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Hi,
Anyone know if there is going to be a 2011 transwales? No mention on their site yet. Also would be great if transwales veterans could answer the following:
How do the special stages count to your overall placing?
If there food or water stops during each days ride?
What sort of bike is preferable for the trails? My options are either a xc hardtail or yeti 575. Not sure which due to amount of climbing involved.
What happens if you dont make the cuttoff times, are you dropped from the entire event?
Thanks,
yeti 575 FS you know it makes sense 😉
How fit do you need to be do complete this?
hi
Im looking do do the event as well for the first time. I have been looking for entry details for a while and it seems they are taking a break for a few months. The entry is normally mid jan so keep an eye out in the new year.
[i] Anyone know if there is going to be a 2011 transwales?[/i] Almost certainly. Won't be announced for a bit yet though
[i]How do the special stages count to your overall placing?[/i] The special stages are everything in terms of placing. Main stages are just linking stages and don't count, unless you go over the limit, then you get penalty time
[i]If there food or water stops during each days ride?[/i] Yes - water and lunch stops
[i]What sort of bike is preferable for the trails? My options are either a xc hardtail or yeti 575. Not sure which due to amount of climbing involved.[/i] I've done TW on both. This year I rode an XC hardtail, next year I'll be on an Anthem. Lot's of short travel full sus bikes this year
[i]
What happens if you dont make the cuttoff times, are you dropped from the entire event?[/i] Nope - just penalties for your overall time. The cutoffs are pretty generous. I finished 17th this year and was coming in nearly at least 90 minutes before each cut-off.
You don't need to be stupidly fit to finish, although you are riding a marathon event every day for 7 days, so don't underestimate it 😉
🙂 Thanks for the replies, they helped a lot.
Announcemnt will hopefully happen in the next few weeks.
Quite keen to do this next year. How technical is the course? Lots of fire road?
I fancy doing it to.....just concerned that I have orderred a Whyte 146 full susser....do u think that will hamper me too much to complete the course??
Pedalhead,
None of it is really technical, it uses trail centres,fire roads,Roads,Double Track,Singletrack, mooreland etc, there is a lot of Fire road but thats to link the stages together but also some lovely natural tracks in the wilderness. By the end of 7 days you will notice a big difference in your fitness well i noticed anyway as there is a LOT of climbing.
matt23,
Only thing to remember is your riding between 50-85km a day for 7 days, so if your happy to ride the Whyte around over that distance you will be fine but i would recommend a short travel Hardtail thinking of it or if your lucky a Bike with rear lock out, it was a god send on the climbs this year :-).
Cheers chief. Sounds like a job for the Pegasus then 🙂
great........gunnna HAVE to buy a hardtail now cheers chaps!!
as vdubber67 said really, it is a great event though, gutted I can’t do it next year though i have too much going on and doing trans-alps the year after and the Tour Divide the year after that so it will be 2014 when I get chance to do it again 🙁
I would recommend getting the silver entry and a good sized tent as well, more room the better.
I met some great people this year, so just sit back and enjoy the link stages and smash it up on the special stages...
I did it on a short travel full-sus (giant anthem) i thought it was a good choice, but it might be worth thinking about a 29er
Best of luck nezbo. There's at least a couple of us on here training up for the 2012 TD. Certainly keeps one busy :-). What's the silver option? Food included or something?
Yes food included and if yor doing it without a support crew id recomend it, the food this year was really nice. The Gold opion means they put up a pop up tent but i much prefered taking my own with plenty of space to do my admin, only downfall was the rain but thankfully we stayed in a nice dry barn. 😀
oh yeah, getting someone else to pitch the tent is a step too far...not quite in the spirit of things I feel!
Could I get the Mrs to follow in motorhome for a bit of luxury?
Sorry I've got soft in me old age 😳
Fitness wise you need to have a good levels of endurance for 5-7 hrs riding for 7 days in a row.
It sounds like a lot but once you're underway it's fine. Just keep on trucking really. Day 2 seemed a lot harder than Days 3 or 4, by which point you've got into the swing of things by hitting the right pace.
Some 3 or 4 day cycle touring trips in advance would be good training. If you want to place well you'll need to do some shorter faster pace work as well.
Short travel fs bike all the way.
pedalhead - it has the food included on the silver 🙂 and the food is great, I wouldn’t do it without food (too bad of a cook to make my own)
The course was great this year as well, and i think we had a bit of luck with the weather (for the uk)
P.s. if anyone wants to do some training runs ready for their TD i am willing to come along 🙂
From watching riders go past last year at Radnor hills point theres a huge range in fitness levels, from super fast racers to push along and enjoy; I guess as long as youve got the stamina and determination itll be a good challenge, anyway Im hoping to ride it in 2011 as well so thats one rider youll beat 🙂
I've just been reading about the TransWales in XXC magazine issue 9, by a bloke who came 17th.
It wasn't you was it vdubber?
Good article
greasyrider - yep, that was me. Some great photos from Jon made it though. I reckon they should have used the one of the girl who came second getting two foot of air for the main one though, rather then the one of me!
P.s. if anyone wants to do some training runs ready for their TD i am willing to come along
😆
What’s this XXC Mag you are talking about? I didn't know such a thing existed.
ChiefP, you beat me to it.
The first 4 issues are free download, and I think you can preview the others.
Issue 9 has the excellent write-up about the Transwales.
More details now coming through.
It has been a while since the last TransUK newsletter and we have been busy preparing for the 2011 season. The locations are still being sorted but the GORE BIKE WEAR™ TransWales powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport will take place on the 13-20th August 2011 and start/finish once more in Builth Wells.
John Lloyd is in the process of creating a new course offering all the return riders some new challenges while presenting the newcomers with some excellent riding throughout the week.
The event will have again 5 special stages with the last one being run on the finishing Saturday. That will keep the event open till the last minute and should turn the Saturday (20th August) into a real highlight of the event.
New for 2011
New for 2011 is the GORE BIKE WEAR™ Prologue Marathon which will take place on the 13th of August at the start location of the TransWales. The approx. 40 km long marathon is not obligatory for the TransWales riders and open to non TransWales riders. The Prologue marathon will give the TransWales riders the chance to get their legs ‘warmed-up’ for the week ahead and non TransWales riders to find out what the GORE BIKE WEAR™ TransWales powered by Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport is all about. Riders will have the chance to test their ‘racing skills’ on a special stage which is based at the finishing location the marathon so that they can get a real flavour of the unique setup of the event. The Prologue Marathon is included in the entry fee of the TransWales or is £ 25 for non TransWales riders. Entry for non TransWales riders will open in the New Year.
PedalHead... knowing that you're local, if you're doing this next year are you interested in hooking up for some training rides? There's a couple of us from Witney who're going to enter.