It could be you…

WIN TransScotland race entry packages worth £1,275!

Want to race in this year’s epic, seven-day TransScotland stage event (25 May – 2 June, um, Scotland)? Take it from us, you do. The format is essentially the same as that pioneered by last year’s TransWales event – a unique blend of short, timed “special stages” (mostly on purpose-built singletrack trails) and long, enduro-style link stages between them. You’ll start from Selkirk and end up back there a week later having covered 310 miles and climbed a not-insubstantial 46,000 feet.

You’ll be able to ride light – overnight stuff (tents, sleeping bags, all that kind of thing) will be transported by the event organisers. So all you have to do is ride the link stages in such a way as to not destroy yourself or your bike and then give it heaps on the special stages. We loved the sound of the concept when it was devised last year, and having done TransWales we know that it’s definitely a winner.

Race for us!

Last year Bikemagic was represented by not only editorial types Mike and Dave but also by our competition winners John Underwood and Barbara Conrad-Underwood, who travelled all the way from the south of France to take part and did us proud. This time around we’re looking for a team and a solo entrant.

The team

TransScotland teams are of two riders. You can be two blokes, two ladies, or mixed, we don’t mind at all. There just has to be two of you. You don’t have to be fast, just determined. We’re looking for the team that best represents what we like to think of as the Bikemagic ethos – doing your best and having fun.

The soloist

Same deal, really, except that there’ll only be one of you. Be warned that this will be hard. There were numerous occasions during TransWales when it was only being part of a team that kept us going – without that motivation you’re going to have to be strong (not to say wrong) in the head. Plus you’ll have to ride further than the teams on account of having to do all of what would be team relay special stages…

In both cases we’re offering the complete entry package: Ride entry, free breakfast, lunch and dinner, free usage of service stations, free luggage and tent transport from location to location, finishing jersey, free map and course material, free usage of facilities, free camping at all stage locations starting with Saturday night at the White House Farm in Builth and finishing with the following Saturday night at the same location, free parking for the week (at your own risk) and mega event goodie holdall (worth up to £150) which will travel with you for the whole duration. That lot would ordinarily cost £425 per rider, so this is a major prize. Plus we’ll sort you out with Bikemagic kit. All you have to do is get yourself to the start.

How to enter

You’ll need to do a bit of work for this one. Here’s what we need:

• Photos of you, ideally some riding and some head-and-shoulders shots so we can see what you look like. Obviously if you’re entering as a team we need pics of both of you. Please let us know who took the pics so we can get them cleared for publication if necessary.
• A race/event CV (don’t be put off if you haven’t done many, or indeed any, races – it’s not necessarily a hindrance…). Again, there’ll be two of these for teams.
• In a maximum of 200 words, tell us why you deserve this coveted opportunity. And that’s just 200 words per competition entry – teams don’t get double, so don’t get carried away.

Send all that stuff to [email protected] by 23 March – don’t forget to tell us whether you’re a team or a solo. We’ll get a shortlist together, tell the readers all about the entrants the following week and then kick off the now-traditional voting process to decide who gets to represent us at Britain’s most epic bike event.

Find out more

You can find more details of the Chain Reaction Cycles TransScotland (powered by Merida) at www.mtbtransuk.co.uk/scotland.