You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Are there any multi-bike discipline events where you change bike type during the race?
E.g. start on a road bike, then a bit of CX and last leg on a DH?
Does this count as changing bike type?
This would be quite a good concept - testing out who is the most well rounded rider.
Sounds a great idea. But maybe XC not DH. I don't have the skills or balls for DH racing
this idea has been suggested before, but I guess the main issue is that it only really suits those with a "Quiver" of bikes to bring, sort of creating a barrier to participation for many and hardly stimulating a "grass roots" kind of event...
I'd quite like to see the inverse concept, three diverse types of course/event but participants can only use one bike for all of it, no tyre changes or anything so like you suggest Road/CX(or XC?)/DH individual stages and "ride what ya brung"... participants will have to compromise somewhere it would be almost impossible to not be over/under-biked somewhere...
Individual event positions could score as a "Stage podium" but would only count if you complete the whole lot, fastest total time wins the whole event...
I’d quite like to see the inverse concept, three diverse types of course/event but participants can only use one bike for all of it, no tyre changes or anything so like you suggest
I think good XC courses should aim for this. A fire road climb, some twisty rolling singletrack, plus a descent that rewards skill and bravery.
The French youth competition is kind of like this. Witnessed some of it in the alps one year. XC race one day, then slight modifications to the same bike for a DH race the next. There may have been other events too.
I’ve done a couple of XC courses where I came on my full sus only to find I’d have been a lot faster on a CX bike. Pretty sure there was a rule that only flat bar bikes allowed....I think, been a while since I raced!
I like CookeAA’s suggestion. I did a sportive about 4 years ago, it wasn’t a race. But the underlying theme was to see what was the better bike for the 50 mile route. It was a mixture of heavily rutted single track, road climbs and decent length road sections, a couple of miles of heavily mudded land rover rutted section and finally a fast gravel section. Was quite interesting, but because it was on open roads it wasn’t a race.
I did it on a road bike with 33mm tyres, lots of folks on hardtails and gravel bikes with larger 40m+ tyres were just taking off, so a few of those about.
Was down in Salisbury. Would make an interesting race, especially if undertaken in Spring when the off road sections would bring it back towards a XC bike.
I think good XC courses should aim for this. A fire road climb, some twisty rolling singletrack, plus a descent that rewards skill and bravery.
You have raced XC at some point in the last 5 years haven't you? The vast majority of XCO nowadays has all of this, hell even 12 and 24hr races have descents that can be bloody challenging, plenty of single track and fire road climbs.
this idea has been suggested before, but I guess the main issue is that it only really suits those with a “Quiver” of bikes to bring, sort of creating a barrier to participation for many and hardly stimulating a “grass roots” kind of event
Judging by some posts on here, the one bike to do it all already exists, I mean there's always someone on a HT or FS that can keep up with and drop roadies while just out for a ride to the trails where they proceed to chase "less awesome" riders down twisty technical trails with ease.
The Aviemore 100 is 70% road bike, 30% MTB (by distance). You'd really NOT want to be on any sort of CX bike on some of the MTB bits.
I’d quite like to see the inverse concept, three diverse types of course/event but participants can only use one bike for all of it, no tyre changes or anything so like you suggest
There were some comps "back in t'day" that did just that.
Trials
XC
DH
One bike, no changes (bar pedals I think).
I’d quite like to see the inverse concept, three diverse types of course/event but participants can only use one bike for all of it, no tyre changes or anything so like you suggest Road/CX(or XC?)/DH individual stages and “ride what ya brung”… participants will have to compromise somewhere it would be almost impossible to not be over/under-biked somewhere…
Individual event positions could score as a “Stage podium” but would only count if you complete the whole lot, fastest total time wins the whole event…
Ah, Singletrack Weekender..! Great event 🙂
Ahem (disclaimer, I'm the organiser): https://www.durtyevents.com/event/24seven/
Road + MTB, and repeat....
I've ridden MTB in a cross bike race and vice versa. For reasons. Not sure I'd do either again. Anyway, plenty of races folks switch bikes - road/time trial/pave special etc, including within a stage.
main issue is that it only really suits those with a “Quiver” of bikes to bring
Isn't that most of this forum?!
Like it. Start with some tricky rock gardens, switch to fixed-gear urban riding, finish with 40k road. Boom.
Ooh, or throw a penny farthing, or one of those waterbikes, in to really change things up