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It’s a master class in creating enjoyment! The cynical can feel free to step aside.
I think you'd find the majority of the marathon riders (certainly me and every one of the 30 or so others I spoke to Saturday afternoon) would fall into cynical then. On the other hand i think you'd find the majority of riders in any of the four enduro races would all agree with you.
I think theres a bit of both profiteering and trying to allow as many as possible to enjoy it. I've got no problem with people making a profit for hard work, but don't try and skimp on the essentials like toilets, showers, marshalls and bar!
Some of the stalls were great - in particular Stan's who were doing free tubeless conversions, crank brothers who serviced my mates dh pedals (replacing the springs and bearings too) for nowt, and maxxis with a 50% offer if replacing another maxxis (although thankfully I didnt need it). The servicing costs were reasonable too, they easily could have creamed people for more cash. Generally I thought the atmosphere was good.
@dangeourbrain - from what I read on here and elsewhere you're right and the Marathon sounds like a con. I don't doubt there's profiteering but the overall vibe seems very positive. The event will continue to remain vastly over-subscribed and on that basis it does run the risk of driving the sort of bad behaviour that seems to have happened with the Marathon
Aye, it's a shame. Be interesting to see how they deal with the criticism, though that said i don't think there's an official feedback route.
Second time for me and enjoyed it as much as last year. As for showers - couldn't be bothered waiting in the queues and jumped in the river for a dip every day - good thing the air temp was warm!
Food lines were pretty long - for the life of me I cant understand why the chicken van didn't have two or three people serving at once......surely more throughput = more money for them.
Learnt lesson from last year and bought beer with me.....used river water to keep them semi cold.
The stages seemed more cut up, esp 1,2,7...still fun though.
maxxis with a 50% offer if replacing another maxxis
dam......didn't realise this - I thought it was only if you punctured your DD maxxis? I would have got a new DHF...oh well
The cut off time is a bit tight however if you start late. We had a 10:50 start and didn't muck around, just the normal rest at the start and end of each stage and we were being hushed along at the end. Got back at 5:30
Great weekend overall and for the price I think its pretty good value.
It’s a master class in creating enjoyment! The cynical can feel free to step aside.
I've done four ard rocks I think, yes it's fun but there isn't much more they could do to make more money save charging to use portaloos or starting people off each stage in pairs to cram more riders in
Loving the Ardrock Marshals support from here! It is a great event and looking forward to riding again next year maybe they could get people to start at different stages as stage 6 and 7 do not get riders through until about 11/12am set people off in waves first lot go to 1 and the next wave go to stages 3 or 4 then do the circuit maybe a few more miles on the road but quite doable.
In the same boat as Troutie probably will not marshall again as it is really hard work 😉
Third year in a row in the main Enduro for me - assuming I can get be quick enough when the entries go live I'll be back again next year - a great event and pretty much the only race I do every year.
Definite thanks go to the marshalls - those who I spoke to were great - sounds like they deserve better treatment than they got.
The queues for food and drink were pretty bad - the amount of people at the event was definitely more than last year, but it looked like the amount of food and drink outlets was the same - definitely need to improve this - luckily we had sorted food out to bring with us, but I managed to leave the beer I bought in advance at home.
Good race on Saturday till my rear blow a hole right in the centre as I dropped into S3
But I fitted a vittoria Airliner which did its job great ! it got me from the top to the bottom and still caning it ! BUT
As the hole was too big to even plug I had to fit a tube so rendered the Airliner useless and then your stuck with it,
I managed to limp up to S4 where I gave it to the Marshall and I collected it later on in the race village
4th Ardrock and 1st puncture so can't really complain and limped in 24 mins after loosing loads of time on S3
This thread has made me login and post for the first time in possibly years! This weekend was the first festival/event we’ve been to for a long time too, since having the kids.
The marathon was all I could get, and I felt rather daft when I rocked up on the Friday asking when I could practice. Not ashamed to admit that I thought there was going to be some sections common with the Enduro, or at least something a bit saucy to ride. Ended up riding the last big climb off the Swale Trail as practice and did some shouting at interminable stony double track climbs and false summits. Took the wife and kids (their little faces looking up at Daddy!) to persuade me to take the start line.
To be fair the first loop on the Frem Edge side was good I thought and some very good sections down to Low Row/Gunnerside. It was strictly xc though and I felt for the guys in pads, big ass helmets and flats. It was a pedal, for sure. Dunno if all they could get was a marathon entry too, or if that was their ‘style’ regardless of the ride...
The kids really enjoyed the festival, and the camping, and the demo bikes. The wife snuck in a climb and S1 late on Saturday and scared herself witless. Got the proper mtb festival feeling when the family camping field was getting portaloos delivered as the cess pit was pumped out... queues for the portaloos formed as they were being lifted off the wagon!
Value? Got camping, riding, entertainment for less than £100 for 3 days... it was a queue fest, except for coffee and burritos from the DBC cafe... spent a fair few quid on food and drink but that was our choice.
We’ll come back for sure, entry permitting. Not yet sure I can wrangle my Tallboy down some of those trails mind.
In the spirit of the Old Bloke thread, it was interesting to get exposed to this current side of the sport after a while being out of the event thing. Everyone seemed nice, a good vibe, and didn’t see any cock waving. Came away happy and thanked as many marshalls as I could (10 hours plus is a bit offside, regardless of remuneration). Many, many thanks to them again here!
I do agree that the marathon did feel second class, both in terms of route, feed stops and where it sat in the weekend. I’m torn though. It was an Enduro weekend, there’s other marathon stuff around. It allowed us to get along to the thing and get a sense for next year. It’s only gonna get bigger, I suspect, so who knows if we’ll even be in? Probably marathon again, then!
@postierich my mum and Dad own the cattery they were most entertained! They say they’re glad you had a good weekend!
On the festival side, it is the first time since I was legally able to drink that I’ve been to such an event and not had a drink from the bar.
On the one side it’s good not to encourage alcoholism, on the other side I retired to my van for a glass of red and a read of a book. Uk Foo Fighters sounded ok from my van and I had beer/wine to soak up my achy bits.
The toilets were pretty good I thought and not emptied at daft o’clock. Even if you didn’t race a fiver a night for camping and entertainment is pretty good I’d say.
Tee shirts again reasonably priced and good quality, charity raffle with great prizes and free stuff chucked to the keen/kids.
@craigf good see you and glad you all had a good time.
You could easily ride the Enduro stages, there's nothing that can't be rolled, hardest part is having the fitness and endurance for the 40km and 1500m of climbing.
FFJA I was pretty stressed when I opened the van door and found the cat the prospect of a 4hr round trip did not appeal @ 8pm so glad I found your Mum and Dad the cat seem to enjoy the trip home. What is it with the Aviary thats pure cat torture 🙂
@postierich I don’t know how the cats cope! Glad they could sort you out mate 👍🏻
So what difference does it make how you rate yourself when you buy entry? I would always put "just happy to make it round" but I've had two really early starts and 11am this weekend (sport everytime.)
Dunno, I put mid-pack rider down for me and the mates that I entered for the Enduro and we were off at 8am.
Cheers Si! 👍 Likewise, was hoping to bump into you and your 'crew' 🙂 Best hit up Cottingley Woods Steep Side a bit in the next 12 months 😆
This was my first year at the Ard Rock, was given a Marathon entry by someone who couldn't make it so I really have no room to complain.
However, the first thing that annoyed me was that the camping pitches weren't on a first come first served basis, when I was directed onto the field I was told to go in a line which I wasn't really happy with, I asked to go on the perimeter but was told I couldn't even though there was [plenty of room which was filled shortly after I set up my tent. I ended up having to endure two nights next to the noisiest bunch of tw4ts I've ever had the displeasure of sharing a campsite with. That said, that could have happened anywhere on the site and the lesson I've learned is if you want to camp with your mates, you must arrive together.
Secondly, the distance of the Marathon was much shorter than advertised, this meant me stopping for food at about 28 miles, thinking I had another 10 miles to do when in fact it was only another 3, I reckon I could have knocked 30 minutes off my time had I known how much shorter it was going to be. I did enjoy the course though.
Food and drink wasn't an issue as I'm a seasoned camper and went fully loaded with my own stuff.
The marshalls did a great job and maybe their payments should increase in line with ticket prices.
A good event which I enjoyed and will be returning to.
Guy walked to front of bar queue when I was there and tried to get served by paying extra, bar staff rightly refused to serve him. His reasoning was he was only getting a pint.
a great event, first time as got injured the day before last year.
a little wipe out on stage 1, let off the concentration after the quarry bit, silly, crashed hard on my hip so had a dead leg for the rest of the day, was hot and busy (sunday)
mate picked a fight with the wrong tree stump stage2 so stopped with him, the marshalls, mountain rescue, medic and doctor all excellent, friendly and just got on with it, they know exactly why we ride..
i then tried to make up time to finish, pedaled upto stage3 and 4, legs cramped upto 5 and then upto 7,
stages 4,5,6 favourite by a country mile.
at the end I disappointed my faster mate and arm bandaged mate at the final jump on s7, i slammed on and rolled it, 'garbage' was the comment..
just happy to get around. 59 mins on s2 didnt help the placing ;0) but my mate is ok and damaged ribs, arm ok.
a great atmosphere, 3 beers for under £12 at local pubs, took a few tinnies into arena as wasnt planning to queue..
think everyone had the same idea saturday afternoon, quick pedal on an ebike as a warm up for sunday, non left.
till next year
£60 + £5 a night camping, is a great deal in my eyes, do people complain at the price of glastonbury .. yes
I couldn't ride this year as bust a couple of ribs a few weeks back. Took photos on both the Saturday (Stages 1 and 2) and a few on Stage 1 (woods) on Sunday.
https://www.rootsandrain.com/photos/unsponsored-media/
I had the impression that there were way less riders on Saturday. More space between. Sunday were setting off 25 every five minutes.
Atmosphere was great. Little girl loved it. I will be camping next year with some riding and photos mixed in.
First year for me. I heard from a local it was a *lot* bigger this year and suspect the good weather meant more non-competitors coming along. Definitely needed a second bar but we still got fed pretty quickly - the food from the Yorkshire food van was great but they were being ignored as they didn’t have a big sign. People are thick. DBC always seemed short queues as well and great value.
We walked up to Reeth both days and had some beers at the pubs there - not far away and no queues at all. Did mean we didn’t spend the evenings on site though.
Camping at £5 a night is cheap but a tap in each field really is a minimum requeirement. Likewise showers for each field for a mtb event. We bodged something with a £15 submersible pump and tarps round the van doors but wouldn’t have been any fun if it had been cold.
Can’t see any logic at all in the start times given out. “Fitter than average” got me 11am but “just hoping to get round” people got 8am on Sunday. We’re they actually trying to give less fit people more time rather than letting faster people off early? (But putting pros/contenders out early on the Saturday race?)
General comment on state of UK mtb today - does no one actually ride their bike uphill any more? Not bragging but that course was pretty much 100% rideable - except for a few very short super steep pitches (I mean 10 or 20m at most). Yes, a fair few 100m+ sections that were steep but the vast majority of riders on both Saturday and Sunday seemed to walk pretty much everything with any gradient at all.
"General comment on state of UK mtb today – does no one actually ride their bike uphill any more?"
There are plenty of places where it's less exerting and not much slower to walk which makes sense for people in survival mode, and of course there were the unrideable (for the vast majority) sections like out of S4, but I was also surprised at the amount of pushing up the tarmac sections like up to S3 and S4 and also many of the harder, smoother, flatter sections of the access tracks.
Hats off to anyone that pedalled all the way up the climb from S1 back up Fremington Edge to S2.
There are plenty of places where it’s less exerting and not much slower to walk which makes sense for people in survival mode, and of course there were the unrideable (for the vast majority) sections like out of S4,
Sure, get that, and would expect people pushing on those sections - I'm sure that riding everything was why i was quite so broken at the end. The majority seemed to be pushing from the very start of the S1-S2 climb and were even pushing on the traverse along the ridge between S3 and S4. Ultimately riding is more efficient than walking so walking all of that is going to result in being more tired (and does my back in). I had a decent rest before starting the descents (standing around in the queues as much as anything).
Hats off to anyone that pedalled all the way up the climb from S1 back up Fremington Edge to S2.
That was the toughest. Rode up on our Saturday loop and got within a few metres of the top before spinning out. On the Sunday the guy holding the gate open half way up gave me a cheer and slipped his grip on the gate and took me out....
General comment on state of UK mtb today – does no one actually ride their bike uphill any more?
I think the heat was a factor in it as well. I battled with it
yeah alot of people cant ride up hills, but big suspension bikes dont climb as well as the brands would have us believe. i did it all on 130mm trail bike, it coped surprisingly well.
toilets nearer to the stage and more beer tents, would make it better.
i sometimes wonder if people have watched the youtube clips before entering I saw a few people walk down the majority of stage 2 and the tyres looked inflated :0)
was chatting to a marshall who knew chips/rafferty's and he was saying they plan to keep boltby bash small scale which is good news, is ard rock getting too big ?
My first year and I absolutely bloody loved it, did practice on Friday and Enduro on Sat.
I wasn't worried about my fitness, I can bang out the distance and that climbing and more without huge difficulty, but I was worried about the terrain, I have steep and rooty trails by me but nothing with such big rocks as Fremington Edge. However, I loved it and beyond one cock up on a S1 bend in practice I got through everything while having huge doses of fun.
For the most part I rode the climbs, but we I did bail on that rough one between S1-2 on the Sat (got most of the way up in practice) because it felt more efficient. There were a lot of people pushing at all stages though, which is fair enough, I prefer to ride personally. The exception being that pig of a bit after S4, that was definitely just a push up until it opened out and you could get pedalling again.
Got overtaken a bit, but gradually less as the day went on and we seemed to find more people out of their depth on the later stages as the day wore on. With all but one exception overtaking was good, both to pass and to be passed. I did see a chap go the wrong direction on S7 and force another rider up the bank, unfortunately this folded the passing riders mech up into the wheel and it trashed that and the wheel. He rolled down (he was on a black Nukeproof mega) and was buzzing by the end so we had a good laugh considering the drive train was trashed.
Like others said, the start time of 11:30 for my group felt frustrating, but not the end of the world, I'd just rather have set off earlier.
Organisation was good, camping a bit random but we got a decent marshal and he allowed us extra space to allow later arriving cars to slot in. There was a cock up with my timing chip, I was number 1108 and when I went to collect it they had coded that number to another rider. In the end I got a new number (42) and the timings all worked fine and have been credited to the right name so all good.
I don't drink, so bar queue didn't really cause me any issue, however it seems mad to have one bar, it meant a lot of time waiting for friends.
Grabbed a lap of the demo loop on the new Kona Process 153 (a 29er though) and that was a nice way to finish off Friday's practice day.
Never queued for the shower once!
I thought it was an excellent trip/event/experience and will be back to improve my times on the Enduro next year for sure. In the end I was 309th in my age cat (out of 406) and 709th out of 967 overall could be a lot lot worse. I'm curious to do a Welsh Gravity Enduro in September at my local (Eastridge) to see how I get on, so I've entered.
Food queues on Friday were ok, Saturday was insane, I was trying to convince friends to go grab a curry in Richmond but a) I guess that defeats the purpose of attending in one way and b) they cited cost which is ironic given how much we spent on food Sat night. Still, we cooked breakfast and probably next year I'd be a bit more organised and take good food supplies and kit, generally we were winging that bit this year as we were too obsessed with getting the bikes and that kit right.
To me it thoroughly deserves its rep, the atmosphere in the arena and more importantly out on the stages was epic, people were (mostly) very friendly waiting and chatting about all sorts and then buzzing on the bottom of stages. I spoke to a few really lovely folks and we kept seeing them all day and it was just the sort of friendly positive vibe you generally get with MTB. (Miserable tossers at Roadie events I'm pointing at you)
Well worth the money, and to be truthful, if it was more I'd probably still pay it, just to go again. Will be back next year (if we get tickets).
Re walking uphills, big tough tacky tyres don’t lend themselves to climbing. Full face lid and pads didn’t help and a heavy backpack with spine protection.
I walked some of the transition up to stage 2 and up to stage 5?
Really wish I hadn’t lost so much fitness this year as I put the winter miles in, that’s injuries I guess.
Did the sport on Sunday, there was some pushing and some riding! Stayed in reeth with Mrs. Kennerley and the little one so had an extra night last night. Thought it would be rude not to go for an evening blast up the edge, actually rode way more of it than the previous day! I'm so jealous of anyone who has local riding like that, mountain biking to me is always a day out in the car, nipping out for an evening ride it's a real treat.
I've recently gone from a 28t with 11-46 cassette to 32t oval with11-42 cassette. I'm finding this set up way better for climbing, I'm getting up stuff much more efficiently than ever before, don't know if it's purely down to the oval or more to do with keeping up more momentum.
I more or less cleaned garburn pass climb the other week and I've never managed that before!!
Anyway, hope to get in the sport again next year, Mrs. K really enjoyed the festival atmosphere while I was riding and there was loads of kids and toys knocking about in the big tent for baby k which was cool.
I saw an instagram post from ardrock the other day saying "best behaviour, channel 4 are here." anyone know what that's about!?
Loved the new Ts! glad I could get a slightly different one.
Sport entry for me, got out early, all good - until a rock decided to penetrate my rear brake hose (under frame routing....theres a downside!)
Realised I had brake issues on S3; playing with it all the way up climb to S4 - flipped the bike over to check and voila - dammit.....
my 3rd time; no issues previously, and at least it was the bike and not me that broke!
always next year!
I had a quick ride up Fremington Edge today, (I say ‘ride’ 🤔😉) and was really quite impressed that other than tyre marks there was no sign of Ard Rock. All the litter id seen was gone! Nice!
Im currently as skint as a church mouse and was suprised to see I was the only one in the large queue who tipped the Stans lads for retaping my wheel and tyre fitting. Maybe I just queued up with some tight arses! 😂
To quote my dad who had to pass a lot of riders along the riverside from langthwaite in a land rover “They were all polite but the fat ones looked tired!”
Anyone know who the photographers were on the jump at the on stage 7?
Feel like I absolutely launched it, and I think there were 2 photographers there so would love to see the shot. It's not on R&R, but there may be a bit of a backlog in uploads so guess I need to be more patient.
They were all polite but the fat ones looked tired!
Not just the fat ones believe me. 🙂
tbh ill be going again regardless of cost, so long as my mates are. Thats the best thing about ard rock is it not so much a race but a race between mates. half of the competitors are like me and have no clue about racing, half make me look fit (which is no easy task) but all of them are great.
apart from the guys that i possibly upsetted by shouting at their mate "hey look at that its like a penis but only smaller" maybe i should save stuff like that for friends...... sorry about that
tbh ill be going again regardless of cost, so long as my mates are. Thats the best thing about ard rock is it not so much a race but a race between mates. half of the competitors are like me and have no clue about racing, half make me look fit (which is no easy task) but all of them are great.
This. Had great fun racing against and with my mates, we're not going to be troubling the podiums so it's a race within a race. Also great chatting to other riders out on course or around the site, a very chilled vibe with everyone having a good time. This photo sums up my racing.....
https://www.rootsandrain.com/photos/3159684
Get off the brakes Mark90, that was flat out (may have been braking too).
I'm the one in blue, between a couple of my mates, pretty much as it was most of the day.
Not saying I'm not a brake dragging mincer though 🙂
Does anyone know where i can find the photos for the marathon? I only ask as they aren't on roots & rain and i don't remember seeing any photographers on the course.
After a few days of quiet contemplation after the event now I have to say id love to do it again, because this year my shoulder and worry of making things worse really put a downer on it for me, not feeling it or getting ones MOJO till stage 3 ment that looking at the times I could have easily been top 200 on the day in the sport. But I will wait to see what price hike the 2019 will endure as I felt this year corners were cut a little (monetary not strava lines ). May be tempted to do the ard moors for a change
Does anyone know where i can find the photos for the marathon? I only ask as they aren’t on roots & rain and i don’t remember seeing any photographers on the course.
I don't think they bothered having photos for the Marathon. It really was the 2nd class citizen event 🙁
Impressed at the auto numbering on Roots and Rain but some of the photographers are a bit steep - most want £5 but someone was asking £9!
Some of the photographers have done a cracking job. Shame I appear to have ridden the entire event with a teeth bared permo-grimace! 😂
I think this photo sums up my weekend; Speed > Conering ability:
https://www.rootsandrain.com/photos/3233782
Definitely going to train for next year, about half way down stage two I leant where my triceps were and by the end of stage three I was having to straighten my fingers off the brakes! (I know: less braking!)
I don’t think they bothered having photos for the Marathon
The photographers are there for themselves. If you're hoping to make a couple of quid, where do you shoot? On the Enduro course taking 1000+ riders per day on exciting terrain or on the Marathon, with what?