southerndownhill.com - Forum

Who's there , Round 3 - 21/22 June?

Hopefully will be my first race of 08 season! Finally!

definatily going to be there!

hope we will at last get a dry race at rheola!

Dev.

[Al] and I will be there, and colDTea...

not gona miss this one ill be there for sure. such a good track ;D

I might be there...Not racing but for the banter.

Rootes

yeah, possibly me too :D

yep cant wait my favorite track ever

Me too maybe :D
but i should be ok to ride though just and i dont want to over to it before the mega.

Oh good, I won't be the slowest then.  He he.

I might try and get there to do some filming/photography.

LOL, no, just the slowest down the rocky chute at the top eh?  :P

Sarah & I should be there.

3rd time lucky for me, hopefully I can have just one run without crashing or breaking something on the bike...

i am looking for marshalls for this race ::)

I'll marshall if I can come down, but I wont know until nearer the time.

Rootes

I'll be there, 2nd and last race on the hardtail! Look for all the gear and no idea (new race kit  :P).

sweeeeeeeeeeeeettt . what gear you running now en harry boy ahah . any good ??

I'm getting some troy lee kit. If I'm gonna look like a tit I'm gonna be at least a well-dressed tit  :D

With a bit of luck I should be racing on the Sunday ;).

Orge.

hi al its lewis=]
i'll be racing the sunday but can marshal the saturday like i did last time. I'll email you in a few days or something:)

I'll be there on me 224 and hopefully with my new race kit. Looking forward to riding a man's track!

Today was dry and fast, rocks are very loose as well.

Orge.

a link to the pictures of today's practice will be posted here tomorrow.

Dev.

just booked in, will be my first ever dragon , any tips as to not rape myself too bad on the track?

Point the bike down the hill, try to stay off the brakes and just absolutely commit. You can come with us if you like on practice day etc, can show you round if you like? And whatever you do, don't follow any of my lines. They generally make me end up either a) letting the snails overtake me or b) getting it on with a tree/rock/bike/implement of pain.

Anyone got any photos from the practice day on the weekend (17th)? I was on the light blue 224 with white 40's, pics would be awesome. Cheers

Nice one for doing the pics dev, Hope to cu up at tsecond practice, Riding hopefully.

Dean ;D

Any time Dean  :P

http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/gg96/DGDownhill/rheola%20may%2017th/

pics here everybody,

ye hopefully i will have my bike back by the next practice day or you lot will have some more pics  :P

cheers,

Dev.

Reeet, Just got myself entered *Fingers crossed it's not booked up already*

What's happening with camping arrangments? Can you set up there? I know there is like, s**t all space, and it's all fireroads, Can we just stay in the van?


Jon

Just entered too. Whats the deal with riding rheola outside of events? Is it cool? And whats the best/quickest way to push up?

Nice one :)

If it's wet, Pushing up the track will be HARD! I went to try starwars again when I did some 1 handed action, I then binned it more times trying to push back up, tis slick as!

Pushing's cool - but don't drive.  NO UPLIFTS, INNUM  :)
The shortest/quickest way is up the track.  It's a long way round on the fire road, and you'll meet mining lorries.  Probably.

Thanks bob!

I was just watching a video from rheola last year, and it looked like the steep chute off the fireroad with an immediate right afterwards was abit different to what it did 2-3 years ago. Has it been made easier, as I can remember it being pretty damn steep, but really really rutted aswell. Looked pretty smooth in the video, with a berm at the bottom, instead of a sheet of mdf!

Yeah, its been made easier... its been removed. You now come in from the side at a much shallower angle - but you then hit the next section much faster, which in my experiance is more painful ;)

Lol, got bad memories of that chute, so it can only be a good thing that its gone!

Star wars as been made easier then, aswell as the chute? You would have thought the tracks would be getting harder with the types of bikes most of us are riding these days! At least I've got a chance in getting down in one piece now ;) Ha.

Right, I'm booked in for the practice chaps... :)

is there marshalls still needed?

Yep marshalls are still needed but Alex the head marshall is away for a week

Niall

Was up there Saturday and found it riding good... few bits need sorting out like that step down jump before the northshore.. there is NO lip and i nearly died trying to launch it. I also died in starwars but that was my own fault! Awesome track and looking forward to racing it! Gonna be a laugh.

Still no list up on the website of confirmed riders?  :-\
Might email Jason, sent mine off about 4 months ago, just want to make sure with the changes in pricing etc!

Lomax, You've been up for agesssssssssss!!!

 21 250 James Lomax JM Ride Central 449640

do you get number boards on the day?

also, my mate Dom Knight entered waaaaay before i did but he isnt showing up on the list! anyone know why?

If you've raced already this season you reuse the old numberboard and timing chip.  If not, you get your board when you sign on, and you'll need a fiver deposit for the timing chip unless you already have one from a previous series.

will be at the race,not too sure about this saturdays uplift though,cant wait for the race i love rheola

Anyone know who 'Adam Wiles' is? He seems to be booked on to the Rheola uplift on the 7th...Just seems a bit random that it's not the most common name in the world and he's booked on to an uplift I was going to

...or there's some dirty weirdo out there that's stolen my name...?

Ad

There was an Adam Wiles who came 2nd to me in the alumni cat at the BUSAs, was that you? If not that's your mystery man! :-)

No, that was me. This guy has done pretty much every other race if you google my name (and is making me look poo with results like 75th out of 78!)... I had my mates calling me up yesterday wondering why the hell I'd rejected their invite to hit Rheola and then supposedly booked myself on! haha!

EDIT: I've just only just clocked who you are! 1 second dammit!

Haha, one second's all it takes ;)

I didn't even know they were going to weed us out into a separate category, was quite exciting to be at the top of the results list even if it doesn't really mean anything ;D

Haha! Yeah, I thought we'd all get lumped together too! I hope you've also been going around telling people where you placed whilst omitting the category!haha!...You seen us getting mentioned on descent world and in wideopen magazine btw?!

I saw ME getting mentioned, don't think they bothered mentioning all of the LOSERS in the category did they? Haha ;) ;D :P

Hahaha! Cutting words mate! ...if losing wasn't bad enough they even spelt my name wrong in wideopen magazine!!

Lol, only just looked at the wideopen thing, never really bothered with it before.  Quite a good read, cheers! :)

Sorry if its been mentioned,but am i the only one to realise that the Rheola race is the same day as the worlds?

How will you ever enter them both now!?  ;)

my point exactly  :D

Anyone going through/from/some where near Cardiff

My lift (dad) said he might be going away and im marshaling so I wount have a bike just maybe a bag and possibly tent

Ah, my entry in is, lets pray for rain, mud, zero visibility and messy starwars heaven!  Bring it on.   

Don't say that, I've got everything crossed for another Gethin weather experience! Scorching hot, dry & dusty  :D

Ok, that does sound nice.

If it is really dry i wont know what to do,the only times i've ever ridden it were in terrible conditions on a hardtail,it'll be a completely different track :D

Not true! The last uplift day you went on with me had mint conditions!

So no spare spaces off anyone? if you do have a spare space let me know cos im going to have to email alex very soon if i cant marshal
cheers

Well, doc's won't let me race. Fanf'ingtastic.

Shame but did we just gain a marshall?

I still have everything crossed for the weather, its looking favourable....

I really couldn't bare it, I'd just want to ride! And whatever money I'd earn I'd be paying my dad for fuel costs...

thats a shame harry, why did they say you cant ride? whats nick doing now?

Well at the moment I still can't walk on it (I can't bend my leg past 90 degrees at the knee), they said I could rip the muscle further...worse still, if I crashed again and hit it (it's still tender too) I could mess things up further. He said I was lucky as it is to just have muscular damage with no ligaments involved.

I really don't know about nick, I feel awful that he can't get a lift...I'm fairly certain I can't get a refund at this stage, let alone him. I'll try and sort something out.

thats a pain, bit of a bummer as well as its on such a mint track

well get well soon mate

and as for nick, tell him that he should have lernt to drive faster :D

Cheers man, I'm absolutely gutted I can't race, been training for it since the first uplift in feburary really. I was hoping for a pretty decent result, but c'est la vie.

Good luck!

Watch it yeah or i'll mowe you down the day i pass my test :D

well i have a few years to prepare then  ;D

Sounds like I'll be there now. I'll probably be filming as well.

Should be up there marshallin again, Camping there for 2 nights as well ( i hope it dosent rain)
So anyone else camping there?

I expect I am.

yeah were take u cookie monster but bring the cookies yahar! :D

Hehe I better stock up. You got a box they can go in so I don't fall asleep with chocolate this time....

I'll be filming for Foot Out Flat Out! :)

ME 'n' Dom will be there for out first dragon...and if it rains...well....

Media hook up dude?

SHOTGUN being in the film.

Nick/Harry - can you get to a junction on the M4?  Only going Sunday and will want to get there for 7am but it you can get to a junction I can pick you up.

sorry, should add I can't carry another bike as my rack is buggered. 

I reckon Nick would be up for that, but if you can't manage another bike...

I'd have to see how my leg is too, Rheola isn't easy to walk up.

Kind offer anyway, thanks very much.

Get the bus up, and walk down then  :P

Or do some extreme wheelchair riding....

YESS!!!

Or maybe someone could put some suspension damping in my crutches  :D

daaaargh, its going to be dry and I'm not going... what a FOOOOL!

oh well.. have fun everyone! :D

I'm praying for dry!!!

im hoping its dry im marshaling both days and camping somewhere up there, what the camping like at rheloa? Jason said i can either go on the forestry road or in the forest.
Gutted i cant afford to race but atleast marshaling will pay for my welsh champs entry

TAKE YOUR INSECT REPELENT.  I got eaten alive up there last weekend. 

He linked to a campsite from the dragondownhill site. Thats where i think 3 of us are camping. All doing the marshaling both days as well.

Ride Central hook up Tom?!

Yeah why not :)

Sounds interesting. ;)

I hope it rains for you all :D

Thanks. >:(

5 day f/cast off the BBC says it will.  MINT!

I can't make the race, need to do some extra work to pay for Alps holiday :(  Ah well.

At the moment I'm considering loading up on painkillers, it's all dependant now on whether I can get the range of movement back before the weekend...we'll see.

harry , slam the cocodomol down , and also a box of wine . wont have a clue whats appenin haha

Hahaha definitely, I will try a car park test riding tomorrow, see if I can move my leg enough. I'm gonna check out to see if there's any physio I can do just so I can race this one off, it means quite a lot to me...

Fuel shortages going to stop anyone going? Not me, I got Jungle-Juice

Nah, we're a resilient bunch, VAT on races, diesel at 135/Lt, greedy b'tard government taking more and more, 7 bridge tolls, etc etc.

And then there's the car, the bike, the food, the wife (to bribe)

Amazing what people do for a few minutes of 'fun'. 

Are any petrol stations still without?

Went to 3 last night round here, all had nothing of anything... Not looked today

if anyone wants to know if its raining at rheola now I can tell you its pissing down! And its going to be another soaking race at rheola!  ::)

Saturday is meant to be alright, Friday and Sunday though are looking wet! :)

Don't ever trust the BBC weather site.

Met Check & the Met Office are looking good, although there appears to be rain coming in Sunday afternoon. Lets hope that changes between now & then :)

I took Myn off the met office and weather channel site.

Well, one positive, Rheola is High Rollers whatever the weather.

im just hoping its nice all saturday and saturday night because atleast at the end of sunday i get to go home where as saturday is spent in a tent haha

Its a good thing I have a few sets of race kit looking at the met office forecast, looks like heavy rain for both days, bloody love it! Got my new Leatt to try out. If you want some filming done Mono or Tom I'm happy to section for you :)

Im not on the entry list, does that mean anything?...

Don't think its been updated for a while.   

So not only is it fecking expensive, it's going to be fecking miserable too!

Farrant, you wanna lift from 34?

Yep, as long as your not planning to cripple yourself in the trees.  It's a fecking long walk home.

This is easier than you think at Rheola and not as fun as it sounds!  :-[

so rheola in the uber wet, swamps or minions.

for me, rollers whatever, its rocky and the roots are pretty grippy (ha, famous last words)

so minions would be the better option?

No, I think they are s**t in the wet.   Swampies work well there.

sweet  cheers man!

I do believe the weather forecasts are getting progressively better for Sunday.  Whoop-bloody-whoop, kiss my ass rain cloud.

Noooooooooo!!! WE WANT RAIN, WE WANT RAIN, WE WANT RAIN!!!.......

Just been mud modding my bike up, Packed all the wet weather kit too. Argh!

I know, I even spent £12 on a neoprene mudguard thing.   I still think we'll see a spot or two of rain!

Its been changing all week, now it looks like a rainy Saturday & a better Sunday...

I'm still hoping it doesn't. But then its Rheola. So I don't know who i'm kidding. Best pack the jackets & spare clothes!

This is Met Office latest;

Mud Bath Saturday

Sunny-ish Sunday

PERFECT!

Although, I doubt i'll make it to the Sunday anyway!  What's the local A&E like?  :P

i hope it stays dry all weekend, cant be doing with the hassle of wet weather!!

as for tyre choice id stick to comp 16's what ever the weather

It's excellent, really friendly. Junction 46.

Expect a gloopy sunday then if it starts to dry!

Weather is looking much better, track should be 'tacky' which is perfect. 

Can't wait.

Can we pre-book some A&E slots?

Don't say that, we leave for France a month today!

what a day! was muddy as hell, only did two runs though and didnt do my seeding as my bloody frame (intense m3) is cracked and was slowing getting worse

Do I need to spend the next hour in the garage putting spikes on??

Rained here in Cardiff today, tomorrow is showers, put swamps on.

Orge.

Mate id stick with comp 16's / highrollers. ive got spikes built onto my spair wheels and didnt feel the need to change them.

Thank god, the football is good and Khan is fighting in a minute.

Gutted, not gonna be racing tommorow now, think I've sprained my wrist after having an off today and its not really worth heading up >:( Good luck to all the hardtailers riding tommorow though  :)

Borgia

Rheola yesterday was mud, mud mud, rain, drizzle, rain, mud mud, mozzies.
Great fun but after rolling down the seeding run on my saddle because I was ruined and coming in with the 2nd to worst time for the ladies I knew I needed to step it up today...
So step it up I did...
9 hours later after 4 hours in A&E and loads of x-rays I'm home in agony with nothing but very deep bruising and advice to have ultrasound!
I didn't even get a 'DNF', it was a 'DNS'!
Rheola is my Nemesis.

Thanks to the EX Medics though, excellent as always, and the few marshalls and riders who stuck around with me on the hill! :)

Well done to Kate Betts for winning the Masters Ladies too, you rock girl!! ;D!

Gutted sj! What did you bruise? Sounds pretty similar to my experience on the practice day...

Comedy crashes, good weather, s**t times but a mint day.  uplift ran perfectly, track was good.  Well done Jason, another quality event. 

Thigh, hip and shoulder, they thought I'd fractured the femur and/or hip, luckily not though!
I'm just annoyed that I didn't get my race! >:(

was awesome for a first dragon! though i didnt have a chain for all of sunday, got a 5:28 as my fastest which wasnt too bad, allowing for the fact i had to get off and run along the first fireroad!

was a very fun weekend and i was only marshaling, last night took the piss camping in the car park bit but we had a decent fire til midnight then the rain came down:P
uploading some pics now

We thought I might've fractured me femur too...how weird. I didn't have the hip and shoulder bit though! How bad is your leg? Is it still dead? As I thought I was recovering quickly, but the nerves repaired themselves and I was back in agony after a few days, been on crutches for the last two weeks.

who won elites? cheers

mullane i think

Things that sucked;

-My mate beat me chainless, that was pretty gutting!

-Sleeping in a puddle the first night, then sleeping upright in a Skoda last night

-Literally getting eaten alive by mozzies

-The c*ck uplift driver in 1 of the buses


Things that rocked;

Everything else! Was a superb weekend, Can't believe it didn't even fill up, Lot's of people missed out on a great race!

yep he did, pleased with the weekend, got second over all with a few mistakes, could have made first with a perfect run but that's life.

Also my mate Jem one his catagory by 6 seconds!! how mad is that

Another lad came down in the medic van just after me with exactly the same injuries, they were buty with crashers today!
It's pretty painfull and I have a loss of sensation in the centre of the bruise (it's about the size of a grapefruit).
That's pretty bad though!  :-[

Funnest race ive done,

great track, great weather and the whole even was run so smoothly

cheers to jason

does anyone know if there are results anywhere yet

Woahhhh! Give Jason time!

ok i will

i forgot it was today.

i thought it was yesterday for some rerason

Gotta watch out for that, make sure you rice it, there's a risk of fluid going hard and stuff. Mine didn't swell as I think it was intramuscular, so the muscle was torn with the sheath, letting fluid escape.
Still, heal up soon! It might take a while, I don't know how long I've got left before I can ride  :'(

yeah, make sure you really do rest that properly. Dead legs (proper ones, not pansy ones, you will understand if you have had them) require a good few weeks physio/massage to avoid the risks of new bone calcifying. Someone in our year played rugby with a dead leg from the last match and he ended up having to get the newly formed bone removed by operation, not good.

Am I right that that would only apply if there's swelling/bruising/fluid collecting? My GP said it shouldn't be an issue for mine.

Good day's filming, good day's racing and good weather! Excellent.

All 3 elites on the podium have their own feature sections in my dvd! You know you want to buy it when it comes out. ;)

when does it come out?

Hope i'm in it, nice to see you today mate, it was a good day and no mistake, vid soon...

Unfortunately I didn't get to race yesterday due to our visit to A&E. But thats the nature of the beast.

A lot of people were nailing themselves yesterday in the morning. The track felt nice too after the mud fest that was Saturday.

On a bonus point, thats the first time i've ridden my bike this year without getting a puncture!!!

Still off to France i hope?

Yes, thankfully no broken bones, but I can imagine a few weeks of pain for her. It's going to be one hell of a bruise! Reading up a bit on deep bruising it looks like it will take a while to heal. She's off to the doctor today to see if she can be refferred to her PMI & see if they can help speed up the healing somehow.

Think you were parked in front of use yesterday - I recognised your bike! How did you get on?

Bloody awful! 2 quality crashes on every run bar my last race run, best comedy crash was a front flip into the trees on the finish double.  Last run, took it really easy (in other words was too tired to hold the handlebars) and got down without a crash.  I didn't even look at the time and don't really care, it was a mint day, without major injury.

Bring on Mynydd Du.

results up!

http://dragondownhill.co.uk/2004site/results2008/2008RD3.htm

Bloody Hell Lee Huskinson 28s faster than the 2nd place hardtail...

Where were you?!

He's like, The Sam Hill of the hardtail world! He's not far of Expert pace! on a hardtail!

Got let down by my lift. Was ment to be going with Lee but DMR screw him around and he couldn't have the Team Van for the weekend :(

He changes to a full sus for his race run, you have to be pretty sneaky to catch him doing it though....  :P

I had so much fun this weekend, been almost 2 years since Iv been at a proper race. I hadn't realised I missed it so much. Would have been so much better if I didnt crash in both race runs, but there you go, s**t happens.

Cheers Jason!!

 haha lee makes me laugh how he get to the bottom and is like aww had a bad run yet still takes the win for ht by 28 seconds :D
 
yeh burf will we be seein u at more races now ?? how was the bike ??

so pi**ed off my 3 runs had nobbers in front of me  >:(

Yes mate, was good. I'm sure you may crop up somewhere! Haha! Looking forward to the vid!

hahaha not quite hill but same kinda win margins if not twice the gap on some tracks.. bit peed off really had a little off on the first and got stuck behind some slacker who couldnt ride!!! but non the less had the result i went for..

nxt year will be intresting.. roll on the full suss!! ;D

wished i had one for that track my legs and arms are hacggered! cuts everywhere!

will be intresting to see the footage mono, had some awesome moments through star wars haha big drifts!! was sicko!

nice one to jason and the marshalls.. the free breakie was mint on saturday thanks girls!!

Yea don't worry, it won't all be of the north shore bit at the bottom (you were that guy who was asking me why I was filming there?) although you'll have to wait for the DVD to come out to see it all!

Quality weekend despite riding like a turd on wheels. My second proper dh race and a steep learning curve. I was wearing my new leatt which I believe may well have saved me on at least 2 occasions. 1st run down I took a load of bark off a tree with my helmet, not too good!

Then in seeding I properly buggered myself, was having a good run...... and then down at the bottom it all went to s**t. I think I cased a jump and I remember going over the edge and just thinking this is not good. Next thing I know my head is buried in the loam and the bike is on top of me. I pushed it off and lay there for a second wondering what was happening, I was pretty confused and suddenly remembered that I was at Rheola doing seeding, I looked up to see myself about 15-20ft down the hillside off the track.

I then clambered back up to see a load of people slowly wondering down to see what happened. I finished my run andwent straight back to where we were staying, wasn't feeling great! I think I knockedmyself out but I'm not entirely sure. I was just really dazed and confused and theres a gap where I just don't remember what happened!


Race day wasn't great, first run was all good until I lost concentration in star wars which I had nailed everytime in practice, only to go over thebars and twist the stem at 45degrees! had to get to the fire road and then twist them back. 2nd run, I tried to get a crank in, hit a rock, lost a foot, then lost the other foot on another rock and straight over the bars.

All in all 4 face plants in a weekend, 1 blown front brake, one set of bars, one troy lee helmet and the paint on my top tube buggered! Bloody good fun though :)

James

Yeeh i was pi**ed off all sunday afternoon . Thats why i wasn't talking much when i saw you lee . haha . On my 1st run i had the most girly slide out in the world and my handlebars ended up goin underneath my ribs . Ouch . Got a Pretty weird scar there now ahah . All in all it was a good weekend lol .

fair do's lew nice to know ur not done in!! wana seee you at mynyd du on the podium..

mono: yeah that was me! north shore sucks doesnt it!!?? cant stand it wish i had some petrol and a lighter and ill burn it down! haha

yeah illl check it out dude, seen some footage of some of the local welsh boys! pretty good

got the vid online,

http://video.mpora.com/watch/1OPZ9wlaG/

let me know what ya think,

cheers.

Not too keen on the music, but the vid is great!

thanks for being honest, i gotta say music aint my strong point, i need to find some new inspiration,

glad you liked the footage anyway,

cheers,

paul.

Nice video, got some good footage there. Personally i thought the music suited it. And i finally know the name of the kid on the GT. Jamie maller, he is fast!! he came up wentwood a few weeks ago hes only 13 i think

yeah, in the third shot i got of him, i couldn't believe how fast he went by, absolutely flying.

cheers for the comment,

paul.

He must be older than 13 because he's  in youth category . f*****g fast tho . fair play

I think Lee Huskinson has gone beyond godly status, 3.40 on a hardtail down that track is inconceivable.  Whats the secret to your success? is it your trials background?, I think I'll be racing myndd du just to experience being thrashed by however many seconds by lee in hardtail. phenomenol!