Mine was back in 2001, 56 km loop called the Karpoti classic. 2 punctures a borrowed front wheel(!) a broken chain and the lightning quick time of 5 hours 6 minutes! All done on a Jamis Dakota 631 with Z2s on the front.
Have done it twice since but never got the rush I got from crossing the line that first time.
[url] 
[/url]
Must have been a road sprint race in Buxton back in '85 or so.
I rode the 15 miles there, raced in cut down jeans and a t-shirt, placed in the top ten (6th I think) in whatever category they put me in and then rode back.
i'm sure it was back in 1992, racing junior scottish xc at fort william. My dad was filming it but decided to look to see where i was and pointed the video camera to the sky as i went past. Later retired 3/4 way round the lap due to broken mech.
Life didn't get much better although think year after i was top 10 scottish before 'retiring' until this year
Malvern Hills Classic back in about 1990 (was the one when the t shirt was designed by a child) and Jez Avery won the highest bunny hop, and lake jumping. Loved it, shame it's not going any more. Mayhem is good but not as big as i remember the classic being.
dunno if it was my very first, but definitely one of the first...
downhill race somewhere in Yorkshire circa '96, was doing well in practice but on my timed run snapped my chain just out of the start gate so had to roll the whole course. gutted - absolutely last!
First Red Bull Mountain Mayhem in 1998.
Suppose 10 Under the Ben qualifies. Didn't enjoy it much... Seemed like a nice enough ride spoiled by overcrowding and restrictions, and paying money for the privilege. Won't be doing it again I think. Fair enough if you're competitive but as one of the 9/10 people who aren't, I couldn't see any point to it in the end.
Considering doing the endurance DH next year though, just because it looks funnier.
Northwind - Member
Suppose 10 Under the Ben qualifies. Didn't enjoy it much... Seemed like a nice enough ride spoiled by overcrowding and restrictions
Overcrowding and restrictions?
I thought it was a good event, the start was mayhem unless you were near the front and overall didn't find too many issues
Cheddar challenge 2004.
Having only been riding off road for perhaps 10 months me and a mate entered a local event.
Arriving the afternoon before the race we put up the tent and proceeded to the bar.
CC had a reputation room from previous years to have an amazing pre race party, so we were a little miffed at the quantity of juice and water being drank by the other racers. This was great as i meant we could get to the bar easily, as we drank and drank, and i provided random entertainment with a mini maglight lit up inside my nose(they get very hot BTW) we then entered the limbo competition and despite being drunk, we progressed well as the bar got lower, but to be fair by that time we weren't all that far off the floor and few others wanted to limbo with us..
Crawling into the tent at late o clock, we peacefully snored as several tonnes of kitty litter filled me mouth and sucked me dry of any fluid.
At stoopid o'clock, the cock crowed, the llama did a llama sound and we crawled from the tent and i spent all morning attempting to eat.
12 o'clock was soon upon us and we proceeded to the starting line.
I set off well despite one trip into the river bed down the treacherous final descent and after the 2nd lap of 3 i was half a lap up on my mate. Then things went wrong, as i turned to climb the iirc 'hells hill' someone turned the lights out, it went kinda dark and i saw lots of tiny stars twinkling all around me, my legs went weak and i walked to the top of the climb.
As the trail levelled out i managed to ride a few hundred yards before needing a kip,S so laying the bike down i climbed up under a tree and fell asleep for i really don't know how long for.
When i woke all seemed very quiet on the lap, with the marshalls seeming happy to see me pass by, i heard them say on te radio that the last rider had just passed through..me!
I saw no one for ages till the final descent down witches wood, i managed to pass the one rider and crossed the line in second from last place.
Apparently i looked very unwell and food was forced into me for the rest of the day.
I learnt a valid lesson on prerace preparation that weekend and haven;y limbo since.
Heh! Nice one Sharki! 😆
My first ever race was at Beastway, about 2002 I think. Sprinted off from the start, was pleased I'd overtaken loads of others. Had no idea how to pace myself. Lasted about 4 laps, then it all went horribly wrong. Ended up slumped by the side, in the rain, with 2 concerned marshals looking after me, talking about the ambulance. Quite embarrassing really. One nice lady went to get me a coke, to get some sugar back into my system. Recovered enough to limp home.
Did the rest of the series though. 🙂 Enjoyed it tbh, but I'd never want to do it properly. Sod that for a laugh. Life's too short to waste it 'training' and watching your diet etc, to come 18th or whatever at some regional event. Either it's fun or it's not worth the suffering.
radoggair - Member
"Overcrowding and restrictions?"
Overcrowding speaks for itself surely? Hundreds of people riding the same lap at the same time. Fair enough if you have the pace to get away from it as you do but most folks don't (if they did, then nobody would get away from it!) So queuing up for descents, and even climbs, and walking down bits because nobody else around you seems interested in even trying to ride them, yet still won't get out of the way because "everyone else is pushing mate". All I remember of the first lap is fireroads and queues.
By restrictions, what I mean is that a race makes you do things you wouldn't. I'll happily go back and do laps of the witch's trails tomorrow but not the fire road bashing! A good route intentionally made worse. Inevitable of course but that doesn't make it fun, for me.
So in the end, I dropped out due to disinterest. Racing seemed to be about taking a ride and spoiling it in interesting ways. XC racing from a non-racer's perspective. (Not a criticism of No Fuss btw, maybe they need to think about traffic management if they're going to allow so many entrants but I'm sure I'd find the same criticisms at any popular event. I thought they put on a good show for all that)
Only actually entered one race and I didn't finish that as I was just too slow.
This years Kielder 100, might go for something shorter next (although it will be no surprise to me at all if my next race is next years Kielder 100 🙂 )
EDIT- wondering if that counts as a proper race, it said it was, I paid and everything but...
My first race was the 2008 Dusk til Dawn. If anyone else was there, you might recall that a month's rain fell in 2 hours through the night. It was pretty grim, but felt great to finish and illbe back again on Saturday.
Oh, unless SITS is a race, filled a vacated space on a team a couple of years ago, it was bit shitty out and about i seem to remember, could still do with a shorter event though I guess 🙂
First was the Ratz Broomstick Bash in 1999 I think, 2nd in Novice, was quite pleased with myself 🙂
Had a similar experience to Sharki at Cheddar a few years later with consuming large amounts of alcohol on the Friday, playing catch-up with some friends who had been there for hours, and not stuck in traffic on the M4/5 🙁
Jousting with tent poles after the bar shut was most amusing, and it's remarkable that no-one was seriously injured 😯
Didn't have a sleep mid-race though 😀
Cheers, Rich
Yair Forest 1989 IIRC, TIM Gould won.
1972 a ten mile TT on the Amersham Road if that counts?
If not,then not until 1978 The Circuit of Cublington road race.
Never done one and never will, my idea of he'll is riding with other people, let alone hundreds of other people in the same place.
I think my first race was either the Sedgemoor Challenge or the Cheddar Challenge in 94 (back when a tee shirt was included in the price of a Cheddar Challenge entry) 😕
student nationals about 15 years ago. Day after coming back from a big week in Glen Coe so could hardly walk to the start line. They wouldn't put me in the "proper" race as I had no previous, so they put me in the fun race. Won it by about 5 minutes over my mate. He was a few ahead of the next person too!
I came late to the party (nothing unusual there, then!).
The West Drayton Black Park xc race last year. I was crap. Loved it!
Cheddar challenge in 89, first year they ran it I think. Rode as junior on my Reflex ALX 99. Loved the course but there were so many riders that the first climb just ended up being a massive walk with the sports class riders.
The guys I had travelled down with were quite good runners so they buggered off really quickly and I suffered like a dog for 4 laps. The course back then required a ride right to the top with views over the Mendips into the quarry and back down. I had the worst cramp in the world by the 4th lap and eneded up walking a good portion of the climb.
The mud made it really hard going and I finished way down the field. Enjoyed it though because the course had such a huge descent back then. Still have the ugly black t shirt with the pink print somewhere I think.
West Drayton MBC race at Ash Ranges, 1 October 2000, I was 3rd juvenile, which surprised me! Didn't get on the podium again for a while!
NEMBA Kentmere round in about 1992 or 93.
Very muddy race, but a proper hard course in proper Lake District countryside.
NEMBA courses were mostly brilliant - proper mountain biking.
Sack race at primary school - damn I trained hard for it but still didn't win.
Kielder Oktoberfest last year - 3 loops of the lonmesome pine trail (the climbs and descent theat finished the K100 this year). 6th in open men.
I bought a carbon seat post not long after.
Mayhem..
Last race at the previous venue.
2002 ??
Last minute replacement from here with a very quick team.
Very hot and buried myself in the heat.
j
Brownbacks yesterday.
Fairly sure I did really really badly. Punture on the practice lap, Had to change the tube on the start line due to lack of time, no idea how many laps i did as i forgot to count or use the handy function on my speedo, and really suprised myself at how slow i was riding.
But was still riding at the end so i am happy. Had a really good time and will plan things a bit better for next year.
A sunday morning Gorrick about 5 years ago, took our lunch with us and stopped half-way around the 2nd lap to eat it.
It was a 3 lap 12 mile XC race...
A bit better now, as in top 50%.
Soggy Bottom series last round in march, 2004. Newnham Park. This course committed the cardinal sin of going the wrong way up the cottage descent and the wrong way through the last 2 or 3 bombholes. 😕
Me: 01 Hardrock pro (still have the frame and sti's on commuter bike) with undamped judy's, v brakes and continental vertical 2.3's on an unseasonably warm and dry afternoon. I knew very little about racing, entered open (as opposed to fun in the morning) so was in with sport, masters and elite, stuffed myself with pasta about an hour before and wore far far too many clothes (it was ok though as I stopped several times for snacks and to stow the excess layers in my enormous camelbak!) Fell off a couple of times through exhausted rubbish handling. Gave up at the end of the third (of four) laps.
I now manage to dress, tyre up, feed and hyrdate myself appropriately for most events I enter although mostly finishing still near the back (suprise night race podium at BBB notwithstanding).
Huge respect for anyone that sticks their head over the parapet and enters their first race, don't give up, it honestly gets better!
1st race was Kielder Avalanche Enduro last year - great fun but I need to get a lot fitter.
One always needs to get a lot fitter! Unless you're Julian Absalon!
Scottish XC at the Sidlaws in 1995.
Wild Boar 24 for me, in a team of 4. Broke two ribs on a recce lap the day before the race, so I only managed 3 laps. The car locked us out on the way home too.
Good times.
1985 hartlepool trading estate criterium 3/junior, i was a junior. i think it ended with a lone break winner and 7th/8th for me.
Cardrona 1991. had only had a mountainbike about a month and my GFs dad who was a pretty handy road and MTB racer entered me in it without telling me. I didn't even have a helmet so had to borrow one, I came second. after that I regularly raced XC until 1995 when I raced the entire first Scottish DH series as well as XC and gave up XC at the end of that year.
1984 if my memory serves me right, aged 12, Derby to Matlock charity ride starting and finishing from Roller World. Completed on my record sprint, 40 miles felt like and all dayer 😆
Hey samuri, did you do that road race on the Chapel en le Frith bypass when it was built/opened in 1987, happy days 🙂
1999ish a thetford xc race
the 1st lap was fine
the 2nd lap got a bit squiffy, by the last kilometer every bump was making my stomach turn
i eventually finished threw my bike down, dragged myself under the tapes and threw up last nights beer and pizza, infront of a family eating hotdogs
Mine was some Cornwall Mountain bike club XC race in Kilminorth Woods near Looe in '97 I think. Race was 3 laps, cant remember category. Snapped the chain at the start of my 3rd lap infront of a few spectators and chucked myself over the bars. Didnt have a chain tool so couldnt mend it!
Oh well I thought, picked up my chain and wheeled my bike off course to the timing caravan at the side to hand back my number. Came out all of 30 secs later and somebody had nicked my bike!!! (and chain that was lying next to it) I was only 16 so my nice '95 Orange P7 with purple bling was my absolute pride and joy 🙁
I only lived about 2 miles away so at least I didnt have a long walk home.
Whipstakes Farm Summer Series circa 1993 - didn't come last.
Because of that incident I didnt actually do another MTB race till the Gorrick Brass monkeys winter enduro last winter!!!
1990 ish as a junior in an XC/Cyclocross race on Ealing Comon or the general Ealing area somewhere.
The first 'Hit the North' a couple of years ago:
Saw a leaflet in my LBS and was immediately sold on the idea because the course was just round the corner from Ms Spanner's house, on trails we'd been riding for ages.
Went on a couple of the preview rides and everybody seemed very friendly. The enthusiasm and encouragement provided by the organisers was really inspiring, so I entered.
Blazing Saddles in Hebden lent me some lights and I got stuck in. Can honestly say I've never, ever enjoyed myself so much on a bike 🙂
I love the longer format, because someone's bound to drop out, meaning I might not be last! I love it when it rains and the course ends up like Paschendale for exactly the same reason. 😀
But most of all, I love the atmosphere, meeting loads of other like minded idiots and of course and tying to find the energy to drink beer and dance like an idiot afterwards.
If all races were like that I'd be out every weekend.
Mine was a local CX race run by a now-defunct organisation called Valhalla Wheelers and it was on some playing fields/parkland out near Heathrow. In January.
I was 16, I'd had my MTB about 4 months and just joined a local cycling club so one of the guys took me out there and I raced in tracksuit trousers and a thick fleece cos it was ****ing freezing. Most others were on proper CX bikes in lycra. I was second from last and when I finished I weighed about 2 tons what with the amount of cold wet mud that covered me!
Anyway something obviously appealed cos I went on to do all the Beastway races, most of the Whipstakes Farm ones right from the first event til they closed it down and a few XC races at Penshurst (before it was properly renowned as a DH venue).
'94 or '95 at Wharnecliffe. Entered the "fun" category on my fully rigid steel hardtail. Gave up after 1 lap. Was no fun at all.
