SSUK09 aftermath

ededwards

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Just got in and wanted to say great weekend chaps, memorable for continually sticking it to The Man plus running round the BMX track at 3 a.m. the night before.

Great work by Gil and his team in putting on a really relaxed event and a top course (although naturally I didn't ride any of the scary bits).

I didn't have a camera, anyone take any (non incriminating) photos?
 
yeah, totally agree- cheers gil and the gang, great event, super course,good weather in a rather beautiful part of the world- top banana.

I have some pictures so will post them up and do a bit more blurb the morra :cool:
 
Base camp

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beer tent shindig

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happy campers

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Jamie after a night in "the Van"

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jamie's loverly spesh

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retro bikers milling about before the race

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more milling

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more....

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Kaiser showing off his Fat

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high level chat about bikes of all things

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why you should not drill your cranks..

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.

Twas my first SS event, left with these highlights...

  • Edwards arrives at Chez Kawasaki and immediately pillages my Cinelli for parts
    We visit several Chorlton bars and admire eclectic DJ selections - particularly a dubstep into 'Manchild' segue...
    Saturday morning loading the race bus in a carwash...
    Great campsite 'Deliverance'-deep in Dalby Forest...
    A smattering of official Retrobikers and at least 20 other retro-riding competitors...
    Favourite bike I saw was a green DeKerf...
    Slowly and inevitably move into an alcoholic state around the chiminea (mostly the 2 bottles of flavoured Absolut)...
    Ed's filipino cigars...
    The 'superduperubercougar' debate - made sense at the time...
    TheBoy's laconic sense of humour...
    Marching off to race the BMX track on foot...
    Scaring doggers in the woods....
    Overdosing on charcoaled processed meats...
    Ritual of bike tree-hanging before the race start...
    Finding snakes on the switchback climb...
    Pressurising Edwards into cheating on the second lap...
    Finishing a tricky and exhausting course unscathed...
    Collecting a prize for riding with the most inappropriate gear ratios (I'm new to this...)
    Realising we had no rain over the entire weekend...

Hat's off to Gil and his team - a near perfect event.

Mr K
 
Superb weekend, will follow up with some pics when I get a minute.
 
Great company and weekend :cool: , first ever MTB race for me let alone SS race, thought i was pretty fit but quickly discovered not fit enough :LOL: , then had a major disaster when my crank snapped near the end of the first lap, race was over for me, long walk/coast back to the campsite, my own stupid fault for using 14 year old drilled STX cranks on a single speed :roll: , was just lucky it lasted so long and i got some riding in (fantastic ride round Thrunton woods with Dr S, P20 and Sithlord and a blast round the BMX track at Dalby on Saturday), had heard a creaking noise before the race but convinced myself it was just the chain and it'd be ok :roll:

Still had a great time despite the mechanical, was good to put faces to forum names, enjoyed the course, technical bits were fun, especially the short steep drops, will be keen on doing it again next year with stronger cranks though :LOL:
 
awesome to the max :D

high points

-parking right next to velos pig as soon as we arrived , no wandering around trying to spot people
-some guy actually complemented me on my bike , deluded fool :LOL:
-velo arguing with a guy on a marin full suss because his forks were older than the frame which wasnt really retro due to a lack of a rear canti hanger :LOL:
-watching ed and mrkawasaki put up their tent , pair of top blokes , the sitcom offers will be pilling in at any minute
-riding around the 4x track thing which is much smaller in reality than looking at pics with velo and davedownhill and being quicker while not leaving the ground than some guy on a full suss clattering his way around
-cabs beautiful fixed 29er inbred
-the scots
-daves tent
-the chimenea

chimineaPATIOlg.jpg


-cigars
-the ed and neil show
-the boys sense of humor
- cougars
-not getting lost in the closed woods at 2am trying to find the 4x track which was only just up the road
-finding my bike very early on after the lemans start
-the amazing course
-watching females arses
- stopping for a chat with marshals
-getting wicked air , well a bit of squirely air off some jumpy bits where some photographers were ( i might drop this to low points depending on any resuling pics :LOL: )
-the xc head who seemed to feel upset that a guy wearing jeans and a tshirt was going to pass along a fireroad so pulls across from the center out to where i was coming past , so going the other way around and leaving him like he was standing still :LOL:
-catching some guy with suspenders on my rigid on that awesome downhill bit with the wet rocks under the trees . but being too knackered to pass
-not dying
-finishing both laps
-sprint for the finish where i passed the guy who held his title of fattest racer after chatting to and being too tired to pass for a few miles and another guy much further along the final straight who looked surprised to see me hammer past
-not being last . which means there were people slower than a guy wearing jeans and a tshirt riding a heavy rigid jump bike with far too tall a gear
-cab being the only fixed rider and winning loads of stuff


low points

-section of A1 closed , took far too long to travel very little distance
-cold
-camping
-getting a sore knee after riding around the 4x track thing , probably due to no sretching and it being cold :(
-not seeing the course as i was too lazy to go for the saturday ride
-nae sleep , you never sleep when camping your body just shuts down for a short while
-cold
-running
-5mins into the race realising my 36/16 gear was a tad too high
-coming along a flat straight wondering where it goes only to look up and see people winding their way up a mountain :shock:
-spending forever walking up the mountain
- last i saw of gash was seeing him ride up the mountain as i rapidly fell by the wayside walking
-gash beating me . infact all the scots beat me :LOL:
-oh shit , it goes up further :shock:
-tapping the end of my bar going along the bit of downhill a foot wide but on the side of another mountain and very nearly thinking i was going to have a very big fall
-at the bottom of the bit where the marshal was telling everyone about the rock at the bottom deciding to get off and walk it only to find my vans had nae grip and nearly faling on my arse anyway :LOL:
-falling on my arse :LOL: one of the downhill bits that had a bit of a step halfway , being too tired to lift the front wheel enough and having a tumble over the bars . i rolled out of it like a pro and carried on . a couple of decent pics exist as the guy with the jones was taking some pics at that bit
-getting a bit lost . i took a turn down a downhill that wasnt part of the course , stopping next to a load of geared spectators and saying
"ive gone the wrong way havnt i ? "
" yep "
" it was straight along wasnt it ? "
" yep "
:LOL:
- running out of energy 5mins into the race so spending the entire time knackered
-knee is quite sore now

big thanks to gil-m and the others for doing a great course and putting on a good weekend :D
 
High beard count this year :D

Not a criticism, just an observation (having had a beard in the past).
 
I would like to echo all of the above comments re the organisation, it was well done, and just on the right side of shambolic to not become dull.

+ points:

~ The Ed and Neil show (I genuinely thought they were married for a while)
~ The realisation that all of the STW bravado about late night drinking and related shenanigans was hot air as we were the only ones awake at 2am, and the only ones running (yes, running, taking the bikes was deemed silly) round Dixons Hollow at 2am too (except for the 'Marines' Ed 'talked out of killing Neil' of course)
~ A lovely selection of RetroBikey people
~ A lovely selection of bikes
~ No rain
~ The course
~ My sprint finish (with the chain off)
~ I didnt stack

- points:

~ The cold, good God it was cold, so cold, I now have a cold, because of the cold. It was cold.
~ The 'Magic ratio' on the Ku only being 'Magic' for 3/4 of the first lap, then becoming 'Shite' and dropping the chain at every opportunity.
~ The distinct lap of superduperubercougars on the course, I even wore my best pants.
~ The cold.

Thank 'ee good men o' North Yorks, thar dun a greet job.
 
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