You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
What's the best bike race or event you have ever done? And what made it so great?
Mick
strathpuffer
I don't think I really 'get' Strathpuffer, perhaps I'm not Scottish enough. I was there in 2008 and it was all a bit lacking in atmosphere, I guess it aims to be 'grass roots' (successfully I might add) but I wasn't a fan.
Best I've ever done? No idea!
2010 ss European champs for a fantastic vibe, great course and brilliant people.
did a certain publication ever deliver the promised prizes?
Dragon downhill race weekend on a perfect August bank holiday weekend few years back at Myndd du. Perfect weekend of sun, fun and racing, plus it was my first dh race and I came eighth in masters!
The 10 under/@ events from No Fuss are great for atmosphere.
The Cristalp is memorable.
Polaris 10-15 years ago were great fun
man vs horse
Gravity Enduro
Cristalp.
Why, switzerland in the summer and organisation that only the Swiss could do.
Hope/No Fuss Endurance Downhill at Fort William was the best by a nose.
Innerleithen day/night enduro ran it a very close second.
Glentress 7 for me. Brilliant course, good length, hard climbs, challenging descents (by GT standards).
Relentless 24 a close second. (2010 when the weather was good)
Aye, I really enjoyed that GT7, great event. Though, it has had the ill effect of making me think I might try another Ten.
1999 summer Polaris. 90th overall, on me own.
tour of Flanders sportive
and
SSEC 2010
No Fuss Macavalanche. Better than the 'real' Mega for me for atmosphere, people, silliness and inspired initiative.
Is that still going? I remember that being a Tim Gould benefit race.... any event when my legs are good.man vs horse
SSEC 2010
YES!!
SSEC 2010 the finest Belguim beer and SS freaks,SSUK 2009 Dalby the finest Cropton Beer and SS freaks...... and hopefully SSUK2012 cheeky beer and SS freaks 😯
Duo Normand. The closest to riding a stage of the tour, forget about the etape 😉 , 55 km 2 up time trial through closed roads in France, gendarmes at every junction to wave you through, racing through the village which has closed for the race and erected a grandstand for the crowd and you have a following car. Post race beer, frites, wine etc - what's not to love.
ssec 2010 and 2011 were pretty damn good
BigBikeBash.
Bikes, bands, and Beer. Don't need anything else. 😀
cristalp (2008). will be back this summer i hope.
no fuss events have (nearly) always been awesome - usually do 2-3 per year.
My first one. I cant see anything beating the achievement of getting to and through the first one though.
I'll keep chipping away - but your first is always special and all that!
hit the north. all 3 times I've done it.
ST Classic Weekender #1
Been away for the last 2 but if its on this year I'm off!
3 Peaks Cyclocross.
Cycle Oregon.
Sign up on Feb 7. 2200 places. It sold out in around 24 hours last year.
The first SPAM/Charge Bikes set2rise in 2009. Best all-round enduro course I ever rode, nice vibe, nice organisers, great prizes, 12 hour race that started in the evening and included the magic 'witching hours' of 3-5am, (it is midday till midnight nowadays 😥 ) and it was bone dry and dusty that year too. I suppose its also the first race where I stopped being a complete noob and started passing people both up and down hill too. 😆
2008 Bontrager 24/12 was also a vintage year.
SSEC 2010, meeting good friends and riding to enjoy myself is the best thing ever.
10 @ Kirroughtree
Yes 3 Peaks Cyclocross
Cape Epic for the sheer brilliance of the organisation and the magnitude of the event.
Trans-Provence for the best week of competitive riding ever.
Dragon downhill race weekend on a perfect August bank holiday weekend few years back at Myndd du
The Dragons were awesome, definately some of the best riding/racing/people
2010 24/12
probably as it the first race i entered
Either Strathpuffer or the Paris - Roubaix sportive (not the new rubbish ASO one I should add).
2010 Paris-Roubaix sportive - organised by the Velo Club de Roubaix - fantastic event, run every two years by these guys and by far and away the best thing I've ever ridden
My first Merida Marathon in Builth Wells. Around 50k after spending all the previous day and night in the pub. I certainly know how to prepare properly.
2009 Transalp.
German organisation, incredible scenery, very challenging for Johnny Average like me, brilliant riding and cameraderie, athletic European riders (ahem!). I cried like a wee lassie at the end.
MTB ...Trans Rockies 2010 ---
Great country,great stages ,great fun and I can still smile when I hear " Highway to Hell" <the morning roll call> 🙂
Road ...Etape de Tour 2004 ---
Over 8000 riders(at stupid O clock in the morning),waiting for the gun,worrying about clipping in without falling over .Then ..."Une, Deux, Trois " and we were off ,like a huge flock of birds.No wobbles,no bumbs ,just this river of cyclists flowing out of town.Amazing 😀
My first Strathpuffer was the best event I've done - great atmosphere and great team spirit amongst all suffering the conditions! A total cluster**** of riding and laughing!
And strangely for such a chaotic experience, also the home of my most serene mtb ing memory - 3am no-one else around, just silence, and snowflakes falling peacefully to the ground where everything took on a moonlit blue hue. Perfection
Then I rode past the skeleton who said hi! I freaked out and fell off my bike - turned out to be someone walking the course at 3am!!! actually think I might have pee'd myself a bit
2010 Paris-Roubaix sportive - organised by the Velo Club de Roubaix - fantastic event, run every two years by these guys and by far and away the best thing I've ever ridden
We did the 2008 version, and agree with everything you said. It's also the most pain I've ever been in on a bike.
Maratona dles Dolomites
la Marmotte
the last Sleepless at Trentham
90s Spring Polaris's
Oh, and just good fun friends rides
Oh the last Sleepless at Trentham was ACE
The first Hit the North was fantastic, wish they would do another 12 event.
Welsh Ride Thing
My mate Mick's Dusk till Dawn all-nighter over the Stretton's is brill.
Malvern Classic '95 .. raced the xc but had a ball watching the floodlit dual slalom, lake jumping and an early incarnation of 4x ... gave up bikes due to an injury not long after and have only returned to them this year .. not a lot has changed has it!! 😯
Are there any events that have that kind of vine these days?
All Hit the North's.
Ligh****er Laike - a race around & in & out of the closed for the winter Ligh****er Valley theme park nr Ripon, N Yorks. Sadly no more.
Brezno Slovakia 2009 marathon, virtually the whole town saw us off from the start a police escort up to the first fireroad, relentless climbs but 40 mph fireroad descents, being warned at the start that brown bears had been spotted on the course!! sheer brilliance!! not only that the event was only 10 euro entry with a full course meal at the finish!!!
such a great event in the tatras mountains , beats anything ive ever done in uk....
Trailtrax 80 mile night enduro, Maxx Exposure. 80 miles of SDW with a mate, getting lost... wondering if we could make it....
Bacon and egg sarnie at the end 🙂
All the NEMBA races especially Bingley and the Boltby Bash; downhill and trials on Saturday and cross country on Sunday, all for £10-£15.
HtN 2.5.
Trans Provence - brilliant week
The Australia Day Ashes regatta in Melbourne
http://www.pressbox.co.uk/detailed/Sports/London_Rowing_Club_to_race_at_the_Centenary_Australia_Day_3564.html
We had a brilliant time, excellent training and the race itself was fantastic with loads of support even from all the Aussies.
On a bike, probably Mountain Mayhem in 2003 - my first one with a great group of mates, fantastic weather, a fun course and a good result.
Ironbike in Italy for me. Ridiculously tough week of riding in breathtaking alpine scenery.
Forced me to get fitter that year than I've ever been before, and even then I had to push myself to the limit every day. Awesome sense of achievement at the end. I've not really found a focus to replace it since...
All Innerleithen MTB Racing events of course.
But after that, for road events, L'Etape du Tour I think it was 2003 maybe 2004, Limoges to St Fleur. 9.30 hours of fun, and I beat the British Army Cycling team to the line.
For MTB would have to be the very first I ever did, an XC TT around Mt Victoria in Wellington, good fun, well organised etc. And I got beat by a guy on a unicycle.
Yak Attack - purely for the experience.
Doing the Paris-Roubaix Challenge this year, so looking forward to that.
Outside cycling, Ironman Austria 70.3 for the organisation, atmosphere and course.
Back in the day - The Wight Diamond. Great weather, great riding, ice creams, cream teas, donkeys, beer, awesome band.
2010 SSEC for me, brilliant weekend with great riding and a great vibe. Topped off with bike throwing, crazy Belgians and a lad 'sawing' through his frame with the back of a hacksaw blade.
Also the 2nd Dusk till Dawn was great...
2009 Transrockies...not at the time, with 5 days of rain and endless mud, but looking back, it was fantastic.
NOT the 2011 Transrockies..great singletrack but no "trans"
Black Mountains 3 day in '11 comes a very close second!
Raasay Rumble, awesome location with good course but with the most amazing stretch of lochside singletrack but in horizontal rain, plus good beer and entertainment post race too.
The early dusk til dawns when they still let us tandems in, 12hrs on a tandem in the dark and still my best finish in anything with laps yet!
And finally a 24hr in spain held at the Elderado set at Coin, course nothing special course wise in epic rain but hotel rooms instead of tents, proper restaurant, just a very memorable trip.
[url= http://tinyurl.com/6pymulr ]XX Marcha de Valdemorillo[/url] was great last year - snowing at the start, very wet and muddy, great atmosphere and a good start to the year. The next one's in two weeks' time, can't wait 🙂
I've only ever done a few DH races, but loved the mega.
Another vote for the 3 peaks cyclocross.
Did it in 2008, perfect conditions, scared to ever enter again as it was hard enough in the dry and I'm not sure I could face it in the wet.
For me its the Grand Raid Cristalp for shear epicness.
For balls out fun and amazing atmosphere the Pass Portes takes some beating.
man vs horse
Is that still going? I remember that being a Tim Gould benefit race.... any event when my legs are good.
No, lots of it was bridleway so bikes not pemitted. I did it in 90 and 91 I think, when Tim won. Proper old school race over mountains and through rivers.
Roadie action for me, done too many to remember the crap ones.. but this, this was a good un'
The 2009 Maratona dles Dolomites.
If it's running this year (or next), do it.
Hit the North!
(OK, in reality it'd be the Transalp. Followed by any of the Strathpuffers where there's been loads of snow and ice then the 3 Peaks cyclocross)
opening of Gregg's in my local high street. Great atmosphere amongst the ASBO's and really bargainous sausage rolls. will never forget it.
looking forward to the Big Dog this year, heard its a good atmosphere there.
Sea Otter Classic. Early start for the open races followed by watching the elites and with a massive trade show thrown in. Actually went for 3 days when it was a stage race with criteriums, short track. Perfect.
Multisport - 2004 and 2006 Hebridean Challenges
MTB - Sleepless 2008
Running - Grand Raid des Pyrenees 2011
Either the first 24/12 I did as a team (I think in 2008) when the weather was hot & dry!
Or, the 2nd Dusk2Dawn I did as a team, when again the weather was mild and dry and the course was fast....
Got to be Montain mayhem for me, done it 3 times now, get butterflies when I do it, love it. Going to do Wiggle enduro 6 solo this year for the first time so I might like that
Hit the North! Really looking forward to the next one
Passportes du Soleil was alright as well i suppose 😀
polaris events in the early 90's were good
boltby bash used to be good fun
1st hit the north was fantastic
marin rough ride i did was ace
ssuk at dalby was pretty crap................ 😉
Yep, it was pants and badly organised 😉
La Marmotte and TransWales in no particular order
tour of flanders sportive in 2011. beautiful day, great roads and cheering spectators on the big climbs. finished off by beer in bruges in the evening.
Manx end to end a few years ago for me.
PPS was pretty epic too. I'd love to do the Cristalp some day.
Kielder 100 - my favourite race by a long way.
Strathpuffer - still in trauma from this weekend's racing, but when that passes, will not forget the experience easily.
Thetford Summer Enduro - local chilled out enduro on a gorgeous Summer's day, racing with all my mates - awesome.
Mountain Mayhem 2003. First time I had ever done anything like that and I went through the full range of emotions (including a little bit of a girlie cry at one point 😳 ).
Tour de Ben Nevis, the only event I never thought 'what the f*** am I doing' or 'this has got to finish soon or I'm going to die' Great event,great course, great atmosphere.