Was intrigued to see this on the front page. Initially sounded tempting, then I became less enchanted, but I have no idea why. IN theory it sound right up my street… not a proper race, more of a holiday for well off IT Middle Managers with a bit of ego boosting gongs thrown in.
But if that’s the case, why do they dress it up as a race (clearly to boost the egos)
Or do you think it will become legendary for all the right reasons…

Also, the requests for volunteers. I don’t get it. The people running it are presumably doing it as a business, but they expect people to chip in and give their time for free to make it happen and help make a profit. I don’t see volunteers helping in Banks, shops, etc for free (though not far off :-() in order to maximise their boss’s profits.

TBH, I’m not sure either way, I don’t fully stand behind what I wrote above, but am interested in everyone else’s opinions

i looked, and then saw the price.

having peoples pants down i reckon.

Seem to remember from the previous site it was verrry expensive. The price doesn’t seem easy to get to on their site, which would confirm that.

i looked, and then saw the price.

having peoples pants down i reckon.

People are welcome to organise a comparable event for £7.99 and make a everyone happy…

I entered the competition as sounds like a great event, done a few multinday races, the cheaper one was good but needed a support person and a camper van to make it work.

Well supported stuff costs more, most commercial events use volunteers who get goody bags etc as the cost of a fully paid race crew would mean nobody could afford to race/ride it

became less enchanted, but I have no idea why

Was it when you saw the price? 😀

I’ll weigh in slightly reluctantly. Firstly generally I want to be supportive of UK events. It’s hard to get these things off the ground and in principle see nothing wrong with soliciting voluntary help. So presumably you’d class me as a righteous supporter 🙂 On the other hand, nah I’m not biting.

I did the TransRockies- the riding, scenery and food were fantastic. It covered private estates and remote areas with bears where the support actually provided some peace of mind. It would have been difficult for me and mate to organise something similar for ourselves. It was also competitive with pro riders etc.

Looking at the route map there’s a lot of places I’ve ridden before (around trail centres, trans cambrian way, etc). I can’t imagine the same feeling of epic-ness. If it’s not really a “race” I’d prefer a trip with friends, where we might spend £50 day on hostel and food.

Even with sterling Brexit fubar the BC bike race (early bird reg) a comparable price. I am afraid the organisers will find it a tough sell.

with £1300 i could tour france for a whole month, and eat like a king. ;o)

I was interested but I can’t stomach the cost at the moment.

I don’t get the OPs issue with it, Yeah it’s expensive, £1300, but it’s a 5 day, 500+k enduro event, so you’d want a bit of support in terms of somewhere to sleep etc.

I think it’s a bit unfair to glibly write it off as a ego boost for “IT Managers”.

with £1300 i could tour france for a whole month, and eat like a king. ;o)

True and some change to have more than 2 pairs of pants or shorts for the trip 😉 Very different things

WHAT’S INCLUDED?
Your entry includes:
5 nights all-inclusive boutique tented village
2 nights ensuite hotel accommodation
Locally sourced breakfast and dinner every day
Professionally timed race stages
4 refuelling support points each day
Full technical support
Daily professional bike service (including daily bikewash) and secure overnight storage
Camp-to-camp kit transfer straight into your tent
Laundry service
Wales360 jersey
Post-ride beers, nightly entertainment and end of week after party

It could compare easily to what some people spend on a week’s holiday, if that is worth it then that is up to you, if your comparing to touring round france with a tarp, bread and cheese it’s probably going to be a long way off!!

Mike I agree it sounds like a great event and cool you’ve signed up (Edit: and hope you have a great time!). Just in defence of us cheapskates we are not talking £7.99 a day. At £799 we might have a discussion.

With a new event it’s hard to anticipate the atmosphere. With the Merida/Scott marathons it is understood that at the front it’s quite competitive, even if we are repeatedly told “it is not a race”. Even when you’re not pushing yourself it’s still nice to meet new people and being cheered on is brill.

Not signed up, just entered the competition to win a place 😉

I have done first events before, yep it’s a bit of a leap of faith so it does depend on what your priorities are. I know people who put things lie this on, it’s massive stress and at times you are looking at the balance between cost and experience, get it wrong and you have something that is really cheap and crap for say £800.

I’m all in favour of such events being heavily promoted and flagposted within the cycling media, and more generally – so I can stay the hell away from where they’re being held for the duration, rather than inadvertently finding myself trying to string together a ride along free-to-access public RoWs cluttered by hundreds of paying ‘customers.’

Also, the requests for volunteers. I don’t get it. The people running it are presumably doing it as a business, but they expect people to chip in and give their time for free to make it happen and help make a profit. I don’t see volunteers helping in Banks, shops, etc for free (though not far off :-() in order to maximise their boss’s profits.

I’ve done a few events in RSA and Canada that are heavily reliant on volunteers, the payback in RSA seems to be that those running the races invest heavily, and that’s building school blocks heavily, in the area and they bring money and visitors in. In Canada it seems to be more th local mtb clubs / riders who were putting something back and proud of the trails. Again there was a fair amount of money going back into the local shop etc.

A “race” on bridleways? How have they managed that?

@mikewsmith – Stu and Dee over at Bearbones manage to put on weekend long events for £20, invariably sold out and seem to be populated by mid-level IT managers, teachers and many other stereotypes.

It’s more of a tour, rather than a race, Whitestone, with timed sections every day. Those are the race bits and those’ll be on private land (or Forestry). A bit like special rally stages where there are untimed road sections and then you race the foresty bits.

Stu and Dee over at Bearbones manage to put on weekend long events for £20, invariably sold out and seem to be populated by mid-level IT managers, teachers and many other stereotypes.

Did it include accommodation food and refuel stops along they way, if so awesome where do I sign up to bankrupt them?

I believe that tents and food are involved. Possibly not ’boutique’. Not sure they wash your bike for you either.

It’s basically just a supported MTB tour, similarly priced to ones in the Alps/Spain, just badged as a ‘challenge’ rather than a holiday.

It’s basically just a supported MTB tour, similarly priced to ones in the Alps/Spain, just badged as a ‘challenge’ rather than a holiday.

It’s a concept that seems alien to the UK at the moment, there are probably 10 events in Oz about 4-5 days with various levels of support. They are always more than a tour as time limits kick in and you actually have to ride rather than pootle along, you can race the stages overall or with the people around you or take the challenge to complete.

It will be interesting to see if they fill it up – giving away places as comp entries suggests they aren’t quite there yet.

I’d be interested to see how much of the route is plugging away on fireroad, doubletrack or tarmac, too.

FAQs

I did the Ex last year. 3 days & £300. Single location so less overheads for organisers.

Stu and Dee over at Bearbones manage to put on weekend long events for £20,

That’s not even vaguely comparable.

The closest event I’ve done to this was the TransWales, which iirc was around £6-700 for the food and tent package for 5 days. (Was it 6?) But that was a few years ago and people have got used to paying more for everything these days.

It’s a lot of money but will be affordable to a lot of people; affordability is always relative.
It will be interesting to see if they can attract enough entrants to make it worthwhile or even to prevent cancellation. I believe early on there were a number of ambassador places to attract some names and now they’re offering free entry to competition winners.
Personally I can (and have) enjoyed multi-day rides in all of that area staying in B&B and eating well for a lot less than half that entry. But that’s missing the point really, I guess.

It sounds like a great idea but 3x the cost I expected. As above, I could go to Morzine for 2 weeks for that price, maybe 3 if I didn’t use lifts every day.

I believe early on there were a number of ambassador places to attract some names and now they’re offering free entry to competition winners.

Yep, I did a few years around one of the aussie ones, year 1 and 2 the big names were all in, names don’t pay as they bring in all the publicity, I’ve raced at various prices due to volunteer discounts or sponsor rates etc. aim of year one is to run and make a name so that in year 2 people want to come and attend so freebies is the norm. One free place to STW readers gets free advertising and people taking a look at it.

If you take a look at what people are actually paying for bike holidays…
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/UK_-_Scotland_-_Hebridean_Explorer_-_Mountain_Bike_Holiday/470/view.rails
£1600/7Days
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/Spain_-_Ruta_de_la_Plata_-_Guided_Mountain_Bike_Holiday/660/view.rails
£3000/16 Days
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/Croatia_-_Terra_Magica_-_Guided_Mountain_Biking_Holiday/963/view.rails
£1200/7 Days

There is certainly a market for this sort of thing

In Wales though? Really? I’ll be impressed if it sells out.

Consider something like Doug@basque, less cost, proper bed, and in Spain, I’m not seeing the Wales thing. Maybe if I lived somewhere other than the UK, but it would need to WOW me and I’m not convinced it could

In Wales though?

So it’s ok to spend comparable amounts of money for comparable riding in parts of the world that are considered cheap, but not in the UK where everything is expensive?

Also, have you considered that it may be marketed outside the UK?

Maybe if I lived somewhere other than the UK, but it would need to WOW me and I’m not convinced it could

In a couple of months time some of the best MTB riders in the world will go to a pine forest near a stinking lake to get no views of anything for a weekend and it will probably cost them more all in!!

I’ll be impressed if it sells out.

Yep, the concept does seem a challenge for the locals 😉 When I’ve met people around the world they really want to ride Wales and the Borders, ride the natural stuff out here and do some of the types of ride that would be really hard to do in a lot of countries.

I think it’s a bit unfair to glibly write it off as a ego boost for “IT Managers”

Sorry if it came across like that. I am unsure either way to be honest. Wanted to see what others thought and behave a debate. Some excellent points above.

I guess the key thing for many of us is that we can do 6 days mtb in Wales for a fraction of that price.
And Wales doesn’t have the cachet for us.

PS. Just to be clear, I am an IT Middle manager
😁

I think it’s horses for courses ,it’s not for me as I prefer to cycle in small groups or my own company and part of getting out is sleeping in ditches and not washing for a few days ( maybe as it takes me back to being a kid) that could be considered a hardship but for me it’s part of the fun others may prefer to know how far they’ve got to ride each day and where they are sleeping each night , also when I’m out I prefer to put money back into the community that I’m cycling through using the cafes and pubs on route ,everybody is different and wants different things out of this hobby of ours ,one thing I did notice though is the route is very similar to the big bear 530 ,not exactly but similar what can be ridden whenever you like ( obviously without the support what you get with this event)

WHAT’S INCLUDED?
Your entry includes:
5 nights all-inclusive boutique tented village
2 nights ensuite hotel accommodation
Locally sourced breakfast and dinner every day
Professionally timed race stages
4 refuelling support points each day
Full technical support
Daily professional bike service (including daily bikewash) and secure overnight storage
Camp-to-camp kit transfer straight into your tent
Laundry service
Wales360 jersey
Post-ride beers, nightly entertainment and end of week after party

That’s not far off the Deloitte Ride Across Britain (LEJOG) event:
£1700 for 9 nights of “boutique tented village”, breakfast & dinner, feed stations, mech support etc. Again, you can do LEJOG far cheaper than that but many people lack the ability to plan things like that and want the safety and camaraderie of a big group – for this one you can’t really have a “race” without a big group so the price is actually not that bad; I’m willing to bet they’re making almost zero profit on it.

5 nights all-inclusive boutique tented village

It’s a campsite FFS! Dress it up for the gullible all you want but it’s a tent in a field next to lots of other tents.

Unsurprisingly negative on here.

Whilst it’s a lot of money for a weeks riding, as Mike has pointed out, it’s competitive with many other 7 day bike trips.

BC bike race with food package is almost 40% more even with early bird entry (though 1 day longer and more transportation) but doesn’t include some of the other perks such as laundry and bike servicing.

If you take a look at what people are actually paying for bike holidays…
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/UK_-_Scotland_-_Hebridean_Explorer_-_Mountain_Bike_Holiday/470/view.rails
£1600/7Days
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/Spain_-_Ruta_de_la_Plata_-_Guided_Mountain_Bike_Holiday/660/view.rails
£3000/16 Days
https://www.skedaddle.com/uk/biking/holiday/Mountain_Biking/Croatia_-_Terra_Magica_-_Guided_Mountain_Biking_Holiday/963/view.rails
£1200/7 Days

There is certainly a market for this sort of thing

I run a bikepacking trip in May in N Spain (as I live there) Coast 2 Coast from the Med to Atlantic, largely off road. We chose whether to camp or stay in cabins and albergues and eat in cafes, It’s 9 days plus flying into Tarragona/Barcelona and back from Bilbao, we transfer boxes from start to finish and I’d reckon on a cost inc flights of about £7-800, I don’t charge for guiding. Message me for more info.

It’s a concept that seems alien to the UK at the moment

I think it is the weather that would put me off. I’d be concerned that it rained every day of my holiday. Though foreign folk do like the idea riding in wales and scotland and this type of event would be a good way to do it.

Overpriced…. as are the holidays linked to.

I enjoy very comfortable trips to the Alps every year that cost about the entry fee but i’m there for a month. Have put together a few trips that have cost the people on them £500 for the week, including travel.

That said i’m not particularly well off so place a high priority on getting value for money.

Good luck to the organisers but it’s not for me.

To be fair, at that price and the bulk of the accommodation being in tents, asking for volunteers is a bit cheeky.

I’ve done several week long events, have volunteered myself and my son, him a few times so not just talking without experience.

I was interested, and then I saw the price. I think its a little expensive but keeping an eye on the website. A price reduction with the entry fee below the £1000 would see an entry from me.

It seems solo entries are now accepted (thought they required team entries originally, could have been mistaken?)

I don’t work in IT.

Back on the bike and enjoying my riding.

If I’d not already booked my summer holiday I’d do it. If it’s still around next year I probably will.
It’s just like anything else. Sure you can ‘do it cheaper’ if you want.
You can buy steak in Iceland for a couple of quid too, why the hell would you want to eat at a restaurant?..

If it delivers what it promises in terms of food, beer, infrastructure etc it seems priced ok but as mentioned above gambling on the weather would put me off.

You can buy steak in Iceland for a couple of quid too, why the hell would you want to eat at a restaurant?

I think you’ve confused your metaphors. This holiday is the Iceland steak….
Boutique tented village.

Does it mention charging points for ebikes? if not thats a bit elitist !