Hi there, I'm totally with you on this and I wouldn't even travel to the more local Malverns for the ( lack of ) racing on offer. Mountain Mayhem was epic, then the pandemic hit us. Really hoping that can be revived with the son of the former icon that was Pat taking it over. If you haven't done it, think of this. Solo, if you have a screw loose. Team of ten if you want to race 45 minutes every 7 hours ( over a 24hr race) or team of four where you get plenty of laps to bang along, with a lot of banter and recovery from the battering you've just taken, in between. Even better when you're going past the modern 29er heads. I really hope this event can be revived ( Northants was the last venue) and was such a cool and big event for us retrobikers to gather).
There was a local 6 hr endurance race but on a retrobike solo I found it too punishing. There was a retro category and me and a fellow R/Ber won that category twice and were second once. I came 7th in my age cat solo on a 29er as well. Modern courses are made for the latest ride over everything type of big wheel jobbie, not 26ers, and for me at least too punishing to be fun. I've sold both of my big wheelers because they are just soulless to ride unless you like extremes.
I've raced, sort of, HONC, a ride in the Cotswolds in September, however it's not officially a race.
Muz
