‘Ard Rock, will I….

…enjoy it?   I’ve been invited to a Sport entry by er, a friend of the organisers.  Things is, I’m strictly wheels on the ground XC but it looks fun, albeit means missing out on Newnham 6/12/24.

I mean I have an Occam LT and some knee pads, what could go wrong?

Yeah it’s mint. I hate jumps but I love AR. And there are big hills to get up so your enthusiasm for pedalling will serve you well.

It’s great fun. I’ve done it on a 130mm hardtail so you should be fine.

Yes you’ll love it! It’s a bit steep here and there, but once you’ve made it through hecklers wood on stage 1, you’ll know you can handle the rest of it! It’s a great day out on the bike. If you can get there on the Saturday and ride the short practice loops, that will give you a bit of an indication of what you’re in for as well.

I’m not doing it this year, I’ve done the last 7, all sports rather than the ‘real’ enduro. I checked on entries earlier today and was surprised to see the sport wasn’t sold out? Hoping to head to Europe at the start of the school hols next year, hit the Alps etc hopefully so have opted not to enter. If it wasn’t for that, I’d definitely be doing it again.

I checked on entries earlier today and was surprised to see the sport wasn’t sold out?

What % of weekend riders do we reckon are up for a steep 1500m in 40km day? And be in shape for riding enduro trails even towards the end.

I’m doing sport. Did Boltby a couple of years ago and it was great. Entered the sport at Ardrock as no way will I be anything other than pack fodder. Normally an xc rider but find these fine on a trail bike. Bit like any racing, when the number goes on I’ll ride lines that would make me nervous out of competition. Don’t like jumping either.

Love Enduro for the relaxed riding. Not bothered about anything other than beating my mates. Fitness side is easy for me so can have a few beers without worrying about it impacting performance. Nice to be able to chat between timed stages too.

Jonba has sold it to me, it falls between the end of an XC race Series and our family holiday 7th August, so that seems perfect timing for some fun times, to then return from hols for some Autumn XC.

Might go for a watch with the kids again if the weather is nice. Seeing the carnage in hecklers woods is fun, the jump at the bottom of the last stage catches a few people out and theres usually some pretty good deals on bits and some decent grub vans.

Toyed with the idea of entering but £85 for the Sport and £100+ for the main one… In my opinion thats taking the piss…

I have entered the sport, I will plan a trip back to the UK to visit family and fit this in, and it gives me a target to aim for as I regain my health from a few years of problems (fingers crossed nothing else happens between now and then).

Not sure what I will do for accommodation yet, more likely to be a B&B than camping.

I t would be nice to match some faces to usernames if we have an STW meet up.

Not sure what I will do for accommodation yet, more likely to be a B&B than camping.

Hey yourself in the yha – grinton lodge, I’ve stayed there every time. Done rooms inside, camping pods and tried a land pod one year.

It will book up though so do it sooner rather than later

https://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/yha-grinton-lodge?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA9bq6BhAKEiwAH6bqoC_M4Y0jIxlQQ9Ueh5DMPbO1uFWZeUyk3GRzJ15RmAwe1K9SyiU2DBoCWVEQAvD_BwE

I’ve been invited to a Sport entry by er, a friend of the organisers. Things is, I’m strictly wheels on the ground XC but it looks fun

It’s no more challenging than a long black grade trail centre loop with most bits being more like red grade. I’ve only done it once (sport, in very wet claggy conditions), while there were good parts I didn’t find the stages challenging at all to be honest and I’ve no plans to enter it again. It is an opportunity to ride stuff that otherwise isn’t possible tho so I’d say go for it

i’m booked on again, riding the friday epic same as this year, the friday ride is really chilled, and the course is in prime condition. last year i got no queues after the second stage, only 4-5 in front on stage 2,, i’ve done the saturday and usually ride sunday sport, but friday makes sense, done and dusted have a beer enjoy the weekend as opposed stress till sunday

as a bloke said to me that day,  take out the top 100 riders on the saturday and you’ll get as quick riders on other days.

if you dont like jumps i’d ensure you can at least hit the wall drop off midway stage 1 and the final gate on stage7, a little speed and a nice landing, is far easier than slowing right down and rolling down the dry stone wall

Friday is deffo the new Sunday. And yeah hit the final drop (not jump) on S7 with some conviction.

Toyed with the idea of entering but £85 for the Sport and £100+ for the main one… In my opinion thats taking the piss…

I’m interested in how would you make it cheaper. Having been on the inside of a race series or two over the years, that’s probably excellent value for money; these things are not easy or cheap to lay on, and I don’t imagine for a moment it’s keeping the organisers in Bentleys. Finding a sustainable – not even profitable, but sustainable – business model for events like these is very difficult and also prey to the whims of the customer. Off the top of my head, bike orienteering and 24 hr race series no longer have the number of riders or events they once had. It’s tough and sometimes quite thankless putting things like this on.

Mates and I did the epic on the Friday this year, first time we’d done any Ard rock event. Totally agree with whatyadoinsucka, you’re going to ride the course at the pace you’re going to ride it irregardless of what category you’re riding. Chilled and cheered the rest of the weekend.

whole event depends on the weather I reckon!

Price is comparable to everything else I’ve seen of this scale. Certainly the gravel events are this much.

It’s a cracking weekend, missed this year’s as I was in Bali but entered the intro for next year, its all my knees can handle.

Fingers crossed for some good weather.