Bucks Off Road Sportive - a brief history

The Bucks off road sportive was initially known as the Bucks Classic when it started off 22 years ago, when after members of the West Drayton Mountain Bike Club had taken part in the Hell of the North Cotswolds for a few years the club felt that there was a call for a similar event nearer to London. 

As the event was going to be in the County of Buckinghamshire it was decided the event was going to be called the Bucks Classic, and was renamed in 2009 to the Bucks Off-Road Sportive. Although based on the Hell of the North the club wanted to improve on the HONC (as the event is popularly known) and the main problem club riders had with the HONC at that time was the lack of directions arrows and the lack of singe track ,so that was the main priorities to find some more challenging trails and to mark the whole route, no mean feat when you go along over 100 km of twisting bridleways and small lanes.

The event which is a mixture of stunning single track bridleways, byways and some quiet country lanes started off with one route of 30 km, which then rose to 40km, and then with the input of top route designer Steve Keating 100 km with two shorter versions of 70 kms and 30 kms. The event has grown over the years and moved its headquarters from the Denham Country Park to the near-by Martin Baker social club and now the Chiltern Sports and Social club which allows riders to shower and make use of a fully licensed bar as well as a cheap supply of refreshments.

The 10th anniversary event featured an even harder route as the full distance rose to 121 km which made the event one of the hardest off-road sportives, on the calendar. However, the club wants to encompass all standards so there were some shorter distances to choose from.

In 2008 the bar was raised further with the long distance raised to 132 km and then in 2015 150km., 2015 saw the organisation team change slightly with Wayne Cook aka “Q” taking the reins as route maestro.

After a sabbatical last year in 2019, it is great to be able to announce that the event is back on for 2020, the HQ will still be at Maple Lodge where as normal all finishers can get a free drink at the bar to celebrate finishing the event , the HQ also benefiting from parking and where there will be home made cakes and teas to refuel.

The distances this year will be 30km/70km and 100km with two feed stops planned for the longer rides and 1 feed stop planned for the shorter ride, bike wise over the years there has been a mixture of bikes used, the weapon of choice for most has been a hardtail MTB, but we have also seen people on full suspension bikes, cyclo cross bikes and even tandems and no doubt this year with the growing popularity of gravel bikes we will see a number on these.

Under 18's/u16's are welcome with an accomanying adult

Numbers are restricted so get your entries in via the British Cycling website

Info for Riders

The 2 shorter routes, 30 and 70km will be fully marked with arrows, the additional loop for those doing the 100km route will not be marked and riders wll have to rely on the GPX routes and links that will be sent out via e-mail to all riders on the Thursday before the event date

The event is a one loop ride for all categories.

The turn off points for the shorter routes will be clearly marked.

There will be 2 feed stations for the 2 longer routes and 1 for the shorter route, these should be seen as supplemetary to the normal food you woud carry on a ride of this distance.

Remember 100km mainly off road is a lot harder than 100km on road please bear this in mind.

Riders can chose what type of bike they use, however  the ride is NOT suitable for tight clearance road bikes and we recommend either a Hard tail MTB/Gravel Bike or CX bike.

At both feed stations there will be tools to help fix any mechanical failures however riders are advised to carry as a minimum , 2 spare tubes, multi tool and a chain splitter.

In the event of a major mechanical disaster a sag wagon will sweep the course .

The HQ is open from 7.30 to 6.30 p.m all riders will need to have completed their rides by 6.15 p.m. there will be generous cut off times for the feed stations anyone arriving after these times will need to cut to one of the shorter routes.

Remember this is not a race, the event will use narrow lanes, bridleways and will cross main roads, please respect the other users and ride within your limits.