VES round 6- Blores Hill- GMTB

setonz

setonz

Likes Dirt
dowey42 said:
Local bike shop and sponsor of the race Push'n'pedal from Sale will be in attendance. They will have a range of wares for sale including heaps of gels and electrolyte drinks, tyres and bits and pieces. As well as providing neutral support should anything untoward happen.

They will also be bring around 30 demo bikes from Scott and Avanti for people to try over the weekend!!!!
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Scott Spark 29er carbon as a demo??
 
Stevob

Stevob

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Adam, is the link to the entry list the same link for live updates during the race? It is on auto-refresh, so I imagine it is, just need to confirm for the family.
 
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dowey42

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Stevob said:
Adam, is the link to the entry list the same link for live updates during the race? It is on auto-refresh, so I imagine it is, just need to confirm for the family.
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Correct Steve. They are true live results too not every half hour
 
Knut

Knut

Troll hunter
Awesome event and fantasic course. I nominate this round for next year. Stoked. Wish it was closer to home though. Perfect day!
 
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toddcuth

Likes Bikes
great day

Great days racing i love that place, trails are so much fun it was the perfect place for me to try my first 6hour solo of pain.
gmtb put on a great event thanks to the crew.
 
riderideride

riderideride

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Super fun tracks! And fun camping :) thanks for the food Saturday night too! That was great! Suggestion for next year... Would it be possible to start the race earlier?? Say 8:30 or 9? The drive home in the dark while tired and on country roads was a bit scary.
 
cleeshoy

cleeshoy

Eats Squid
riderideride said:
Super fun tracks! And fun camping :) thanks for the food Saturday night too! That was great! Suggestion for next year... Would it be possible to start the race earlier?? Say 8:30 or 9? The drive home in the dark while tired and on country roads was a bit scary.
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I would support a 9am start. I think they did that at Beaconsfield a last month - getting home an hour earlier on Sunday night definately helps with getting ready for the work week!
 
akashra

akashra

Eats Squid
riderideride said:
Super fun tracks! And fun camping :) thanks for the food Saturday night too! That was great! Suggestion for next year... Would it be possible to start the race earlier?? Say 8:30 or 9? The drive home in the dark while tired and on country roads was a bit scary.
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We've covered this over and over in the past - I suppose you drove there in the morning too?
If you live a long way from the event, it's up to you to do the responsible thing about driving to and from events, and that means staying closer to the venue the night before or after where appropriate.
A 10am start, resulting in a ~5pm finish should be fine for most people with a <3hr drive, if you've got up at 8am after staying on-site. I don't see how it's an issue. Just like I don't go trying to drive to and from Forrest in a day, if you live that side of Melbourne, you probably shouldn't do the same for Gippsland. This is down to personal responsibility!
Driving home after doing a 6 hour race solo is not something I put in to this category if you've driven 3 hours to get there and then expect to drive another 3 hours home. Fortunately for me, Blores is (currently) only a 1h45m drive - and I break that down trying to drive home because I know driving home after a 6hr solo event is too much for my body.
A 10am start is perfectly fine and healthy for those who live in the region. Should we now expect 8am starts of the Geelong or Albury events too? No, I think not.

Part of the series being a 'series' was some things standard. These included the event start times, the categories offered, and entry portal used, the prizes given. But I guess the other three of these four are now completely non-standard too across events, so might as well now throw that out too.
 
cleeshoy

cleeshoy

Eats Squid
akashra said:
We've covered this over and over in the past - I suppose you drove there in the morning too?
If you live a long way from the event, it's up to you to do the responsible thing about driving to and from events, and that means staying closer to the venue the night before or after where appropriate.
A 10am start, resulting in a ~5pm finish should be fine for most people with a <3hr drive, if you've got up at 8am after staying on-site. I don't see how it's an issue. Just like I don't go trying to drive to and from Forrest in a day, if you live that side of Melbourne, you probably shouldn't do the same for Gippsland. This is down to personal responsibility!
Driving home after doing a 6 hour race solo is not something I put in to this category if you've driven 3 hours to get there and then expect to drive another 3 hours home. Fortunately for me, Blores is (currently) only a 1h45m drive - and I break that down trying to drive home because I know driving home after a 6hr solo event is too much for my body.
A 10am start is perfectly fine and healthy for those who live in the region. Should we now expect 8am starts of the Geelong or Albury events too? No, I think not.

Part of the series being a 'series' was some things standard. These included the event start times, the categories offered, and entry portal used, the prizes given. But I guess the other three of these four are now completely non-standard too across events, so might as well now throw that out too.
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In Rishi's defence she did camp :)
Certainly for us, if the drive to the race is >2 hours away we are happy to drive down the day before and stay in some accomodation near the race (we're not really campers - we're a bit precious :D) In that way, we do get a small sleep in ready for the 10am race start.

Whilst I am happy to support a 9am start (any earlier would kill me), I appreciate having series standards and if this includes start time, I am happy to go with the flow. When I think about it more, having a standard time reduces any confusion (ie. With varying times, I can see people turning up ready for 10am start when the race has already started :p)
 
riderideride

riderideride

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Sorry for not knowing everything. I was not aware this had already been discussed. It was just a suggestion. Presentations did not finish till about 5:45pm. Then most had a 3hr+ drive home in the dark. I camped.
 
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dowey42

Likes Dirt
riderideride said:
Super fun tracks! And fun camping :) thanks for the food Saturday night too! That was great! Suggestion for next year... Would it be possible to start the race earlier?? Say 8:30 or 9? The drive home in the dark while tired and on country roads was a bit scary.
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As a club though it's something we could look at, even a 9:30 start and less of a spot prize decable on our behalf (sorry about that :)) might help. Doesn't change the fun trails or the way the event runs.
I like Rishi's idea if it might mean that people get home safer, but understand the other points too.

Speaking with a few after the event, it's unfortunate that our distance away for some maybe rules out a Saturday race (I know that debate is ongoing). Maybe more of you could move down this way and the enjoy the trails more often??? :p
 
cleeshoy

cleeshoy

Eats Squid
dowey42 said:
Speaking with a few after the event, it's unfortunate that our distance away for some maybe rules out a Saturday race (I know that debate is ongoing). Maybe more of you could move down this way and the enjoy the trails more often??? :p
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Albury had their 6 hour on a Saturday and its further from Melbourne then Gippsland, so Saturday could still be an option for people. From the people I spoke to at the race + the discussion on this thread, this track is one of the crowd favourites - if it was moved to the Saturday I know I would still make time to come down and race it.
 
akashra

akashra

Eats Squid
GMTB hold some of the largest club events outside of Melbourne, and have a regular once a month club series which is well-attended. Albury is a bit different - many more people come a long way than come from locally to do that event, but it's also a significantly longer drive for those from Melbourne.

They can't start catering from everyone everywhere in the state. Geez, people are going to love it if Coomealla-Mildura Mountainless Bike Club ever get to host a round, I can already hear the imaginary whinging :/
 
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adz

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I can already hear the imaginary whinging :/

My perception is that most of the comments/feedback about race start times have been

1. Positive

2. Constructive


I am not sure that the above comments maintains that tone....

Whatevs

Perhaps the answer lies in the further the event from Melbs the earlier the start time? This serves to

1. Ensure people travel the day before so they dont miss the start time (Safer than rushing to the race in the morning)

2. Ensure's people get home earlier (Safer than getting home at 10:30/45 as was the experience of those from Forrest/Colac

I understand the argument of standard start times across events but i also think in 2012 peeps are savvy enough to check start times.

My 2c
 
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