Hi, My son and his old man, want to try a MTB event. Not quite a race, but something for fun/endurance? Any ideas? We live in the North East, but travelling wouldnt be a problem.
Thanks…..

great idea…pulls up chair and asks the lad to get the kettle on.

no bacon sarnie?

nah…contraband like that is onlyfor after he goes to school! Can’t go sharing my drycure now can I!

I know about the winlatter thing, but we are on holiday then so thats no good.

Big Bike Bash is what you want. Fun for all the family.

Big Bike Bash

How old is your lad? I do the Merida events with both of my two. This will be the third year of doing them and my youngest will be 15 this year, so was 12 when we started. We make a weekend of it an camp as it’s included in the entry fee. As we are there on the Saturday we normally join in the cycle active tutorial type ride on the Saturday as well.

C2C

On your doorstep, great fun, hard work.

Stanley taxis do a relay service, where they’ll drop you off at whitehaven, drop your bags off at your first nights digs, pick them up the next morning, etc, etc. Although we just used panniers and carried our stuff. Does make the climbs more difficult

Done it last year as a dad and lad, granted, I was the lad (29) but so much fun, 3 days riding with your dad, Can’t beat it.

the scottish enduros allow kids to enter – awsome kids teams at strathpuffer the last two years and something like ten under series might be good.

I did the Polaris Challenge with my Dad, think I was about 13/14 at the time. Not sure on the current entry T&C’s but that was great could make the days as long or short as you want!

I would definately second the Big Bike Bash.

What you are describing fits perfectly with the idea behind the BBB. A weekend away with your lad camping. There will be XC races if you want to be competative and fun rides if you don’t. There will also be stupid stuff like bike limbo or the tractor tyre drag* where you can compete against each other or just have fun. There is also a beer festival and live music festival but i am sure you are not that interested in a local beer festival are you?

http://www.bigbikebash.co.uk/tickets.php

*We will be using different size tyres to balance out the strength differences.

Not sure what the xc scene is like up there, but you could enter those and just ride/race for fun.
Merida short courses.
My lads 12 we go to xc cyclocross and road events, I’ll do mine then he’ll do his, but some xc’s will just have a mass start.
We will probably do our fisrt Merida together this year.

Trailquest in Whinlatter and surrounding area on Sunday 15th March.
3 hr long and you choose where, and how far you want to ride, to collect as many points as possible. Entry for both would cost about £12-14, which gets you the map, insurance etc. Nice and relaxed, there’ll be 60-90 entries form young teenage to over 60’s.
Drop a mail to westcoastmtb@googlemail.com if you are interested.

Slick n Knobbly,
Lots to do.
Two hour/4 hour enduro, dirt crit racing, etc. Great weekend for all the family in a fabulous part of the country.
Slick ‘n Knobbly