Brass Monkey Race n...
 

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Brass Monkey Race next week

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Anyone raced Hungry Hill before? They say it's all weather, now I don't mind mud obviously but don't want to be ploughing through muddy fields in the pursuit of fun..
Anyone else planning to do the 2 hour race?


 
Posted : 31/12/2022 8:03 pm
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I’ll be there for the 2hr race… I have raced hungry hill before, but right now I can’t remember it clearly. It may have a couple of muddy field bits, but not much?

It’ll be fun anyway!!


 
Posted : 31/12/2022 9:56 pm
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I'll be doing the 2 hour race. It drains really well over there so usually the going is good even after a load of rain with just a few muddy sections. There's next to no clay so no constant mud plugging, I've raced with a racing ray and Ralph for the last 3 times.


 
Posted : 01/01/2023 8:32 am
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Sounds promising, so my next question is are all the racers really keen or are the plenty of regular nodders like me?


 
Posted : 01/01/2023 9:14 am
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It’s a real mixture mate, come and enjoy it!


 
Posted : 01/01/2023 9:28 am
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As @bigdaddy said.👍


 
Posted : 01/01/2023 9:40 am
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Missed the last one and due to Xmas and lurgy barely been on a bike since. Not sure I have the enthusiasm for it, thought signing up for all three would be a good idea!


 
Posted : 01/01/2023 10:19 am
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I can’t decide if I enjoyed round one or not 🤣


 
Posted : 01/01/2023 5:58 pm
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I can’t decide if I enjoyed round one or not

then I reckon you should do the next one and find out!


 
Posted : 01/01/2023 7:01 pm
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Yea go for it @crosshair. Entry's close Wednesday night 😀


 
Posted : 01/01/2023 10:42 pm
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Entered,I'll be pootling around on an orange whippet.


 
Posted : 02/01/2023 2:32 pm
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Nice one @anagallis_arvensis 👍


 
Posted : 02/01/2023 6:21 pm
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Anyone have any idea what the course is looking like? Sooo much rain.....


 
Posted : 07/01/2023 11:55 am
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I’m going with wet and muddy! Not seen it though…


 
Posted : 07/01/2023 12:58 pm
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What @bigdaddy said. Hopefully the mud won't be Claggy and be more of its usual sandy variety.


 
Posted : 07/01/2023 2:57 pm
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Just seen this on Gorricks FB page

'Course update: The team have adapted the course after the recent rain, so although it is still wet in places with a bit of mud, it will be very rideable tomorrow with grippy tyres on your bike. See you there…'

I hope there won't be too much gravel on the adapted course as that's not my strong point!😁


 
Posted : 07/01/2023 3:10 pm
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Hungry Hill? Not for a long time. I don't remember it being super muddy, certainly no worse than any other venue in this weather. I recall it being a mix of everything so what mud there was wasn't of the endless type with no respite. Sadly, I am out with a torn muscle (probably till the 1st Spring Classic) other wise I'd go!


 
Posted : 07/01/2023 3:21 pm
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Course held up quite well, bloody glad I only did 2hours though, was starting to get very cold on last (of 3) lap.


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 2:04 pm
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Glad I took advantage of the superstar deal to get some wheels with more aggressive tires to swap in for slop. Today would have been exciting in the recon races that were my only previous option!

Agree about cold by the end of two hours!


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 3:14 pm
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I dithered about at the start so the first lap was pretty slow getting held up, second was better third I was cold an miserable!!


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 3:30 pm
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Just looked on Strava, third lap was fastest, not sure how!


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 3:32 pm
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Well done guys, it did get a bit challenging when it started raining. I could of done with a mud tyre on the front at times. I didn't bother with a 4th lap as it was going to be cutting it very fine within the two hours also my brake levers where getting closer and closer to my bars😄


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 4:07 pm
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Woke up with a sore throat and decided against it. Was entered in the 4hr


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 4:40 pm
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That was some heavy rain to be racing in, well done guys..........


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 5:32 pm
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That was pretty epic weather and conditions! I was on Fasttrack tyres, plenty of sliding around! Finished 10th in 2hr over 40 a very pleased and a bit surprised at that! Laps 1 & 2 were fine, but lap 3 got silly with the rain and mud! Decided not to go for a 4th as I was close to the cut off and thinking that the course was slowing down - good choice, would only have gained one place.

But then I managed to lock my keys in the car while getting changed - an embarrassing phone call to the wife and a long cold wait for her to bring spare keys. Oops!


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 6:06 pm
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But then I managed to lock my keys in the car while getting changed – an embarrassing phone call to the wife

I've done that before at Swinley, withe added bonus that the wife was with me! She wasn't happy...the aa man came and broke in for us...eventually!

I wasn't feeling great all week so decided I would take it steady so got really held up on the first lap....and then tried to push on, can hardly bloody walk now. Enjoyed the course though....apart from that head wind bit along the top.


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 6:30 pm
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Good result @bigdaddy opps about your keys! When I got back to my van I was shaking uncontrollable after that cold rain😄


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 6:34 pm
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Porridge Pots next. Anybody?


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 6:35 pm
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I went and hid in the ambulance to warm up a bit - they were very kind, and slightly bemused! Yep, looking forward to the next one!


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 6:46 pm
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I mean Minley manor!🙄


 
Posted : 08/01/2023 9:12 pm
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We went over to support our son who was riding. Horrible conditions but he seemed to enjoy it. I took some video on the Gopro and have posted it on Youtube. I tried to capture as many riders as possible. Not the greatest ever video and keeping the lens clear of rain drops was a challenge and the light was very poor.  Hope these links work OK.

https://youtu.be/UQJRjMucSGQ


 
Posted : 09/01/2023 8:28 am
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Looks like they had good numbers!


 
Posted : 09/01/2023 1:27 pm
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Takes at least one race that year before I remember to try and get at least somewhere near the front at the start and make some effort!!
Takes about 40s to go through past the camera.


 
Posted : 09/01/2023 1:50 pm
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I often find it hard to hard off the gun at BM too - maybe it's the cold! I don't seem to have the same problem later in the year!


 
Posted : 09/01/2023 2:14 pm
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As there's no gridding apart from the first 5 in each category it is a bit of bun fight at the start in the Gorrick's events.


 
Posted : 09/01/2023 2:55 pm
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Round 3 this Sunday - who else has entered?


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 9:59 am
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I think i am going to have a dabble. First race since knee surgery.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 10:41 am
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Yep I'll be there. Hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder to us compared to round 2!


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 1:03 pm
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Sadly not for me - I double booked the date and am going to BPW instead. A bit annoyed as I'm 6th in the points series which is my best for years! Oh well, next year eh... (and the Spring Series in Feb of course!)


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 2:46 pm
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Can't do this one.... So weather should be great!!


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 4:18 pm
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Just looked at the series points and I'm 7th! Had no idea😁. Not sure I'll be able to hang on to that.


 
Posted : 24/01/2023 5:23 pm
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Superb course at Minley today, so much flowing singletrack. Thanks again to the Gorrick team for putting on a great series.

5 laps in the V50s on my SS.


 
Posted : 29/01/2023 4:52 pm
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Was over watching some club members and our son....  Looked a nice route and interesting to see some of it running in the opposite direction to that I'm used to riding.  I took some video. Here's a short bit of the 2 and 4 hour starts (sorry 3 hours folks). I'll be posting more once I've edited them.


 
Posted : 29/01/2023 6:10 pm
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Worst possible result for me, 4 laps, nearly 2 hours riding time.
Utterly dead now.
Lovely course, great single track with enough fire road to actually pass people or recover on.
I hear the start bottleneck got a lot worse further down.

People really on the ball would have seen that timelaps were briefly claiming that I won, with five laps and a time of 2 and a half hours (in the 2 hour race). Not sure how that happened, I certainly didn’t go out again for fun!

With the correct results up, still not quite top half, which was my goal 🙁


 
Posted : 29/01/2023 7:48 pm
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A couple more videos from yesterday's Brass Monkeys at Minley if anyone is interested.   One more to go when I've edited it.


 
Posted : 30/01/2023 8:22 am
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Was a great race and course, I thought. Went through 3 laps in 1:31 and wasn't getting any faster so decided to call it a day, nearly puking in the feed area when I finished. My first race since knee surgery so was a little apprehensive as to where I would finish. Comfortably mid pack thankfully but just outside of a series point!

There was a good mix of singletrack and passing points on the fire roads. Seemed to be a good turnout too. I turned up at 8.45am and the carparking area was already flat out.


 
Posted : 30/01/2023 9:35 am
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Went through 3 laps in 1:31

ah the holy grail of 2 hour racing.


 
Posted : 30/01/2023 9:56 am
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Indeed. I much prefer it to the old "long" 2 hour races, when at 1.59 you have a painful decision to make.


 
Posted : 30/01/2023 12:02 pm
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Great video's, it never fails to stun me how slow it looks from the outside whilst you know the majority have their hearts pumping out of their chests.

Another 6 weeks & I'll be in the mix again!


 
Posted : 30/01/2023 3:39 pm
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A good mornings racing in the 2 hour cat for me. Was hoping to finish within the top 15 but alas 19th for me. Not to shabby for an older geezer knocking on the door of 56. There was some rather enthusiastic over taking right at the front of the pack on that long first down hill straight probably where I lost alot of places as decided to hold back a bit, didn't want to get involved in a spill. Course was great although I would of preferred a little bit more single track.
All in all a darn good hard race!🙂


 
Posted : 30/01/2023 4:41 pm
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Great video’s, it never fails to stun me how slow it looks from the outside whilst you know the majority have their hearts pumping out of their chests.

Thanks @Kryton57   Here's the last from Round 3. I tried to feature as many riders as possible so hope they were useful.


 
Posted : 30/01/2023 6:03 pm

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