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What's the best bike race or event you have ever done? And what made it so great?
Mick
strathpuffer
I don't think I really 'get' Strathpuffer, perhaps I'm not Scottish enough. I was there in 2008 and it was all a bit lacking in atmosphere, I guess it aims to be 'grass roots' (successfully I might add) but I wasn't a fan.
Best I've ever done? No idea!
2010 ss European champs for a fantastic vibe, great course and brilliant people.
did a certain publication ever deliver the promised prizes?
Dragon downhill race weekend on a perfect August bank holiday weekend few years back at Myndd du. Perfect weekend of sun, fun and racing, plus it was my first dh race and I came eighth in masters!
The 10 under/@ events from No Fuss are great for atmosphere.
The Cristalp is memorable.
Polaris 10-15 years ago were great fun
man vs horse
Gravity Enduro
Cristalp.
Why, switzerland in the summer and organisation that only the Swiss could do.
Hope/No Fuss Endurance Downhill at Fort William was the best by a nose.
Innerleithen day/night enduro ran it a very close second.
Glentress 7 for me. Brilliant course, good length, hard climbs, challenging descents (by GT standards).
Relentless 24 a close second. (2010 when the weather was good)
Aye, I really enjoyed that GT7, great event. Though, it has had the ill effect of making me think I might try another Ten.
1999 summer Polaris. 90th overall, on me own.
tour of Flanders sportive
and
SSEC 2010
No Fuss Macavalanche. Better than the 'real' Mega for me for atmosphere, people, silliness and inspired initiative.
Is that still going? I remember that being a Tim Gould benefit race.... any event when my legs are good.man vs horse
SSEC 2010
YES!!
SSEC 2010 the finest Belguim beer and SS freaks,SSUK 2009 Dalby the finest Cropton Beer and SS freaks...... and hopefully SSUK2012 cheeky beer and SS freaks 😯
Duo Normand. The closest to riding a stage of the tour, forget about the etape 😉 , 55 km 2 up time trial through closed roads in France, gendarmes at every junction to wave you through, racing through the village which has closed for the race and erected a grandstand for the crowd and you have a following car. Post race beer, frites, wine etc - what's not to love.
ssec 2010 and 2011 were pretty damn good
BigBikeBash.
Bikes, bands, and Beer. Don't need anything else. 😀
cristalp (2008). will be back this summer i hope.
no fuss events have (nearly) always been awesome - usually do 2-3 per year.
My first one. I cant see anything beating the achievement of getting to and through the first one though.
I'll keep chipping away - but your first is always special and all that!
hit the north. all 3 times I've done it.
ST Classic Weekender #1
Been away for the last 2 but if its on this year I'm off!
3 Peaks Cyclocross.
Cycle Oregon.
Sign up on Feb 7. 2200 places. It sold out in around 24 hours last year.
The first SPAM/Charge Bikes set2rise in 2009. Best all-round enduro course I ever rode, nice vibe, nice organisers, great prizes, 12 hour race that started in the evening and included the magic 'witching hours' of 3-5am, (it is midday till midnight nowadays 😥 ) and it was bone dry and dusty that year too. I suppose its also the first race where I stopped being a complete noob and started passing people both up and down hill too. 😆
2008 Bontrager 24/12 was also a vintage year.
SSEC 2010, meeting good friends and riding to enjoy myself is the best thing ever.
10 @ Kirroughtree
Yes 3 Peaks Cyclocross
Cape Epic for the sheer brilliance of the organisation and the magnitude of the event.
Trans-Provence for the best week of competitive riding ever.
Dragon downhill race weekend on a perfect August bank holiday weekend few years back at Myndd du
The Dragons were awesome, definately some of the best riding/racing/people
2010 24/12
probably as it the first race i entered
Either Strathpuffer or the Paris - Roubaix sportive (not the new rubbish ASO one I should add).
2010 Paris-Roubaix sportive - organised by the Velo Club de Roubaix - fantastic event, run every two years by these guys and by far and away the best thing I've ever ridden
My first Merida Marathon in Builth Wells. Around 50k after spending all the previous day and night in the pub. I certainly know how to prepare properly.
2009 Transalp.
German organisation, incredible scenery, very challenging for Johnny Average like me, brilliant riding and cameraderie, athletic European riders (ahem!). I cried like a wee lassie at the end.
MTB ...Trans Rockies 2010 ---
Great country,great stages ,great fun and I can still smile when I hear " Highway to Hell" <the morning roll call> 🙂
Road ...Etape de Tour 2004 ---
Over 8000 riders(at stupid O clock in the morning),waiting for the gun,worrying about clipping in without falling over .Then ..."Une, Deux, Trois " and we were off ,like a huge flock of birds.No wobbles,no bumbs ,just this river of cyclists flowing out of town.Amazing 😀
My first Strathpuffer was the best event I've done - great atmosphere and great team spirit amongst all suffering the conditions! A total cluster**** of riding and laughing!
And strangely for such a chaotic experience, also the home of my most serene mtb ing memory - 3am no-one else around, just silence, and snowflakes falling peacefully to the ground where everything took on a moonlit blue hue. Perfection
Then I rode past the skeleton who said hi! I freaked out and fell off my bike - turned out to be someone walking the course at 3am!!! actually think I might have pee'd myself a bit
2010 Paris-Roubaix sportive - organised by the Velo Club de Roubaix - fantastic event, run every two years by these guys and by far and away the best thing I've ever ridden
We did the 2008 version, and agree with everything you said. It's also the most pain I've ever been in on a bike.
Maratona dles Dolomites
la Marmotte
the last Sleepless at Trentham
90s Spring Polaris's
Oh, and just good fun friends rides
Oh the last Sleepless at Trentham was ACE
The first Hit the North was fantastic, wish they would do another 12 event.
Welsh Ride Thing
My mate Mick's Dusk till Dawn all-nighter over the Stretton's is brill.
Malvern Classic '95 .. raced the xc but had a ball watching the floodlit dual slalom, lake jumping and an early incarnation of 4x ... gave up bikes due to an injury not long after and have only returned to them this year .. not a lot has changed has it!! 😯
Are there any events that have that kind of vine these days?
All Hit the North's.
Ligh****er Laike - a race around & in & out of the closed for the winter Ligh****er Valley theme park nr Ripon, N Yorks. Sadly no more.