Yeah, there was more than a spot of mud at the Merida on Sunday! The
weather was ok on the day tho with just a couple of welcome cooling
showers. There was a lot of water on the course from the last few
days weather, the final watersplash being particualy deep, one of
the photographers got a good shot of me wading out of it! The off
piste sections were very slippy, I parted company with my bike more
than once as my front wheel kept developing a mind of its own, on
the steep muddy descent before the last big climb the vast majority
of people were pushing/sliding down!

I rode the full distance course (approx 50 miles) and it was the
usual excellent route, the road start went in the opposite direction
this year causing the top riders at the front to leg it en masse to
the other end of the grid with only a few mins before the start.
There was plenty of singletrack over the loop, some natural, some
rooty, some rocky and a lap of Inners made sure there was plenty of
man made stuff too, bit of a bonus this year as the 75km split was
on the SUW rather than on top of Minchmoor which meant the first 2
Inners descents from the top of Minchmoor were on the 100km course :-
) otherwise the course was pretty much unchanged from previous years.

I finished 5 mins up from last year, given the conditions I was well
happy with that.

I saw Rachel and Colin there, how did u guys get on?!? but no other
ERC's, did anyone else do it?

Chris

--- In edinburghmtb@yahoogroups.com, "Martin Crompton"
<martincrompton@...> wrote:
>
> As it was the day before the Selkirk Merida, the plan was a cheeky
pick'n'mix ride using fun stuff we could remember from previous
editions of the Merida, and also to explore any new trails that
might have been sign-posted...
>
> We had four folk out - Dangerous Dan, Dave (Dr Chopper), Pat and
myself (2 biggish bikes and 2 steel hardtails, respectively). We
climbed up from Innerleithen using the old XC course ("Mousetrap!")
and then - missing out Minch Moor - went straight up the Southern
Upland Way. It was when we got onto the ridge that we realised just
how wet all the trails were, with visibility seriously affected by
spray off the front wheel on the fast descents of the SUW. Views
from the 3 Brethren were spectacular, with dark grey clouds and
heavy showers in every direction - whilst we were seemingly above it
all.
>
> The descent off the 3 Brethren was as fun as ever, with one or two
new links where the trail had been trashed by clear-felling, or the
construction of a new quarry, but most of the singletrack was still
present and correct. It was on the way down to Yair that we decided
the overgrown trails had been cleared back using weed killer - and
were very slippy as a result... The Elibank climb was a beast, and
the descent was wetter and sketchier than I'd ever seen it, but fun
all the same. After that, we were caught in a cloudburst, and as a
result started to get seriously wet and cold - so Dan showed us
some "contouring" (i.e. mostly uphill!) footpaths through Community
Woodland he'd discovered previously, and this took us back to Inners
car park.
>
> All in, it was about 30 miles, and a good mix of trails - a good
day out. Would really like to know how the Merida on Sunday went - I
strongly suspect absolute carnage on the super-wet singletrack, with
that many riders... Can anyone who did the Merida yesterday confirm
or refute?
>
> At any rate, it would be good to go back and do the ride again at
the end of the summer once the vegetation has died back a little,
and after a dry week or so.
>
> Martin
>
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>