A challenge for all those who think trailquesting is lame.

Flip – I was just going to put its handy if you understand how you ride. Look at your current rides get a feel for what the map looks like for whats on the ground. I dont do funny calculations I kind of just go off gut feel.

Someone explained the main rules for a successful Polaris once.

1) don’t be late
2) don’t be late
3) don’t be late
4) if you must be late, don’t be more than 10 minutes late.

Nah the best polaris advice is eat, eat, eat, eat.

Yeah, I suppose I wouldn’t normally go in to that much detail while riding.
I use the 2 minute per km rule for the road sections, but the off road bits are more guesswork.
I keep the 7 and 10 minute buffers in mind though. Once you’ve gone over 10 minutes late, you’re in to 5 penalty points per minute. You need to get at least one high score CP to make that worth while, it’s rarely worth it.

Use a speedo or GPS in km.
Say you come out on to a road at a junction, so you know exactly where you are.
The bridleway you want is almost 2 squares on the map away.
You’ve done 26.5km so far.
You should reach the bridleway at about 28.3km.
No need to search for it all the way then, get your head down and sprint up to 28km, then start scanning the hedgeline for the sign.

If the CP is on a bridge over a stream and you’re still going down hill, you haven’t got to it yet.
If you’re going up hill, you’ve gone past it.

m not going to start a third trailquesting thread in two weeks.
I’ll add a few tips here as I think of them.

First one;
Always be aware of the time and distance remaining.
OS maps are divided in to 1km squares.
If you can maintain 30km/h on a flat road, you can cross one square in 2 minutes.
20km/h = 3 minutes
15km/h = 4 minutes
10km/h = 6 minutes

Doing mental arithmetic while riding off road is BORING AS HELL Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

And doing multiple laps of MM or BBF isn’t ?

What’s BBF? If you are talking about 24 hour events they yes they appear boring, although I’ve never done one I heard that what they lack in excitement they make up for in atmosphere. Although I’m a sceptic.

Downhill racing and fell running are the sports that have appealed more to me. Both require fitness, technical ability, a degree of recce, but in the end you are pitted against your rivals over the same course (either head to head or TT) and best man wins.

OK, I’ve gravitated towards the more extreme end of both running and mtb but I’d sooner do a LDWA event than go on a trail-quest.

I bet you are getting fed up of people telling you how crap they think it is now!

Dark and White’s route browser thing is a bit of map geekery that shows peoples routes for some of the trailquests in the Peak. 2011 Hope event is probably a good start point as I’m guessing more people will have ridden here than anywhere else in the Peak. Its works off java, browswer shows the routes, gadget shows the map better but doesnt show the routes for everyone. The maps are filed by event in gadget – round 4 is Hope.

To get geeky with the browser select the class and then a competitor. The route as the crow flies will show up. Click on the red arrow between the two checkpoints and it’ll give you nerd stats down the right hand side of the page. Distances are crow flies but shows speed, choice of next checkpoint etc. Cant really make that bit more exciting but gives you an idea of how people put things together.

Graham’s invitation to a dropping kind of is and isnt the best way to learn. Perhaps a less antagonistic apporach or running some form of demo event – think the STW weekender polaris bit might just fit the bill.

OK, I’ve gravitated towards the more extreme end of both running and mtb but I’d sooner do a LDWA event than go on a trail-quest.

Ooooof that’s harsh. Long Distance Walkers Association for those wondering what an LDWA is.

Unfortunately trying to describe trialquests makes them sound worse than they are.

BBF = Bristol Bike Fest (Where I finished 21st/87 overall on a single speed since you ask and, more importantly, beat KingTut)

I did an evening lanequest (MORE LIKE LAMEQUEST AMIRITE!!1!) tonight on the road bike.

It was good. Not done anything like it in ages. Mapboards are still stupid though, and only good for leaning on in a pseudo TT aero position. SPD-SLs are awful for clipping into and out of – you never notice this on a normal ride 😉 I had to stop and confirm a grid reference at one junction on my edge 500 – the map detail didn’t quite add up. took me about 30 seconds…

I got all controls (30 in 2 hours) 50.4km, and was 30 SECONDS LATE so 2 points knocked off 👿

Here’s a thought for you. Instead of threatening to rag people’s legs off, why not organise an informal TQ master class on a free weekend. Set up a few mock checkpoints, go for a nice group ride with tea and cake stops and pass on some of your expertise?

I’d be far more likely to do something like that and maybe do a TQ for real afterwards. Or a Cake Quest…

BBF = Bristol Bike Fest (Where I finished 21st/87 overall on a single speed since you ask and, more importantly, beat KingTut)

But in fairness, I had done sod all training in fact the last long ride I had done before the BBF was The HONC (remember the one where you got lost) and to my credit I rode up all the climbs on every lap, I recall a certain vegan rider pushing his bike up one of the climbs on his first lap, I also didn’t realise we were racing each other. 😉

That said, you did get a fine result.

BWD +1

There’s also a bit too much willy-waving going on here for my liking.

As an example of estimating time and distance,here’s my map from today.

The orange highlighter was my planned route. I improvised a lot and ended up doing quite a bit more round the North of the map.
Heading South from CP 25, I got to the junction NE of Weston Under Wetherley at 2:50.
I could have headed straight back to finish comfortably within the 3 hours.
However, CP 2 was worth 15 points and CP 7 was worth 10.
Adding up the road distance for that loop gives about 5km, plus about 2km of off road.
So that’s 10 minutes of road riding, plus about 8 minutes off road.
using my 7 or 10 minute safety margin, it was a worthwhile risk.
I got back at 3:09.
13 penalty points for an extra 25 points, or a net 12 point gain.

what a bizarre way to try and sell TQs which have an image of being no fun, head down slogs. 😯

We all know you’re reasonably fast for your age 😉 but so what? I’m really not sure what you’re trying to prove here…

I think the logical conclusion is that MTG is conducting a false flag operation – he really despises trailquests and all who do them. Hence bumping this **** of a thread with the worst mountain bike route ever ridden in the UK (above), in the name of trailquest.

‘m really not sure what you’re trying to prove here…

+1, I wasn’t sure from the start of this thread, the op’s claims of humour were pretty thin. I’m no tq hater, I’ve been doing the peak ones on and off for years, but this thread just stinks of elitist toss.

…the worst mountain bike route ever ridden in the UK…

Oh, I don’t know. Did you see this year’s Mountain Mayhem course ?

MTG – like your approach. If I was in the UK or anywhere near Warwick I would definitely have looked into coming; as I’m neither, apologies for not being able to make it!
How many (people) did you get in the end?

49 solos and pairs.
The results.