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Ride Dirty Weekend

A bit last-minute but this weekend, 6th & 7th September, we will be doing a gravel training weekend. Cannot make that? Might also do one the following weekend as well. PM to add to group!

Freshen up those off-road legs and gravel skills!

Beginners: You can try out on two flatish sections. Focus on braking, cornering and steep hill climb starts. We will do some drills with you and provide feedback so you can focus on building your confidence and having fun!

Intermediate to advanced: focus on whatever you like 🙂 and a good chance to test out your gear.

Over evening beers we will chat about gravel races, events we’ve done, tire pressures and enjoy a BBQ together.

Its Free! No cost to join if you are our guest, and we will also provide a complimentary van, cold refreshments and nibbles. FYI we will start super early to try and beat the serious heat. Bring your own gravel or mountain bike or rent one of ours for two days at half cost. Want to stay an extra night (Thursday or Sunday) and we will provide that night free!

Saturday: reservoir and Daming gravel – Beginner 50km and 95km intermediate, 2 to 3 gravel segments. We will do some short repeats, testing out different tire pressures. One timed challenge segment per day with a fun little gift for the top 3. Feeling super strong, and if overcast, then add the Botanical climb.

Sunday: black hills gravel – 50km, 3 gravel segments. Test out tubeless tire puncture repair on our test tires. A skill you should know!

Book rooms the usual way, www.wildhomestay.com and tell our wechat service account to add you to our weekend gravel group.  Warning! We will check that you have insurance (if not 30rmb) and sign a waiver!

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Clean Slate Recap

Due to the somewhat extreme weather on Saturday, the Clean race ended up being our hardest event yet and most of the participant’s most challenging race to date. A real, Day In Hell!

SLate L1st2nd3rd
manjul pav Darcy wuMatthew GRECH
womanliu shu jing Kate Taylor RavenZ
XL, Slate XL1st2nd3rd
manRichard Welch PASShawn Chen ANTRob Knight Suzhou
womanMiranda 颖儿Vera VV Joelle Tybon 
mastersScott Kirchner Fabrice Demichel Luke Webb 
TEAMHong KongSuzhouANT

Route info: https://www.wildhomestay.com/slate-2025/

Many thanks to our sponsor Specialized for all the great prizes!

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DC崇明瓜车挑战!DC Chongming Gravel

在活动发布到举办短短1周多的时间内,吸引了大约120人到场,希望这场活动会成为春季经典赛事!三月底在崇明岛,全程75公里的瓜路与人烟稀少的道路。很高兴看到上海对瓜车活动有如此高的热情!About 120 people turned up at short notice for what we hope becomes a spring classic! 75km of gravel and quiet roads on Chongming Island at the end of March. Good to see so much enthusiasm in Shanghai for a gravel event! Congratulations to our podium winners

第一名 1st第二名 2nd第三名 3rd
女子组 WomanMichelleJoelle大云子
26.6km/h26.0km/h25.9km/h
男子组 Man周诚JohnsonBR-Bicycle 田国卿VilleM
31.9km/h 31.6km/h31.0km/h
大师组(40+)Master薛京城200瓦长不了了高干
30.1km/h 28.1km/h27.2km/h
非常感谢我们所有的赞助商!Many thanks to all our supporters!
全力以赴!Full power!
补给点 Drink stand
皇后赛段!the queen stage 🙂
野趣乡居知名能量棒!wildhomestay famous energy bars!
多数路段是瓜路,但也有一些柏油和水泥路 Mostly gravel but some tarmac and concrete.
这次活动碳排放为
3吨二氧化碳——我们将通过植树来抵消活动产生的碳排放。由于中国大陆广泛采用新能源汽车,总体碳排放非常低!3T C02e – We will plant some trees to offset the event. Emissions were quite low due to local EV transport!
春日的晴天甚是难得!Lucky with the dry conditions!
男子组领奖台!干得漂亮!Male Podium! Wel done!
女子组领奖台 Female Podium!
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Clean #2 & The Last Dirty Recap

Clean

After canceling the last Clean due to weather and this time having to change the course due to a last minute tunnel closure it was a struggle for us but a bunch of fun hosting such a passionate and authentic cycling community. Thanks for all the support from everyone from route selection, to looking after riders who have never done these types of challenges, to providing all the photographs. #realcyclists #sufferingsmiles

Congratulations to the 2024 Clean #2: Daming South, Winners

  • Female 1st: MichelleT
  • Female 2nd: SarahC
  • Female 3rd: LuluL
  • Male 1st: ShawnC
  • Male 2nd: DiegoS
  • Male 3rd: MikeB
  • Grandmaster 1st: MikeB
  • Grandmaster 2nd: AlgernonS
  • Grandmaster 3rd: WolfgangBirthdayBoy

Many thanks to our partners and supporters over the years!

Ladies
Gents
Grand Masters
Segment
Segment
Segment
Segment
Fancy Dress
Longest
Best DNF

Dirty

It was a epic course and an appropriate way to end the Dirty Cycling Challenge series. We’ve decided to stop our Dirty Challenges (this one also came with Dirty Water Stop and Dirty Noodles) after six years as nearly all our dirty is being concreted over and there does not seem to be much interest in a all-surface endurance gravel type races. We will still adventure out, get lost and explore the area, just in a different way and format. Thanks to all the participants and sponsors who have joined over the years.

Congratulations to the 2024 Dirty: Double Dirty Daming, Winners

  • 1st Female: JoelleT
  • 1st Male: EdC
  • 2nd Male: JeffS
  • 3rd Male: DavidO
Dirty Lady
Dirty Men
Dirty Wipeout

Many thanks to our partners and supporters over the years!

Sunday Clean & Dirty Recovery

One group went on a chilled Poshan recovery ride and the other a dirty reservoir revenge loop. Another on a long run through the local bush!

Next Up: Clean #3 Corked Highway & Shangtan Sprint- 16th & 17th November. A little different!

We will also know and present the DirtyClean 2024 Specialized Queen & King awards on Sunday lunch. Many thanks to Specialized China for the great awards.

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Something Sharp (and slippery)

Clean #1

It rained, then rained more and then stopped raining for the race but rain was still coming off the mountains with rain running down the rain covered roads. This made the little concrete roads super slippery which resulted in people getting a bit too touchy with their brakes and slipping over. Lesson learned for both us and the participants. We won’t run this course again during the spring or wet seasons. Participants need to heed our warnings on tire choice and pressure and work on their steep decent braking skills. Regardless a fun and challenging day was had by all and thankfully nothing was broken, other than an exploding wheel!

Ladies Results:

Men Results:

Other Results:

2024 Queen & King Awards:

The current standings for the Specialized’s bikes King & Queen award: ShawnC and JoelleT are first place and in line to win some great Sworks gear. One race down and three to go so it’s still early days and anyone’s taking!

Next up is Clean #2: Beast of East. 99% good tarmac! 28 race tires are fine but 32s are more comfy and quicker?

Sponsors

Many thanks to all our supporters for their great awards, time and energy. A shout out to our long term partner Specialized for their top prizes. To Toby of FeverCycling for his maintenance and group support over the entire weekend. To SpineC for their great stretches and health advice. To Shokz for their prizes and headphone trials. To iGPSport for their GPS devices. To xCadey for their electric pumps and prizes. To D2E for their cleaning produce. To Namedsports for their hydration products. To the entire wildhomestay team who help make this happen. To Miranda for her social media and to all the other individuals who have helped out. Thanks to all for supporting the more adventurous community driving side of our cycling.

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