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Curious about the camping facilities available at Ard Rock next weekend as it will be the first time I have been to the event. I assume they have water taps (or a tap) so you can full bottles etc or is it better to come prepared with a few big 5L bottles? What about somewhere to wash up dishes or is that shared with the water tap/s?
Cheers
Water taps in massive fields, nothing else.
there are portaloos as well
There were some showers too last year.
Showers took £1 coins last year. So take change.
Showers took £1 coins last year. So take change of clothers for after the shower
FTFY!! LOLZ
DrP
Big fields with portal oops, showers for a quid and water taps too, nothing else you really need. Lots of chuck wagons, even one that does decent wood fired pizza, and a few pubs up in Reeth as well as one over in grinton.
Taps, bogs and showers. Be prepared to queue a good while for the showers!
Taps, bogs and showers. Be prepared to queue a good while for the showers!
Its going to be dry this year. Can be as windy as it wants!
hopefully not. the 55mph gusts last year snapped my tent
Its going to be dry this year
You'll still need a shower ya sweaty get! 🙂
Andy - that wind was savage, so glad we didn't have that on the Saturday! My airbeam tent did a bit of bending but stayed in one piece 🙂
I saw a couple of portaloos blown over by the wind on the Sunday last year. So glad I'd raced on the Saturday!
it was ace for me. Slowed everyone else down to my pace 🙂
Whats the craic with van / camping. Do you just drive up in the campsite and pitch up there? Or is parking and camping separate?
All together!
looks like its going to be wet
May be dry friday/sat, but raining sunday. And we've had a lot of rain up here this past week.
[url= https://www.yr.no/place/United_Kingdom/England/Reeth,_Fremington_and_Healaugh/long.html ]Most reliable weather, usually....[/url]
my money is on wet
That forecast says dry Fri/Sat/Sun, as does every other forecast I have seen!
please be dry!!! Could the wind be an issue? Blowing like mad in London today! forecast wind looks ok but could be gusty on Friday. Will it be bog fest after all the rain this week or do the trails dry pretty quick up there?
It's likely to be boggy on the tops.
It's always gusty up there.
The forecast is likely to be 50% accurate.
It'll be grand either way.
Always gusty atop Fremington edge, starts of 1 and 2 are a horrific headwind, when ye actually get to the techy bits, the bloods in yer throat! 😆
and yes, as he says ^ it'll be awesome whatever.
Last year camping and parking weren't separated, there were a few different fields last year, which one you were in depended on your arrival time
Portaloos, a shower block (bring £1 coins I seem to remember) and running water were all that's supplied
This year they seem to be suggesting that the fields further away are just for parking and the nearer fields are just for camping.
[b]They also say the showers take NEW £1 coins[/b]
http://www.ardrockenduro.co.uk/ard-rock-final-info-start-times-events/
[img] [/img]
We'll see.
That's a bugger. I was in field 3 last year, preferred it as it was a bit quieter, and nearer the pub. Saying that, I'm kipping in the van, so unless they hustle you into tightly packed spaces, then I'm sure it'll still be fine.
Only used Field 1 when I was there 2 years ago!
Heading down to watch on Saturday, if like before, will stage 1 be ending in the woods before Fremlington Edge climb ie the bit of wood you can just see top right in the image above?
Last stage end at the bottom of the first climb, Hard Stiles?
Yes, stage 1 will end there before the climb back up, and what was stage 5 is now 6.
Any info on the extra stage yet? I'm guessing it'll be between what was 4 and 5...
Cheers. Might think of entering it again next year although the thought of doing that with the crazy entry process winds me up .... 😀
It's no really a crazy entry process, it's just crazy popular, I don't really know how else they can do it. The puffer solo entries have been like that for years.
I reckon they could easily do an Ard rock in May as well, and fill that too. Dunno if they could get access sorted twice mind.
Does puffer let you buy multiple tickets?
Aye, true, I'd forgotten about that - that is daft.
Fell races are similar - the popular ones like the Three Peaks fill up within hours. In a way, on-line registration is too easy as people will enter, pay the fee, then either forget about it or even enter another event on the same weekend.
The same with road running - premier races like the London Marathon are vastly oversubscribed.
As nobeer says, there's no obvious way for it to be done otherwise. Mountain Biking doesn't have a club culture so you can't reserve a proportion for clubs. Guaranteed entry for the following year if you marshal will only solve part of the problem.
One entry per person would seem fairer to me, was it eight places you could book this year?
Thing is its no less fair - until this year you couldn't sell/move on your tickets (which people whined about but in theory cut down on the "I'll book on and flog it brigade), it's as much a lottery with 1 ticket each as it would be with 100 and, largely imo there's a mates culture to this sort of event that means people want to do it as a group, there's lots of folk (me included, though it's local enough it wouldn't worry me for this, it would stop me trying to enter something at say BPW though) who wouldn't want to go "solo" and wouldn't bother trying for a ticket knowing one of the 4 or 40 of us may get lucky and end up being the only one.
Would expect to see the new stage sandwiched between the old stage 4 and 5 although no idea where. Don't recall seeing any obvious places to have it assuming the transition follows a similar path.
If the forecast is right, Reeth has just about had enough of the rain and its staying dry right through the weekend. Bonza... Only bit I seem to remember that would suffer from the wet badly would be the woods. Hoping all the Saturday riders and early Sunday riders take off whatever slop is on the top and leave nice firm ground underneath :S
Hoping all the Saturday riders and early Sunday riders take off whatever slop is on the top and leave nice firm ground underneath :S
Or mangle it up into a mini passchendaele 😈
Or mangle it up into a mini passchendaele
I wasn't going to say that 😀
It'll be great
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Would expect to see the new stage sandwiched between the old stage 4 and 5 although no idea where. Don't recall seeing any obvious places to have it assuming the transition follows a similar path.
My guess is the fast fireroad section down to the road after the shove up to the shooting hut?
Hmm..
I'm feeling grumpy about 'ard rock this year as couldn't get into the 'proper race' on saturday, so in for the sunday..
And i'm having to drive up saturday, and back sunday after riding, AND it's going to rain...
FFS..grumpy DrP is grumpy!
DrP
Anybody there yet able to post a picture of this years route? 😀
wondering where they have managed to fit in the extra stage this year..
and how is the campsite underfoot?
Showers rather than rain this weekend. Bought new waterproof shorts.