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In the world of car clubs there are Regularity Trials. You are given a route and have to turn up at various places at specific times. Early or late is penelised. The most timely contestant wins.
these events have evolved to include hotel stops, posh meals etc and are very popular among the classic car set.
do you think the same would work for cyclists?
each event would be limited to perhaps 30 riders. It would be a full weekend. Each event would be themed - SS, fat bike, pre-2010 etc
what price point for the weekend with lunch and dinner Saturday accommodation and then breakfast and lunch Sunday?
would it be better cheaper and you bring a tent and we just provide the food?
I remember doing some events as a kid that were called reliability rides.
Early or late is penalised. The most timely contestant wins.
What would stop riders from lurking around the corner and arriving in one big bunch at the allotted time?
Look at audax, if you want a ride with a specified minimum and maximum speed. Some of them include meals etc.
There would be a start point, and end point and several points in between where the people would get time stamped photos, some of the time points would be easy and some challenging especially as no route guidance is given.
Do do you ride a straight line between points or take the longer faster route?
sort of like audac but with time checks along the way., more fun and friendly competition than blood and sweat racing
I like the idea but don’t know whether anyone would pay to do it. Perversely I think it would suit riders who know the area better than those with no local knowledge, unless you gave detailed info about where the best trails (or features) were. (You need to get from A to B. This is the most direct off-road route, over there is the route with the best view, but that third track over there is an awesome descent which may take you over the time limit...)
Anyway, I’m sort of thinking out loud.
Me too, just thinking out loud.
i was thinking of making the check points at either local beauty points or at the start or end of good trails.
Make it it more of a holiday adventure weekend instead of something you only enter to win.
I quite like the idea of camping over night to keep costs low and get people talking about their day around the camp fire.
not too challenging to run as I shout GO in the morning and drive to the lunch meet. Shout go again and drive to the camp site. A simple spreadsheet to record the times from their photos.
The he timeand effort goes into finding the best routes etc
I can't see the point in going to a lot of trouble to make sure people stick to exact times. You'd be better off just organising a route and laying on the extras. Just have lunch in a time window and other stuff after the days riding.
The timing bit is just a bit of fun to make it different and add something for the competitive.
Why do people pay to take part in races on trails that are open to ride the rest of the year?
They know that there will only be one winner so probably they are paying £50 to be told they are a loser and there are better riders out there.
At least with my idea it doesn't just come down to who is fittest/fastest to see who wins.
As I say, just an idea I am bouncing around to see if it is worth persuing
these events have evolved to include hotel stops, posh meals etc and are very popular among the classic car set.
Fyre Festival on wheels?
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/fyre-festival-billy-mcfarland-millennial-marketing-fiasco
Yeah - there is a risk of failure, I just have never tried that option 🙂
www.bigbikebash.co.uk was my first attempt at an event and seems to be going fine 10 years on.
Southampton Bike park just goes from strength to strength
The key is to know the market, set the expectations and then exceed them
I just set the expectations REALLY low 🙂
If it's camping, you're basically organising an audax (though they normally have a village hall you can kip in, if it's a long one).
If it's posh hotels and whatnot, there's quite a few companies that do that sort of tour already.
Not sure what the USP is...?
Sounds like a normal bike ride except with an unnecessary entry fee and set of rules attached. Seems utterly pointless to me, then again paying for things I can do for free isn't really my thing.
I quite like the idea of camping over night to keep costs low and get people talking about their day around the camp fire.
I think theres something in your idea - the thing that puts me off bikepacking and touring is carrying lots of heavy kit, done it too many times. I’ve always fancied the western spirit type supported MTB touring that you see in the States.
Dunbar - I will have another look staid ax, I thought they were raid events
km79. - I guess you aren't the target audience then, fortunately other people will pay to ride, hence all the bike events
ninfan- that is sort of my thinking. A weekend riding and camping with food provided and tents carried for you. The competition is mainly there to give an excuse for the whole thing
Just read up on audac and it appears still to be road based but basically the same as what I was thinking of. I guess I just invented something that already exists
You could also think about it being a bit like a halfway house between the old summer and winter Polaris - the winter was a pain because you had to carry all your stuff, the summer less enjoyable because you were going back to the same place overnight.
I suspect you don’t really need the competition aspect - it’s would just be a great way to do some multi day tours of somewhere really different, like the military roads through th4 highlands or even somewhere abroad like the inner German border.
I did a ratrace once, similar in terms of needing to be a set checkpoints by set times you had a wrist dibber thingy, and over half the field got disqualified as they missed a mandatory dibber, which I think was moved as we spent 45mins searching for it before moving on - which was shit so make the checkpoints obvious
the other quite cool thing it had was points for challenges which you could do in any order around the mandatory checkpoints. Silly stuff like throwing eggs and not breaking them, trying to carry spaghetti on your bike without breaking it, through to kayaking the canals and absailing down a stairwell in a football ground.
was pretty cool, apart from being disqualified.
There are a few offroad audax events, it would be great to have some more. Though it may be tricky to work out a suitable route, ie so people can't take a shortcut on the road. And what do you use as checkpoints.
Or something like mountain bike orienteering/trailquest. But less about racing, and more about exploring and going somewhere nice.
I might make up something around the New Forest and see how that goes.
nothing immediate as I am still on crutches until at least June 😒
It's okay, it might have just about stopped raining by june
Id be up for a reliability type trial off road.
[i]It’s okay, it might have just about stopped raining by june[/i]
I fitted a rain divert-er water butt yesterday and it hasn't rained since. The Southampton Bike Park should be dry for the dual track race series
Like this? https://singletrackmag.com/gritcx/2018/03/01/the-distance-returns-with-a-new-location-for-2018/
Was just behind you there 🚀 🐶. The distance has variable routes to get folk to the end at a similar time. With shorter ‘legs’ you could get folk to lunch, breakfast etc at a similar time. Your idea could be an ‘add on’ to something like the Jennride, as there are plenty of refreshment breaks for most riders. Tricky to market though.
The Distance looks like a well thought through version of what i was intending just further north.