[Closed] Bedgebury Insomnia

looking for a team , otherwise will give it a go solo

I'm signed up to go solo, did try talking a couple of riding buddies into it but they laughed at me 😕 so have committed to going it alone. Plan is to break it down into 4 hour(ish) chunks and abuse caffeine through out the night!

My regular Thetford D2D partner and I have suckered another clubmate in to ride.

He's not got much off road experience so it might be interesting (for him) 👿

Anyone else riding this weekend?

Had a blat around on Weds and aside from a few tiny little puddles, it was looking good.

Yep, will be there.

Good to know it is dry.

Our reccie of the course route turned into a bit of a mess but it's down early sections of the red route and back up 'fire roads' to link the sections up. 🙂

Looking forward to it though doing a 'night race' where it'll be light come 4am is going to be weird.

Back in the day...... D2D used to be on during the summer. As veterans of those early races will tell you, the dawn laps were, as they say, 'to die for'. The lucky ones on the course got to see the sun rising over the forest, animals waking up etc etc. Brilliant.

If you get the same experience on this race you will be a lucky man!

One of my best memory of Mountain Mayhem at Eastnor is the sun rising, when coming back into the arena.

Definitely can't beat sunrise full stop.

I've ridden the 09, 11 and 12 D2D's, all of which have had their own 'unique' conditions so this weekend should be a treat.

What an excellent event and thanks very much to the Bedgebury Boars for all their hard work.

There wasn't a lot of competitors which was a shame but it did make it a bit more of a 'family affair'. The prize presentations appeared to have most riders there which was nice.

I've only done D2D which is obviously a different kettle of fish both in terms of scale and the type of riding.

Insomnia used parts of the 'red route' which were pucker single track trails and a hoot on every lap. The interconnecting fire roads were dull but a necessary evil to get you back up the hills. They were mainly drags but certainly sapping in places.

We were blessed with balmy conditions and DUST! which was great. Had it have been wetter and mushier I suspect the fire roads would have been more welcome to recover on.

This is now a must do event for me and I hope they get more takers next year.

Yes, it was excellent.
For the course, maybe a few more twisty bits in the second part of the course. Only saying it as it was very dry.

Will definitely go back next year.

Chris

Where you solo or in a team?

As a roadie the fire track suited me 😉 but yes it would have been nicer to have had some more twisty bits to ride through.

I guess the trail rebuilding and amount of help available would have dictated the course layout?

Had to laugh that the fastest solo rider was 'male vet' Emma Cutler 😀

great event. loved every minute of it. I agree that more singletrack would have been nice but the fire road section made sighting the rider in front easier.
great marshalling too. loved the guy with the didgareedoo and the two guys on that sharp little climb at the end of starvegoose.

Agreed, it was a well put together event and course, many thanks to all the organisers and marshals. Despite having a bit of a moral wobble at 2am i'm glad i stuck it out and finished as i managed to finish 3rd in the male senior solo category.

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Nice one Baz.

Here's my [url= http://egcc.net/display-items.php?intItemID=863 ]waffly write up for our club site[/url]

I took some 1st lap snaps on 'The Cake Run' and I'll see if I got any of you. LMK a suitable email address if interested.

Thanks m1kea, my e mail is in my profile if you do find any, my race number was 14 if that helps ID me at all. I notice your write up is on the EGCC site, you must be quite local to me as i'm just down the road in Crawley Down.

Bazz

Thanks m1kea.... ....you must be quite local to me as i'm just down the road in Crawley Down.

I'm not that local to you but have a look at your ride last Wednesday and check some of the Strava top 10's 😉

I was in a team of 2 .

I dont think all the trails are finished , so they had to use what was available .

I hadnt bothered with Bedgebury in a while but after this week end , i will go back there for sure .

I'm not that local to you but have a look at your ride last Wednesday and check some of the Strava top 10's

If i see you out over Tilgate then i'll be sure to wave. 😀

Had to laugh that the fastest solo rider was 'male vet' Emma Cutler

Tried very hard to rustle up some more competition in the female class, but in the end the organisers kindly let me change category and race against the men. Turned out to be a good move M1kea 🙂

talulah

Tried very hard to rustle up some more competition in the female class, but in the end the organisers kindly let me change category and race against the men. Turned out to be a good move M1kea

Nice one Emma 8)

Now, what is it about Rye Wheelers that you churn out excellent endurance racers? - I'm thinking of Bronwin's efforts at the 2011 National 24 TT.

Can't speak for Bron but endurance ability for women is supposed to be much improved around a certain age! Could be something in the water though! 😉

Hi Folks,

Only just seen this as the company I am H&S Manager for had a major fire on Sunday morning and it's been a bit busy!

First of all thanks for your kind comments - it makes all the work worthwhile!

The second half of the course was originally supposed to have more singletrack in it but after last year when we had to cancel due to lack of marshals I took some of the singletrack out to ensure we could go ahead (less singletrack means fewer marshal points are needed). If it had been wet a couple of the interlinking bits of narrow path (just before and just after the Helter Skelter section) would have been bypassed.

Really glad you all enjoyed it ad despite what I said two weeks ago ("Never, ever, ever, ever again!") I strongly suspect we will be back next year.

Boris