So anyone done it? Thinking of next year but we are a group of fit (ish) 50+ year olds and are curious – will it kill us! We normally ride every Sunday 35 miles in Woburn + the odd mid week ride. Never ridden 6 continuous days before. Thoughts please,

Silly question really – zero response indicates all participants obviously died!

Yes, my wife and I both did it last year and again this year. We’re now 63 and 56 respectively so 50+ is not a barrier.
There are long hard days with plenty of up, so you’ve got to be fit, but then you’ve got the down and lots of it. The more you can handle technical singletrack and significant exposure the more you will enjoy it. Both were great weeks with a mix of folk and if you’ve got the money and the inclination, I’d say do it – you only live once.

Thanks Dreamer. What sort of kit did you ride / reckon to get away with – riding a Blur LT2 with 150 fork or could I get away with shorter travel?

You could easily get away with a HT.

We both have Mojo HDs with 160mm travel at both ends, brilliant bikes for that type of terrain. Your Blur LT2 with 150mm fork should handle everything – it’s of course usually the pilot rather than the bike that is the weak link in techy situations (speaking from experience…..)

Hardtail? – not unless you’re extremely competent and fit at all times. ‘Easily’ is overstatement in my view. Having said that, one of the guys this year did do it on a HT but he was young, strong and very skilled. There are guys who could do it on a fully rigid but, if you want to enjoy it, use your Blur (and I wouldn’t have less travel).

It can be ridden on a hardtail (in fact Ash’s recommendation for TP1 was for hardtails due to robustness and reliability and many of the field did exactly that). However your body will take a pounding over the course of 6 days riding, and if you have the option of a full sus which you’re happy with, and can ride/carry uphill then go with that.

As for riding consecutive days, well, the only way to find out is to do a number of back to back rides and see how you get on, just build up to it steadily.

Thanks all. Confess I haven’t ridden a hard tail for 20 years. The Blur climbs well – it’s got a Talas Fork and not too heavy to carry. Had some feedback from the organisers regarding what time of year to go ranging from wetter in May to too hot in June. What time of year did you go?

I rode it on a rigid in 2010. Easy is not a word that springs to mind, the same applies to a HT, one other rode a HT that year, again, young, skilled and found it harder than a FS (His words) I think an adaption of Crocodile Dundee’s words cover it…”You can ride it on a rigid/HT, but why would you if you’ve got 150mm of travel, its much more fun!”

Fair play to Dreamer, inspirational to me at that age, I’m mid 40’s and it was definitely physically hard but entirely achievable with a bit of preparation.

I think the 6 consecutive days is less of the issue than just getting the right level of fitness in the first place to enjoy it. You can always get through it, but to enjoy it at the time being fit is better!

You would want to up the amount of riding you do over the once a week, but that could be done by turbo sessions if need be. I’d concentrate on upping your threshold fitness, so try riding the 35miles at the weekends increasingly fast. That way you are able to operate at lower levels for longer. You don’t need to just keep riding further and further, that just takes longer..

Sorry if that’s long..the summary is, its the ride of a lifetime, do it,it changed everything I wanted to do on a mountain bike :-)….and I bought a Full Suss as soon as I got home 😉

yes – if you have full sus use it as long as its a bike that goes up AND down. The perhaps other key thing is head angle. Nice to have something slightly slacker than old school xc and also go for the dual ply tyres. other than that, enjoy. I did the race at the grand ole age of 42, found it pretty tough, theres a lot of up-dulations. dont underestimate the climbing. I did it on an old school FS and found it out of its depth on a few sections (edit: due to head angle and skill of rider) but I still completed albeit with two broken ribs 😉 MTFU. haha.

It is do-able on a hardtail but you’ll be a lot more fatigued than on a full-suss. You’ll want a susser for saving you when you make mistakes when knackered!

Ditto the comments about good strong tyres. Make sure your wheels are up to it too and good brakes a must.

I did it in 2009 on a Blur XC with Pikes which was not really enough bike then won the event in 2010 on a Nicolai Helius AC (140mm susser).

Been back to the area on a Liteville 301 and that’s even better!

Do it though – a great event – and be prepared to pedal… 🙂

As Julian said up there^^^^^ in 2009 there were a few hardtails doing it, unlike the following year. I DID have the choice of a 140mm full suss or a 150mm forked hardtail which I took. And if I was presented with the same options knowing what I do now, I would still take the hardtail…remember there is no clock ticking on the tourist trip 😉

I did it in 2010 aged 51. It is a very tough and challenging race, you need a fs bike definitely, v good technical skills, there is a lot of exposure, a lot of climbing, you need to be vvvvvvv fit. If you love mountain biking in stunning scenery definitely go for it.

It is do-able on a hardtail but you’ll be a lot more fatigued than on a full-suss.

Not so sure about it, remember he’s talking about the tourist version.

Hardtail? – not unless you’re extremely competent and fit at all times

Well I was neither of them this year.
TP course his very long indeed, but if you’re not racing it (and that is what the op is planning on doing) you can just let you drop on the down and enjoy it. As for the level of fitness one thing is sure, you’ll be very very fit by the end of the week. Either way I would just ride what I am use to…

“up-dulations” I like it..

@Blurboy – fellow 50+ year old, by sounds of it less fit than your group. Riding every day in the Alps is tough ! Air is thin, ground is hard and rocky, descending for 1hr is just as hard as the climbs sometimes. My. I’ve toyed with idea of taking my 150m travel ht to the alps a few times but have always gone on the FS, for a solid week f riding you’ll appreciate the bump absorbstion. Easy answer to your question would be to do a guided week ideally back country with pedalling first.