Woodcote CX sportive

[othello]

I'm trying to make my mind up on what tyres to run for this. I'll be riding my old Trek Cyclocross bike, which currently has a pair of Michelin file tread tyres (green ones). They will roll well on the road & tracks but struggle in mud (though they still grip surprisingly well!). Should I change them for something more mud orientated/aggressive? I'm local to the route and I ride on all those roads/tracks all year round, though some of the bridleways I only go down on my MTB. Apart from odd segments it should roll pretty well I think?

 

[jdtate101]

I went for something middle of the road, Vittoria Cross XG Pro's as I wanted something just a little harder wearing than true mud only tyres. Not really tried them out much, but what I have done so far I've been happy with.

 

[Howard]

Othello, are they the original Muds? If so they are probably your best bet.

Otherwise a pair of michellin Mud 2s will be fine - they roll well and have quite a bit of grip in the mud for a clincher. But it really depends on conditions on the day - I'd rather run a faster rolling intermediate tyre and run the muddy stuff than have an aggressive tyre that lets me ride (slowly) in the goop but is slowing me down everywhere else.

 

[jdtate101]

Well the weather report is looking like moderate to heavy rain for Sunday. Luckily it looks to be light rain and above freezing temperatures for Sat, which should see to the snow and Ice. Hopefully that means we won't be skating all over the place, but it does mean we will get LOTS of mud!!!!! Time to lower that tyre pressure and pack lots of inner tubes, I feel we are going to have a repeat of last year..

Should be GREAT fun.....

 

[Howard]

Will probably be an epic last hurrah for my CAADX frame.

 

[Paul.G.]

I think most of the snow will have gone by Sunday but as per above, probably be lots of mud to contend with, really wish I had a camel back now instead of having to drink from mud covered drinks bottles. I've just bought a front crud guard which will hopefully keep some of the grime off and in hindsight I should have probably bought a read mud deflector too.

 

[jdtate101]

In case there's lots of flints and crud on the tracks I've just invested in some Notubes liquid latex and pumped it into my inner tubes. Hopefully that will put paid to anything other than a pinch flat.....really don't fancy changing tubes with masses of mud on everything....

 

[Paul.G.]

Good plan, I put some Fenwicks tyre sealer in mine following the review I read in this months cycling plus magazine. Fingers crossed !!

 

[User19783]

I am so gutted,

I was planning to do the 80 km route, but somehow I only did 45 miles?, must off missed a turning somewhere,
but it was a bloody good day, hope everybody enjoyed it, .

 

[Paul.G.]

Did the 60k route today, fantastic ride but somehow managed to cover 72k so obviously took a wrong turn somewhere on the course, I think a few riders made the same mistake but who cares, fantastic event but very hard in places. Fenwicks tyre sealer worked a treat, had a flat on way home as I live fairly close to woodcote. Tyre deflated, pumped back up and rode about 200 metres until sealer closed the hole, stopped and topped up with more air then rode home as normal, brilliant product!

 

[jdtate101]

I did the 80km route with a total of 3800ft of uphill. The course was VERY muddy in places because of the rain and snow melt. One muddy trail uphill was just too difficult (no traction) so I had to carry the bike uphill cross style. There was a strong 35km/hr wind coming out of the west which made for hard going too. Some of the muddy puddles were at least 1 foot deep, which lead to some problems spotting the potholes. I hit a particularly big one which was hidden in a puddle and it burst both my tyres. Having stopped for 30mins to change them out (using all the spares I had) I then got to the rest stop and got the right pressure back in them (my mini pump is not great). The last 20km seemed to really drag and included what seemed like some of the hardest sections. I rolled in after 4hr21mins, glad it was over. Normally 80km would not be much of a challenge on the road, but this was possibly the hardest 80km I've ever done. Good fun but utterly brutal.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/266509167

 

[Howard]

80km - enjoyed it immensely. Racing through the peanut butter on flint at herne hill was pretty good practice for the off road sections.

 

[EltonFrog]

I didn't go in the end, I had to work. Ho hum. It sounds like it was muddy fun.

 

[User19783]

Thanks jddate101for posting your route,
'I can see where I went wrong, just after Ipsden, I missed the right turn pass Well place zoo, only a small loop, but I guess its my fault, head down bum up riding,
I was on for a good finish time, I did 45m/72km in 3h21s and in my age group is good, 50+, but I've marked myself down as a DNF,
Never mind, roll onto next year, I be getting one of those Garmin thingy I think.

 

[jdtate101]

If you missed wells place road, then you really missed the worst of it. That stretch uphill was deep with mud and steep too, meaning it was "put the bike on the shoulder" time...