ABR Festival - who’s going then?
- Thread starter richardbd
- Start date
?
I will probably go next yearYet you stopped going ? No œufs et?
1 in 3 is enough
Try it, you may even like something
Egg & Chips - Hope to go retro and have the Little Chef Olympic brekkie or Wimpy are there next year
Actually egg & chips was on the biker cafe menu in Hawes yesterday-I did think of you when I read it
Popped in today and had a great day, 4 laps of the Bridgestone trail and 1 lap of the TRF trail. No incidents and loving the new Mitas XT+ tyres (the front is ace, but not sure about the rear 'dakar' version as it seems really hard).
I went last year, not there this year.
Hugely enjoyed it but wouldn't want to do it every year. Maybe if I had more interest hearing from yet another "traveller" getting stuck in customs in some godforsaken shithole I'd go every year but I don't. Fair play to those that do.
I looked at bikes and talked about bikes for 2 days with the most friendly bike crowd I've ever encountered. Sat in the sun and drank beer. It was great. watching Chris Birch was good.
I rode the long trail and the TRF trail but I'd never bother with that again. Surely anyone who's done even a tiny bit of green laning would find it terribly lame? As an intro, great, especially if you have a gang of mates doing it together I'd have thought. I went in a camper with my 701 on a trailer. I wouldn't take a bike again unless it was my transport there.
Hugely enjoyed it but wouldn't want to do it every year. Maybe if I had more interest hearing from yet another "traveller" getting stuck in customs in some godforsaken shithole I'd go every year but I don't. Fair play to those that do.
I looked at bikes and talked about bikes for 2 days with the most friendly bike crowd I've ever encountered. Sat in the sun and drank beer. It was great. watching Chris Birch was good.
I rode the long trail and the TRF trail but I'd never bother with that again. Surely anyone who's done even a tiny bit of green laning would find it terribly lame? As an intro, great, especially if you have a gang of mates doing it together I'd have thought. I went in a camper with my 701 on a trailer. I wouldn't take a bike again unless it was my transport there.
Summed it up for me
1 in 3/4 years and not bother with the bike, as the trails are very lame/tame
ABR have done brilliantly at the organisation, and making the trail more accessible. Both of these are double edged swords as now 15000 people go, and the trails can be ridden on big ADV bikes with normal tyres (in the dry at least). I think this event will become more corporate and more accessible as time goes on but it is a marvel of organisation and planning.
I tend to just drop in for the day, ride for 95% of it and just have a quick wander around the manufacturers stands and concessions. I did wander past stages with really credible people like Chris North talking, and whatever you might you buy want as an ‘adventure biker’ is there.
Here is a full lap of the Bridgestone trail from yesterday, as ever the gopro flattens the landscape but you can see how accessible this is for big bikes on road biased tyres.
Here is the TRF trail, but not much different in terms of difficulty to the Bridgestone trail. Enduro bikes were allowed on this trail although I struggle to see the attraction of that. I love how youtube has found the one interesting thing that happened on the route to put as a picture for the video (how clever is that ?).
I fell down a sodding drainage culvert trying to find my van after last night and too many beers. Suffering now
Sheesh
That’s gonna smart
Ouch - watch that doesn’t become infected !
Found what I fell in
Just got back. Compared with 2022 its certainly grown! Weather was excellent , bands were good and it was a lot easier to get a test ride.
I’m just home, still grinning from ear to ear - my first ABR, and I was very impressed.
Facilities were amazing - bogs pretty good if you avoided the portaloos, showers were long and hot (dodge the queues by avoiding mornings). Food was excellent, I ate really well. A main course was about £10 which I don’t begrudge. Decent speakers if you pick the subjects you are interested in - I found Lel Pavey and Austin Vince both great. Trade areas and ‘shops’ were good with a huge range of stuff to try on and very friendly staff. Test rides were fun - I rode an F900GS through the Off Road School (lovely, but not worth £10k over my 800) and a GasGas 2 stroke enduro bike which was possibly the most amusing 40 minutes of riding of my life - wheelies and jumps from anything!
The site was very clean, well marshalled, felt very secure, everyone we spoke to was lovely. Met a few personalities that I follow - TAM Podcast lads, a number of YouTubers and Harvey Rides Bikes who was the nicest fella you can imagine. Didn’t drink any beer or watch much music as it wasn’t really to my taste. Magic Teapot was pretty fun.
The trails were perfect - two laps of the Bridgestone on my F800GSA (very dusty though, and some of the enduro bikes passed way too close and quickly) and the TRF on the GasGas, which I’m glad I skipped on the GSA as I would have found it pretty tough going.
Overall, I had a great weekend, and will definitely be back next year.
Facilities were amazing - bogs pretty good if you avoided the portaloos, showers were long and hot (dodge the queues by avoiding mornings). Food was excellent, I ate really well. A main course was about £10 which I don’t begrudge. Decent speakers if you pick the subjects you are interested in - I found Lel Pavey and Austin Vince both great. Trade areas and ‘shops’ were good with a huge range of stuff to try on and very friendly staff. Test rides were fun - I rode an F900GS through the Off Road School (lovely, but not worth £10k over my 800) and a GasGas 2 stroke enduro bike which was possibly the most amusing 40 minutes of riding of my life - wheelies and jumps from anything!
The site was very clean, well marshalled, felt very secure, everyone we spoke to was lovely. Met a few personalities that I follow - TAM Podcast lads, a number of YouTubers and Harvey Rides Bikes who was the nicest fella you can imagine. Didn’t drink any beer or watch much music as it wasn’t really to my taste. Magic Teapot was pretty fun.
The trails were perfect - two laps of the Bridgestone on my F800GSA (very dusty though, and some of the enduro bikes passed way too close and quickly) and the TRF on the GasGas, which I’m glad I skipped on the GSA as I would have found it pretty tough going.
Overall, I had a great weekend, and will definitely be back next year.
i would like to go but the cost is astronomical
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