Sweetlamb GPS/roadbook rally 14/15 Oct

Where you've been and what you done
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Rob 110
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Sweetlamb GPS/roadbook rally 14/15 Oct

Post by Rob 110 »

Well that was a great event from the organisers perspective :) No complaints and everyone enjoyed it :cool:
Everything went smoothly and to plan with nobody lost or broken :)

Congratulations to Matt Abel 1st place Roadbook on a 300exc and Paul Johns 1st place GPS on a 690.
There was some taxing navigation with nobody staying clean, picking up penalties for going over distance and missed checks. Interestingly the timed sprint times made no difference to overall scores! The 2nd fastest rider was last overall :D

pics


vids: the sunday sprint start:
https://www.facebook.com/sweetlambadven ... 632611198/

coming off the big hill at Sweetlamb, tricky roadbook nav on CAP
https://www.facebook.com/sweetlambadven ... 032611558/

Paul Johns' video highlights:
https://www.facebook.com/johnsie69/vide ... 369162602/

Roll on the spring for some more. Different routes each time :)
Mid Wales Trails offroad tour guide: Barmouth, Llangollen, Dolgellau, Rhayader, Llandovery, Monmouth, Shropshire.

PM for details or click: SweetLamb Adventure Bike Academy

https://imgur.com/ZTqhFlL
Mad Hatter
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Re: Sweetlamb GPS/roadbook rally 14/15 Oct

Post by Mad Hatter »

It was a really good weekend Rob and I'll definitely be back for the next one hopefully armed with a new GPS.

And even after coming in dead last by a massive margin on the Saturday and probably being slowest on the time sections I didn't come last overall :lol:
Rob 110
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Re: Sweetlamb GPS/roadbook rally 14/15 Oct

Post by Rob 110 »

You did well Rich. Never give up, there's always tomorrow :)
That's why i love the navigation events, it's such a leveler.
Mid Wales Trails offroad tour guide: Barmouth, Llangollen, Dolgellau, Rhayader, Llandovery, Monmouth, Shropshire.

PM for details or click: SweetLamb Adventure Bike Academy

https://imgur.com/ZTqhFlL
Crossrutted
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Re: Sweetlamb GPS/roadbook rally 14/15 Oct

Post by Crossrutted »

From a competitors point of view-this was a really good weekend.

Well organised, good clear instructions and some great riding.

Saturday was approx. 70km (for most......)of trail & road. Some on SweetLamb, mostly outside. Finished with a 5km special on a part of SweetLamb I'd not ridden before.
Great fun and a good way to learn the intricacies of my Garmin Montana.

Sunday was to be 150km. Weather was dry but nobody seemed to have told the various streams, fords and puddles which often were deep, as in "where's my front mudguard gone?"
The first few kms were over virgin SweetLamb pastures which required picking your way over/around old workings then down a very steep hill - no tracks to follow here. Leaving SweetLamb , within 10kms a nav error on my part cost me about 3km, which pi$$ed me off royally. Still, onward and upward!
I have ridden most of the lanes around Rhyader and Sweetlamb but as the route took me generally north west I was soon on pastures new.

Occasionally saw other competitors during the day, which was confidence boosting, however I was keen to ride on my own (as was everybody else)to do my own nav. There were some pretty snotty trails to negotiate, with deep mud, big puddles, plenty of rock steps up & down.

Got back to the start after about 6 hours on the bike, ready for a cuppa.

I was about 4km over the optimum distance.

Everybody compared their results and errors made whilst we waited for the last man - who rolled in 55km over optimum!!!!

Overall this was a really good event in all respects. The next one cannot come soon enough.
As I believe numbers will be limited for each event(for safety reasons) best get your entry in asap.
Mad Hatter
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Re: Sweetlamb GPS/roadbook rally 14/15 Oct

Post by Mad Hatter »

Rob 110 wrote: Sat Oct 21, 2017 5:18 pm You did well Rich. Never give up, there's always tomorrow :)
That's why i love the navigation events, it's such a leveler.
It was definitely interesting to test the wee Garmin, and I do slightly wish I'd borrowed mollies Montana for the Sunday to do a straight comparison but I've always worked on the theory of run what you brung :lol:

For me I enjoyed it more than the sprint rounds, they're massive fun but always feel like they're missing something, probably distance. And the first time ever I've done something that's actually made me want to keep a bike :o

So I'll be back in the spring, hopefully back in condition so my hands and my shoulder don't hurt so much, with a new GPS and a few more tweaks to the bike ready to get myself lost and bury the bike some more :lol:

P.s did you check out my impromptu hill climb hill yet? I think you'll be impressed :oops:
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