im looking at doing the 12 hour at this but have never been before , is it hot or not ??

Literally? It tends to be fairly warm. Take some electrolyte tablets to avoid cramp.

Metaphorically? Yeah, the course is very good for a 12h event and holds up well in the wet.

the hotness all depends on whether Paul still has his lucky flip flops.

Supposedly the second biggest UK race after Mountain Mayhem now too.

Every year I’ve been since 2007 has been scorchio

i was knocked off whilst leading the 12 hr solo last year,
it’s a dangerous course imo, when you mix flying team riders against solo riders on a short course with lots of tight single track (which from what I hear is now even narrower due to trail building) then you are going to have accidents,
I ended up with a broken rib, knackered shoulder, dead front wheel, broken helmet, several weeks off the bike, wrecked season,
Erlestoke 12 was much nicer and less intense,

i wasnt asking about the temperature !! @amt27 – was the knocker – offer disqualified ?

i wasnt asking about the temperature !!

What were you asking about then?

@amt27 – was the knocker – offer disqualified ?

nope he rode off, I didn’t even see him, he pushed another rider into me, some riders behind me did see him and shouted at him, but he carried on,

at Mayhem there is lots of warnings about looking after solo riders from Pat and the rest at the rider briefing, Bikefest nothing, your better off doing Bikefest in a team to be fair, the main reason I was in the lead was because the top solo guys probably avoid it,

It’s more of a fun, social event than a full on race. As above it’s mostly twisty singletrack with limited overtaking until you get to the short fireroad climbs. It’s a good event to do with a few mates.

@sam – what i mean is it hit or sh1t. mountain mayhem looks good alright but the date doesnt work for me

I’ve had more fun at 5 minutes of Bikefest than in many hours of Mayhem.

that would be a hit then !! 😀

I love the event, done 6 hours pairs and 12 hour solo in the past and always a good entertaining course. Only ever had one nob shout at me for not moving over quickly enough when I was 11 hours into soloing. But you get that in most events so I don’t see how you can say the course is dangerous because of one unfortunate incident.

You’ll always get inconsiderate riders who are riding balls out to secure that all important 51st place finish!

amt27: sorry to hear that, I’ve done it a ‘few’ times being a local and not had any issues. I rode Oktoberfest (same thing but 8 hours, and you guessed it, in October) in the solo cat which was the first time on the full new course, placed 10th and found the whole thing rather good spirited. Some of the teams have been warned to wind it in a bit in recent years and have been much better behaved.

If I was being overly critical I might suggest there was one of two overtakes that were bordering on cheeky and possibly rude, but nothing dangerous.

great course, great vibe, done it many times, both solo and team.

Always lush weather (apart from one year), only downside are some of the semi-sponsored teams that have been a little aggressive in the past. But as above, they were told to wind their necks in in no uncertain terms by the organizer.

cough/ Team Torq \cough

It’s a fast and narrow course with not many overtaking opportunities.
I was lapping in about 32 minutes at an average of 17.8km/h for a solo top ten overall finish at Oktoberfest. The fast teams were lapping in about 28 minutes.
Mix them up with fun riders lapping in >45 minutes on long twisty sections of single track, and some people are going to get impatient.

About 1/3 of the course is doubletrack or easy to pass on. I think it’s a difficult call. They could use less of the singletrack but then the course wouldn’t be as fun.

There were a few processions through the red sections last year. Part of the problem seemed to be riders not calling when they wanted to overtake, and then either sitting in or just forcing their way past. I would suggest that the need to call should be more heavily emphasised in the rider briefing, but being a serial pre-race faffer, I haven’t made it to the briefing for the past four or five years. 😳

I’m not shy about calling and I try to be as polite as possible.
I found the biggest problem was catching up with a convoy on the single track.
If Rider#1 is holding everyone up and Riders#2,#3 & #4 won’t call, it’s down to me as Rider#5 to try to shout past the lot of them “Could you let some faster riders through please”
It didn’t happen often, but there were a few people who seemed completely unaware that they were in a race and that other riders might want to go a bit quicker.

Riding solo, I would usually take these hold ups as an opportunity for a bit of a rest.
I can see how it would be more frustrating for a team rider to lose a few seconds several times a lap though.

It’s a fun event but I could see why riders actually going for the podium can get a little frustrated, although there are several sections where overtaking’s perfectly possible (inc. the two main climbs) there are long sections where it’s not really safe to do so and you can get lines of riders queueing up. Never experienced the fast riders being dicks about it myself though although have heard a few complaints.

yep, I found at BBF last year everyone was fine about being overtaken if you ask nicely and don’t barge through. I think it would be very hard to place well if you allow yourself to get stuck behind slower riders too often. There’s definitely a huge range of rider speeds, but that’s half the attraction of BBF imho.

I’m also of the opinion that its getting a bit busy and try-hardy for the soloists on the Saturday. It’d be kinder to move them to the Sunday, which is much more chilled, but this means less break-down time for the hardworked organisers at the end of the weekend.

Even as a DNF soloist last year I got stuck behind a lot of riders on the singletrack, who seemed to be hopeless. I’m sorry, but if an average soloist trying to conserve energy is significantly faster than a team rider on a single lap, something is wrong! Blowibng yourself up having to sprint past idiots is a PITA and makes soloing on a lovely interesting course unappealing, at least to me!

How about starting the 12hour solo a midnight on Saturday? That’d be well cool, like the torchbearer 12 at 24/12. You could still run the 6-hour on the Sunday too.

Paul – if you’re reading this, my commission is a free entry for the 12-hour solo 🙂

I’d like to see some sort of seeding of riders with staggered start times to avoid the first lap traffic jams, but then I would say that, I’m a reasonably good endurance rider, but a slow runner. I always end up at the back and have to overtake everyone.

Oh god, the start. I always try and remain chilled, but I usually end up losing my rag halfway round the first lap.

For my first solo attempt this year I found it OK. But there are some people who think they have a right to barge and take risks when overtaking. In some places I found riding on the verge was the best option especially when approaching the quary!

I’m not shy about calling and I try to be as polite as possible.
I found the biggest problem was catching up with a convoy on the single track.
If Rider#1 is holding everyone up and Riders#2,#3 & #4 won’t call, it’s down to me as Rider#5 to try to shout past the lot of them “Could you let some faster riders through please”
It didn’t happen often, but there were a few people who seemed completely unaware that they were in a race and that other riders might want to go a bit quicker.

Riding solo, I would usually take these hold ups as an opportunity for a bit of a rest.
I can see how it would be more frustrating for a team rider to lose a few seconds several times a lap though.

Hits the nail on the head really. I’ve done the 12 hour solo a few years in a row and did 4hr pairs on the new course last October. The only time I’ve got a little frustrated is when people just sit there and don’t call for a pass and you either sit there helpless or make yourself known – and it’s quite hard to ‘politely’ call out to a rider five bike lengths in front of you…

The new course just requires some imagination and committment to find places to overtake 😉 I did attempt a number of ‘off-piste’ overtakes in the tighter and techier singletrack, some of which worked and some of which ended in ‘On your ri-AAAGH’.

The start is fine as long as you run like **** and then pedal like **** til you get into the first singletrack!

is it worth spending €400 getting there and back ??

is it worth spending €400 getting there and back ??

No, but that’s not a reflection on Bristol Bike Fest

i love the event iv done 12h team and 4hsolo events but this year will be my first solo 12hr as mentiond some teams get abit hot but i have more important things to worry about,if there polite then by all means i have no problem with moving over and giving way but if they start getting shitty then they can sit on my waving around the singletrack ass till the next clearing,it puts allot of ppl off racing and thers just no need for it rudnes is one of my pet peevs
all out to have fun and ride a bike some just need to chill a little

other than that its a great camping event amazing atmosphear whare everyone cheers everyone,im really looking forwerd to it tbh.

do solos, pairs , teams etc have different colour numbers to tell them apart ??

Yep

yep solos, bright red and puffin’………..