The Dukes Weekender is a gravel enduro with added bonus hill climb prologue kicking off its inaugural event in September 2018 in Aberfoyle, Scotland.
The brainchild of two handy riders who wanted to get a cycling event going to give the local scene a boost in the off season, The Dukes Weekender is a multi stage gravel enduro with the added element of a hill climb prologue.
Pete chatted to Stu Thomson about how the idea for the event came about, where they’re at and what racers can expect.
Who is Stu Thomson?
That’ll be me!
What’s your background in cycling?
This is where I definitely feel old haha… Back in the day I raced downhill with a bit of success. Junior British Champ, Elite national medals and a few World Cup seasons (Editor’s note, Stu is still the only Scot to podium at a World Cup).
Since then I’ve worked in the industry making films, at first self employed and then growing my company Cut Media into a fun little crew. I’m still all about riding bikes as much as possible really though, mostly enduro type carnage with my buddies but also a bit of gravel, road and trials too.
I still do the odd race to keep me on it as well, mostly a few enduro races. I’ve raced Trans Provence a few times recently and (slightly off topic) did the Scottish Six Day trial last year too. This year bizarrely I’m going to do the Paris Roubaix route the day before the big race.
Definitely like to mix it up haha!
What’s your background in the cycling industry?
By industry I guess you mean ‘work’ which these days is working with the most awesome team of creative people at Cut Media. Initially I started filming years ago and worked for a few UK companies like No Fuss Events, Mojo and Orange making online ‘content’ before it was really a thing…
Since then I started up Cut Media and it’s grown into a team of 9 of us and work with some big old names like Adidas, Red Bull, Cervelo and Santa Cruz. I guess we’re best known for our work with that MacAskill chap though.
How did Dukes Weekender come about?
It was actually came from a chat on a ride with my mate Rob Friel. He’s a bit of a legend at XC and on the road but loves his MTB too so we ride together a lot. The area we live (known at the Trossachs) is one of the most beautiful areas of Scotland. It is only an hour from Glasgow and has such a variety of riding, from big mountain/Munros stuff though to gravel and cycle trail networks. In terms of people visiting though we just get tons of old people on buses and many cyclists just don’t really know about it or where to go.
Why did you choose to go down the road/gravel route?
The focus is primarily gravel. It’s a bit of a new trend in cycling but realistically we went that route because the we believe the Trossachs area is the best place for gravel in Scotland. There is a vast area of Munro hill paths, forest park, lochs, and villages that all have a huge network of gravel trails and paths going between. This gives us the most amazing loop combined with wild landscape. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of miles of gravel on my doorstep that you can ride all day without seeing a road, so for us that meant it was the natural choice to run an event.
On the road riding side, the event is hosted in Aberfoyle which sits at the bottom of an iconic road called Dukes Pass so we decided that closing the road and then hopefully lining it with crowd, cowbells and creating a festival vibe would be an amazing first stage/prologue on the Saturday (or stand alone event if you prefer) to the enduro.
Tell us about the route/format.
Oh man I’m so excited about it! It’s basically an enduro format that is suited to XC mountain bikes or cross/gravel bikes (I’m genuinely not sure which will be quicker). The main route is 60km all off road (the Dukes prologue the day before being the exception) and made up of gravel forest road, trail and singletrack.
We’ll have 6 stages including Saturday’s prologue and I’m buzzing on them, it’s a great balance between fitness and bike skills but its ridable for everyone. Probably the best feature is the scenery though; the 60km route includes 6 lochs sides, awesome views of Ben Lomond & Ben Ledi and some really amazing historical elements like some incredible Victorian aqueducts, the Rob Roy Way and obviously the iconic Dukes Pass.
Are there plans to change the event over time?
At the beginning this really was just a spontaneous decision to have an event so we’re just going to take it as it comes and see how this year works out. We’d love to make it an annual event but we’ll just see how it goes.
What kind of red tape did you have to cut through to get the event off the ground?
Just the usual stuff I guess, land owners, local council, forestry permissions etc but to be fair to them all everyone has been very supportive of our plan.
What advice would give to anyone looking to organise a similar event?
Go for it.
How many people make up the team behind event and what do they do?
If I do say so myself we’ve got a strong old team involved bringing this together. The core team is myself, Rob and Frazer Coupland from No Fuss events. Myself and Rob are on the ground in the area and are handling the route, permissions, all the marketing, website, entries etc etc. Frazer is up in Fort William but is basically our Yoda.
He’s been a friend of mine for a long time and he is experienced in running some of the best events in Scotland so he’s been a big help in making the whole plan come together and the infrastructure No Fuss will bring on the weekend will be invaluable. It’s gonna be big!
What did you have to sacrifice to get to this stage?
I’m not moaning about sacrificing stuff. Life is busy but I like it that way.
Did you have day jobs that you had to give up?
Not really give up as such, we’re both working full time too so pulling it together in our spare time and weekends mostly. That said the Cut Media crew are gonna be helping with some filming/marketing content as we get closer.
How did you learn what you needed to know to get the event off the ground to the point where you could open entries?
Frazer has been super helpful but at the same time it’s really just myself and Rob being really motivated to do it. We’re learning loads but the event itself is going to be amazing. The route is genuinely amazing so as a product and experience we really believe we’re offering something great. On top of that we’ve got some amazing people involved so we’re buzzing on the whole thing.
Where next for you and the Dukes Weekender? How do you plan to go about getting extra helpers etc. etc.?
Entries are now live, we’ll be launching the kids’ event and announcing talk line-up at the beginning of March too. We’ll be needing lots of help, marshals and support over the weekend too so will have details soon but anyone interested can get in touch here.
Anybody to thank at this point in the journey? Long suffering spouses/parents/friends?
My wife primarily, how she puts up with me I’ll never know! Haha… Also all the group of local riders who are really supportive and helping out tons, plus all the other good people who are helping us get the event off the ground!
