MUCKERS 2026 JANUARY CHAMPIONSHIP RACE 2.
ROUTE AND RACE DETAILS:
Copacabana to San Pedro de Tiquina | Bolivia | 24.61 miles | 1,818 ft. climbing
ROUVY SAY: Journey along the legendary shores of Lake Titicaca on this beautiful 41km route. Starting in Copacabana, you’ll ride to San Pedro de Tiquina over rolling hills, gaining 476m. Every climb rewards you with breathtaking new views of the deep blue, high-altitude lake.
WE SAY: This looks a bit long?? and a bit steep at the beginning??? then long and green for 16+ miles?? what bike and wheels am i meant to use???? Maybe we can swap bikes after the climb? NO!! Fair enough, but i now have my new suggestion for the next update 😏😏😏
But we are back to full on draft races (Apart from the “RECON” version) So lets get our Thursday Night Race Fix and see what that does to this months championship: Just checked the last race and no ones on track so i can crack on. Love the fact i don’t have to wait for the 19:30 race to finish anymore now its moved to the day before!
140 riders set a time over the 7 different options. We now implement our 3 rules and see how many are left: Wow!! still 118 which is a great result, nice one riders!
Lets see what that does!
FULL LEADERBOARD RESULTS FROM THIS RACE:
*Points before Ballast Added.
CATEGORY ROUND UP:
Your Category is not set in stone! it is re-learned after every race you do with us so please keep this in mind when checking your results as your category might move up or down at the end of the month compared to the start of the month depending on your performances.
The top 3 in Each Category Leaderboard at the end of the Month, Get the chance to have Bonus Points Added to there World Championship Points BUT only if they managed to secure a top 50 place in the Months Championship.
TOP 3 ELITE RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: nelsonsnyder
2: ErlendSundstrom
3: BareRemi
ELITE LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
 | Adam96 | 474.00 | 19-34 |
 | TijsV | 472.00 | 45-49 |
 | BareRemi | 468.97 | 35-39 |
| 4. | Andrus17 | 467.00 | 35-39 |
| 5. | ErlendSundstrom | 466.00 | 19-34 |
TOP 3 CAT. A1 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: karel_sousek
2: lrollin
3: DukeNorton
A1 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| karel_sousek | 424.24 | 45-49 |
| lrollin | 409.86 | 50-54 |
| Pablo1945 | 267.00 | 55-59 |
| 4. | Tuden | 235.00 | 50-54 |
| 5. | IvanSagan86 | 220.00 | 55-59 |
TOP 3 CAT. A2 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: przemokrk
2: Tim_U
3: Hans.Holm.Moeller
A2 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| Tim_U | 447.00 | 60-64 |
| Hans.Holm.Moeller | 412.65 | 55-59 |
| nielsbrynnum | 400.00 | 55-59 |
| 4. | DommeNic | 384.00 | 45-49 |
| 5. | m-forby | 332.79 | 50-54 |
TOP 3 CAT. A3 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: Wyverns
2: Grochang
3: KarianneKanebog
A3 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| EddyDomino | 359.00 | 55-59 |
| Dave12 | 354.00 | 40-44 |
| Grochang | 346.72 | 50-54 |
| 4. | KarianneKanebog | 289.00 | 19-34 |
| 5. | Wyverns | 207.00 | 55-59 |
TOP 3 CAT. A4 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: Stefan793
2: MikeHagen
3: akoval
A4 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| Stefan793 | 419.00 | 45-49 |
| MikeHagen | 344.00 | 70-74 |
| akoval | 299.74 | 40-44 |
| 4. | simonjp | 287.00 | 50-54 |
| 5. | Yumile | 257.00 | 45-49 |
TOP 3 CAT. A5 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: kvaningen
2: Squalo_delle_Alpi
3: Sepp1718
A5 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| Squalo_delle_Alpi | 196.10 | 45-49 |
| Sepp1718 | 187.90 | 45-49 |
| MNHROUVY | 185.80 | 55-59 |
| 4. | kvaningen | 134.00 | 55-59 |
| 5. | LarsPl | 100.00 | 55-59 |
TOP 3 CAT. A6 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: Vojtech.L
2: Bates1980
3: Klinthomie
A6 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| Bates1980 | 186.40 | 55-59 |
| S.Ludford | 185.80 | 55-59 |
| Klinthomie | 185.10 | 35-39 |
| 4. | sunniva | 184.50 | 45-49 |
| 5. | 4WorldPeace | 182.90 | 65-69 |
TOP 3 CAT. A7 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: Slyfly
2: Mucker1974
3: ValRdz
A7 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| Slyfly | 187.70 | 60-64 |
| Mucker1974 | 183.60 | 50-54 |
| ValRdz | 182.40 | 19-34 |
| 4. | Jojje76 | 91.90 | 55-59 |
| 5. | batbuilder | 91.50 | 55-59 |
TOP 3 CAT. A8 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: StepanB
2: DAVTUS
3: cdtchris
A8 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| StepanB | 181.50 | 50-54 |
| cdtchris | 180.90 | 65-69 |
| Sille63 | 179.10 | 55-59 |
| 4. | fazzo34 | 177.90 | 55-59 |
| 5. | DAVTUS | 90.00 | 55-59 |
TOP 3 CAT. A9 RIDERS FROM THIS RACE:
1: Wartaal
2: Figer
3: n/a
A9 LEADERBOARD SO FAR THIS MONTH:
| Pos. | Rider | Points | Age |
| Wartaal | 88.90 | 60-64 |
| Eliotrician | 88.70 | 55-59 |
| Fanarim | 88.50 | 55-59 |
| 4. | Figer | 88.50 | 55-59 |
| 5. | VDB1985 | 0.00 | 55-59 |
THIS MONTHS TOP 100 LEADERBOARD SO FAR:
*Ballast added to this table
The Aim here is to get into the top 50 positions by the end of each 4 week period. If you do, you get World Championship points that are updated every month of the year.
Top 10 at the end of the Month get ballast added which is basically a percentage figure your points get deduced by.
We use your best 10 Months Out of 12 for the world championship.
LINK TO NITEOR PAGE:
This is where you can find all the data, full lists, full run down of races (past and future) and if you join, which is free, you can get even better insight into your rides. Give it a go, it’s really good. Even if you just use it for the ROUTE ANALYZER that helps you pick the best wheels and frame based on your data for the actual route your looking at makes it worth a look.
https://www.niteor.com/events/MUCKERS%202026%20WORLD%20CHAMPIONSHIP
TO FINISH OFF:
Really nice to see all those that finished in the top 10 of the World Championship in 2025 have all now been back for at least one race with us already this year. Makes me feel we are doing something right… maybe.
Love how the new points structure for those outside the top 50 is working! Keep it consistent this year and i will be very surprised if anyone who does all 4 races finished outside the top 50 in the GC! And no single stage hitters stay inside the top 50 either.🤞🤞🤞🤞
Not too much movement in the categories, 1 or 2, but nothing too drastic so keep going riders as remember, top 3 in your category is worth those bonus points!
Sunday Hill Climb Next. Link to NITEOR event is here if you want to find out the 2 start times. remember GC is based solely on elevation completed.
https://www.niteor.com/events/MUCKERS%202026%20HILL%20CLIMB%20CHAMPIONSHIP
Then on Tuesday we have the target w/kg championship where its closest to 2.3 w/kg gets the best points. Last weeks was a good event with some still going flat out (which is fine as NITEOR is still running the year long championship for those that want to do that) but we’d say around 40% went for the 2.0w/kg so its a good start. Link to the w/kg event is below:
https://www.niteor.com/events/MUCKERS%202026%20WKG%20TRAINING%20CHAMPIONSHIP
And then we are back to the world championship for round 3 which is the “Penas to Khota Thiya Lake | Bolivia” challenge route which looks hard! Just under 2000 feet of elevation, in 17.34 miles and a climb profile, its gonna be a good test, which we do love on a Thursday! Link to the event is further up the blog, but I’ll add it here again just to safe:
https://www.niteor.com/events/MUCKERS%202026%20WORLD%20CHAMPIONSHIP
And that’s all we need to cover this week. Thank you all for coming along, racing with us, chatting with us, the thumbs up as we ride along, it all makes this worth it. Thanks as always for reading and commenting on the blog, and a very special thanks to all who read to the very end.
Mucker1974
86th overall…. And that was a flat out effort. But i still managed a 20 place jump up in the GC from 80th to 60th which really does show the new points structure is working for those of us who ride every week! So if this trend continues i should finish 20th by the end of the month 🧐🥴🤦♂️
But to tonight’s race. long climb into a long green draft fest. Time to get tactical and not be left solo on the green section. i Know its a championship race, but sometimes you need to think what’s the best solution to set the best time i can. SO with the help of some Muckers, and an agreement with Ste Ludford to “pace” the climb at 2.8w/kg so we could slingshot draft afterwards, we set off. About half way up I’m already struggling, i can hold the 2.8 but seeing we aren’t even in top 80 is quite gutting! 🥵. But we eventually end up at the top and we are a group of around 6 and we then really motor along! Picking up riders and also dropping riders, but all the time, keeping the core together. We crossed the line in mid 70th places and it was a really enjoyable race. I can say that now… i wouldn’t have said it 3/4 the way up that climb though, but then the race after the climb was a lot of fun! Cheers everyone, especially Ste and also shout out to the much stronger HalAir who dragged us along for a good while!
Finally some good feelings, I was a little nervous at the start because yesterday I did a similar race with more climbing and I didn’t know what would happen. Ready, go and I see this long uphill section… I work hard and try to find a good pace. I work for a bit with my friend Andreas, but then slowly we drop away, and this time Sharky is in front. I meet a lot of friends, and I start working with Stadler, and with good legs, the pace continues to give me satisfaction. The biggest surprise for me was seeing my great friend 80 meters away 🐂🇪🇸 and this becomes an additional motivation for me. We join together for the last few kilometers of climbing, a good group, and then down into the green sections, every now and then I push and push to keep everyone alert, we catch up with another 5/7 riders, still the final efforts for the last 90 meters of elevation gain. Finally, I try and start a 1km sprint, which works out well for me this time, coming in 3rd out of 8. Great evening, friends. Oh, I forgot… I took 1st place in A5… incredible right now 💪
Thanks to all my friends who worked with me, see you at the next challenge 👋🫶🏻🦈
Good job, Sharky!
A4 in a few months!! Keep up the great work mucker!!
So, before the race started, a couple of racers from the “big dog Muckers mafia” came up to me and said “kid, you are basically a newby domestique on this team. Your job is to set a high tempo on the cat 3 and cat 4 climbs,..keep us in position, and then off the top we will take it from there!” And so I did my job, and then woosh, they did their thing. They wooshed by amazingly quickly, although someone took a second to send me a thumbs up. After that is was eerily quiet, just me and the clouds. At about 10K to go, there is RaTim. Like good teammates we did a really hard two person TT to the finished. Neither of us missed a pull.
What now? Sunday there will be a nice easy stroll in the mountains. And then Tuesday, a very slow, albeit a precisely very slow event. And then it will be Thursday again. If my eyes do not deceive me, next Thursday does not have any downhill?! Oooh, game on! Be well everyone and I look forward to seeing you all soon, Cheers
I am curious – where are people chatting and saying these things? Where do you meet up with the big dog muckers mafia? A dark alley? At the docks by the pier?
They will find you. You will not find them.
i wish i’d have seen this chat as well lol. But you keep it up Mucker, and it seems adding the upcoming events to the blog has had the desired effect. Take care Paul… or is it Paulo or Pablo…. or big bad… I’m so confused…😏
To tell the “truth”, we meet up in the swiss cheese of my brain. not sure it is a place you would want to go. LOL. and Neil, if by oft chance you have any discourse with the powers that be at Niteor, which is a mysterious labyrinth, please tell ” them” who put me in A1 for the monthly up date that I am not 55-59, which were wonderful years including a tandem trip with the wife to the Cote D’Azur but that i am 80+, a category that i am proud to represent. Did anyone notice I am currently #3 in the A1 category? No way on God’s green earth. cheers (from Pablo1945)
I’ve reached out to NITEOR about yours as its the right age group in the actual individual race, but then when it goes to the GC you loose a few years. He’s messaged me back he will look into it.
Also i hit the relearn after every race now as instructed by NITEOR. so the more i hit it, the more accurate it’s meant to go. So you could see yourself dropping categories soon.
Gotta love it when one isn’t really feeling special, but the W numbers look maybe 10% higher than usual, and one is riding with folk usually far ahead. So it was today. Got onto the climb, a line of riders ahead, holding low 4s, felt sustainable, and reeled them in, one by one. Halfway up, was in a group with KarianneKanebog, EddyDomino, Dave12, MartijnS1980, m-forby, Brampaulussen (Bram!) and we caught Grochang (Mads!). Did my share with the group along the rolling bit after the summit, but could not hang on for the last hundred meters of the last kicker before the descent to the finish. Drat! Soloed down, wary eye on the chase group that had a slew of heavy hitters also. Glad I held them off. Hope there are more days like this coming! Kudos to all that finished.
Nice one Mike, great report and sounds like things are going in the right direction!
But you know me, if there’s a thought in the back of my mind i need to get it out so… i hope your trainer is upto date and calibrated and its not leading you up the garden path ready to drop a bomb on you next time to calibrate it! These pesky trainers can sneak up on you like that, especially when you aren’t actually feeling it and then you smash out record figures.
worth checking out maybe?
It reminded me to re calibrate mine anyway as I’d not done it in a while so if anyone’s reading this and you’ve not calibrated your trainer for a while, maybe now, at the start of the year is the time to do it?
cheers again Mike and good luck in A4, Stefan is getting some good results in so there’s always a chance he could move up one so worth keeping an eye on that! Also some might drop down from A3 so watch those guys as well.
Thanks for the reminder, Neil! Did a spindown, don’t notice any difference; but it’s a good thing to do a recalibration periodically. Gotta say, though, I’m sure my results are legit. I’ve a weight bar in my basement, set up for deadlifts. I don’t use it regularly, it’s a sporadic thing, do a set of five every now and then. But here’s the thing: I had to take 20 kg off after I got home last July. Been slowing adding weight the last few months, and last week added a couple more kg. It’s now heavier than it was before leaving for Europe. It’s gratifying to be be able to do that. And, all you 40 and 50 year-olds out there, do weight or resistance training. Aerobic activity like riding your bike is great and fun and all, but it’s weight training that will impact your quality of life the most as you get into your 70s and 80s. Start now.
I agree with the weights. For many years I have gone to the gym two times a week, asoecially for a bit of upper body strength maintenance. And some leg presses, with sets up to over 500 lbs, no exaggeration. Thing is, for the last 2 months, to avoid the flu and covid I stopped going to avoid getting sick. So now I have lost 2 whole pounds. My upper body looks like after doing the Tour de France. I could honestly race at 62kg, but I keep my Rouvy weight at 63 ( and I take a photo on the scale before any big race) Anyway, yes to doing what you say Mike on the weights
After getting my backside royally kicked on a similar climb/descend profile during Tuesday’s event I decided ‘not this time’ and agreed a steady pace strategy for the climb with Neil. We picked up a few riders along the way but without direct communication they didn’t know our plan and would occasionally stretch the pace and pull away, we ignored them and gradually regrouped each time, eventually, the penny dropped and the growing group decided to combine efforts over the top and down to the finish. We gained 0.5 miles on some solo riders down the descent and were motoring along nicely, I signalled a random point where I would launch a lead out for Neil, if he wanted it, it turned out to be a ‘breaking point’ 🤦 … oh well … The small point gaps at the lower positions is a good idea, it promotes working together to get done, almost like a groupetto.
Nice one Ste, it was funny that the point you picked to start your last attack was right when we hit the braking zone lol. That type of luck is usually mine! But it was a great effort all the way and thanks for the encouragement when i was pretty much ready to pack in the climb at the last kicker!
I guess I was the one who didn’t know the plan and pushed ahead up the hill 🙂
But I had the strength and was climbing so well that I wanted to help you because I know that when I go down the hill, I’ll be sitting on your wheel, trying not to fall out of the draft.
I had a great time riding yesterday. It’s not about finishing well in the peloton, but about the great teamwork we did. I’ll never train as hard on my own as I did during these races.
We were shouting “come back, don’t leave us”. I was also hoping my teammate Gunnera would stay with us. We ended up picking up more Farnham teammates on the descent, I didn’t know any of them had started the event until we caught them.
I think Sunniva it might be time to invite you to the Muckers WhatsApp chat if you fancy it? you have our email so if you want to join and at least then be in the discussions before we kick off, then email over (don’t post it here) your mobile and we can get you included. If anyone feels they could benefit from joining us on WhatsApp AND you’ve been racing with us for a good while now, then please email over your number and we can start a dialogue and work out if joining the chat will be of benefit to you.
We do have Dscord aswell which doesn’t take an invite to join and quite a few find that platform better
I had to do the ‘Afternoon Teatime Race’, which, for some reason, is called the ‘Brunch Race’ 😉. Unfortunately there were just a handful of riders and it ends more or less in a TT effort for me. But the route was quite nice and I enjoyed it though. Finally I’m happy with the time I set.
Cheers, Mick
I really couldn’t brink myself to call it “afternoon tea” so went with “brunch” just because it sounds fine and it’d happen at brunch time somewhere in the world… right?? Well done with your time as your solo effort was still faster than our group effort! A bit gutted i didn’t check beforehand all the finished times as i might have just pushed a little harder on the green section if I’d have known 15 seconds quicker would have gotten me an extra position.
Great race!
That was my kind of climb, shallow enough for the majority of the ascent to get some benefit from the draft of the group I was in, which was just the motivation I needed to keep the effort high to stay in contact on the climb, knowing it should be difficult to get dropped on the descent! Then Macko got on the front and I reckon he did about 90% of the lead on the green section. Even when I was pushing over 350watts I was struggling to get past him to try and take a turn – incredible work. We caught a few solo riders on the descent, going past them if they were standing still, which gave them no opportunity to hook onto our train. We put over 1 mile into the chase group behind us who had been catching us on the climb and were close to catching the in form Mike Hagen, finishing only a few seconds behind him in the end. Bring on Sundays hill climb!!!!
nice one Simon! Great report. I agree that when the group pass a rider, its like they are standing still! it takes a special effort when you are that solo rider to time it right to jump on and if you leave it too late, you can be dropped in a matter of seconds no matter what power you apply. 4500 feet on Sunday so this will see the joint 1st place we have for everyone after the first climb change significantly i think. But yeah, looking forward to the first proper elevation of the year!
53/105🏁 A minute late start caused me to rush from 105th to 50th, so it was a constant battle. I missed the finish line because it was downhill and twisty, and I didn’t get enough fuel. Thanks to Bill Harvison, Chak Cheung Jon Lang and Gaute Sørflaten for a great fight. We passed through groups like a Bolivian express train. 🙏🤩👻
well done Mucker. saw you pass me.. wondered why so far back now it makes sense.
I was sure i will end up out of top10 after flu, but to my surprise could stay in front group after initial tough climb section. That was better than expected, but it was partly because no one was really attacking there, just steady pace. Little cramps in descent section, i knew nothing is secured as we are far from the finish line.
I did little mistake staying in first position before mini climb, when someone launched short attack. I stayed behind with Simon, because could not produce short burst power. Sad moment to get dropped here, but nothing i could do. We continued with Simon till the finish in high pace as Tim was nearby. Good effort, thank you all who joined us!
cheers Karel. looks like we have a few riders who may have heard your call to step up this year…..
The kid was pushing our bedtime-routine a lot today and so I ended up on the bike approx 3 minutes before start. I had not done any recon whatsoever and I crossed every bone in my body that it was a flatter route today.
Turns out … it was not flat at all. Damnit! Well, off we go uphill from the start – and a tough one at that because of the pace. No warm up and I gave it 99%, trying not to go too far into red. I still got dropped by almost everyone and ended up in the 70’s somewhere. Sat with Duckman2 for a while and tried to latch on, but he was way to fast for me in the end.
Me being a heavy boy, I know that I just have to survive the incline and then I can get (somewhat) revenge on the downhill. Overtook about 7-8 people and did it by myself. Seems nobody wanted to push on the down.
I saw Paul Bateman and Bikeanddogtrips in the group in front of me and I chased them like a dog chasing cars. But they kept me away by 400 meters or so – but very nice to have somebody to chase, especially when its names you “know”.
I can feel my fitness being the best it’s been in a long while, which is an incredible feeling. My weight is also steadily going down. I just hit 94 kg (down from 100 in October) so hopefully these climbs will get easier for me as we go. I have surgery on thursday and will be out 7-8 days after that. Hopefully I can hit the last January race, but I try to temper expectations and listen to my body.
As always, thanks for organizing these races and creating this community. Every thumbs up on our rides give me extra fuel when I am suffering!
great comments and thank you for taking the time to type them! Definitely listen to your body as that’s something we all say here at Muckers as the races will be here when you are ready. remember to adjust your weight on ROUVY as often as you can, especially when you have a nice decrease like you are having! Good luck with the surgery and see you when you get back on it.
Thanks Neil! And don’t worry. I changed my weight approx. 2 seconds after weigh in this morning 😉
Terrible start after not checking the route beforehand – had a complete cold start when we out of nowhere hit the steep wall in the first km – got dropped from the front 16 and from there on it was catch-up the rest of the way.
Formed a 5 man group with Niels and Badeskum at the top of the second hill and then it was non-stop pushing to catch Laurent’s and Velobuch’s 3 man group some 700 meters in front. Our group worked really well together and managed to reel the others in on the last climb. Knowing my sprint isn’t the best I attacked solo at the beginning of the last long downhill. Thanx to Niels and Badeskum backing off in the chasing group behind I surprisingly managed to TT solo as an 11th that felt like a small victory with the really strong riders behind. Thanx for another fun race guys.
nice one Hans. Sounds like quite a few of us up and down the field really benefitted of they were in a strong group after that climb!
January 2026 championship: It’s nice to see that I’m a few years younger (ages 55-59) in the A9 Leaderboard Race 1 and A8 Leaderboard Race 2. But actually, I belong in the 60-64 category.