Glentress 7

Not ridden it myself, but have marshalled a number of times. Wide variety of seriousness and more an emphasis on fun- I think the lap counts range from 2 up to 12-13! 

There is a whole gammut of riders - there's folk like me at the pointy end in lycra, but we don't tend to bother the bulk of riders who are there to have ago - there'll be a polite "on your right/left" at a safe spot, it's their perogative to get past you not yours to let them by and they'll tend to leave you alone til you're in a safe spot. If they don't, they're an arsehole but I've not seen much of that.

It's a good event to start at - nothing too hard, though one of the fireroad climbs is savage.

Never actually competed myself but like mtnboarder i have marshalled it quite a few times. Huge range of different abilities going round for 7 hrs. Everyone seems to enjoy it no matter how many times they get round. Get yourself booked in OP

Done it a couple of time. You'll enjoy it regardless of ability I reckon. Mostly it's a great atmosphere,  but I did once turn a corner to find 2 goons having a punch up in the middle of the trail....

Well, my arm has been twisted. Entry booked. 

Its a great event, did it as a pair for a number of years.  I've not ridden it for a few years but the courses are always very good, not mega challenging but technical enough to keep every lap interesting.  Pretty chill, faster riders are generally very polite and its a very friendly event overall.

All I need to do now is find somewhere to stay.

https://glentressforestlodges.co.uk/

or 

https://ridersretreatglentress.com/

Right on the doorstep

done it once as a trio. Tempted to sign up solo to kick my arse into gear. 

done it once as a trio. Tempted to sign up solo to kick my arse into gear. 

Go for it!

Great event - hard with the climbing. Would be a great thing to aim at. Big up but the down is a really engaging trail, a lot of fun. I did it one year solo after doing the Fred Whitton at the start of the month, and thought the GT7 was harder (I am quite a poor climber though). Or maybe got harder is more accurate - felt good for most of the day but the last 2 climbs were brutal hard.

Did see some light argy-bargy, which you seldom see at these sort of events ime. There were some good singletrack sections on the descent, and the faster teams will soon start to lap most of the field, so there can be some impatience.

Did it this year, first time! Solo is hard work but I did enjoy it a lot. 

There's the ultra fast XC guys at one end, and folk on enduro bikes at party pace on the other, with plenty in between. It's a serious race for some but the vibe is very "fun" throughout. I didn't see any aggro or dangerous passing. 

The course is technically pretty easy if they keep it the same, but it's still great fun and gives you that "Holy moly I am an XC racer, cool!" vibe.

I did find it quite intimidating with so many people either faster than me (most) or slower all over the descents until it strung out by the second half. I got into a bit of an annoying rhythm where I'd catch the same 8-10 people on the climbs, but then they'd absolutely torch me on the descents and I felt like a nuisance. So I kinda just waited for them to go first by the end haha. I'm a good example of "Tell me you're a roadie without telling me..". 

Very well organised and staffed by volunteers from my experience. Parking, sign-on etc was a doddle. 

Hope you like fire road climbing as there's absolutely loads of it.

I haven't done it with the new trails/route (don't know if it'll be the same next time) but it's always been a blast. I'd "retired" from this sort of thing after doing a 10UTB and just thinking it was an absolute waste of a bike ride but got a free trailbuilder's ticket for the first one, loved it, and did most of them since, solo pairs and trios, solo'd on the fatbike, and even got a podium once. It's just pretty awesome and somehow manages to cater really well for a ton of different riders.