niftydog
Likes Dirt
Two words; daily contacts.damn my degenerating eye sight
Best money I ever spent on night/wet weather riding gear.
Capital Punishment is GO
- Thread starter leftieant
- Start date
Best money I ever spent on night/wet weather riding gear.
Will douh yes, i think it does!
bring your raincoat!
Is it going to be a slopfest or does it drain well ??
MudFender ON..!!
Lucky i only did a half arsed job a cleaning the bike up
ditto that - any Canberrans here know how well the track is going to hold up if the forecasted rain Friday night & into Saturday goes ahead?
Pfff. freaks me out. never tried contacts and too scared to try. And don't they fall out with big knocks etc?
Also, no rain as of yet today, but there are some angry ass looking clouds around. But everything on the ground is slowly drying up.
JD26
Likes Dirt
Just went for a spin around the Ainslie / Majura side. They have been marking out the course, pretty easy to follow. The ground is moist and it is extremely slow at the moment.
For those doing the 100km, the bit between 48 and 50km will make you feel as though you are Tom Boonen going through the Forest of Arenberg (Paris Roubaix) --- do a Youtube search if you don't know what this is. Hopefully you wont feel like a little Spanish climber rolling through this part!
For those doing the 100km, the bit between 48 and 50km will make you feel as though you are Tom Boonen going through the Forest of Arenberg (Paris Roubaix) --- do a Youtube search if you don't know what this is. Hopefully you wont feel like a little Spanish climber rolling through this part!
JD26
Likes Dirt
50 - 70 is the bit from Mount Ainslie to the start of the GDE bit.
This takes in the firetrails around the backside of Mount Ainslie, The Saddle, Mount Majura Pines, The vineyard, on road cycle lane Majura Rd and federal Hwy, Mitchell grasslands.
Mount Ainslie fireroad will require you to park in one of the carparks at Hackett, and walk for about 15 minutes to get there. Saddle is even further away.
If you park in the Mount Majura Carpark off Majura Road, the course comes pretty close to the bottom gate, this could be good. The rest is reasonably bland, but the bit where you cross 'under' Flemington Road at Mitchell through the Lined Channel drain could be amusing if there has been a truckload of water!
spikenet
Likes Dirt
thanks for the info! see what the wife is prepared to do with the 3 kids
cheers!
niftydog
Likes Dirt
Never had one fall out yet. I didn't like the idea of them either, but needs must and now I can get them in and out really easily.
As for trail conditions - the course basically covers all types of surface we have around here, from soft clay fire trails to rocky hard pack. Difficult to predict with such a vague description of the course.
Personally, if I could be bothered, I might think about something on the knobby side on the front like a Nevegal, but I don't imagine there'll be too much climbing in mud so the rear can stay as is (crossmark).
So yeah, what Rusty said. ^
ladytoast
Likes Bikes
Well I just spent 15 mins in the garage staring at my spare tyres, trying to predict, and ended up leaving the Racing Ralph on. My figuring is that the road sections will be faster on that than the mud sections will be slow, if you know what I mean. Is this crazy talk?
RE: conditions when wet
OK, from my experience Kowen is the wettest forest in the area. For some reason it just doesn't soak up the water like Sparrow or Majura and stays wet for ages. Expect the fire roads to be ok but much of the single track will be wet and slippery, especially if it is new (as AROC says) or has been 'fixed up' recently. If AROC hasn't repaired any of the major single track in Kowen expect some very deep tyre ruts (full of water) from the moto cross riders. Majura will be much better than Kowen (in my opinion) as it seems to soak up water (to a point). I can't speak for the other stuff around Mitchell etc. Stromlo drains very well but does have some soggy corners. The conditions on the day will be determined by exactly when the rain arrives. Predictions are for it to rain very early Sat morning......... Sounds like fun!!!
OK, from my experience Kowen is the wettest forest in the area. For some reason it just doesn't soak up the water like Sparrow or Majura and stays wet for ages. Expect the fire roads to be ok but much of the single track will be wet and slippery, especially if it is new (as AROC says) or has been 'fixed up' recently. If AROC hasn't repaired any of the major single track in Kowen expect some very deep tyre ruts (full of water) from the moto cross riders. Majura will be much better than Kowen (in my opinion) as it seems to soak up water (to a point). I can't speak for the other stuff around Mitchell etc. Stromlo drains very well but does have some soggy corners. The conditions on the day will be determined by exactly when the rain arrives. Predictions are for it to rain very early Sat morning......... Sounds like fun!!!
niftydog
Likes Dirt
It just depends on how wet is wet. A bit damp and the odd slushy corner isn't gonna slow you down much, but a complete mud fest is a different story - but then I guess everyone will be slugging it out in those conditions. Also hard to predict the ratio of singletrack to fireroad.
Yeah, Kowen can be ridiculous.
New singletrack in Kowen is likely to be messy.
Yeah, Kowen can be ridiculous.
New singletrack in Kowen is likely to be messy.
Carlosdjakal
Squid
Well I'm just excited about being in my first race, and am really looking forward to tomorrow.
The course is very well marked. On the way to work I followed the arrows from the end of the neutral section along the GDE through Aranda and Black Mountain nature reserves, under the Glenlock Interchange and past the cork plantation into Stromlo Forest.
The dirt is still pretty damp, but there's very little mud or puddles. Hero grip at the moment, even running dual Nano Raptors.
If you're interested, here's where that section of course goes: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3762445
The dirt is still pretty damp, but there's very little mud or puddles. Hero grip at the moment, even running dual Nano Raptors.
If you're interested, here's where that section of course goes: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3762445
yeah - my first too... hope I don't embarrass the hell out of myself.Well I'm just excited about being in my first race, and am really looking forward to tomorrow.
morgiesmall
Squid
Tyres
Well, you've got about 2 hours to get to a bike shop and buy a new rear tyre. You might get away with the Ralph..