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I've entered an off road duathlon in Nov at Ash Ranges and have some questions
1. Is it always open the the public for riding and it is worth a visit (I live in Odiham)?
2. I also see people riding in Farnham, parked up at the top of Castle Street opposite the petrol station. Is the riding good there?
3. Has anyone any good routes for either location?
4. At the moment I have a 29er IKON rear and Ardent Race up front. Should I change to something grippier for Ash? I have a 2.3 purgatory for the front and 2.1 ground control for the rear. Is it gravelly tracks or will it be a real mud fest in Nov?
Thanks!
It'll almost certainly be non technical and gravelly. Purgatory would be massive overkill. Could put the ground control on the front if you want something with a bit more bite.
Ash Ranges are an active firing range and use a red flag system around the perimeter to show when the ranges are in use. Red flags flying == no public access. The ranges are usually in use daily until mid-afternoon in my experience, including weekends. Tunnel Hill is very close (just over a road) and is always "open" although when the army are training then it's best to vacate the area and not interrupt them. So you could use Tunnel Hill as a fallback if Ash Ranges are in use.
Tunnel Hill has lots more trails than Ash Ranges, if you just turn up at Ash on spec without a route then it's not going to be much fun IMO.
You may struggle to find a gpx route for Ash as the MOD don't like folk posting routes for trails on their land on the web (they think that it encourages mountain bikers to ride on their land - let's not open taht can of worms 😯 ).
You could try looking at Strava heat maps though.............
Thanks guys. Really useful stuff. Will leave the racier tyres on for now. Any views on Farnham?
My wife has entered, and so I looked at some videos of the event, I reckon you are best off riding the firetracks at swinley. Then when you are bored of that, getting onto the trails 🙂
Ref Farnham I assume you're talking about Caesars Camp. This is a military training area and you are may get asked to leave. The Mil have that right and you have none.
Check the Trail Action a Group Facebook page and read the bye laws sign at your point of entry.
Thanks, where are these videos?
https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=grim-duathlon&tbm=vid
Not signed up for the Grim, but for the Wildman on 21st Nov
Am I right in thinking you've entered the Human Race duathlons, Mud Man, Ice Man etc? If I am based on doing them about 3 years ago the MTB element is super basic, small slopes, fire road and around a tree so just go for fast! The running on the other hand whilst isn't technical I found it super tough and I'm not too bad a runner, there was a lot of up and down (some steep) and because running down is hard the whole thing felt relentless!
the events are fantastic though, really well organised but with a good grass routes feel! I may come back this year and just do the trail runs.
Yes, the human race series, but I have only entered one as I work most Saturdays, so can't do them all. To be honest the running is what is worrying me. I haven't run that far for ages, but have quite a while left to get fit.