed from previous years is getting out for some training rides with Pete and this was year was no exception. I’m still haunted by the memories of a 50 mile loop we did, where I was completely destroyed at the half way point until I discovered the recovery powers of onion bhajis at Tulley’s Farm.

Anyway, back to the race …

Pete and I have been happy with our results from the past 2 years (15^th and 10^th) and as the start approached I was feeling really nervous. I knew that Pete was faster than me through the singletrack (he is faster that most of us mere mortals) and had been pushing me hard during our training rides but I didn’t want to put in slower times than someone with 7 years on me!!!

As normal, I was down for the first lap. Pete claims this allows him a gentle warm up whilst I’m fighting the crowds in the singletrack. I suspect that it’s all down to the possibility of me having to ride the extra lap but wouldn’t ever suggest this to Pete – I’m sure this thought also gives his extra motivation during the race.

As midday approached, I was sat on the “grid” next to Paul from Sydney Street Bikes. Him and Mark C were going to be a tough pair to beat. Both are fast riders with good bike handling skills.

The first lap wasn’t too bad, I got slowed up a fair bit on the singletrack and struggled to pass too many people on the fireroads. I only saw a couple of off’s and buzzed a couple of rear tyres. The second lap also went fairly smoothly but by the third I was having to blast the singletrack to compensate for struggling on the climbs.

By the end of his third lap, Pete looked knackered and on the fourth my legs were cramping big time. We finished 12^th in the pairs, one place behind the Sydney Street team. Pete beat my times every lap and the 9^th lap was still elusive but getting closer as we finished with 31 minutes to spare. I still can’t comprehend how the first two teams managed to put 10 laps in.

It was good to see Mark B and Deadly out on the course marshalling and Russ on photographer duties I got high-fived by Mark, abused by Deadly and photographed by Russ.

The Hophead tasted great at the end and it was good to see a couple of the Tuesday night riders on the podium (well done to Paul into the Onederdog and Bryan in the Retro pairs).

The great trail conditions, atmosphere and lack of rain made it a perfect day.

I think there’s still some work to do on Pete to get him to “pair up” (or is that man up) again next year.

Brian L (234)

I only did a onederlap but I was pleased to beat 40 minutes (which was my goal) at 39.16. I couldn’t breathe for about 15 minutes, but two cups of tea and a bit of cake sorted me out. Definitely going to do a pairs team next year.

Adam Manning-Jones (529)

I was the sub in Simon’s team and not very fit. Simon ran first lap quicker than I expected in the crush but he probably did not get pushed much. I set my heart monitor limit to “less than death” and pedalled off and immediately got overtaken. Not the start I had hoped for but Badger’s was seemingly unexpected as everyone in front seemed to walk. With some complaints they made space so that I could ride up and then fluked the rise into Sting in the Tail. Local singletrack knowledge stole time on every trail but the uphills suit the young and lithe. Cheering at the top from Mark B found me an extra gear each lap and I managed to ride everything every time as I was never blocked. Enthusuastic cheering on my last lap saw the rider slowing me in front forced to move and allow me to pass. Expecting a younger rider he seemed annoyed and chased behind trying to regain the advantage all the way to a narrow gap between two trees in the last singletrack section. As we all know trees hurt. Simon rode his heart out and I tried but failed to have time for a double lap. Maybe next time.

Great lap times produced by  many riders (still available on timelaps) and some great overall results.

Chris Noble who used to ride with us when he lived in Brighton came 5th overall. He now has sponsorship and his own racing website but will be back to ride  this year. He normally manages a ride or two with us during the year which normally makes more a slightly faster paced ride than usual.