[Closed] Malvern Classic - June 14-17

Can you not "sneak" in on the Ridge Way or walk up from the Gullet?

I was thinking of going along to have a looksie, but not at £10 a head.  A real pity because the original classic was a means of Mycycles  showing their wears as it were.

Yep, I'm with Stooge cycles, so come and say hi, fondle some titanium and new steel 29+ bikes, have a cheeky shot of something brutally boozy and snaffle some free haribo 🙂

What, you have to pay to get in ?

That's crap.

All £10 a head, no concessions.

Website says free for 12 and under.

I was going to go for a mooch but not at £10 just to get in 🙁

I was under the impression kids got in free.

What's even cheekier is that you still have to pay £10 for entry into the grounds when you've already paid to enter a race..........

Yes, I shall be there. I think £30 for the full weekend including camping is pretty good value and there is no charge for  my grandchildren (under 13).

If I was was just riding in on my own for a day I'd probably sneak in along the Ridgeway or from Bronsil though 😉

Ah, I didn't see anything on concessions on the ticketing site. Bit of a shonkysite (r)

Tazz I will come and find you, shall bring beer.

I'll probably walk over from gullet, but will still need a ticket I guess.

I was keen to go, but decided against it because it clashes with anther xc race and the cost difference for the race (£25 +£10 entry for Malverns v £15 for welsh series) didn't make sense as I wouldn't have had time to spend the whole day there. I hope its a big success and is on next year though as would love to go for the whole w/e. The entry seems reasonable to me.

Having a change of heart now, may go along, does anyone know how the Demo works?  I take it you just buy a ticket then ride bikes....

Popping along on Saturday, not riding tho’. Taking the camera to try and capture some dramatics!

See there still looking for marshals...gate entry reimbursed plus £50 payment.

I am going bit last minute want to try a few bikes out and it looks a nice day out.

Will the "Bomb-hole" still be there ?

If so, will it still be hilarious ?

Or will modern mountain bikes cope with it now they have droppers and proper geometry ?

Will the “Bomb-hole” still be there ?

Yes it is still there, but when i raced last March(2017) it had filled in a lot over the years. If they haven't been digging it wouldn't really be a feature at all, however i seem to think i saw a photo on facebook and they have been digging.

Popping along on Saturday, not riding tho’. Taking the camera to try and capture some dramatics!

I did this a few years back at Eastnor and the barrage of abuse I got from riders was a real shock!

Bomb-hole?

Yes, they’ve had the spades out and it’s looking awesome! They posted some pictures & videos on f’book earlier in the week.

Will a proper modern bike snap? I’m going to say no.

Will someone turn up on a supermarket bike. I’m going to say probably!

I did this a few years back at Eastnor and the barrage of abuse I got from riders was a real shock!

where were you stood?

I really wanted to go to this, it's my Birthday tomorrow too!

Sadly, Mrs has to work this weekend or I'd be there. No interest in racing, but was hoping to be a bit like MTBMeetup with a bit more going on at night.

Abuse for photographing? ?

I'm quite excited at the thought of going now, it'll be good to have a mooch about.

It's pretty good here. Lots of riders out on the courses already. Huge numbers of manuf here. Much better representation from them than mayhem ever was. Tazzy I can't find stooge though!

Stoner, I'm out of action until tomorrow if the chemical bum plug stops all the liquid. Andy should he there though as I'm meant to be joining him tomorrow!

Stoner- What’s the general layout like, I take it it’s off to one side of the lake? 🤗

I'm going on Sunday and can't wait! I think it'll be great, it certainly looks like Si has done a really good job up front.  I just hope the weather holds for the weekend.

Just got back, had a cracking day, all nice and chilled, hopefully it will grow year on year

I went down too really good day out demo’d a few bikes, good atmosphere, if on next year some bits they could build on, dedicated demo route, more food and drink outlets bit better signage other than that great event, looked well supported.

Had a great day there today.  Not sure I understood the racing schedule. There was shenanigans with the DH and quad corse.  Lots of complete nuggets out of depth on the bombhole.  Hopefully it’s all on again next year as we will likely spend the weekend there and camp.  Thanks to Si and team for obvious hard work!

Agree with forge, definitely more food outlets, and a dedicated demo track.

Think the organisers are alarmed at the turnout.

I'm here today and all the food stalls (all 3 of thrm...) had run out of almost everything by 1pm so that needs improving.  Also there were no Marshall's for the car park when I arrived at 9am so everyone was just parking wherever they felt like.

Good day out though, currently at the DH watching the carnage at the bombhole 😎 A few tweaks and it'll be great.

Recently returned from the long weekend there.

It was a great event, plenty to see and do and a good atmosphere.

Definitely a steep learning curve though for the organisers. Not enough marshals (who were doing a great job with what little information they seemed to have), poor communications between organisers and marshals/staff, terrible organisation of crossing points across the main competition track - especially for the XC race which split the arena in half - although to be fair they must have realised this was a major problem and improved on it through Saturday. Only one entry point to arena causing long queues on the busy main access road to get wrist band etc. (queues are expected but multiple lanes/check-ins may have helped) though again this was partly picked up on and a 2nd entry point for those already having bands was opened on the other side of the race track,  registering / getting timing chips was very poorly organised, and timing of some of the minor events was very hit & miss with marshals not knowing what was going on half the time!. Like I say, a steep learning curve for next year.

Don't let the above take away from the fact it was an excellent event though. The above moans are things that I'm sure they will have taken on-board and other than some inconveniences and frustrations didn't detract from a great laid back fun weekend! We had a great time 🙂

Popped over briefly last night where I was gutted to see the H&S bods had put paid to the promised Lake Jump! But the improvised Lake Ride was still a bit of fun...

Popped back today for the day with my GF. On the whole enjoyed ourselves, it’s good to see some decent trade presence for once, Jez Avery was doing a good job of keeping the kids entertained, the queue for the airbag (wish I’d taken a bike now!) never seemed to deplete, and it was good to catch up with a few people I hadn’t seen in a while.

But seriously... The catering!!! Not only did the girl serving me try to overcharge me quite considerably (I heard her try it quite a few times actually, seemingly so it worked sometimes too, I was tight enough to work out what I owed before ordering!), but a burger van, a pork roll van and a donut van! I’m guessing the vegetarian option was a portion of chips?!?! Staggeringly woeful... And I like a burger and chips (good ones mind, which these weren’t, in fact I’d hasten to say the worst ever eaten!). I was at a motorbike event recently (and motorcyclists really are 90% middle aged men with a belly, where actually a good proportion of cyclists are actually fit and healthy people) and they had all sorts of healthy and alternative choices for food. OK, the queue for the burger van was half a mile long, but if you wanted Jamaican, or Thai, or noodles, or a salad, you could get served straightaway, and there was lots of other offerings (including proper vegetarian options and even vegan) too... If I’d paid to camp for 3 days and the only food offerings were whatever I’d brought with me, or the 3 offerings here... I’d have gone home!

Overall great to see people having fun on Bikes again in Eastnor, even if it did seem rather less busy than I was expecting, but some lessons to be learnt if it’s going to happen again!

I was there today. I thought the event was pretty good and the turnout was bigger than I expected. As above there is room for improvement but it can only get better.

If I’d known they needed marshals and were paying 50 quid a day I would have blown off work on Saturday and done that instead.

The demos looked good but the actual riding was a bit lacking with nothing to challenge an average rider.

Did the Funnduro there yesterday, was a bit tame but still good fun especially if your riding with your mates. Can honestly say I had a great day out, the marshalls were great considering they were way outnumbered, especially the lady at the end of Run 3, I bet she's hoarse horse today and shouts out 'yellow post, yellow post ' in her sleep. All I can say is I hope it becomes an annual event again.

>russyh

Lots of complete nuggets out of depth on the bombhole.

That’s a bit harsh, what was your race number by the way? 😉😉

It wasn't the racers out of their depth!  It was people on demo bikes and non racers, who after being told were still pilling down the downhill course.  I must have seen at least 10 people have some fairly impressive crashes!  Luckily no one got seriously hurt!  I would guess most of them hit it blind...  I didn't race this year as it was a last minute decision to attend.  Does not having a race number not allow me to have an opinion? 😉  i'm not trying to be a keyboard warrior, just think better marshalling and common sense should've prevailed.  More luck than anything else that someone didn't seriously hurt.   All this was happening whilst they were desperately trying to slow the course down due to an unfortunately placed gate post!

Still my kids thought it was entertaining.

*Edit - Just to reiterate, it wasn't the racers who were out of their depth.  All of which were more than capable of getting down that course impressively!  The Pros were unbelievable.  "Nuggets" as i affectionately called them were people in my opinion abusing the system.  But hey its an opinion!  Like arseholes we all have them,

Sorry, nothing intended - thought you meant the racers. 😎

Edit - I didn’t realise that anybody but racers were allowed to ride it.

BTW, it still caused me “squeaky bum time” the first time I approached it 😊

Ha no not at all!  It was fantastic to watch!  Especially the pro's.  Wynn Masters looked so graceful on a bike as did the 50 to 01 boys.

Must admit I rolled the bomb-hole shenanigans whilst I was demo-ing bikes.

Lots of complete nuggets out of depth on the bombhole

Proper Malverns then 🙂

Wasn't sure quite what to expect of this, having attended most of them back in the day, and some of the mountain mayhems it coud have been much of a muchness.

however, for me and certainly for those I spoke to, the combination of history of the event, the old MTB hero's, family friendly vibe made for a great weekend, and made the drive back from my home town of Malvern to my present home of Glasgow quite difficult.

I think Si, the organiser, hoped for, but didn't expect the turnout. it was a bit of a gamble, relying on the words of a facebook group and forums to gauge whether it's do-able.

I knew from the moment I walked in the arena it was going to be different. The first thing being successfully harrassed by Kelli Salone into buying a T shirt and then realising that I actually recognised and remembered the names of most of the guys pushing their old 1990's race bikes around.

but yes, better catering. better commissaire, or more than one. better communication of what's happeneing when, events were slotted long times, like 8am-5pm, so you never really knew who was racing, who was coming down the hill etc. and more shops selling stuff.

PA at the bombhole would be nice. 🙂

However. it was great to see so many folk enjoying themselves. Great to see the manufacturers/distributors showing their products, new and old.

Actually managed to ride a bit of the course too, and it was clear that quite a lot of effort and  thought had gone into it. some really nice sections there.

🙂

Overall it was great, but yes - the catering really was the worst I’ve ever experienced at any sort of event! The overpriced burger was truly disgusting 🙁

Absolute blast of a weekend camping and racing!! Just hope it is back for good... Xc race course was almost the same as what I remember 20plus years ago riding as a junior 🙂 great turn out of trade stands and activities! Live band and DJ was quality Friday and Saturday night! Yes a few blips but easy fixes.. retro bikes brought back so many memories and racing with Dave hemmings and nick Craig! Jez and Hans legends! Why can’t all Mountain bike races be like this!!