2012 Forrest 6 Hour - Entries now open

[jathanas]

The pairs racing was intense, and I had an absolute blast. 15 laps and we barely scraped in with a top 10. Most solo riders rode 7-8 laps over the same six hours so we didn't ride any less, but the team laps were completed in 24-26 minutes. My race partner and I were in the hurt locker but we couldn't stop! There was only 1 minute separating 10th from 11th after 6 hours of racing.

Just like the Duael it was like a 6 hour interval session. Pairs racing for me from now on, riding fast is funner!

 

[Stevob]

Well done Jim. I tried once to stay in front of some fast teams riders (top 6 finish) after the merge at Marriners, and I held my own for a little while, but was getting a little risky, so I let them past. Those guys were flying.

Also, has anyone got an accurate distance for the solo lap?

 

[normdouglas]

Well done Jim. I tried once to stay in front of some fast teams riders (top 6 finish) after the merge at Marriners, and I held my own for a little while, but was getting a little risky, so I let them past. Those guys were flying.

Also, has anyone got an accurate distance for the solo lap?

Solo was 11.5k teams was 8.3k

 

[softek]

Solo was 11.5k teams was 8.3k

my Garmin said 13kms, did anyone else have 13km?

 

[jathanas]

Well done Jim. I tried once to stay in front of some fast teams riders (top 6 finish) after the merge at Marriners, and I held my own for a little while, but was getting a little risky, so I let them past. Those guys were flying.

Also, has anyone got an accurate distance for the solo lap?

Congrats to you once again Steve, for another strong ride.

I'm pretty sure you'd love the pairs racing, and I'm just as sure you'd kick arse at it. Check out the average speed of the laps, I'm sure that'd keep you keenly interested in the proceedings...

The pairs teams did not have a 40+ or Elite class, it was one big pool (90+ ?) of teams, so I was pretty stoked to sneak into the top 10. There were a couple of mixed pairs teams that were flying! There's some proper fast girls riding XC at the moment...

 

[Stevob]

Thanks Jim. I've got an opportunity to ride in a pair next weekend at Beechworth, and I'm considering doing it. Could be a nice change. Any tips on staying warm in between, or just put a jacket on?

 

[normdouglas]

my Garmin said 13kms, did anyone else have 13km?

Sorry... yes you're correct. We were going to make a small change that would have made it 11... but chose to leave it.

Glad we did

 

[jamespierce]

Another unreal event care of the Forrest Club, flawless organization, nice quick presentations and solid weather for a change. The split track really does improve the racing though the section through mariners did seem to suffer with a fair bit of traffic, just solos and teams needing to ride at a different pace, especially late in the day when every is getting a bit tired. That said everyone was very cool about letting us slip past all day as soon as possible.

Course timing at the bottom of the hill seemed to work really well too. We also enjoyed a great post race night of fire, friends and food at the caravan park (which had basically emptied out).

 

[Stevob]

Sorry... yes you're correct. We were going to make a small change that would have made it 11... but chose to leave it.

Glad we did

I'm glad you did too Norm. Short solo laps suck. Long laps eliminate the mind fuzz a little. I wasn't counting laps, and had no idea what time it was until I asked, and was told it was 2:40. Surprised me quite pleasantly too.

 

[jamespierce]

Thanks Jim. I've got an opportunity to ride in a pair next weekend at Beechworth, and I'm considering doing it. Could be a nice change. Any tips on staying warm in between, or just put a jacket on?

Chair, blanket for your legs and a down jacket

 

[jathanas]

Chair, blanket for your legs and a down jacket

+1 to that. Stretch at the end of the lap, eat, drink, and get active a few minutes before your turn. The legs feel horrid for the first km or so after a few laps.

 

[jamespierce]

+1 to that. Stretch at the end of the lap, eat, drink, and get active a few minutes before your turn. The legs feel horrid for the first km or so after a few laps.

Yes, also good advice. Get into a routine, have a short wind down on the bike, eat and drink straight away, by which time you need to get covered up. Dont bother trying to warm up too much each lap unless the laps are quite long. Expect to ease into the lap, because yes, your legs are going to feel horrible after a bit. Have a system for counting lap times so it's one less stress. We use the iPhone clock timer with laps these days... Used to use a whiteboard.

 

[softek]

Sorry... yes you're correct. We were going to make a small change that would have made it 11... but chose to leave it.

Glad we did

No worries Norm, just wanted to say,I think it was a great idea splitting team riders from the solo ones, else I'm certain the track would have been a quagmire, I had a really fun day, considering the ordinary freezing weather.

 

[normdouglas]

No worries Norm, just wanted to say,I think it was a great idea splitting team riders from the solo ones, else I'm certain the track would have been a quagmire, I had a really fun day, considering the ordinary freezing weather.

Really glad you had a good time... but I must take you to task... "ordinary freezing weather"???
That's some of the best weather EVER for one of our races. It was awesome.

The slickness some of your experienced early on was not caused by rain, but rather just simply dew and the moisture in the soil here.

I've been out on the trails this morning and it's all in awesome condition.

 

[Stevob]

Yes, also good advice. Get into a routine, have a short wind down on the bike, eat and drink straight away, by which time you need to get covered up. Dont bother trying to warm up too much each lap unless the laps are quite long. Expect to ease into the lap, because yes, your legs are going to feel horrible after a bit. Have a system for counting lap times so it's one less stress. We use the iPhone clock timer with laps these days... Used to use a whiteboard.

Thanks Jim & James for the advice. Will take that on board.

 

[Benizmo]

Thank the weather gods! Turned out to be almost perfect weather in the end, cool all day which meant long sleeves and no cut up forearms to worry about

I was getting worried on the 2nd solo lap when every corner was like a slip n slide, thankfully it dried up quickly and was near perfect hero dirt on my last lap 5mins before cutoff. Pity my legs had packed it in for the day!

Was the bog hole at the end of Mariners drained? One lap it was a big mess, then it was fine the next lap, the little drop chute was pretty sketchy as well

Thanks Forrest club for another great event, look forward to Forrest Festival now

 

[Lard]

Thanks for an awesome event, loved every minute of it, the mud was just enough to make it interesting, without being bad enough to destroy drive-trains and brakes It was my first solo race after racing teams for years and I survived!

My only thought for improvement would be let the solo riders go ~10 mins before the teams. I was up the front end of the solos on the 1st lap and several times we got stuck in mariners with less experienced team riders stopped in the middle of the track. It'd be nice to have a clean 1st lap without as much congestion.

 

[casnell]

My thanks also for a fantastic day , the tracks were perfect, the weather perfect, the vibe perfect, and everyone was very friendly on track.

First 6-hour solo since Forrest two years ago and it just gets better ! The split track with longer solo laps worked perfectly.

My only suggestion is two years ago you had a 50+ solo category, not this time. I understand you could end up with a thousand categories if you want, but personally, I liked the 50 + solo cat !

 

[jathanas]

My thanks also for a fantastic day , the tracks were perfect, the weather perfect, the vibe perfect, and everyone was very friendly on track.

First 6-hour solo since Forrest two years ago and it just gets better ! The split track with longer solo laps worked perfectly.

My only suggestion is two years ago you had a 50+ solo category, not this time. I understand you could end up with a thousand categories if you want, but personally, I liked the 50 + solo cat !

Pairs didn't have a 40+ category Chris. Just one "Open" category with 90+ teams. I was comfortable with that but a bit confused about the inconsistency. No biggie...

 

[macboy]

+1 for a bigger start gap.

Loved the event, my 3rd time. I only missed the 2nd one as I was interstate.
I like having two mostly separate laps but for me it was frustrating at the first merge. Unaware of where the merge was (my fault for not doing a recce or asking anyone) I was happy to let a few riders off in front of me knowing that I'm not a fast starter but then to get stuck in the brake happy tail end of the teams at Marriners was frustrating. 6 hours is a long time to catch up and I had to keep telling myself that. It was just annoying as it let the carrots escape up the trail well out of sight.
Other that than, a great event once again. Awesome track, I've ridden forrest a fair bit and somehow a lot of it managed to feel completely new which kept my mind fresh. Well done to all involved.