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Routes announced for the Mountain Mayhem Sportive sponsored by Verenti

We're going - come join us on a new sportive!...

Looking for a nice day out on your bike in June? Or even a weekend away with a bit of riding thrown in? Here at road.cc we're getting involved with the Original Source Mountain Mayhem Sportive sponsored by Verenti bikes, and Organiser Pat has been in touch to let us know the routes for the day's riding.

The sportive is on 20 June and there will be two routes to choose from, a 100km loop and a 50km. The road riding coincides with the Original Source Mountain Mayhem 24hr MTB race, and your £22 entry fee includes entry to the event village and camping all weekend in a separate site so you're not distrubed by the overnight racing. You can bring the family too! Plus you get a goody bag, signed routes, feed stops and electronic timing chips all thrown in.

Paul Birley from Back on Track bikes in Malvern has been instrumental in shaping the rides, and his extensive local knowledge of the area means that whichever distance you choose you'll get a great mix of scenic back roads and wider, flatter sections where you can out the hammer down a bit. The routes are designed to be a challenge but we're not gunning for hardest sportive status here. Organiser Pat Adams is looking to put on something more akin to a classic French sportive where it's more about the riding and the enjoyment than the suffering, and the two distances should give everyone something to get their teeth into.

The 100km route heads north out of Eastnor, skirting Ledbury and hitting the back roads which are fairly flat until the first climb to Frome's hill. A sharp descent brings you back to the valley floor and then there's another climb to Stanford Bishop. From here the sportive hits rolling terrain, crossing the valleys on its way towards Powick where the first feed stop will be. After a bit of refreshment it's time to head south on the B4424, which is a bit wider and flatter as you roll down the Severn valley, through Upton-upon-Severn and Corse Lawn before heading off onto the lanes again for a climb up to Newent via the second feed stop at Upleadon.

The route crosses the M50 motorway and winds through the lanes before a final short climb up to the finish and a well deserved sit down and slice of cake. In total there's about 1,000m of climbing over the 100km and the longest climb has a 120m ascent, so it's a good day out rather than a ball buster, but that's kind of the idea.

The 50km route heads out of the gate in the other direction, and you get a nice warm up in the shape of the main road climb to Hollybush before you turn off onto the lanes and join the 100km route just outside Longdon. From there the shorter route follows its longer sibling, sharing the Upleadon feed stop and the back-road amble back to the start.

There's just over 450m of climbing in the ride and the biggest hill is right at the start, so it's perfect if you've never done a sportive before, or if you'd like to get away for the weekend with your family but still squeeze a bit of riding in.

Fancy it? all you have to do to enter is click the giant button below. We'll be mailing out further details to everyone who's already entered next week, so stay tuned!


Enter now!

Please reserve me 

Dave is a founding father of road.cc, having previously worked on Cycling Plus and What Mountain Bike magazines back in the day. He also writes about e-bikes for our sister publication ebiketips. He's won three mountain bike bog snorkelling World Championships, and races at the back of the third cats.

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vorsprung | 13 years ago
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Alternatively, the same weekend:

http://road.cc/content/event/13681-avalon-sunrise-400

Do 400km in the southwest of england

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