[Closed] Wales 360 cancelled

Bummer.
Can't help thinking the cost was a factor.

That's disappointing :/ I was one of sceptical ones but actually hoped it would be a success and wish the organisers all the best . Even from organising social football games I know it is difficult getting stuff like this off the ground.

Gutted beyond belief!

Get some bikepacking kit and ride it anyway.

I feel the cost was the biggest inhibitor for many folk.
The idea was sound enough but the accommodation was probably over priced .

6 days commitment is a lot to ask besides the money. That's a big barrier for entry to a lot of what is imagine to be a target market of cash rich time poor people of parenting age.

Just do the Highland 550 its free 🙂

That's a bummer mate. On the other hand imagine if it had gone ahead and turned out like the Fyre Festival without the beautiful people and with added rain...

Check out Roam Scotland Rally.
Currently under way, and an ambitious route.
Also free - it's Scotland.

It's a shame, could've been a cracking week if the weather held. We really seem to struggle to get events like this off the ground in this country. It seems obvious that cost was the main thing putting people off. However, neither the Cape Epic or Swiss Epic are cheap and they seem to sell out easily enough.

Not surprised. I would have been interested but not at that cost.

I’m not too surprised - other multi day events in Wales have proved, unfortunately, in the past to be difficult to get off/sustain the ground. Bearded Man & Epic Cymru are 2 that spring to mind.

However, neither the Cape Epic or Swiss Epic are cheap and they seem to sell out easily enough.

....and they aren't in Wales.

Wales for all it's great points doesn't really have the cachet of either the Alps or SA.

Bit of a shame. I don't think the cost was that excessive, but it wasn't cheap either. I would say that the probability of spending a good chunk of the days in the rain and mud put many people off. I don't think I have ever had more than three days in a row without rain in Wales over 12 years of visiting there. For the money you could go to the Alps and almost be assured of nice sunny weather in July and on top of that you get to ride in the Alps!

Got to say that I looked at it when it launched and in true Yorkshire fashion said out loud "Ow Much?!?!"

Always felt it was doomed due to the cost, but hoped otherwise.

I also was sceptical about the event and after winning an entry was pretty chuffed to be fair as it was a great prize and I never win anything and would never afford to do such an event. I think that is what is grinding me rather than the riding!

When I asked them at the early stages they seemed pretty confident it was going ahead.

I guess some of these marketing based competitions are too good to be true!

Thats more than any bike or indeed car I've bought.

So literally...

(Incredulous)I could buy a car (or bike) for that!!(/incredulous)

As above its a lot of money. Looking at the company that run it they are very road orientated not sure they teamed up with someone that understands the market or not but they messed the mark. In my opinion was to big for year one, start smaller and build on your success.

I thought it looked ace, but didn't enter.

It is quite a big commitment (time and money) for something that might be rainy and miserable for all 6 days.

If I am committing a week of annual leave, and over a grand, I want to go somewhere with a higher chance of nice weather than Wales.

I was also quite 'epic' - that is a lot of riding (too much?) for a lot of people. Need to appeal more ot the mass market and a 3 day option over a weekend would probably have higher take up.

Wales ain't exotic enough to warrant the price.

The trails are world-class*

*FD - i am Welsh:)

@kittyr has nailed it.

It's always gonna be tough starting out, untested and brand new, at such a high price point.

I'm not sure who their intended market was and may have fallen between two stools (not of the cow pat variety either).

There's a few on here who've done the Trans Cambrian trail using guided services, my apologies in that I can't remember the name of the guiding company, over three days and found that hard. The Trans-Cambrian is just 160km. The Welsh 360 is/was 550km, i.e. three and a half times further in just twice as long.

From the other side of the fence you have the ITT (Individual Time Trials) riders, used to long days in the saddle carrying all their kit for whom the Trans-Cambrian in a day is just a starter. In fact it's probably the easiest of the ITTs in the UK.

I wonder if the organisers have looked at the latter and thought: "If we organise the camping and take their kit, riders should be able to manage half the typical daily ITT distance." without realising the huge gulf in mindsets and difference of abilities between these two facets of mountain biking. Then of course there's the price ...

I'd love to get hold of a .gpx of the route. I'd be content to do just stage 1 over two days. I could probably work out a route of bridleways, byways and minor routes that would take me pretty close to the official route. Riding Aberystwyth to Dolgellau would be a fantastic weekend of riding. https://wales360.com/route/day-1/ Great to do a wild camp en route during the summer.

@linusr - looking at that basic map and the description it's fairly obvious as far as Mach, the bit through Dyfi forest I'm not sure about as the OS map has gaps between the forest roads whereas the description just talks about using them. Abergynolen to Dolgellau looks like it takes NCR 82.

There's one or two sections of BW/track that it appears to miss heading north from Nant yr Arian that are worth doing but they put dog legs in to the route.

I guess I will just have to watch out for any more "too good to be true" promotional competitions on this site!

@Whitestone I suspect the forest roads would only be open for the event with special permission. I was thinking of heading west from Mach along the southern loop of NCR82 and they head north west along the public byway at OS Grid Ref: SN 66847 99804 and then pick up the NCR82 again just west of Abergynolen. That should be enough excitement for my little legs! Plenty to explore in that part of Wales - but not many direct routes that are rights of way.

@linusr - the forest roads are "open" for pedestrian and cycle use unless there's active forestry work going on.

The ROW heading NE from here http://streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=272327&Y=282344&A=Y&Z=120 is worth doing, you just need to cut back on the minor road to pick up the more direct line.

it's a shame I was really interested but the cost was just too high.

I done the southern part of the bearbones big bear route ,started in caersws and finished just after strata Florida before hitting the roads back to caersws for the train ,despite being caught in storm Hannah on the Saturday there is a lot of great riding in the 160 miles of the route which I done ,from where I finished it then heads north through devils bridge and up to nant y arian through coed y brenin ,llanfair and penmachano back to caersws , it took 3 &1/2 days to get round the southern loop but the northern end is supposed to run much quicker once past devils bridge ,there's plenty of train stations on the way round to bail or make it shorter ,varied terrain and with the feel of being isolated in a lot of places,( I am not a strong rider and really enjoyed my time on it) total route is 332 miles if you have the time to do it,it's worth a look if you fancy a route round mid wales

Thanks for the tip @whitestone

As above its a lot of money. Looking at the company that run it they are very road orientated not sure they teamed up with someone that understands the market or not but they messed the mark. In my opinion was to big for year one, start smaller and build on your success.

Sweetspot organise the Tour of Britain, Women's Tour and Tour Series events, they're very very good at what they do. I'm just not sure what the market was for it.

Threshold organise the annual Ride Across Britain (Land's End - John O'Groats) ride every September. 9 days, about 110 miles / day on average, fully supported, signposted, accommodation in tents and about £1600. That is more or less full capacity every year so the idea of being cold and wet and under canvas for 9 days isn't necessarily that off-putting, people are signing up because LEJOG is a fairly iconic ride. If you look at the cost then yes, you could easily have a week in the Alps or Spain or somewhere with guaranteed sunshine and a solid roof over your head but it wouldn't be "iconic".

The problem is more that 6 days riding your bike around Wales isn't actually that "iconic". And MTBers are more likely to want to go somewhere with some dry dusty trails and big mountains for that kind of money. I'm sure if they'd have called it a bikepacking event and made it self-supporting (like HT550), they could probably have done alright out of it as you're appealing to a different mindset of rider.

Possibly being argumentative, but is Lejog iconic? I’m a roadie, team racer and club rider, not one of my close buddies have ever done it.
I think MTB rides don’t have the same number of newbies. Pretty much anyone can do lejog type rides. I know loads on here will have done lejog, but I think if you were to ask any long in the tooth roadie, 10 days doing lejog or 10 days in Marjorca/Girona. I can guarantee the answer.
Wales360 appears to be Enduro based, so someone experienced, knows the UK, the trails and riding conditions. Probably also limited with work and family holidays. I dabble in XC and would be worried about my skill levels. So it’s a limited market, but with a knowledgeable market who may prefer to do similar in warmer and dustier riding conditions.

Possibly being argumentative, but is Lejog iconic? I’m a roadie, team racer and club rider, not one of my close buddies have ever done it.

Have they not done it because of the logisitics and cost or have they not done it because they have no interest in it? There's a difference - plenty of people have dreams or aspirations of doing "big" rides.

LEJOG - I can kind of see it both ways, it certainly used to be an iconic ride, almost a rite of passage for any self-respecting touring cyclist but that was probably 50 years ago! Now, with busier roads, a lot more built up areas, there's a lot of it that actually isn't that nice at all but it still crops up in magazines, books, website articles of iconic rides of the world.

The event I mentioned (Deloitte Ride Across Britain) has had people flying in from USA, Australia, South Africa etc to ride it so there's clearly something in the marketing of it!

I’m sure if they’d have called it a bikepacking event and made it self-supporting (like HT550), they could probably have done alright out of it as you’re appealing to a different mindset of rider.

But if the riders are "self-supporting" what is the organiser, err, organising, doing for the money? ITTs such as the HT550, Tour Divide, etc. are single stage - the clock keeps ticking whether you are riding, sleeping, sitting on the bog, whatever until you finish. Stick an organised camp in there and there's no need to carry camping kit so it's not really bikepacking and it's no longer an ITT. Basically you're doing supported off-road touring.

LEJOG? I wonder if the charity supporting rides have removed much of its cachet. Hardly a "challenge" if Joe from No 6 who hasn't ridden a bike since he was 12 did it for charidee is it?

is Lejog iconic?

I'd say yes. As above, folk come from all over to ride it. It's completed by thousands of folk every year on all sorts of bikes (and other conveyances). It's all sorts of folk, of all ages and fitness levels. Some do it solo, most in some sort of small group, then there are organised and supported trips like the RAB and the smaller ones like Peak Tours. Duration is normally a challenge. Fitter, more experienced riders tend to want to do it quicker (maybe 6/7 days) whereas some folk struggle to do it in 14. Some folk take a month or more and do a huge tour of the UK while they are at it. Many do it for a charity. There are guide books, maps, t-shirts and so on. I'm not sure what else it needs to be referred to as "iconic".

Wales just isn’t/ wasn’t enough of a destination to warrant the money and time. Wales is a weekend away with your mates.

3 day weekend, is what Wales is for.

Europe, Africa, US and Canada are worth the time and effort.

And less likely to be moist!

Shame but....

can you not get a refund of the entry cost you won 🙂

According to the advertising standards agency rules... technically yes....