Welcome to my MBR Demo day Forest of Dean review!
Maybe I was being naive. I thought that I could just turn up on the day and try whatever bikes were available in my size, maybe not the ones I wanted, but I'm not a fussy guy and I was there to be won over, to be wooed by a mysterious bike that I rode because other ones were not available. Yet finding any medium sized bike was proving to be like going to A & E on a Friday night and trying to be seen by a nurse, you spend your time looking around at the other lost poor souls also waiting to be seen, but secretly wishing that they'll go home so that you have one less person to wait behind, a delirious waste of time that resulted in a sub standard rushed experience due to limited resources.
This event was basically like joining one big queue with no sight of the end and hardly a recognition of the beginning, a purgatory if you will. I know this won't be everybody's experience from the event, some extreme sized riders (small/XL) seemed to have the most chances of finding a bike to ride, but this was my experience. Being a medium sized rider (I believe this word literally means the middle, the average, the most populous, the one you should expect more of, the one that will be most in demand) means that you will spend all of your time waiting as all the mediums will be out and you'll be waiting with other medium sized riders. If you happen to be an extra large or small you were afforded the luxury of walking around and seeing what you could ride. Instead I joined the £100 lottery of hopefully you'll get a ride at some point!
Being my first ever Demo day it's fair to say that I was excited! I don't usually keep track of all the latest brands and models as I get overcome with bike envy and look at my hardtail in bad spirits. It does me well to keep the blinkers on a little bit, however I am looking to get a full suspension one day. They are expensive, beautiful, mysterious, definitely expensive. I wished to try some out, see what the fuss was about, smoother trail riding and being able to tackle new terrain being my motivation. This was the chance to ride a bike that I would only normally only be able to look at in a shop, to find the one that I was going to say screw it and buy on store credit because I had such an affinity with it. There was an incredibly long list of bikes being brought by all kind of brands that I didn't know of or vaguely knew that they existed. I paid for the uplift, ride awesome bikes downhill and get ferried to the top all weekend, living the dream!
I arrived not knowing what to expect, I got there at 10:00 as the info pack mentioned this would be the time of the demos starting. I signed in, got given a pass, got told where the food was and was sent on my way. I look around and just see gatherings of men huddled around gazebos...... Oh what to do next? I wander around, notice there wasn't many bikes. I join a gabble of men. I wait and ask around
How do we get a bike? do we just stand here and wait? I'll wait behind this guy...... yes we are after mediums.... oh no luck? Okay then we'll wait...... What bike did you want to try out? You don't know and just want to ride a bike? hahahaha. Wait.....
There wasn't any info as to what to do so I make my way around the events village to find some people who could help, most people there were lost and just loitering around the branded gazebos of the bikes they would like to try. I figure that the first wave must have left and that there was obviously not enough bikes for everybody, but as people come back at different speeds and their need for breaks and food that this would just be an issue with the first ride of the day. I decided to wait at the Rocky Mountain tent, where as the Canyon and Specialised tents were packed, not many people were hanging around this one so I'm hoping to get a bike rapidly. We wait......... this happened to be the running theme of the event. I didn't really get spoken to and I begin to question the people around me that this is correct procedure??? Kind of hang around like a bad smell for a bike to magically appear..... After maybe 50mins a few large e-bikes come in....... one slightly broken. The man behind me has other plans, he's jumped ship, word gets out the Calibre tent next door has some bikes back in! This guy takes the medium full sus, I jump ship also, I couldn't wait any longer, I'd barely had a conversation with anybody who could promise me a bike let alone touch one. I happened across the only medium left which was a hardtail and probably the lowest spec bike available at the demo. It was there, I was cold tired and wet and needed to get pedaling.
I get going on the trail and it's a filthy mud bath, I had been warned off of the red route due to conditions so stuck to the blue. It was awesome. I started ragging myself around the course enjoying the freedom of MTB. I got halfway down when I realised that this was all to familiar, the bike was handling great and it should, it was near enough the same bike that I already had yet lacking a dropper seat post. This was not what I came for, I could have brought my own bike if I wanted this experience, yet I am now muddy and feeling a little better. I get on the uplift and my fellow riders wanted to go back to the top of the trail so I was semi-forced to do another loop. (I don't remember the name of the bike, but it felt like a £550 bike and I'm pretty sure the guys confirmed that when I got back)
I get back to the event field around lunch and I hope that more bikes will be back in as people will start wanting to eat. Again not many bikes are around. I try the Nukeproof tent, this time I'm prepared to wait for a higher spec bike and make the most of my dollars spent. 4 out of 6 of us in the queue want a medium bike, I have no idea what's going on with this event and again we wait. I wait approximately another hour and a Large 29r becomes available, over half the day had passed by now and I was getting impatient. Having never had ridden a 29r, but being fairly confident about riding a large, I take off. The bike seemed cumbersome but manageable. I hear that 29r's roll fast over roots so try to take it off piste through the forest over the rootiest terrain. This was a crazy idea as I had no control of this beast and the downpour had made the route treacherous, if I came off it would be likely that no one would find me as I bleed out and die. I push back to the top and rejoin the blue route. The whole time I was fighting the bike and even though I enjoyed the cycle I didn't like the large bike at all!
This time I have a winning idea, the Specialized tent has seating and a signing in system. I know that there is going to be a wait so I grab some food and go and take a seat in the waiting area, no mediums are in (obviously). After my previous experience on a large 29r I sign myself in for a Medium 650b Enduro. This was the probably the most organised group at the event, there was a board with all of the available bikes and the excitable blue eyed assistant would take your name and the bike you wanted to ride and put you on the list. Again obviously you wait. The last bike demo is allowed out at 4, over an hour passes and 4 is approaching fast. At 16:01 a medium bike comes in, it's the Enduro 29r, not what I wanted yet I jump at the chance to be let out on it. I have been waiting for the best part of the day to be on an expensive comfortable bike and I'm most definitely not going home now! Happily I'm now on a correctly sized full suspension bike, and it was the best one by a country mile, yet a complete absolute let down. I'm not sure if I needed more laps to get used to it and it was just unfamiliarity, but seeing that the guys back at the center were packing up when I was leaving I kept it to a quick loop and brought it back in. Although I had been made to hang around in the rain all day I didn't feel like it was these guys at fault, it's the bloody organisers over selling tickets.
I claim my t-shirt, MBR mag, cider and pint glass. I drive home disheartened.
The day was a complete let down, £50 to hang around waiting for a bike that ultimately I didn't enjoy. This was not the weekend of riding demo bikes that I expected. The next day was not going to be the same as I now had the insider knowledge, I had the experience to negotiate the event, I have the upper hand!
Now this time I have an idea, find a specific bike that I want to try and wait it out. Once I get a bike that I enjoy make the most of it. I check MBR magazine and notice the trail bike of the year was the Canyon Spectral CF08. Canyon were very popular with the hordes of men. I wanted in, I wanted to ride an awesome bike, something to impress me, a fine steed between my legs. The next day as soon as I get in to the event field I head over to their position. These guys have a list, I like the tents with lists, apparently there were 4 guys in front of me who wanted a medium which didn't sound too bad and I get a suggestion that I would likely get a chance to ride on one at about 12:00. I was in! I decided to try and ride any medium bike that I could get my hands on in the mean time. I was on a mission. This time I end up at the Intense tent, obviously there are no mediums available but I am right at the front of the queue!!! I am on fire today! I'm enlightened and see the matrix. I'm after a medium as is everyone else, but this time I'm in the drivers seat and in pole position. A few dudes after XL bikes turn up and find them easily enough. They ask what bike I want, I tell them I'm Bikesexual, I'll ride just about anything.
Now again I wait for a duration of over an hour. Now if this had been a free or cheap event I would have taken this as part of the territory, but having paid a considerable amount of money and driving for an hour to stand in the rain getting cold I was thinking about all of the things I could be doing with my time. I could be riding my own bike, building my bike shed, tidying the garage, the million and one things that I am not doing as I cleared my whole weekend for riding MTB trails.
You wait in the rain and three turn up at once. I'm starting to realise luck is an important part of the game. I get the chance of riding a Primer 29r or ACV 650b I go for the 29r, against my intuition based on some advice about the trail conditions. Now this feels amazing, I trawl through the mud massacring the corners, the extra sized wheels rolling through puddles and slodge with ease. A stupid wide grin gets embroiled on my face, I feel slightly oversized yet invincible. I put this bike through it's paces as quick as I can. It's a little different but I feel the bike is making up for my lack of skills and giving me confidence through challenging terrain. I love it. Although now I am fearful, I've finally found a bike that I have not compromised for yet I'm aware that I need to get back for my appointment with my Spectral. What do I do? I decide that the Spectral is likely to be behind schedule itself yet I'm certain that I don't want to miss my chance on the Trail bike of the year I endeavour to try and not miss it and I regretfully hand in the bike....
I'm running a little late as one of the uplift guys is now on lunch and we are down to 1 driver. By the time I get back up to the top it is around 13:00, I hear that I'm next for the Spectral and sit down to eat some food. 14:00 arrives and a medium comes in, I'm ecstatic, although I have been waiting around for a considerable amount of time my previous days experience has helped me position myself better. Well so I thought. Not so much though as it turns out that it's not quite my go yet and that somebody else was on the list before me. Doh! Well surely I've been waiting long enough and that another rider must be coming through any moment now. It is at this point that I ask how many medium Spectral CF 8.0's that they have with them and the response blows my tiny little mind. I was gobsmacked, why didn't I ask earlier? Well i didn't think it necessary, obviously the trail bike of the year would have at least 2 or 3 bikes in medium (should have 5!). They only decided to bring one of these..... my whole plan unraveled. Why on earth would they only bring one of them when it's receiving so much applaud and attention from MBR itself. This whole event stinks. The guy gets on his way and promises to be about an hour, I have another hour to contemplate all of the things that I could be doing with my time, how I had paid for this experience, the cost of the bridge and the amount of making up I'd have to do with the girlfriend for being busy all weekend.
One more time! The guy keeps to his timescale, 5 hours in I get to ride another bike. I take it to the top of the downhill trails and see a sign for wheelchair/disabled users. I thought that this felt promising for my lacking skillset. I make the most of my opportunity and take the bike round hard as I can. It performs great, I go down at terrific speed and getting plenty of air. I normally ride a 26" bike, I felt much more at home on this bike and I'd say this was the most fun I'd had all weekend, I just rolled and rolled and rolled. I rode until the last uplift which was just after 4. So not exactly for long. I'd say that I enjoyed this bike but wished that I had less of a gap between trying this and the Primer, I would have loved to have had a side by side comparison as I think the Primer was enough to take the win but I could not make that decision on the day..
Honourable mentions from the MBR waitathon was the bike wash........ Another queue which you were afforded the luxury of standing in. Not all of the Brands expected you to wash the bikes, which was at times easily a 30 minute wait, yet some did. By the second day a poor person had been tasked to jet wash them to speed up the process, it still now took just as long to get through the queue as instead of the two water points from the first day there was now just one jet wash.
Now I appreciate that the response is likely to be that they can't guaranty that there will be enough bikes for everybody to be riding at the same time as there is a reliance on the manufacturers to bring what they feel as necessary, but I feel that for the money this event was totally not worth it and many of us had a similar experience. I am just glad that I had the two days so that I managed to extrapolate some fun from the event. If I had only been there for one day I would feel rather vengeful over the cost of the event, the petrol used, bridge toll and the fact that they weren't adequately prepared for the sizes of the people coming. The trail and position of the events village made it hard for people to stick to a timescale and the nature of it encouraged people to be selfish and keep the bike that they like. I thought this was going to be a fun day of riding yet I spent two thirds of my time hanging around. I've spent less time in an airport and flown to another country than the time it took to get a bike. I turned up to this event with an open mind, I now feel like if I return to one of these events I'll need to hustle hard. Quite a few people I talked to mentioned demo events that were much cheaper in price where most of the cost was donated to charity and there wasn't much waiting around. Based from this event alone I would not recommend anybody to go to another MBR Demo day.....
