I know there has been some fairly whacky events through the UK in the past so looking for ideas to steal from events that have combines an XC, DH and Enduro elements.
What have you been to that does this?
Obviously need to balance out timing on long xc climb stages vs shorter descending stages so its not all about uphill stage speed.

What’ve you been to that was wacky races fun?

The gridding for the kids Crankit XC races requires a number of skills tests that get scored, passing back wheels over bidons, placing bidons upright onto low boxes while riding, riding skinnies and doing a wheelie for s long as possible. Great for those kids who concentrate on skills more than out and out power.

Ooh, is the Classic Weekender coming back?
I loved being an XC whippet and chasing down the DH riders after they had all beat me the day before

Briefly pondered about something similar the other evening. I sometimes fantasize about an urban cross country race along my various door step routes. It would be a test of basic skills (influenced by trials, getting up and over small obstacles, skinnies, low speed handling skills, very tight turns requiring pivots etc), cross country skills preventing riders from taking easy/smooth/straight lines, and urban stair sets and other obstacles, small drops etc. There’s no big climbs or descents, the cross-country aspect is all farm tracks apart from very short singletrack in scraps of urban woodlands. I’d love to see something like that happening near me but the amount of work it would take getting permissions, would be I suspect extremely challenging/unlikely. Also it appears all the people that might be able to take part would rather ride elsewhere!

I like the idea of a multi-discipline event, like a few laps of a street course with some stairs and drops and stuff then maybe a spot of mild DH followed by a 20 mile TT then on to a BMX track or whatever but you only get to use one bike with no swapping parts (bars, gears, tyres etc.) between races either.

Has to be a short-ish travel MTB on semi-slicks, right?

Sounds good. I’d choose an xc full sus if the course had any lengthy climbs or flat parts. Throw in lots of steep climbs and very tight twisty bits that require some trials skills to get round. Love that kind of riding more than jumps and drops.

There used to be a few of these events back in the day.
Normally there was an XC race, DH and trials.
All had to be done on the same bike with minimal modifications, I think you could change pedals and maybe tyres only. The bike of choice was generally a “hardcore hardtail” though we’re talking 20 odd years ago when full suspension bikes were not great at XC, let alone trials.
They were great fun.

The gridding for the kids Crankit XC races requires a number of skills tests that get scored, passing back wheels over bidons, placing bidons upright onto low boxes while riding, riding skinnies and doing a wheelie for s long as possible. Great for those kids who concentrate on skills more than out and out power.

Christ, could you imagine the length of the post / thread on here if that happened for adults. There’d be no end of questions about best exercises to strengthen my core for bending over while riding, how to build a skinny set up in my back garden and what pedals are best, let alone tyres and foot ware 😀

It would need to include an urban section through a shopping mall. DH down the escalators!

Christ, could you imagine the length of the post / thread on here if that happened for adults. There’d be no end of questions about best exercises to strengthen my core for bending over while riding, how to build a skinny set up in my back garden and what pedals are best, let alone tyres and foot ware 😀

🤣

Sk1llZ CouRS3!!11!!1!

One stage/Discipline could be forum based, The organiser start a post about discarding banana peels.

The winner is the last one in before the thread is closed without being banned or having their post deleted?

Cotton burner mixes up XC and Enduro over a 3 round series. You don’t know which race type it is until you get to the start

Ahhh… BITD.

DH, XC and Trials.

All on the same bike.

Combined scores.

https://singletrackworld.com/2009/07/singletrack-classic-weekender-the-photos/

How about unseen courses? Far too much sessioning going on – surely mtb’ing is about run what you brung, ridden up or down whatever’s in front of you. Lots more fun 👹

My OH had the saw adverts for Raptor Rally on social media. “20+ Obstacles over 30KM across Rockingham Castle Grounds. Grab your bike, a friend and start training for a new challenge! Leave your comfort zone behind and take part in the latest cycling challenge, where we combine a tough terrain ride with daring obstacles but without the pressure of a race.”

I was initially excited, but it’s not really for us lot on STW 😀

I didn’t enter and can’t remember who the organiser was but there was a weekend race at Hamsterley a good few years ago. XC on the Saturday then DH on the Sunday but you had to use the same bike for both days, I think Joe Barnes won it on a neon pink Orange 5

Just seen this today:

Tarty Bikes Time Attack! – A new upcoming event

As part of our continued commitment to help grow the sport of trials at a grassroots level, we will be testing a new type of event called Time Attack! with our friends, the organisers of popular North West MTB XC race series Midweek MTB Madness.

What is Time Attack!?

Time Attack! is a speed trials style event where riders go from A to B on a marked course as fast as possible. You will need to negotiate obstacles and pass through marked gates.

You don’t need any specialist trials skills for this event. If you can ride a Red graded trail you can ride our Time Attack! event, no back wheel hopping necessary!

https://www.tartybikes.co.uk//news/tarty_bikes_time_attack_a_new_upcoming_event/u300.html?fbclid=IwAR36fZb48qx1mpmRS7xKrM39VBtA1fXvucRCY_-CTAn4pPk1_TMlUH_MHow&cookie_all=1&cookie_refresh=1

edit: just seen how short the course will be: 30-50 seconds to complete. Ah.

I often wished they would do more varied race formats than XC. Track racing has all sorts of fun stuff.

I did really enjoy the eliminator race at Big Bike Bash when I went. I played it safe, only riding fast enough to not be last each time because the laps were more or less back to back and you only got a few seconds to get your breath back. There was a pretty big log across the trail as a CX style obstacle, and I decided against attempting the bunnyhop.. but only for the first few laps. Once it heated up I discovered I actually could clear it which bought me a fair few places! Brilliant fun.