Eildon feature (race report)

[Simo]

Moved this frpm Gen Discussion.
thanks Simo


couldn't find a post in features section so here goes.
The race report was great and summed up the weekend really well. Only thing is this

Nobody had more than two runs, and if you didn’t get 2 runs in, it's your own fault because obviously you stuffed around too much getting ready for practice and didn’t get time for a 2nd.


Honestly, that's bullshit. I saw a pro or two do atleast 3 runs (only when I was waiting up top) and almost no-one else (that i talked to) got a 2nd run. One mate even flatted within 20 seconds on his first prac. talked to the shuttle guys and still didn't get a 2nd run. No one (that i talked to) got a 2nd run even if they didn't "stuff around", infact, many were there much before practise even started and were on the first shuttles.

I know it sounds like i'm whining or attacking the author but I'm not. Just clearing something up, no offence to the author or FTF.

[nhd]

terrific race report simo :P

[oz-freerider]

One mate even flatted within 20 seconds on his first prac. talked to the shuttle guys and still didn't get a 2nd run..


yes that was me i went up on the SECOND shuttle that went up in the morning got a flat got to the botom with in 5 mins asked they said ok go change your tire quickley i had all my spares in one of the race tents and it was the fastest i have ever changed a tire and they said oh sorry nah theres no room as i saw a few of the pro's getting on for about their 3rd run i counted some to get about 4 one even got 5 that i counted now really one run on the flat tire isnt safe on a race day i think that it's a bit stupid beacuse i'm not a well known rider and dont ride some 15 grand worth of bike that i should be able to get one REAL practise run in where as the pro's are able to get 5 run i mean we all paided the same amount or did i miss the bit on the form that said tick this box for extra shuttle runs???

[lindsay]

There's no way it was our own fault if we didn't get a second run. This is of course if you were there at a respectable time for practice.

I know a lot of people who got there when practice started and didn't get a second run. Hell I got to the bottom in time for a second but then wasn't allowed back up because there were too many riders who still hadn't done one practice run.

[Avanti_Racing]

maaan over friday and saturday i got 12 practise runs in, and + 1 for race day prctise then race run so i got 14 in, so you musta got there just before the race started....ooohh but noone got 2 paractise runs race day...its was packed like a japanese slut up the top of the hill, i thought'd i would never get 1 in but the days before race day, they were piling up yeeeea

[lindsay]

I find it hard to believe anyone got more than 2 runs on race day and this includes the pros. I was talking to many of them and most got one practice run and a few two.

I have no idea where your pulling 5 runs from. Even when the transport was running at its best i doubt you'd get 5 runs in 2 hours.

[oz-freerider]

well i saw and counted one person and SHE isnt hard to miss thats all i'm saying.

[Jared]

I can guarantee nobody in pro got 4-5 runs in practice, they were very strict about 2nd runs and things,i was on the first trailer up in the morning, was 1st in line for 2nd runs and after me they had only one more shuttle. there are riders who wear simlar kit who you could have mistaken as the same person. As lindsay said, with that many people there is no way any one could have gotten 5 runs in.

my comments about being too slack to get a 2nd run come to think were a bit out, as i can see how peopel who were on the first shuttles could have missed out on a 2nd, but still after my 1st practice run i had time to ride back to my motel, have some food, change goggle lenses, fiddle with tire pressures, and stroll back up to be first in line for a second run.

i think instead of arguing about it though we should be coming up with ideas of how it could be done better for next time?

[oz-freerider]

i think it was done fine if every one only got one run and it wouldnt of worryed me if other ppl got more runs than me but i think it's a bit UNSAFE that i ddint get to do a proper run i mean the one practise run was about SAFTY wasnt it??

and since i got a flat my time 5:45 which is far off race pace so in my race run i had no real idea how the track was at speed and ended up coming off 3 times in my race now maybe i still would of came off 3 times in my race run even if i did get a proper practise run but maybe not? who knows but i think that if they say one run only it should be one run only cept unless you get like caught behinde some one slow the whole way that wont move or you get a flat on the first fire road or snaped a chain at the top or anything stoping you from doing a practise run at speed.

[bmxbandit]

Simo and Oz, guys guys, seriously, they were so strict on runs and stuff, people getting more than 2 runs and especially 4-5 runs in that morning is just stupid, i know how u must feel oz getting a flat and not really getting any practice in, it would suck for sure, but i find it extremely hard to beleive that anyone got anymore than 2 runs. I know you must be a bit dark that you only had one but you dont need to go and make up stories about people getting 4-5 , that is just rediculous, you know it didnt really happen, do you think pros are getting special treatment or something? cmon guys...get real.

[bmxbandit]

the one compulsory run thing is for safety, but its more to give you a look at the track so your not hitting something dangerous in a race run that you dont know is coming, what happened to you sux, but its just bad luck, they shouldnt have to do anything in your case, thats just how the cookie crumbles. dont mean to sound like an old cranky ass, but thats just how i see it.

[oz-freerider]

i only noticed two riders get alot more runs than any one eles and even if it was only them two i still think it's unfair on the rest of us.

[bmxbandit]

well if anyone did get more than two i agree that it is very unfair.

[Ryan]

So who was the SHE you saw getting in these alleged 5 runs oz? Name names or it didn't happen.

[DOM]

we wana try and keep females in our sport .. and introduce more ... if you see Females getting more runs .. wear it on the chin and consider it sport development.

I realise if ya paid the same ..then yeah it's unfair .. but im sure after Fellcrag and Eildon .. MTBA is looking at better ways to shuttle ..

[Jared]

shuttles at Eildon ran very smoothly, noone was complaining about that, ill contribute another small rant, the problems start when you have only 2 hours practice for 400 riders, then theres a woman at the top of the hill thats making you wait 15 - 20 ,before letting the next rider go, not to mention she was the slowest counter id ever seen, all this after riders had been doin runs with others all weekend, i know once again its a safety thing , but in all honesty, everyone at the national champs has raced before , they know whats goin on, theres not going to be any problems if riders take off together, and they also reckon its to stop track congestion, now people were stopping at various sections of the track, and making congestion just as bad, on my 1st run i took off , only to have some dude on a hardtail drop in right in front of me on the 3rd corner, putting spaces betwwen riders is never going to stop that.

[shmity]

The person in question certainly doesn't need any introducing to the sport...i didn't see it happen so i cant account for that, but whilst i was in practice in the middle of the session, i did see two people, who appeard to be under 19 or under 17 come up on the trailer again and just decide, "oh, lets just tear off this side of the race plate that has the notch taken out of it" and what do you know, they got a 2nd run. It didn't really worry me as i couldn't be bothered trying to talk my way back onto the shuttles, but it did happen, and more than one or two people were doing it.

In terms of the shuttles them selves, from getting the truck rolling to getting to the top of the hill it was probably 5 mins. But i question why we had to wait 20 mins between the shuttles going up and down when it took us around 30sec-1min to unload the trailers and the shuttles where running in a loop. The syncronization was completly out. With marshals standing around at the bottom arguing who drives up first because they have the radio, but are parked at the back of the line...just hand it over and get going, no need to waste our time and yours.
The system worked perfectly last year at the oceanics, but not this year. Whatever got changed between the two, change it back.

[shmity]

the one compulsory run thing is for safety, but its more to give you a look at the track so your not hitting something dangerous in a race run that you dont know is coming, what happened to you sux, but its just bad luck, they shouldnt have to do anything in your case, thats just how the cookie crumbles. dont mean to sound like an old cranky ass, but thats just how i see it.
The thing is, all the other nats ive been to, its been two compolsory runs, not one. It would be interesting to see what the mtba regulations are on this sort of thing if there are any.

[bmxbandit]

agreed, i think two is much better, perhaps if they lengthened practice on race day to 3 hours not 2, not as if there isnt time for it, the start of racing started over an hour late anyway, and still finished at a decent hour

[oz-freerider]

So who was the SHE you saw getting in these alleged 5 runs oz? Name names or it didn't happen.

why does it matter who it was why do you need to know her name?
i'd rather not say her name to keep other ppl abusing her at other races and such cause it will happen that is why i have left her name out of this now the other rider i saw get more runs i few other ppl noticed and at the top they were abusing HIM for it.

now as for the shuttles i thought they ran quite smooth taking into account how many ppl were there maybe it took a bit long to get stuff sorted out when the troopies got to the bottom somtimes as shmity has said but other than that i think it all went pretty well.