I was toying with the idea of doing it solo but I think I'd rather drink beer and muck about! I know quite a few people who've done it solo and none of them reckoned it was boring - there are lots of races that don't even have any singletrack on the course, and some XC races are like riding round and round a billiard table, but the 12 definitely doesn't fall into this category.

Re the state of the trails, about 2/3 of the Hawthorns section is going to be fixed by contractors, and the dig the weekend before should take care of the rest.