2012 Eastern XC Champs Thetford

Two podiums for the girls well done to Vin for 2nd and Vicky for 3rd in her first ever race, although corrected results now have her in 4th, oh well enjoy that moment of glory you had.

Tom Scott Collins put in some fast laps for 6th in Sport as he and Tom Wright rode in close company before Big Tom dropped back to 8th…this is going to get confusing guys.

Mick Pilcher was battling for 6th in Vets and then had a bizarre sticky back brake issue as some energy goo got in the works and dropped back to 10th, but is still flying high in the series positions. Brownie was 19th.

RESULTS

2011/12 Thetford Winter series Rd1

RESULTS

Big Plumz team turnout again.

2 Hour – Lou 12th
Tom 19th in a massive field of 155
Smiffy 15th
Brownie 43rd

4 Hour
WINNER – Richard Jones
16th Gegg Payne
6th Lloyd
15th Mick Pilch
24th Sean Quinn

2011 Bristol Octoberfest

8hour and 4 hour events at Ashton gate in Bristol.

Singlespeederz in action again. 4 man Team of DaveL, DaveG, Pilch and Brownie, 6th with 15 laps in 7hr37 against some quick opposition.

Lou and Tom paired up and did 7 laps in 4hr01 for 2nd in 4hr pairs, superb job.

Conratulations too to Rich Holmes who grabbed 2nd solo in the 8 hr 16 laps in 7hr:48 only beaten by 4 mins

RESULTS HERE

Rich’s blog is here Cyclesense

2011 D2D Dusk till Dawn – 12Hrs Thetford

Plumz up there from the off

Results here and 2 photo galleries HERE and HERE so go buy some.

Team Bigring win mixed, Lou is 2nd female and Tom is a brilliant 8th solo. Team Burton Massif 19th in teams. Glynn 48th solo. More info to follow.

TOM:

Ok so I am still not really sure where any of my engery came from to come 8th place at D2D and to do 9 laps! Well I can safely say my legs are well and truley feeling it now! I’d like to say a massive thank you to Lou and Paul firstly for taking my 3 bikes and anything else that they fitted in the van for me. And to everyone else that was there and supported me including Brad Burbridge for fitting new brake pads for me to go out and finish my laps! And for being the water boy!lol
Everyone including myself was shocked when who ever it was the first time checked what postion I was in, So i’d just like to say once again a massive thanks to everyone for the support and encouragement to stick out lap after lap. I my have been well and truley in the zone and it may not have looked like I took these wise words on, But to be honest the results can only tell you that I did.Rich thanks for the tips through the week they must have had some effect on my result including the epic endoura hat! O and Laura say’s thanks for pitting the last couple of laps her little sleep helped us have a safe journey home.
I’d also like to say thanks to Lloyd lets face it without your training in the past I wouldn’t be the rider I am today thanks Lloyd.
Thanks guys once again we can safley say we have a good pit crew.

—————————————-

GLYNN:

Well it was my own fault as I wanted rain & it did..from when we arrived Sat afternoon & was still goin when we left Sun morn.

Anywas I got my vest on & tootled down to the start with the grand plan of not pushing as everyone had told me. I left it late thinking that would not matter either, but tom probably had 2 mins on me before we even crossed the start line.

We did the usual mile loop back through the start & i was trying desperattly to resist as people cruised by, then about 250 yds past the start loop “bang” my rear tyre exploded!

Keep calm it wont matter I kept telling myself & in retrospect it was much better this happening now while I was fresh. A quick repair & I rejoined er..at the back, with just a few distant lights of late starters, but soon started picking through backmarkers which I tried to do without any energy expenditure.

End of first lap & I had to stop to get anoter tube, & started lap 2 to join a guy from retrobike I was talking to earlier, I spent most of lap 2 talking to him which was another mistake as I was using energy I didnt need & riding at someone elses pace!

Another quick stop to order my burgers with eggs & I went into lap 3 confident to pull back some time, but suddenly started to feel burnt out. No prob a quick energy gel would sort it, “another mistake” I restarted next to wing nut who was chatting away happily until “bang” he went down on the increasinglly slippy corse. His light bracket snapped & he was effectivlly light less! I felt obliged to let him ride in my light , which meant riding at 5mph for the remaining 8miles! doh

I was getting cold because of this so decided the vest top would have to go for the next lap, so kitted up & ate my now rubberised burgurs! A quick bike change here too as I was skating everywhere on my lobsters geax barrow!

Tom arrived in camp at the same time, now a lap in front, so I had no chance of matching his superb performance, I set off a few mins in front, but Tom caught me within a few miles, once he had I loved sitting on his back wheel for half a lap & suddenlly found it very easy to pace with someone I know.

I managed to give Tom the slip on the bombhole which led straight into the beast so gained a substantial lead on this lap, but it was all errelevent in any case! I decided to keep going into my 5th lap, but by the 4 mile marker I was now suffering. Popping jellybabies a fast as possible I was just going through the motions to get back & the course now seemed to go on forever but I got back without stopping.

I started the race enthusiastic but quite tired & dont know what I could of done different, I still dont belive I hardly raised my heart rate the whole time so rode in the “correct” manor, but felt I could of slept standing up on the last lap.

I will just face the fact this is not my sort of thing, but will be happy to do this again as team, 55 miles of slipery hell is prob not all that bad, but just shows how good Toms achievement was!

FNSS 2011 – Rd 13 Delapre

Fantastic fast flowing singletrack course. Rich tried hard to keep on Ryans tail but had to settle for 2nd in Senior, Glynn 16th, Tom 32nd and Scott clipstone popped back from the Army for 33rd

Pilch got off to a fast start in the Vets, but it was too much too soon and the steady Brownie picked him off at the end finishing 10th while Mick bombed to 16th. Dave Loveday on singlespeed moved upto 19th after a slow start and joined all the riders streaming past Jack as he floundered. Aleady well down a Mechanical dropped him to 23rd. Lloyd went missing in action again!

James Hyde wins again, the guys a walking podium hoarder, Lou Brown took 5th in the Ladies.  RESULTS

FNSS 2011 – 3 Hour Enduro Fermyn

Great new race to celebrate the 20th Aniversary of the FNSS series. Another good turn out from the Plumz.

Big battle between the Burton massive and the…..Burton Massive. Glynn explains;

Of course I should of done this race solo in preparation for D2D, but the thought soon passed! Yes I have entered solo!,

Burton James was keen to race, but not so sure about solo so I offered to team up. Without sounding disrespectfull I did not expect to do that well given James’s FNSS results, but thought it would be fun.

Anyway I went off first & with a good griding & a good first lap, putting us in particular a fair way ahead of Brownie & Pilch. I was elated to see James then hold the gap and come in ahead of Piltch I realised the guy was putting in a superb effort, so it was game on…

Each lap I was gaining some time & James was loosing some but managing to stay ahead, I realised our gap was getting less but kept on going. Then penultimate lap Piltch arrived about 20 sec in front of James for the first time.

psychologically this was hard, but I threw everything at my last lap & had caught Paul by the double ditches & passed him on the fireroad. Wahoo I kept the pressure on & found his light disappearing & reappearing behind me, with a final effort I hit the last decent hard, but was shot by the time I climbed the singletrack by the field edge & Paul was right behind me.

He now had the mental edge & I was waiting for the inevitable sprint which I could not answer to! So 3 hrs of racing & the old boys beat us by a second.

I loved actually having a good “race” & James was solid all night long, so I guess I only have myself to blame for that one! still 5th senior is the highest I am gonna get this year!

Plumz results:

• James Hyde – Junior winner, we expect nothing less, 10 laps
• Rich Jones – Senior winner, and second overall o the night to fastest man out there Slash. 12 laps
• Glynn+James 5th Senior – 11 laps in 3hr01
• Mick Pilch and Brownie  – 2nd Vets  – 11 laps in 3hr01
• Jack 6th Vet  – 11 laps in 3hr06
• Paul Morris  – 16th Vet 9 laps in  3hr00
• Lou Brown – 3rd lady 9 laps in 3hr20
• Lloyd and Holly Bettles both DNF’d
• Tom Wright going brilliantly then had a pretty painfull fast crash when his drivetrain locked up and spat him off, bad luck.

24-12 Hr Endurance 2011

Not as huge a plumz entry as last year but our new endurance junkies the Brown and Pilch households teamed up in a 2 man 2 women mixed team. RESULTS A tough course apparently and a great 7th place from the team with 10 laps, Pilch has the lowdown:

So we plumped for the mixed team of 4 at 24 – 12, Mr & Mrs brown and myself & Vin, accompanied by Mark as pit crew, catering, bar manager and general all round top bloke. The last hour or so of the drive down it lashed it down stair rod stylee, then promptly stopped just as we got there, so we got to set up camp in the dry, bonus. At the this point we looked at everyone coming back from their practice laps covered in shit and decided to get our practice lap done in the morning….

Race day dawned the sun’s out and we’re all fettling but the course doesn’t look like its getting any dryer so…. no practice lap, how hard can it be?

The answer to that was…. VERY hard, if you were at 24-12 last year, it was a good course, it had a couple of tech bits, but no big deal really, this was a different animal, whilst they retained a fair amount of last years course there was a lot of technical stuff added in, made even trickier by the downpour before the race started.

Brownie lead the charge for Numplumz mixed, within a couple of minutes the race wound up the long grassy ‘cliff climb’ out of the arena – a real test on legs & lungs for cold bodies after changeover each time. Me next, a bit of foreboding after a a quick couple of words from Brownie… something about a few bits that can ‘take you by surprise’ and I thought I heard ‘character building’ mentioned too…

I felt good after the initial climb and bearing Mr Brown’s sage words in mind, progressed purposefully, trying not to go steaming off in my usual headless chicken mode, surprisingly I was passing quite a few riders on my way, I felt comfortable and the big wheels with nobby nics on were finding the grip to keep me upright, my lap passed without incident and I passed the baton to Vin at changeover.

Vin didn’t fare so well, within minutes she was off the bike getting a nasty deep gash to her knee in the process, but despite that, she gamely jumped back on and finished her lap in a respectable time, however a trip to A&E and 5 stitches after meant the end of her race. 

Lou out next…not surprisingly a little worried by now, but we cheered her off as she sped up the initial climb, she came back in at the end of the lap after riding round with no spills full of confidence and ready for the next round.

The race progressed this way with the course drying out more and more, Vin reappeared from A&E, gutted she couldn’t do her laps, but by now she could hardly bend her knee, so our pit crew (Mark!) took her number for 1 lap and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Lou had a much better 2nd lap and was by now enjoying a practically dry course, riding much more confidently.

By the time darkness fell there was a lot of moisture in the air once again and things started to get quite treacherous, you could tell this by increase in ambulance activity, it went from 2 an hour to 3 or 4 😉

Brownie came in just after 10pm after a nasty off which had agrivated a previous injury, so I went out for my last lap, it was definately more sketchy, a trip through the tape into a bush at one point and a little sit down in front of one guy I passed… who then passed me and did exactly the same thing in front of me 5 minutes later – how we laughed!

When I got back in I was greeted by the team it was 11 pm Lou handed me a beer – the bar was clearly open… time to get the barbie on, crack the beers and do the race post mortem.

A great weekend, we came 7th on a really tough course, (lot more climbing than last year too), usual crap showers and as Vin said I think they could afford to spend a few quid on a resident medic, rather than just St Johns Ambulance (who do a great job, but really, that course warranted much better medical support) to care for some of the relatively minor cuts rather than send everyone off to A&E. 

Part time plumz man Rich Holmes wins the 24Hr solo event, RESULT; a brilliant 23 laps – its been coming.

FNSS 2011 Race 9 MK bowl

MK Bowl returns, always technical and loads of fun if you are a real mountainbiker we always say. RESULTS

A superb debut FNSS race win in the ladies for Vincenza Perkins and Mick Pilch in a racing best finish of 5th, made it a great celebration for the pair. Two races in a week and two podiums.

James Hyde was back to winning ways in the Juniors, trouble is he didnt have anyone to race, his finishing time was good enough for 3rd in the seniors though.

low turnout otherwise due to national champs. Lou Brown was 5th, Tom was 24th, Glynn 28th, James Smart 31st, Brownie 23rd

Thetford Summer Enduro

RESULTS from Timelaps

The Burton Massive took on the Thetford Summer Enduro at Mayday, and it turned into a Plumz battle of the couples as the Pilch n perkins duo took on the Browns. Was it competetive, you bet, it went to the wire and the Browns got the upperhand for 2nd on the day. A superb ride from Vincenza on her first ever ride, a podium finish superb.

Top day for the Plumz Pairs

10 Under The Ben – 2011

10 Under The Ben – Dave reports– sore wrists, knees n back, big smile.

Sore fingers now too (from typing). Grab a brew and enjoy.

The journey

We (Dave G and I) left on Thursday night; stopped overnight on the way there in Carlisle centre. We went for a beer in the pub next to the hotel and some scaly bouncer on the door said, “Pound please lads”. Dave I just looked at each other. “So you have to pay to buy beer”? That’s nuts. So we went to a Weatherspoons over the road and had some really decent ale. Only two pints though, I could allow myself that at least, it was Thursday night after all.

Friday morning we drove up in to Scotland and proceeded to get thoroughly lost in Glasgow. They had kindly closed the motorway we were on and not provided any diversions. We ended up in the Gorbals. Really lovely spot, if you’re favourite tv program is Jeremy Kyle and having kids at 12 years old is your ambition. A few U-turns later and we were on the way out and back on the right track.

It started to rain just as we were getting to Loch Lomond. (It didn’t stop again until we got back in to England on the way home).

Got to Fort William about midday, went directly to the event centre where there was supposed to be a campsite; looked more like a carpark with next to zero facilities so we drove back in to Fort William and found a campsite with all the trimmings, which Dave rated quite highly and turned out to be perfectly adequate.

Piltch turned up with Mikey and Dan in Plitch’s Dreammachine about 5.30ish and managed to get their tents up in one of the only dry spells of the weekend. Then off to sign in and up in the gondolas to the restaurant for some tea and whiskey tasting. The weather was atrocious. Rain turned to hail the further up we went, and the wind was enough to blow you over. Oh joy of joys!

Friday night in the tent…oh ..my ..god!! Freezing cold, wind trying to rip the tent away, with us in it and chucking it down with rain. Not good.  I felt tried, cold and seriously thought about chucking the whole thing. The thought of riding a 10 hour solo in those conditions just filled me with dread and despair.

Anyway, I manned up and got on with it. When we got to the event the rain had stopped and the wind had dropped a smidgen (it was still windy but not hurricane force anymore).

The Race

Got kitted up and on the start line for a la mans start the just started peddling. 10 hours later I stopped peddling and the race was over J. That’s the short version for those of you bored with this monologue already.

The more detailed version.

The course = epic; proper mountain bike stuff. About 10 miles with 350 ish meters climbing per lap (really pleased it wasn’t the 600 I had been led to believe it was). There was a bit of everything in it including some almost vertical drops coming out of some very steep stone steps, long dragging, fireroad climbs, very technical rocky forest decents and some open bog, rooty, river type wheel sucking gloop. The course layout got changed twice during the race as bits became unridable.

It was very single speed friendly in that next to zero flat stuff. There were a couple of fireroads which had a slight slope which geared riders could overtake me on, but other than that I was doing OK.

My strategy was to save energy. I just kept up about the same pace pretty much all race, my last lap was only 4 mins slower than my second (which was the first full lap) and the conditions were 5 times worse.

Lap 6 is where the fun started. I had a front wheel wash out on some rough stuff and smashed my knee a treat (it’s still like a balloon now Monday AM).  I got up and dusted myself off. My bars were knocked off centre so I forced them back (without loosening the stem bolts – which was rather stupid; it’s a carbon steerer, but thankfully no visual  harm done). The next bit was a super fast rocky decent of the   no- brakes, death grip variety. This is where I found out, or at least at the bottom, where I had actually had NO BRAKES, nothing, not a bean. OK well a slight bit on the front but next to useless when it’s a sharp 90degree right turn at the bottom. Anyway, managed to control it and save more pain, but the rest of the lap was a mare. Negotiating all the technical stuff without being able to control speed was pretty scary.

When I got back to the changeover the guys were cheering that I was currently 7^th.  I shouted to Dave I need pads so have to stop. These were back at the car so I raced over and then found my cleat has lost a screw and was hanging off. The nightmare gets worse.

Dave set about changing pads (still in torrential rain without a coat – hero) Dan Luckily came to the rescue with the cleat so things were not lost, just delayed. Then what seemed like an absolute disaster occurred. The pads were changed but still no brake – it was the hose, loose and leaking fluid. Race over, I thought. I was gutted. (Note to self – lose the Jeff Jones bars – no protection for the brake hose or coupling)

Dave tightened the hose and ran over with my bike to the Nevis bike hire place and asked them if they had a Hope bleed kit – they didn’t but told us to try the event mechanics (which we previously didn’t know anything about). These guys fixed it FOC in a couple of minutes.  By this time I was shivering so badly I could hardly speak but my Race was back on! I knew I’d lost a lot of time (about 25 mins) but I needed to stick to the plan, don’t try and catch up the time, and kill myself in the process.

The strategy started to pay off. Any fast descents and climbs I was hoovering the riders up. Never sure if any were in my category but solos were easy to spot; they were the dirty ones.

After lap 7 Dave shouted me that I had two laps to do and was back up to 7^th place.(to stay within the cut off).  So in to lap 8 I still felt quite strong.  Piltch caught me up and we rode together for a short while, which was really great for morale.

lap 9 is where the plan of sticking to a rhythm really started to show the benefits. I saw a solo rider in the distance on the long drag which I was starting to catch. When I got level with him, I thought he looked like vet age. I asked him how many laps he’d done, “this is my 9^th” he said. He looked knackered which gave me a mega boost. He tried to stick with me but by the time I got to the top of the climb he was long gone – I knew I must be up to 6^th.

I caught another couple of riders in the technical wooded section, one of which looked vet solo. He managed to get past me again but when I got on the fast fireroad decent I flew past him (he lost his bottle – it was sketchy though). He was starting to gain on me again but we were now on the last section which was nearly all climb. I was not going to let anyone past on this stuff. I put the hammer down and after a few turns he was gone. Nobody in front or behind me now. I just poured everything I had left in to it. Crossed the line in 5^th place (Vets solo). Really chuffed with that. Had I not had the mechanical issues which slowed lap6 and ruined lap 7 I’d have been in with a chance of 4^th. Never mind still chuffed with that. 14^th Overall out of 119 riders, best ever finish. Although I don’t like to make a big song and dance about it, I was the only solo singlespeeder and one of two solos riding full rigid. (I like to think that makes me even more of a hero J

Massive, huge enormous thank you to Dave who, without his help, it would have been game over after 6. He also kept me fed and watered and meant I only had to stop once (which was a forced anyway)

Also massive thanks to Dan, Piltch and Mikey who all really supported me and kept me going. Big well done to those guys too; good result considering Mikey had a race ending crash earlier in the day.

Post Race.

The weather continued to be absolutely terrible so we made for the campsite about 9ish and after a warm shower and some grub crawled in to my pit a shattered and battered but satisfied chap.

Sunday after a Morrissons breakfast in FortWilliam we set off for the epic drive home. We had one super scare driving through Glen Coe (i.e the middle of nowhere) the car just died; completely dead. We pulled over to the side and just looked at each other. Neither of us had any juice left in our phones so we could’nt call for help. We suspected  Dave’s dodgy phone charger out of the cigar lighter and the car started again. Panic over. I was so relieved; you cannot believe it how much.

Got home in 7.40 mins including stops which was good going.Epic drive, epic ride, epic weather and epic write up.
Knackered now. Thanks for reading.
Full Results and times here

http://www.nofussevents.co.uk/userfiles/File/solo%20d2.xls

Daves 9 lap times = 42:18 – 1:04:10 – 1:05:39 – 1:06:31 – 1:09:08 – 1:11:46 – 1:34:52 – 1:09:13 – 1:08:44