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My liver wouldn't survive another SSUK
I was excited for it, but it clashes with a family get together. Sad times.
I've entered, as soon as it opened, but I've got covid. Bugger
@tazzymtb - I'm currently turn between taking my MK4 Stooge or my trusty old Krampus. Or both 🙂
I have fond memories of SSUK06. Indeed I think I ended up riding at about the same pace as Kelvin for some of the race and having a good chat with him.
I haven't had a singlespeed for many years now though and Somerset would be quite a trip for me. 🙂
I won’t be at this… which is my loss. Looks like a good venue.
After hearing all the chatter about previous editions I entered as soon as it opened. However have recently had surgery for broken scaphoid, so off the bike! I’m still hoping the surgeon says I’ll be able to ride bikes by then, but it’s feeling progressively unlikely 🙁
@tazzymtb what bikes are you bringing down Taz? I got a quick spin on your Spaceframe last time I was at SSUK in 2022 at Llandegla.
The 1 and only motobastard ti, with my own side project handlebars n bits, plus i may chuck a weight weenie full carbon niner in for a giggle. Dan will be on the 29+ mk ti
Me and a bunch of the sussex crew are coming along...
What's the event course profile like then?
I've only just seen it's a 3 hour rather than lap event! Talk about lack of prep!
Anyway...I'll be on my travers Angus SS with a wonky 32:18
DrP
I'll be there with 3 others. On my old Ramin 3+ with 32x19 i think.
See you there!
What’s the event course profile like then?
All up in the first half - so 250m of climbing in about 3km with some pretty steep bits.
I’ve only just seen it’s a 3 hour rather than lap event! Talk about lack of prep!
Yep, I saw that...2 hours riding and an hour at the beer stop?
Anyway…I’ll be on my travers Angus SS with a wonky 32:18
I've decided on the Krampus 29+ with a 32:22 gear.
Though I might bring my Transition Klunker to mooch about on 🙂
The second part of the climb after you cross the road used to be a permissive bridleway until last year when the landowner closed it to the public. I used to ride it a lot as an alternative climb to the road. It's a nice climb but punchy - about 3/4 of a mile at 11% average gradient. Enjoy, you singlespeeders are nuts 🙂
If you've never ridden in the area before take some time to ride the wider Quantocks if you can. The trails are great and the heather is in full bloom at the moment.
Transition Klunker
Awesome, always fancied one of those but have zero use for one in reality.
You can pull some wheelies on mine ;-P
Tbh mine has spent most of its life pulling a kiddie bike trailer! Which is why I replace the rear coaster with a hub brake for safety reasons.
Karate Monkey for me, need to swap out bars and tyres though.
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@Muke, nah - leave them as is! 2 years ago a couple did the whole course on fixed gear Cinelli Tutto cross bikes dressed in ballet tutus, and they didn't die!
Yes, we need pics of people's rides 😉
My Krampus yesterday...
I fear 'Walking' might be the order of the day!
Planning to ride there from Reading. Anyone who fancies a bit of adventure is welcome to join me along the way but it currently lacks both planning and fitness so will most likely be following the NCN route.
Gearing TBC, I made the mistake in Scotland of going low for the event but struggled with a couple of very long and spiny days on the bike getting there!
Blue de-stickered On-One Scandal (it used to be Orange but I got bored and had some cheap paint so we'll see how durable it is).
Why the radio silence!!!
Sooo...how did everyone find it?
I found it TOUGH! A big up-down really isn't my forte - i'm much more ofa punchier player!
But, was great fun in the end!
I went out farr too hard after the start gun and reached the crest level first with another chep - he popped into the singletrack just before me, but then I overtook on the descent.. Then I'd peaked ( abit too early one may say!! HR was 192) at this point, and the top guys came past and from tehn we kinda kept our positions..
I finished 6th with 6 laps...
Lap 2 was hell as I was recovering from the first lap, but then got into a rhythm fo the last laps, and just gurned it out.. I did find that once you were at the top of the climb, it wasn't long before you were at the foot of it again (which felt like it started as soon as you entered the site!)
Anyway, as always racing biked is top fun, and a hugh shout out to Jon, the organiser!
DrP AKA Titney Gears
fab weekend, great organisation, didn't get to "race" as my just about recovered MCL injury decided that it really didn't like the final steep haul and went "pop" again on a pre race lap ,so a weekend of catching up with folks and talking about our niche titanium stuff was had instead.
My physio has already given me a right old bollocking as apparently "light exercise" doesn't include a lung vomiting single speed thrutch 🙂
Great weekend, amazing weather helped.
13th with 6 laps for me - scraped in with seconds to spare - I think I was last one back in time for the lap to count.
(but =4th sounds better ;))
Yeah, great weekend 🙂
Good to catch up with and meet people and talk bikes n shit.
I 'only' managed 5 laps - I had 25 mins to spare but I wasn't going to get a 6th in under the 3 hours.
According to my Gps I clocked 72.4kmh on the fast, grassy section!
Didn't see this thread first time round, which was a shame as I was there with my son and wife (in a "zesty lime" VW T2).
Had a fab time and managed 4 laps on my Genesis High-Latitude. Normally this is 32-16 but I changed to 32-18 for the event. TBH, I probably could have gone even lower, but at my age I was never going to trouble the scorers whatever I did (still 4th place eh, props to me 😉
Whilst we may not have done all that much in the race - we absolutely cleaned up in the raffle. We now have the bars, stem, and a Surly Karate Monkey frame to make my wife a singlespeed for next year (and we put 2 prizes back!). Yes, that was my lad in the lake 😉
Brilliant event, super friendly crowd, we all loved it (aside from the drive from Essex on Friday which took for ever).
See you in the South Downs next year (that sounds nice and flat)
Little Rob
We had a brilliant time. My steaming red wine hangover and 4 hours of sleep saw me retire after 3 very enjoyable laps (I know... but an old mate lives just down the road and Friday night turned into Saturday morning).
I really loved the route. Garmin reckoned I managed 52kph on the grassy downhill after the singletrack. Not bad on a rigid!! Brilliant atmosphere as usual. And I won the cider in the raffle. Which was nice.
DrP - thank you for the Cher on the start of my third lap. It was the high point for me.
Really looking forward to 2025. Only 25 mins from home...
DrP – thank you for the Cher on the start of my third lap. It was the high point for me
Ahh.. were you one of the riders singing out loud with me!!!! Amazing!
DrP
Great weekend, thanks all! Really good to catch up and talk rubbish with old friends and new. Race was half fun, half "fun". Similar story to specialist up there for me. Didn't so much retire as "accidentally" stop for a little bit too long to do another lap!
I was trying to get hold of a mate who I've not seen in far too long. Couldn't track him down before the event or on Sunday morning, so took myself off for a ride from Triscombe. Met Jon, Rich and Gareth from the event out on the trails for a blat and they kindly let me tag along, Cheers again guys, the trails, guiding, company and ice cream were all top notch!
And we bumped into my mate in the woods! Caught up with him after the ride for a bit of steam train watching, plus ride for his fam - picked them up at Watchet for a pint and brush past the 40's festival.
pics:
I usually have to ask people to point into the distance for this sort of photo. Not these guys. Naturals.
And one from the actual event!
Brilliant event. Kudos to the organisers. Course was really well judged, climb was an absolute bastard, but *just* do-able, descent was brilliant.
Happy, with 4th, could probably have squeezed in a 6th lap but 4th will do for this year.
@littlerob we were in the caravan next to you, fair play on the prize haul, the colour of that frame is stunning.
Had a quick chat with Tim who is organising the 2025 event. If he was talking about the hill in QE park I think he was, then, bloody hell.
@pictonroad it might not end up that colour as the frame is an XL, and the plan is to make a SS for the wife.
The guys at Surly have been really good about letting her change to an M, but the colour might end up different. We'll know in a few weeks (we gave the frame back on Sunday). She's probably going to end up with the best bike of all of us!
Also chatted to Tim, and a swig of whisky was indeed just the thing to calm pre-race nerves. No idea why I was bothered, but its always been a thing. I just want to crack on with it.
I only fell off twice: Once on lap 2, on the 2nd really big drop off in the woods (on laps 3 and 4 I seemed to bypass it) and once really annoyingly on the grass down-hill on the my last lap. I came through the gate, turned right and I think hit a clump of earth that had been churned up. Next thing I was on the ground with my a*** hurting. Had to take 2 penalty beers to sort myself out 😉
What a fantastic event and participants. Even though I didn’t get to race I did several laps running the course cheering and heckling people.
It’s funny to put STW names to beards/bikes 🙂
Already keen to be there for 2025!
Next year is Hampshire - QE country park if I heard correctly
@DrP, so you were Britney Spears! I was the bloke on the blue Stooge out with you on the first lap, and then spectacularly blowing up just in time for the beer tent on lap 5!
Ah. Hampshire ks a little to far to patch the race after one lap due to hangover.
Ah. Hampshire ks a little to far to patch the race after one lap due to hangover
Don't worry about that there will be Beer, Heckling and Bike perving to keep you busy!
@pictonroad If he was talking about the hill in QE park I think he was, then, bloody hell.
'tis but a mere pimple in the South
DrP AKA Titney Gears
? I was enjoying your duet with Elvis sometime around the Diggers on lap 3*.
*you were probably on a higher number
I'm looking forward to it already.
I've done some climbing-v-distance analysis difficulty analysis of previous events - ranked hardest to easiest:
1. 2024 Quantocks
2. 2022 Llandegla
3. 2021 Yorkshire
4. 2017 Lake District
5. 2023 Llandegla
6. 2018 Isle of Wight
7. 2016 Coventry
2025 currently sits mid range....but will it stay there?
Great job everyone.
I made mistakes, apparently still carrying a bit of man flu, 33:17 not the magic number, suspension fork would of been nicer and don't stupidly blow yourself up on the practice lap.
Enough excuses, still a great weekend, looking forward to QECP next year.
Practise lap?!? Things have changed.
Practise lap?!? Things have changed.
More like a sociable bimble lap with a drink.
I’ve done some climbing-v-distance analysis difficulty analysis of previous events – ranked hardest to easiest:
1. 2024 Quantocks
2. 2022 Llandegla
3. 2021 Yorkshire
4. 2017 Lake District
5. 2023 Llandegla
6. 2018 Isle of Wight
7. 2016 Coventry
How is the IOW not last? There can barely have been 5m between the bottom corner and the top of the loose sand, even with it being a short lap?
'22 Llandega felt worse than it was because it was in multiple big hills (and no nice descents)
'21 Yorkshire felt worse than it was because a lot of the climb was on that off camber in the long grass!
'19 Comrie I feel like it might have had more climbing because there was no flat? But maybe it was just less steep and therefore felt like more climbing done on the bike?
But yea, this year was brutal, even with a few flat fields to link the beer stop back to the campsite it didn't feel like there was any respite between brutally steep climbing, the steep singletrack, the flat out bit through the meadow and then back up again.
2025 currently sits mid range….but will it stay there?
Do you have any info on the course, because QECP has some impressive contour lines ..........
How is the IOW not last? There can barely have been 5m between the bottom corner and the top of the loose sand, even with it being a short lap?
Must of included the ride out to the beer stop on top of the hill before heading back down to the beach.
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It was an epic spot for a beer stop! Plus the trip to the pub the night before. IoW and the Lake District were definitely the best SSUK I've been to for the social riding.
[edit - I meant harder than the numbers suggested, I'm not suggesting they were harder than last weekend!]
Loved Keith's IOW Seaside special
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Haha, I'd bike packed there on something silly like 32-14 which turned out to be great for the racing as I could fly down the hardpacked sand with the tailwind and get round the marker but 2.1" were far too skinny for the top half of the course.
Ranking purely based on climbing-v-distance, for the events I have GPS track for - did make it to Comrie, hence being missing.
How is the IOW not last? There can barely have been 5m between the bottom corner and the top of the loose sand, even with it being a short lap?
IoW included the beer stop ride.
Do you have any info on the course, because QECP has some impressive contour lines ……….
Where's the fun in giving that away?
IoW and the Lake District were definitely the best SSUK I’ve been to for the social riding.
Don't forget the 2013 Lost in Dorset edition...
That was 2 days of beer and social riding + a random hill climb race. So. Much. Beer.
I was still in my singlespeeding infancy at that point and wasn't aware that there were more than a few wierdos doing it! I think I may have been aware that SSUK/SSEC/SSWC were a thing, but assumed they were a race rather than a rolling pub crawl
Not on here much but thanks for coming to 2024 everyone! Sorry (not sorry) for the climb. I was going to cut it short but wanted to include those top switchbacks!
@DrP - is there any chance of the original res of your video, so I can include it in the highlights video please? Ideally to singlespeedmtb.uk@gmail.com
See you all in Hampshire in 2025!
Photo for attention. Cheers, John
John.. will email the file across in the morning chap... It's on the other device!
DrP
@littlerob I think I may have your son’s 2016 T-shirt after it was discarded for the frame swim…
@oxym0r0n he's denying any knowledge of that, and says he has all of his clothes (He'd have only been 16 in 2016!).
@littlerob my mistake! 😆 I’m not sure whose that is then! Only bit of lost property apart from a bottle, so did pretty well…
SSUK2025 has a website..... www.singlespeeduk2025.co.uk