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Join us for the first Journey to the Centre of the Perth!

I’ve spent years dreaming about hosting a race on this route so I’m stoked to be (finally) accepting applications for the first edition. Racing this route offers a great platform for riders to expand their perception of the kind of distances that can be covered on a mountain bike in Scotland. It’s a fast route with minimal time off the bike, plentiful resupply at some great cafes/restaurants and takes in many iconic sections of trail, as well as some sneaky connections that you’d be unlikely to find on the map.

When I plotted the first iteration of this route, over six years ago, one of my goals was to create a route that was conceivably (barely) rideable in one continuous ride. Even if that sounds ridiculous to you at the moment, I’m hoping you’ll still find the sentiment to be relatable. In this vein, I’d love to see people use this race as a good excuse to pursue a longest continuous ride (however far that may be) or even their first all-nighter.

My main aim in this first edition of the race is to get as many people as possible to ride the route quickly.

With this in mind, this race won’t be policed as a solo ride. If you’d like to ride with a friend (or a few) for part of the route or even the whole thing, then that’s fine by me. If you’d like to lend someone a draft, pay for their coffee or share the last available hotel room then that’s also ok with me. A number of races prohibit this kind of thing in order to maintain fairness, in this way everyone can say they raced under the same conditions. There’s good reason for this but the honest truth is that people do it anyway and that organisers are unable to penalise most of the rule breaches. These organisers are then forced to define how many minutes you can ride with someone else before it’s cheating, or to scrutinise if those GPS trackers show two people riding together or just closely racing one another. I understand why this rule exists in other races but for my own race, I’m keen to avoid doing anything that might discourage folks from having a good time or making new friends along the route.

Where this race won’t diverge from the norm is that riders will still be expected to be self-sufficient, you will need to carry all of your own equipment and be prepared to fix your own problems. The important distinction is that you can’t be reliant on anyone else. For instance, counting on someone else to fix your puncture because you didn’t bring a tube, or needing to borrow food from a friend because you didn’t carry enough to get you through the next section. In other races, I’ve witnessed people ask for directions because their GPS died or if they could ride with me because their lights died. If you’ve given it any thought before now then you’ll understand how these seemingly trivial acts demonstrate that these riders were taking risks that they wouldn’t take were it not for the race. Granted, it’s a fine line at times but I have to trust that you’ll make the right decisions.

The race will be free to enter but you will be required to bring a GPS tracker (Spot or Garmin InReach, there are a number of places you can rent these for short periods if you don’t have one - I’d suggest booking this sooner than later) and pay a small fee (~$20) to Trackleaders for hosting your tracker location.

We had a little more than 50 riders register interest for the race. Based on initial conversations, I expect that most riders will look to complete the route in three or four days, a small few have hinted they’re preparing for two days, perhaps even without sleep. I think most riders can expect a moving average of 12-14kph on this route, whilst the fastest moving average will likely be no more than 16.5kph, maybe 17kph.

There won’t be a mass start so you can start whenever you like, the only stipulation is that you must make it to the first (and only) control point near Ballater between 4 and 7pm on Friday 28th April to be included in the list of finishers. In this way, the winner will be the first rider to finish but not necessarily the fastest to complete the route - there’ll be no prize for either, maybe a beer. Speaking of beer, there won’t be a party but we will wait for riders as they finish at a pub somewhere in Perth on Sunday and Monday evening.

Register with Trackleaders here: https://form.jotform.com/trackleaders/journeyperth23

Journey Application Form

Name

First Name

Last Name

Mobile Number

Please confirm your understanding of this event below

Successful applicants will be required to sign a basic liability waiver at a later date, these checkboxes are just to make sure that all applicants understand what they're applying for.

I have read the route description in full.

Having studied the route map, I understand that this route contains long periods of remote off-road riding.

I acknowledge that a mountain bike has been recommended for this route.

I understand that this is an unsupported bikepacking event.

I understand that in the event of a serious injury, I may be alone without phone signal and that without a working GPS tracker (such as a Spot or Garmin InReach) will be reliant on friends or family to have contacted emergency services on my behalf.

I understand that due to the temperature range in Scotland at this time of year (April 28th) that both hypothermia and heat exhuastion are genuine risks and that I should prepare for both eventualities.

Have you ever participated in a self-supported bikepacking race before?

If yes, how many?

Are you confident riding singletrack walking paths with unmarked hazards?

For instance, this route follows a classic Scottish mountain bike route through Glen Tilt which has several kilometres of narrow bench-cut singletrack and exposure to a steep slope on one side. Whilst this trail is almost entirely rideable for experienced mountain bikers (minus the occasional dab or dismount for a couple of burn crossings) it can quickly become a long hike for those unfamiliar with this type of riding.

Are you the kind of person we can trust?

On the first day of a recent bikepacking race, one rider (X) caused another (Y) to crash - an accident and honest mistake. However, X continued without stopping. Four or five other riders passed, all asked if Y was ok but the crash was only reported to the race organiser by another rider (Z) ten or fifteen minutes later who stopped to check Y was ok. Z asked Y if they needed any help - although Y was a bit shaken by the crash, they appeared to be injury free and their bike was still safe to ride. Z and Y rode together for a few minutes before Z continued with their race. Are you rider X or rider Z?

Innes OgilvieNovember 18, 2022