2012 Highland Fling

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tubby74

Likes Bikes and Dirt
i was only doing the half but found the exit from the transition area a little confusing. It would be easy to take the wrong exit and be heading home on the 1/2 by mistake. Apart from that the trail signage was fine.
I had a lot of fun but didn't do very well. cramped about 40km in, then had a stupid stack just from being tired and not paying attention. still sore in the chest and legs from that, and got a nice shiner too.
next year the plan will definitely be to stay the night before, getting up at 4 to drive down wasn't the best thing to do.
 
D

dbm081

Likes Bikes
What a great day on the bike Sunday was - once again the Highland Fling didn't dissappoint! Great to see the whole town/community get behind the event and contribute to the great vibe overall. I had hoped to go under 6hrs but only managed 6.23, will have to train a bit harder on the hill climbs for next year and have another crack (I've already booked accomodation).

Big thanks to the volunteers on course and the event organisers for putting together such a great event.

I thought signage was fine. Tristan - not sure how you managed to miss where to go at transition? Maybe I was just going a lot slower and therefore had time to look at the signs? That would have been a dissappointment, but great effort on the time for the 56km even if it was technically a DNF!
 
alchemist

alchemist

Manly Warringah MTB Club
dbm081 said:
I thought signage was fine. Tristan - not sure how you managed to miss where to go at transition?!
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The Fling is well signed and the signs were quite big, but when you've got your head down following someone elses wheel it doesn't matter how big they are.
 
J

Jubas

Likes Dirt
alchemist said:
Pic

Dropping in...
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This reminds me - the only negative from the day out for me was getting stuck behind a few people on single speed cyclocross in the single track. Even with polite 'track' calls they really didn't want to yield. That meant to lots of stops/track stands while they stalled and swore in the last 10 kms or so. Full respect to them for doing the course on such a bike, but they really did create bottlenecks for riders =/
 
struggles

struggles

Likes Dirt
I was a bit disappointed with the amount of rubbish on the track. Surely it's not hard to put a gu packet somewhere other than the ground.
 
Shrekmeister

Shrekmeister

Likes Dirt
struggles said:
I was a bit disappointed with the amount of rubbish on the track. Surely it's not hard to put a gu packet somewhere other than the ground.
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totally agree the amount of rubbish on course was appalling.....

anyone get a pic of the Lance and his confessional ?? gee that was funny....
 
S

shaneblack

Squid
The Fling was my first MTB ride with more than a handful of riders. I thought it was a great event and the only down side for me was some bad luck at keeping air in my rear tyre. After starting the day tubeless it took two tubes, a pack and a half of patches and around two hours of time messing around with it to get me to the finish. Still, as my first event of this kind my main aim was just to finish and hopefully in under 10 hours. Even with my rear tyre issues I managed to finish in a little under 9 so was really happy with how it all went.

In terms of signage I'd have to say it was great and had no issues with not knowing where to go. In regards to congestion I thought it was pretty good as well. The start was open enough that both passing and being passed seamed fairly easy. The only real congestion point was the creek crossing and I didn't think that was too bad either, certainly a lot better than I've experienced on large group road rides. Even in the single track I didn't feel I was slowed too much by others and didn't have to get out of the way of the faster riders too often as things had spread out enough by then. Also helped that the majority of the elites happened to catch me on fire trail sections so it was easy to get out of the way.
 
R

Rida

Likes Bikes
dbm081 said:
I thought signage was fine. Tristan - not sure how you managed to miss where to go at transition?
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I also found the signage at transition confusing - had to ask someone both times just to make sure I was heading the right way. Maybe my eyesight needs checking ...

struggles said:
I was a bit disappointed with the amount of rubbish on the track. Surely it's not hard to put a gu packet somewhere other than the ground.
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Yeah, I was surprised by the amount of rubbish left on the track. Also heard reports of people seen deliberably throwing their empty gel packets on the ground. Poor form.


Shrekmeister said:
anyone get a pic of the Lance and his confessional ?? gee that was funny....
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The confessional box was great. Also loved the mirrors ... although it was disconcerting to see I looked even worse than I felt ...
 
P

pinkbike

Likes Dirt
Rida said:
I also found the signage at transition confusing - had to ask someone both times just to make sure I was heading the right way. Maybe my eyesight needs checking ...



Yeah, I was surprised by the amount of rubbish left on the track. Also heard reports of people seen deliberably throwing their empty gel packets on the ground. Poor form.
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Last year was my first fling and I also found the transition area confusing, however this year having done it once I was ok and had no issues. THere is a map of the wingello oval on the event information but it doesn't actually show the complexity of timing mat placement and barriers. It's not exactly rocket science but when you're in race mode it does take a little bit to compute the different signs etc. I can see how it would be worse for the elites as they would have the top 50km riders in their pack so you'd have riders going everywhere.

I didn't notice much rubbish, but I did see a lot of lost bottles. Anyone deliberately littering should be reported and disqualified... rear number plates would aid in this.
 
Motorhead

Motorhead

Likes Bikes
Last year there was a lot of cardboard gu pins around the course to drop your rubbish in this year I think I only saw one apart from at the feed stations. I really think they should bring them back, I pocketed mine but that's easier for someone in baggies & camelbak like me then someone in lycra. They also need more toilets I saw plenty overfilling by early Sunday morning.
Saying all that great event once again, smashed my time from last year & generally enjoyed the whole weekend.
 
top_oz_bloke

top_oz_bloke

Likes Dirt
Motorhead said:
Last year there was a lot of cardboard gu pins around the course to drop your rubbish in this year I think I only saw one apart from at the feed stations. I really think they should bring them back, I pocketed mine but that's easier for someone in baggies & camelbak like me then someone in lycra. They also need more toilets I saw plenty overfilling by early Sunday morning.
Saying all that great event once again, smashed my time from last year & generally enjoyed the whole weekend.
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Shoving used wrappers up the leg of your lycra is dead set simple so no excuses there.

Undercatering for toilets seems to be pretty standard at every big event, and by the night before the race they are usually revolting and out of paper.
 
alchemist

alchemist

Manly Warringah MTB Club
Jubas said:
This reminds me - the only negative from the day out for me was getting stuck behind a few people on single speed cyclocross in the single track. Even with polite 'track' calls they really didn't want to yield. That meant to lots of stops/track stands while they stalled and swore in the last 10 kms or so. Full respect to them for doing the course on such a bike, but they really did create bottlenecks for riders =/
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That's ok, I got held up by plenty of people on dual suspension mtbs in the single track too. It's not about the bike.
 
B

Bushranger

Likes Dirt
alchemist said:
That's ok, I got held up by plenty of people on dual suspension mtbs in the single track too. It's not about the bike.
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was wondering what ideal bike for this course would be - dual or hard tail?

Most the pics seem to indicate front buncher folk on 29er HT's.

But what about the average fit person - HT acceptable or just a no no on this 100k event?
 
struggles

struggles

Likes Dirt
I did it on a hardtail 29er. No way was I going to do it on my CX bike or my 6in travel dually with all that climbing.
 
J

Jubas

Likes Dirt
alchemist said:
That's ok, I got held up by plenty of people on dual suspension mtbs in the single track too. It's not about the bike.
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I think it is to a degree. You need a hell of a lot more skill to ride the single track on a CX bike than a full suspension bike imo. The CX riders that I saw were finding it tough to get more than about 20 metres without being bounced off course or stalling. I agree that you'll always find people holding you up regardless of bike, but I got the impression that some of the CX riders overestimated their skill on the rocky single track. YMMV
 
S

shaneblack

Squid
Bushranger said:
was wondering what ideal bike for this course would be - dual or hard tail?

Most the pics seem to indicate front buncher folk on 29er HT's.

But what about the average fit person - HT acceptable or just a no no on this 100k event?
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I think I'd class myself as an average fit person and more towards the novice end of things skills wise and found it fine on a 29er HT.
 
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