Forrest Festival 2011

L

Le Matelot

Canberra Off-Road Cyclists
Finish

Josh Carlson first, Peter 2nd, but only 2 seconds apart. So, with the differential time bonus, Peter wins the festival by 2 seconds.
 
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jathanas

jathanas

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Thanks to the organizers for a fantastic event, Forrest and it's people, just magnificent.

I had a ball, and will be back next year.
 
cleeshoy

cleeshoy

Eats Squid
jathanas said:
Thanks to the organizers for a fantastic event, Forrest and it's people, just magnificent.

I had a ball, and will be back next year.
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ditto - awesome weekend and awesome event - with all that rain, the tracks and attitude of the riders were brilliant!
kudos to the organisers, volunteers, support crew!!!
 
uhuforrest

uhuforrest

Likes Dirt
Trails open and in good condition

G'Day All,

For anyone that missed out, riders were coming in pretty clean today, despite the rain on Saturday, (and Russ's tongue-in-cheek comments), trails are holding up well.

For the record, had 24.6mm of rain Saturday

The only trail where you'll get wet feet is J2. It needs more work. (only so much time and resources available)

Come down to Forrest in the next few weeks to see what you missed

Regards

Roland
 
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E

Exie

Likes Dirt
cleeshoy said:
attitude of the riders were brilliant!
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I'm with you on that, even with all the rain, tough conditions riders were still smiling and having fun! I really dig that, shows some character to rise above those things outside our control and still get out there and have a go.

Totally bummed about Josh Carlson, I dont know the guy but he was really smashing it and to miss out on the prize by 2 seconds!
Any way you look at it, both him and Peter Kutschera put on a first class battle, it was awesome to watch, great riders carving it up and giving 100% ... it was better than Bathurst!
 
normdouglas

normdouglas

Likes Dirt
Exie said:
I'm with you on that, even with all the rain, tough conditions riders were still smiling and having fun! I really dig that, shows some character to rise above those things outside our control and still get out there and have a go.

Totally bummed about Josh Carlson, I dont know the guy but he was really smashing it and to miss out on the prize by 2 seconds!
Any way you look at it, both him and Peter Kutschera put on a first class battle, it was awesome to watch, great riders carving it up and giving 100% ... it was better than Bathurst!
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What he said. Makes me feel really blessed to have awesome people want to come to our little event.

Very big PUBLIC APOLOGY to all the Fiddy Only entrants. I'm very embarrassed that I missed you. Once it was pointed out I did get to announce the winners and the male and female winner did get prizes.

On a brighter note... there was nobody hurt over the whole weekend and nobody got lost.

Thanks to everyone for an awesome weekend.
 
uhuforrest

uhuforrest

Likes Dirt
Feedback from the marshals

cleeshoy said:
ditto - awesome weekend and awesome event - with all that rain, the tracks and attitude of the riders were brilliant!
kudos to the organisers, volunteers, support crew!!!
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G'Day All,

The official traffic marshals were from a local services club in Colac. They had never been to a mtb event, let alone unstood what it was about.

Two ladies were manning the Kaangalang road crossing after the top section of Red Carpet, directing riders down the road. They were soaked after two hours in the rain, but were dutifully looking after riders.

In the middle of this, without warning, I asked one

"How many of the riders are saying thank-you when they pass here"

She stopped and thought, and then replied.

"You know what - EVERY SINGLE RIDER has said thank-you, I just hadn't noticed until you asked"

No more needs be said

Roland
 
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B

btothec

Likes Dirt
Well I had the great pleasure of volunteering at the Forrest Festival over the weekend. We got the rain that the Garmin 24 hr copped as well (about 20 mm on Saturday). Rain didn't cause any issues with stage 1 if anything it settled the dust and made the trails even faster than when I rode them the day before.

Stage 2 and time for everyone to grovel and chew head stem during the uphill TT. What I want to know is how the hell does some one manage to go under 13 min on that climb? Seriously I'm pushing things very hard to go under 13 min on red carpet let alone the climb to get to it! Did any one check those guys bikes for a motor?

Stage 3 the rain probably had the opposite affect and the stage was a little greasy in some sections but some seriously fast times got put down with Josh Carlson rocking down in a time of 12 min 12 sec and Tory Thomas a 14 sec 03 sec descent.

Stage 4 was the twilight eliminator and this is the stage that the weather took the tool on the most with the stage actually being cancelled. Which was a hard call to be made.

Onto today with grey skies still hanging over Forrest but no rain over night and a bit of wind around the trails hand time to dry off a bit and all of them were in near perfect conditions for racing in the 50km enduro. All those that had a chance to see it where treated to a cracking battle between Josh and Peter. Josh tried his best multiple times to get away from Peter but just couldn't make any of his moves stick.

All the people taking part in the festival that I had a chance to talk to said that they were having a great time despite the testing conditions at some stages. I hope that this is the case for everyone that took part as well because I know I did and I didn't even get to turn the pedals over.

Thanks everyone for making the first and well and truly not the last ever Forrest Festival an amazing event and if you didn't manage to make it along this year make sure you pencil it into the diary next year because it's well worth the trip where ever you're coming from.

Ben
 
varge

varge

Squid
What a weekend. Hanging out with friends and meeting some great new people. The Forrest Festival should succeed on friendliness and atmosphere alone, but then throw in some challenging trails and stages you come away well satisfied. Congrats to Norm and all involved.
 
jathanas

jathanas

Likes Bikes and Dirt
It's not a small event, it's a "boutique" event!

I'll take the liberty to correct Norm in labeling the event "small". This might imply that it was managed and run with limited resources. Nothing could be further from the truth. So we will have to run with "boutique". :)

I'm amazed at what can be achieved when passionate people with a good grasp of things get their minds working. The stage format was innovative and a deserved success. This event will sell out next year.

My only idea to improve things would be to try spread out the field a bit better in stage 1, before we hit the tight stuff. I'm nitpicking, but really that's the only thing I can come up with.

I must mention how cool the timing system was, real time updates and all. :)

+1 to endorsing the amazing vibe of the place and the people. I frikkin' love mountain biking.
 
P

Pocket Planner

Cannon Fodder
Best event ever ......

:clap2:
Awesome event - best ever in fact. Loved the hill climb and the 'pause' at the top was a great way to catch up with people and swap war stories.

A couple (about 10) of us did get lost however in the 50k event - there was a Y junction before a climb (no idea where). We all went left when we should have gone right!!! Made for some some interesting climbing trying to get past the group that we'd dropped before we got lost!!!
Not complaining though - was too funny trying to work out who's decision it was.
 
riderideride

riderideride

Likes Dirt
RED CARPET ROCKED! :-D :-D :-D :-D


The whole weekend was awesome. Next year though can someone tow me up that damned hill??? :mmph:
 
L

Le Matelot

Canberra Off-Road Cyclists
velocidad said:
love to hear the story behind this one ... ?

https://picasaweb.google.com/104779...feat=content_notification#5679547861712579106
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Sam Maffett getting in early for Valentine's Day with some new heart-shaped wheels.
jathanas said:
... I'm amazed at what can be achieved when passionate people with a good grasp of things get their minds working. The stage format was innovative and a deserved success. This event will sell out next year...
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To add to that - CONGRATS to Norm and the Forrest Gang - it was a whole heap of fun (and I wasn't even riding). In short, the perfect balance of time on and off the bike over the weekend so that a great festival atmosphere was maintained, with riders having time to rest, clean up between well organised stages. On top of that, we all got to see top level riders hammering it out over 2 days of exciting racing.
 
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L

Le Matelot

Canberra Off-Road Cyclists
cleeshoy said:
I am guessing the rim is a goner, but he could save the tyre perhaps? :)
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The young fella did something similar to a Mavic SLR at a World Cup in Germany. Took it to the Mavic tent at the next race (they saved the hub but new rim, new spokes) and they built up a new wheel on the hub in about 5 minutes, tuning it by ear by "playing" the spokes. Very impressive to watch (but I suspect it wasn't the first wheel they'd put together) ...
 
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