“Much better than last years! - Support Stations were much better this year - well done! Also no Tri-bars were allowed this year in the groups, which was a good call. Enjoyed the ride as a result of the above a lot more. Thanks and Well Done!”

“Good fun... - My husband and I did the ride together and we really enjoyed it. It was our first ever night ride, not to mention 160+km. Would love to try the 180km next time...”

“Great ride, just the breakfast - Great ride, teammates, the tranqulity of the night desert is always stunning... Just the horrible breakfast...and for 95,-DHS for people who aren't participating? The food has to be fixed!!!”

“Excellent Ride - One to remember - Suggestion - Finish Check-in. I thought the Check-in at the midpoint was a great idea to ensure the safety of the riders. I was surprised this wasn't repeated at the end of the course.”

“A Great Event, great job Andy and the support - The only comment about the signage would be for the small loop. Whilst we were told to take second right, i think most of us didnt count the 90 right before the dunes, and so missed the curve right ( the correct one)and tried to make the second 90 right..to avoid a pile up we just continued for the clockwise version. The wisdom ( or not as the case turned out) for continuing with this action was the crossover as we rejoined the main track back to the big loop, crossed the path of others.!”

“Great to be out there in the dark - Great ride and great to be out at night on a bike while "the rest" sleeps...;). Kudos to our group (not sure about others), there was no incidents of "Cyclo-Rage" - nowadays a common issue among groups riding together - everyone was happy the whole time. ”

“Fun event in summer - As a triathlete, always a challenge to ride in a group. But it's not a race and it's making a very nice ride in the summer ”

“Good - Good”

“Expensive for a ride round the loop - Good event but could have had more support, I felt very alone out there in the dark even with a very supportive group. Poor chap at the mosque was rushed off his feet, need a few guys there. And turning point sign for the 161km people would have been helpful/fun. Generally though a good night out.”

“Amazing course on night ride .great adventure - Memorable”

“An enjoyable event, well organised - Thanks to the guys for support and organization Only negative is that the breakfast was terrible”

“Great fun event, well organised - Great fun event. I hope the smaller groups method is adopted by more events and clubs”

“Special and different - Creative, special, social and different. Great event and definitely recommended to challenge oneself in the Dubai hot summer months. Fantastic breakfast afterwards and good support along the course both mechanical through roaming vehicles and at manned aid stations in the middle of nowehere. Thank you”

“Expectations exceeded! - Very well run course - exactly what I've come to expect from this team. Good course, good support, good use of feedback from previous events. Perhaps make the breakfast an optional extra? Sadly we had to leave straight away. I'm certain to be back next year, and may even do the Winter Solstice event (rain permitting!)”

“Good social ride. - There is a need of captains to assure the pace of the group is the one for what you go for or at least to make sure that the "no drop" policy is a reality. If someone wants to do 34+k/h they shouldn't go for the 32 k/h group.”

“Overall good event, but some tweaks would improve - I really enjoyed the event, managing to do my longest ride to date in the dark, during summer etc. Signage could have been far better at the junctions, we were near enough on top of them before we could see them. Group/ride captains could have been agreed on beforehand. There was sign-in required at the start, at the mosque but not a the end, which seemed a little strange. Long way from the mosque back and no way of knowing if people were still on the track. Will do it again though”

“Such a good event! - My first time and it was surprisingly good! we got lost a couple of time, may be signals need to be more visible and readable. Support station were not well organised. The atmosphere among the athletes has been great and as well the respect within the groups. see u there next year.”

“A long and sweaty slog in the dark - Enjoyed the event, well organised and communicated by the Race ME team as always. Only comment, knowing the route (as most did) I had no problem following the supplied map/directions, however for the TT riders the signage was impossible to read unless you stopped. We had a rider from AD tag along as he did not know the track and got lost twice. Would it be possible to mark up the signs with reflective tape or similar for next years event to improve the experience for out of town entrants?”

“Very well done event - Some room for improvement on course sign markings”

“Very good fun event and well organized - Water/Food station well organize”

“A great event - Great event, well organised, good support, it is a must do yearly bucket list event, well done Andy, only the addition of a medal might top it off, i'd pay more if need be,”

“Awesome event - First 100km ever and had a great ride”

“Highly enjoyable and challenging - The pre-event communication was missing some important information. Eg it only became apparent there were different starting times for different course lengths once you began the sign up process. Had we had the information in the first e-mail we would have signed up much sooner. The first e-mail stated 7.15pm as the start time, but this only applied to the 180km course whilst other start times were 8pm and 10pm. For those of us fasting in Ramadan such start times make a big difference.”

“A great fun ride with a great group of friends - Very happy with the way the event was run and organised and glad to hear that there were no real disasters (from what I have heard). I am not too sure why we needed to scrabble around in the dark at the Mosque at the end of the first loop on the 161 ride to highlight our names on the paper as it appeared some did and some didn't! Other than that little gripe it was a great ride out with our own group of fifteen riders. We all completed the ride without any issues. Darren”

“183 Solo Ride - The support team were all great, I had 2 punctures @100km and had to call "Andy" for assistance, aid arrived in 5mins. It was my first solo long distance night ride, I learnt a lot and glad I stuck at it for the 183km. T-Shirt, good drink bottle, and a feed included in the cost! Cant complain at all! I enjoyed the experience, Thanks to Andy and his team!”

“Great Event - Thank you for taking the time to put this event on.”

“An experience worth doing at least once! - If in doubt, pick a slower group - the heat makes a difference! A bit more signage/clear signage on the turns would be beneficial to people who don't know the track.”

“An unusual event with some great people - I really enjoyed this event - the experience of cycling in the dark very unusual and while it made for a few hairy moments it's definitely one I'd like to repeat. The highlights for me were the excellent goody bag and the after race breakfast. The one thing I would change would be the course signage. Uncertainty over direction nearly caused a huge pile up in my group - I'm still amazed that we avoided it as I locked up fully! Signage must be bigger and clearer and shown at *every* turn. ”

“Very enjoyable - A little more and clearer directional signage required, as some confusion in our peloton over some of the turns. As ever, quite a few in the large group over estimated their abilities, which led to a some frustration with the no drop policy, and finally, a healthy and less dangerous group split. One less compulsory stop would have been acceptable. Was it necessary to stop at the tent again, only 12K after leaving the mosque? We weren't clear on the instruction.”

“Solstice 161Km - Like the event could be done at the end of summer to make weather conditions easier. Possible to make it bigger and take it on road instead of cycle track. Food afterwards where terrible!!”

“More bananas + better signs - Needed more bananas at Canopy stop + there were no bananas at mosque stop. Signs were poor, people not frequenting Al Qudra easily lost. Signs need to be reflective to see in the dark/much larger. ”

“Great chance for people to ride at night - I'm surprised how many people have never ridden Al Qudra at night - I though most people have done it. The poor chap at the mosque doing the checkin should have had a torch ! ”

“Nice experience to ride at night - 1. Great initiative to have names on the back instead of a number,... just everyone placed it so high on their back that honestly, I couldn't read a single name... 2. On the first 20km loop, thought it was counterclockwise, so I was the only one right or everyone else was wrong... next time, keep it simple: start all clockwise, or all counter-clockwise, no mixing... 3. Signage could maybe be better, with indicators: 36km turn, 100km straight, 160km left, etc.. 4. Could be better on mosque ... ”

“A lot of fun - A great opportunity for a long ride when the temperature had dropped a bit!”

“First nigth "race" - Add some energy bar and more "fruit". ”

“I will add to bucket list so I can tick it off !! - A really great event. The only real issue is rider etiquette, but this is not unique to Bonkers. Our group leaders incorrectly took as clockwise around the small loop and a few riders were a bit 'all over the place' and not able to ride in a decent formation... BUT this is an observation, not a complaint. Perhaps a bit more on the briefing, but the reality is that any rider taking on the longer distances should be aware. Trouble is some experienced riders tend not to listen to pre-briefings !!!”

“To coin a phrase Crazy Bonkers! - Really good great team spirit, coming back next year!”

“Nice Sportif event catering for all - Generally all great for my first time. Only suggestion is to appoint Group Captain/Wingman to each group or provide details of how to ride in a group (video prior to event) as groups do contain people with no group riding experience and they get mixed up: (a) riding on the front and splitting off to return to the peloton, (c) keeping on the wheel to keep group together, (d) maintaining steady pace and not accelerating hard (creating gaps) and (e) how to brake and lastly (f) communicating. :)”

“Great group spirit, really enjoyable. - Great concept, challenging route, variety of distances - all cool.”

“A lovely event, adding the 183k option was great - Thanks to everyone who took care of us! Well done, your friendly and supportive attitude is much appreciated.”

“Well organised and enjoyable - Well put together, a very good idea, and excellent spirit. Lovely evening for it too.”

“Good event, well organised - Enough participants to allow different speed/ability groups so no one should have been dropped [unlike last time I did it!]. Good support stations, giveaways. Friendly chat on way round, weather was just abut perfect - just a great event. Can't think of way it could be improved really. ”