On balance, if you rode all three, what did you think the differences are between the three 24hr races?

MM: much improved course over 2008’s, but never understood why there was an easy and a hard route !
The more difficult of the three in terms of hills climbed and the general XC nature of the ride. Still think if it’d rained we’d have been into 2008’s mud-fest territory.
More people, and more team riders (?), more of an event village with more stands. Like the T-shirt design too. A great night for a ride. Separate Bike Demo loop & bike demo hire.

Bonty 24: Lower-key of the three, and some complained that the trail became boring (?). I thought it was fast and flowed. A 29er was shown to be the weapon of choice. I had a good time and it was my 1st Bonty and my 1st attempt at Men’s Pairs 24hrs. Unusual in that you have 2 options of duration and 2 different possible start times. This course of the 3 is more weather resistant. Maybe the perfect most night ride? The running commentary / banter over the p.a. more lively. Neat that Mr B. actually rides too.

SITS: Lower key that it’s bigger brother Mayhem, less riders (?) many of whom seemed more leisure-orientated riders. That mud has to be unique and so sapping of your strength. Again, we were lucky with the weather, but a more technical course than Bonty. Still think we’d have been in big, 2008-style trouble if the Heavens had opened. The flatter in nature of the three rides perhaps. A vast improvement over 2008’s T-shirt! Vying for Bonty as the friendlier / more family orientated of the 3 events. I still don’t like the 2am / 2pm finish at all. The night was oddly cold with a heavy dew. HT was the weapon of choice, again , maybe a 29er even.

In common:
Great camaraderie, regardless what you wear, what you ride, who you are. I like the last hour’s finish at MM especially and the small band of whooping loonies in the solo area at Bonty in the final 200m. Courteous, especially at MM where there are some very fast racers. Well organised. Good catering. Refuse collection very good at all. Spectators sure raise the spirits, in evidence at all 3. The loos and showers – all clean and well kept (isn’t that a refreshing thing to say!)

was bonty 24 really less technical thatn SITS?! (I didn't go, but I'm surprised by that)

and yes, starting at 2pm is a pain

Yes I thought that! Having done all 3, although only 24/12 this year I'd have said Newnham was more technical than the others. Also suprised there was more climbing at Eastnor, that's never really been the case before.

A 29er was shown to be the weapon of choice

Was it? Really? You chose to ride your 29er, but that's no great surprise!

CLIC24 has the best course by a long way.

no it doesn't strathpuffer does 😉

though hopefully relentless will be even better 🙂

I agree with Terrahawk on that one. Clic is the best.

Not sure if theres much difference in climbing at this years SITS compared to MM?? I could be wrong but this years SITS was the most climbing I'd ever done per lap at Catton. It was all mainly an uphill drag.

Will there be somewhere to park my caravan at the 'puffer? (yes, CARAVAN!)

caravan?! wuss! 😀

usually the caravanists park along the side of the big first fireroad climb, but it's crampt (for everyone)

MM and SITS are generally fast and quite fun in the dry, start to get a bit tricky in places when damp and become hellish when muddy… not done 24/12 to compare…

The best courses I've done are for the Scottish Tens series (Kirroughtree and Nevis Range), so Relentless should be good. Kirroughtree probably gets my vote for favourite though…

I like some technical challenge to keep the mind working, but not so much that it becomes mentally exhausting! The amount of climbing doesn't really matter too much to me as I'll generally put the same amount of effort in whatever (Catton can be quite sapping as you're doing a lot more pedalling!)

I just did SITS and MM

Mayhem was excellent, SITS was fun too. There was a lot of climbing per lap at Mayhem this year – considerably more than I've ever encountered at Newnham in one lap. Mayhem had a couple of technical bits in the course, but one got pulled after someone had a nasty crash. SITS had no technical bits, but was a fun lap as it was twisty and turny and quite fast – a bit like Thetford really, not technical but harder to ride really fast.

Of course, had it rained during the race both SITS and Mayhem would have been crap as usual, but it didn't so happy days. It would be lovely if Catton would let them put down more of the gravelly surfacing on the rest of the trails 🙂

GB

Did MM and Bonty.

After 2008 I was expecting 24/12 to be the "best", but I was a little disapointed and felt that it hadn't really moved forwards. A good course, but not as good as last year (no doubt the weather played a part).

Mayhem had the atmosphere and it's clear that its the bigger event. Enjoyed the course at Eastnor this year and there was more climbing per lap compared to 24/12, although at Plymouth the climbs were steeper.

Both good event, but I hope to see 24/12 grow a bit for next year.

Clic24 2008 was The Perfect Night lap. Much like Bonty 2009's.
This year it chucked it down at Clic after about 2am but it's an enjoyable lap, you just have to accept the tarmac hill climb & the road back to the centre. In that respect it's cracking good, fast-as-you-can loop in the dry, but un-settles many riders through the extended rock-garden when wet.

PS – 29ers romped home in the Men's team event at Bonty, 1st, 2nd & (69ers) 3rd, I think.

Rode MM and 2412 this year.

Thought the MM course was a bit dull in that there was very little pay back until the descents at the end and that was just cos they were fast. The 2412 course had more fun bits scattered throughout and a much more fun descent half way through. From previous experience the MM course would not hold up in the wet with the three mud sections whereas the 2412 course might have done – this was the wet weather course – but if some of the muddy bits had cut up I don't know how the mud would turn out…sticky or wet.

But the MM course allowed you to relax as a soloist and just pedal on bits of it whereas the 2412 course was mainly steep climbs, single track or descents you had to keep your wits about you. Personally I thought the 2412 course was tougher / better though for some reason I couldn't get into it like MM. Climbing wise I made MM 375 metres a lap to 270 at 2412 but the lap distances, I think, were 9 and 8 miles respectively.

People wise 2412 had a lot less of course – only rode for @ 9 hours before dropping out but there were times when there was no one in sight or sound which was fun. Not sure how the course would cope with more people as it might cut up more and with less overtaking opportunities people might get more frustrated. So the above comment about it being better would not I think be the case with more people.

Organisation wise 2412 have got its act together after IMO the basic errors of two years ago so for the two events they both do everything OK. Can't fault any of them.

Spectated at SITS and to me there was clearly two tiers – those who set off fast and furious and the majority that were there to ride without a race face on.

Overall I've yet to ride what I'd like to see in a 24 hour soloists course but 2412 is getting closer but I doubt that the type of course would suit the numbers MM has.

Oh, and one thing I would like to see is the solists area set up as SITS last year where you entered at one end, went to your tent and then exited at the far end pretty much in a straight line. This year there was one entrance / exit so if you were self supported you'd have to go to your tent then double back on yourself. Might not seem much but even a couple of minutes lost can mount up over a number of stops.

At 5ft 8 a 29er 39er or 304829er will never be 'weapon of choice'

People will all ride a different bike to whatever taste they like. Long may that be.

To be honest you could use pretty much any size bike for riding around a muddy field. In fact you don't even 2 wheels as the unicyclist at SITS proved.

PS – 29ers romped home in the Men's team event at Bonty, 1st, 2nd & (69ers) 3rd, I think.

You may be right, but I don't think there were any 29er teams on any other podiums, 2.5 teams out of 20 odd isn't really 'proof' for me 🙂