Has anyone here done Torq in your sleep?
Discussion
As per the title really 
A threads popped up on my clubs forum to see if anyone's interested, but none of us have ridden it before.
I'm tempted I must admit, I've never done an MTB race before and after the Cambs Grand Fondo, I said I would enter one, just to see which I preferred. I suspect it will be MTB racing, but you never know! OK I'm slow by anyones standards, but now I've built the On one up, I want to use it in anger.
I'm after all experiences, good as well as bad.
The nice thing is there is free camping, which makes my life a lot easier (yes I can sleep in earplugs!)
A threads popped up on my clubs forum to see if anyone's interested, but none of us have ridden it before. I'm tempted I must admit, I've never done an MTB race before and after the Cambs Grand Fondo, I said I would enter one, just to see which I preferred. I suspect it will be MTB racing, but you never know! OK I'm slow by anyones standards, but now I've built the On one up, I want to use it in anger.
I'm after all experiences, good as well as bad.
The nice thing is there is free camping, which makes my life a lot easier (yes I can sleep in earplugs!)
I'm not a fan of Gorrick races but the Torq in your sleep is the exception.
I've done it 3 or 4 times so far and I really enjoyed it up until last year when there was an issue with getting signed on for the race and they'd 'lost' my entry due to a computer fault so I had to pay a second time and wasn't allowed to enter until about 15 minutes before the start of the race
Other than the organisational mess-up, it's a fairly good event, the course is challenging enough to keep it interesting for a 12h race but not too difficult by any means.
I'm not really a fan of the extra 6h race that they've included now which starts at 15:00, as a solo you really need to time your laps well so you don't get caught up in the start of the 6h as you can end up losing a bit of time.
If you're aiming for the podium, don't expect anything like decent prizes, they're pretty poor according to a couple of guys I know who've podium at the event in the past.
I've done it 3 or 4 times so far and I really enjoyed it up until last year when there was an issue with getting signed on for the race and they'd 'lost' my entry due to a computer fault so I had to pay a second time and wasn't allowed to enter until about 15 minutes before the start of the race
Other than the organisational mess-up, it's a fairly good event, the course is challenging enough to keep it interesting for a 12h race but not too difficult by any means.
I'm not really a fan of the extra 6h race that they've included now which starts at 15:00, as a solo you really need to time your laps well so you don't get caught up in the start of the 6h as you can end up losing a bit of time.
If you're aiming for the podium, don't expect anything like decent prizes, they're pretty poor according to a couple of guys I know who've podium at the event in the past.
It's a nice course, and a good atmosphere. Rode it last year solo on a fully rigid singlespeed, it's very rough, battered my wrists. As for prizes there isn't much prize money about anywhere these days. Worth entering, I'm there in the 6hr as that's the length for the fat bikes, so I will be trundling round and round.
I've a club 5K on the Saturday morning but I think this is on the Sunday(?) So I can't use that as an excuse.
What's the thinking. Solo entries, pairs or a larger PH team?
I think I'd get bored (read exhausted) of 12 hours round and round an 8 mile lap, but one hour on / one hour off as half a pair could be fun. Especially if richardxjr brings his BBQ (my turn to get the food).
What's the thinking. Solo entries, pairs or a larger PH team?
I think I'd get bored (read exhausted) of 12 hours round and round an 8 mile lap, but one hour on / one hour off as half a pair could be fun. Especially if richardxjr brings his BBQ
(my turn to get the food).
richardxjr said:
Tempted. Never raced before though but am inspired by Yellowjack going for it in the winter.
I think you'll all enjoy the Torq. As for being inspired by me? There's a first time for everything, I suppose... 
Minley is almost right on my doorstep. It's very good for riding, and there is plenty of space on the demolition training field for all the camping, parking and admin set up. Thanks to the MOD, and the demolition training bridge, it's also one of the few places where you can have a meaningful "figure of 8" crossover loop, which kind of adds to the occasion.
There are about a dozen variations on the basic lap of the training area that I have encountered. Various Gorrick/Brass Monkeys events, and Army XC championship rounds have tweeked the lap to include/exclude bits and bobs, and the weather (it's VERY muddy in the winter) has a bearing on what parts can be raced on too.
Sadly, as I am every year, I'm committed to attending Reading Festival over the same weekend, so I definitely won't be riding, nor spectating. So I'm not in a position to assist with any team logistics either. I will, though, be keeping an eye out for preparation work in the run-up to the event, and I'll try to let you all know how the lap is running too. The preceding fortnight's weather, and the forecast for the event should inform things like tyre choice. It switches from hard, fast, and free running to soft and squishy, 'mud-up-to-the-hubs' conditions quite swiftly, especially when a couple of hundred riders knock out a wet practice lap or two
I've assisted the course preparation a couple of times too. It's great when the organisers/course designer come down, because they often open up a long-dormant segment, with leaf blowers and hedge trimmers, and sometimes they get really inspired, and create a brand new piece of single-track from nothing. I then get to ride the course to my heart's content after you lot have long gone. All I'm missing this year is a working MTB (although that didn't stop me from riding a few laps of the 'Summer Monkey' route at Frith Hill a few weeks ago).
The MOD training area chief, locally, isn't keen on MTBing on "his" land, and it seems that plans are afoot to re-write the training area bylaws to exclude a lot of civilian "users", but they seem to remain keen on letting out the land to organised races. It's a bit hypocritical, but it's a local issue between local riders and the faceless bureaucracy that is the MOD. It won't affect the event itself. What you are letting yourselves in for is a rollercoaster of a lap, in mixed broadleaf and coniferous forest with some fire roads and open grassland mixed in. It's barely a few hundred yards from the M3 and the A30, but when you are 'lost' amongst the trees, you could be miles from anywhere. It truly is a gem of a venue, and I'm lucky to have it available so close to home (for now, anyway).
For those interested, this ride... https://www.strava.com/activities/188079939 ...took in a lap of the 2014 Torq route. It will more than likely be "freshened up" for this year's event, but may give you some idea of the sort of riding involved. I, as usual, am propping up the Strava leaderboard, having not 'raced' the event, but ridden the lap at a rather more sedate 'solo' pace. The KOM is about 24 minutes quicker than me over the 7.7 mile 2014 lap...
BadgerBenji said:
Nice to see you at Bonty NeeNaw, sorry didn't get to say much more than hi, was needing a bottle change. Interesting course and weather this year, biblical floods and some interesting mud.
Good to see you out there, I thought our paths would cross later on in the day but it never happened.It wasn't a bad course overall but that start loop before the Clif Climb was bloody awful and pretty pointless with it too. Rather you than me trying to get a fatback through the 'Bog of Doom'
neenaw said:
Good to see you out there, I thought our paths would cross later on in the day but it never happened.
It wasn't a bad course overall but that start loop before the Clif Climb was bloody awful and pretty pointless with it too. Rather you than me trying to get a fatback through the 'Bog of Doom'
The clif climb was the worst bit, was just sticking it in first and tapping away at it, the bog of doom was OK, couldn't get round the silly tight tree but the rest of it was rideable It wasn't a bad course overall but that start loop before the Clif Climb was bloody awful and pretty pointless with it too. Rather you than me trying to get a fatback through the 'Bog of Doom'
the cottage return was great fun, big fat tyres make lots of noise BadgerBenji said:
The clif climb was the worst bit, was just sticking it in first and tapping away at it, the bog of doom was OK, couldn't get round the silly tight tree but the rest of it was rideable the cottage return was great fun, big fat tyres make lots of noise
Looks like I might've talked myself into riding Torq In Your Sleep this year as it's just down the road from me so I'll try and give you a shout when I'm there the cottage return was great fun, big fat tyres make lots of noise 
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