So amazingly we are already into February!  What happened to January?  As we have been off the blog radar recently, we thought an update would be good.

Registered riders of BM3D will get their first email update in about mid February – as we did last year the contents of this email will include information about the route, the tented village and other important information.  Entries are going well for 2012, we are already above 2011 entry numbers but to keep this event intimate and non-mass market like we have a cap of between 150 – 200 riders (depending on our final tented village location).  This cap will remain forever more!!  So if you know anyone who still wants to sign up give them a nudge – when we are full we are full.

We are in the middle of the big freeze at the moment so even with our best intentions our last trip to Wales was limited in terms of progress.  We have however recruited a local crew from Abergavenny to help out with certain aspects of the event, primarily the route.  Jon Moyle is the man we are trusting with new route ideas, so hopefully he can find, and show us, little gems that we missed in 2011.  We don’t want to change too much of the route because we had some great feedback last year, but a few changes are necessary.

Staying on the route topic, we plan on asking last years riders a couple of questions to help improve the experience. I guess top of that list is the colour ribbon we used to indicate right or wrong way.  In 2011 we had pink ribbon indicating that a rider had taken a wrong turn and blue if the rider was on the right track.  We had a couple of comments in relation to the blue ribbon – so if anyone has ideas of what would be better we would like to know.  A couple of points to remember though: 1) yellow can’t be used as it is used by Forestry Commission’s felling crew and 2) these ribbons are used for guidance and not directions.

We are in talks with potential title sponsors – so expect some great news soon (we hope so anyway).  Why do we need a title sponsor?  We asked the same question and decided that it’s a good idea for a number of reasons, some include:

• A title sponsor would add credibility to the event (BM3D) and the series.
• Speaking of series, the plan is to set up a couple more events with the same format (one in Wales, one in Scotland and one in England) – more of this later.  So we believe that this really is an opportunity for a brand to reap the benefits of our series vision, and the result would be a benifit to the participants / volunteers / staff.  If anyone has ideas of a potential candidate please don’t hesitate to contact us.
• Bearded Man could benefit from a reputable brand, in lots of ways.  From resource, to finance, to marketing support, to operational support, to logistics support etc.  Again the result would mean we could focus on the good stuff like finding the best routes for the events.

Speaking of sponsors, we are delighted and super grateful for the sponsors who have remained with us from 2011 – everyone wants to come back and we have a few more sponsors offering up some amazing prizes and support to the Bearded Man Team.  We will be doing a full sponsor report soon so keep your eye on the blog.

Finally, as you might have seen, Bearded Man have a small mtb / road / cross team that will be out and about promoting the ventures under the brand.  So, if you see Johnny Shaw, Jon Moyle or myself, sporting the new Bearded Man kit, please don’t be shy and come over and say hello.  Our team site is still a work in progress but please check us out @ www.racing.beardedman.co.uk or follow us on Twitter @beardedmanRT.

Any comments or suggestions please don’t hesitate to contact us.

The Bearded Man Team