2012 Highland Fling

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dbm081

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Forecast is looking like it will be pretty wet in the lead up to the Fling. Anyone know how the tracks in that area hold up after rain?
 
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bt100

Likes Dirt
Just give it a day or two before worrying about the forecast down there as the rain amount can change pretty quick. I was there on the 28/10 and it was really dry and would actually do with a drop or two.
 
D

Dazzo

Likes Dirt
dbm081 said:
Forecast is looking like it will be pretty wet in the lead up to the Fling. Anyone know how the tracks in that area hold up after rain?
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Actually, quite well. The 3 Ring Circus, held on the same trails earlier in the year, was wet from start until finish with 500 riders. There was only a few spots that got a bit messy, otherwise the remainder of the course held up nicely.
 
J

Jubas

Likes Dirt
It dries quite quickly.. I was there on Saturday AM while it was drizzling for a bit. The track actually bedded down quite nicely - much more grip in sections than when it's dry and dusty!
 
carpetrunner

carpetrunner

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Wingello rain gauge with graduations for tyre selection?

Agreed that the 3 Ring Circus held up quite well - but I did step off into a large patch of thistles on a messy bit. I don't think that particular messy bit is on the fling course, (slight down hill, perfectly semi-circular wheelruts of mirror finish glazed clay).

I see they had around 4mm yesterday and another 5 today?, maybe another 4 or 5 tomorrow then dryish - so what tyres?

I made it through the Husky and 3RC on RaceKings 2.2/2.0
or will it be damp enough for the 2.35 eskars?

- carpetrunner
 
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pinkbike

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The forecast has improved considerably from last week and even earlier this week, however BOM statistics don't lie and as far as I can tell there was actually very little rain in the lead up to the 3 ring circus. Obviously being winter and all there was less evaporation and drying action too but there were no rain at all recorded for 6 days in the lead up, then only 0.2mm on the Friday and 1.4 mm on the Sunday. So comparisons to the track conditions at the 3 ring circus may not be the best to gauge the condition for this Sunday.

On the other hand, in the week leading up the fling last year a total 10.4 mm of rain fell on the Mon, Tues, Wed then a little extra 0.4mm to 9am on Friday before dry conditions for the rest of Friday and on the Saturday and Sunday.

Currently this year we're sitting at 3.2mm to 9am on Wednesday and 1.8mm to 9am on Thursday... there's another 5-10mm forecast for today and 1-5mm forecast for tomorrow :rain:. If we all cross our fingers and hope for the lower end of those ranges then we'll end up with very similar rainfall to last year and the track last year was primarily dry with a few patches of soft stuff in the last stage on the single track :Banane35:.

The differences being, it looks like the track will get one less day to dry out this year as compared to last year. The preceding weeks have been drier this year.

addit: all data from BOM using Moss Vale as the weather station
 
Rambler

Rambler

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We have had bugger all rainfall up here. The course would be perfect at this present time. I will be running crossmarks.
 
R

rides on

Squid
I was lucky enough to to ride the Wingello single track the last two weekends.The trail is in great condition riding very fast.
 
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Purdy

Squid
Yes, looking forward to this one. Im doing the half flling (which is 59km, I though I was signing up for 50km but whats another 9km!). Just wondering do most guys take 2 tubes with them with this sort of race? Also what tyre pressures are most people looking at? Its a long race so low pressures could really sap the energy.
See you all there!
 
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pinkbike

Likes Dirt
Purdy said:
Yes, looking forward to this one. Im doing the half flling (which is 59km, I though I was signing up for 50km but whats another 9km!). Just wondering do most guys take 2 tubes with them with this sort of race? Also what tyre pressures are most people looking at? Its a long race so low pressures could really sap the energy.
See you all there!
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Ride what ever tyre pressures you normally run, an extra 10 psi for the fireroads might seem like a good idea until you wash out on the single track because of it. As for tubes, depends on how much you flat and whether you run tubeless but if you're carrying a camelbak no harm in putting two in. You'll find a large variance between riders in both these aspects so do what works for you and your goals for the event.
 
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