 You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Anyone signed up to this / knows much about it? I signed up earlier this week (it's now full). Looking for advice r.e. the terrain - I've become a bit paranoid about flats on my CX bike now following a few problems recently. I'm planning on riding tubeless, but haven't found this as reliable as it is on my MTB. Given the added difficulty of darkness, I think the risks of flats/damaging the rims is quite high.
Anyone done this route before? I believe it's similar to the summer event route.
i am doing the summer one but never done it - not much help but the bump might
Not sure of the route but judging by the pictures they keep putting up its hard pack single track gravel fire road, tarmac and some very muddy looking sections.
I'm doing it on my 29er hardtail as its fastest bike I've got for it.
It's starting from a different area to the summer event, and from the sneak peeks of the route I've had*, it's very different to the summer route. Very mixed, surface wise. Could be muddy, could be frozen solid...
*I'm working on the event, as I did on the summer one, so I'll be lurking somewhere in the background. You may or may not see me...
I guess I'll have to wait and see! Time for some emergency last minute training.
Cheers
I did the summer True Grit, it was great....a lot of it was hard packed, a couple of pretty technical sections which my FS Capra swallowed up no problem. We were the minority as most were on CX bikes or hardtails. Great event, good fun, expect plenty of climbing but also still plenty of varied riding. Also went through grassy fields privately owned and down tracks you’d never normally be able to ride.....
hope this helps
Yeah that's helpful, ta. I think it should be fine with my current setup up then. Sounds like HT might be quicker but I'll stick with my CX and see.
I did the summer one, it was a good event with a friendly atmosphere, really wanted to do dark skies but with it being during the night and the fact that I'd have had to have booked some kind of over night stay, it would of have turned out to be a bit more expensive/hassle than I'd of wanted atm, oh and it would have meant laying out for a decent set of lights too.
There was a mixture of cross bikes and MTB's last time, both had there advantages at times.
If I was doing it the Dark Skies, if it's the same mixture of terrain, at this time of year given what the weather conditions could be like and the fact that it's in the dark, personally I'd opt for the MTB rather than the cross, but that's just personal pref.
Be interesting to hear how you do, enjoy, gutted I'm missing this one!
What was the verdict then?!
It was great.
Well sign posted / marshaled
Lovely food / pitstop at 25 miles.
Route was a good mix of country lane / fire road / single track.
The weather helped by been dry and cold as well.
Agreed - excellent event. Not much technical, CX was perfect. Some quiet road, track and fast easy trail. A few rutted bits which were tough on a CX but didn't need an MTB. We had a nice bunch of 4 riding together which was helpful info the headwind.
Only thing missing was a granny gear for the climb out of Ampleforth!
Glad you enjoyed it - I assumed you'd worked out which bike was faster, malumb!
Think I likely chatted with you both - I was the shaggy-haired beardy bloke in the red Montane top hanging around HQ.