The SR/SR series, 2017

[atk]

John Perrin is a fan of the cheeky cut-through too, there's always a bit of mud, grit or gravel on his events.

This is making me miss audax :(

[jameso]

You are describing some of the routing on the Wessex SR audax rides! If it doesn't have grass up the middle, you've taken a wrong turn.

Sounds ideal ..

Yesterday I tried the same route again, got it done.

How it went -

Started 7.30am aiming to finish late / early am. Rode to start of Ridgeway double ITT route and started that at 8am. Used the drop-bar 650B bike as it has dyno lights - but riding a road-biased 'all-roader' on a mostly off-road route was harder than I thought on the return leg. The Ridgeway is generally pretty smooth and this bike had Horizon 47C tyres, but there's enough lumpy hardpack and narrow ruts to demand a lot of out of saddle riding and that got to me. The bike just isn't as comfy as an MTB when ridden like that. A lot of "arrrgh my neck/shoulders" stretch stops. Other stops to stretch-out in a way that I often need to on long rides, more so this ride though. Niggly, flow-breaker kind of stops.

It was hot, 28+. Those white roads reflect a lot of heat. I really felt it early-mid afternoon but the steady pace I aimed at meant I wasn't sweating too hard.

Flints. Fking flints, everywhere..! I know this so why didn't I top up my sealant the night before? Partly because I just jumped at the weather forecast on Friday to ride this on Saturday, and partly carelessness. 5hrs in, flat tyre, no sealant coming out of the small nick. Topped up with most of the content of the small bottle I had with me, now worried about the rear for the rest of the ride. Rear also seemed a bit squidgy - pumped it up. This became a recurring theme of the ride ..

Eating. Ate and drank plenty over the first outward leg. Was planning on a good food stop halfway, brought a pour-store bag of rice with honey and planned to stop at the shop on the way back ~3/4 of the way through. Not sure why but the sweetness was too much, maybe the heat also. Felt that stomach churn that I got doing a 300km a few years ago that meant I rode 180km or so pretty slowly, on empty. Not good .. churn got worse and had me feeling pretty grim, slowed right down. Had a very slow 3rd quarter of the ride between Fox Hill and Goring. Felt good enough on the hills after that toblow my knee again, it'd been fine for 150 or more miles than the warning twinge and the 28T front up every hillafter that. Not a bad lesson in pacing though - taking the hills like this generally is probably the way to go on a big day ride.

All in all though, what a day to be on the Ridgeway. It's really beautiful and passes through some quite empty landscapes. There are sections that may be some of my favourite tracks in the area, the UK's strada bianca. Rolling hills and dirt tracks that made me think of other places I've been on trips away. More so on the way back as I rode through the golden hour and the white roads turned yellow, then the orange-red light among the trees at sunset. Lovely. Would have been even nicer as part of a 3hr ride rather than 17 though! Finished feeling OK, beat-up but not bonky or overly done-in, so eating issues aside that's a success.

Lessons -
Choose my food better. This ride confirmed it, I should stick to mostly savoury, real food. I stopped at the shop for a chicken tortilla wrap and milkshake and it was amazing .. Picked me up in no time. I was craving a bacon and egg sandwich .. Meant I stopped at the shop for longer than I needed, savouring the food : ) Cue a 1am cook-up after I got home!

Top up your sealant, dumbass.. That little error cost me prob 45mins in total - the flat fix then maybe 8 stops to top up both tyres' pressure. But I did get a really interesting experiment in tyre pressure done .. that sinking feeling .. Horizons on 25mm rims feel fine right down to maybe 20psi. The ideal pressure is probably lower than the 27ish that I've been using.

Drop bar bikes .. I love them but if I expect a lot of off-road ie >5 hours at a stretch .. No. Or, I need to work on strength to cope with it. Feel a bit beat up today. Triceps and arm tension that was felt in my neck. This bike is armchair-comfy on road centuries but here it beat me up.

Edelux II light - brilliant on road, not so great on woodland trails. Compared to usual night-riding in the area with my L+M, really slow going in places on the way back because of this.

Lastly - don't use ITT routes for things like this? I ignored my GPS for the first leg, only checking the time at the end of 1st leg (7 1/2hrs, just under 4 from Ivinghoe to Goring - about as expected). I didn't want to 'TT it', just to ride and pace consistently. But on the way back I was thinking '15hrs .. 15hrs .. ', the leader board on the site in mind. Took longer than that in the end, gut ache and flats accounted for a chiunk of time, yet I'm not posting a file to be checked as an ITT attempt anyway. Just that ego gets to me - pretty normal I think? In the end it made no odds to the ride apart from being on my mind during a ride where I wanted to get away from that and focus on managing my pace. Might try another 300km on a different route for this reason.


Anyway .. all just experience. I've never set out to do day rides like this before. All my longer rides in the past have been sub 12hrs or training focussed on higher intensity over maybe 12hrs then a bivi and another 8-12hrs. Have to say, 13hrs for the RW double ITT is impressive. 13.5hrs on a SS perhaps more so, it's really not a quick route for a SS imo. Wasn't when I SS'd my variant of the out-back anyway : )

[Moder-dye]

Well done and cheers for the write up of your experiences

[Mugsys_m8]

1200km in 90 hours?

That is going some.....(sitting here in smug mode having just done 1200km in 115 and 1/2 hours

[jameso]

Thanks MD..

1200km in 90 hours?

That is going some.....(sitting here in smug mode having just done 1200km in 115 and 1/2 hours

It is isn't it. Right to be in smug mode though, that was a great ride!

My only reference point is 1160km a couple of years ago as a solo tour, home to Lake Constance in 4 days 4hrs I think. included a reasonable amount of sleep and tourer-time off the bike but to get it down to 90hrs would be hard. The year after on a similar ride was about 1000km in the 4 days, just didn't ride at night quite so much. Both rides were tours where I could have saved ~4-5hrs on avoiding HAB dirt road side trips or fixing mechanicals that were avoidable, then cut the sleep to 3-4hrs a night maybe but even so - under 90hrs seems far harder than a 300 or 400km within the limits.

Still think the hardest bit for me is comfort. On that note, my rando bike lost its drop bars the other day. Sprint/track-derived bars for >12hr rides that go off-road .. it's silly isn't it really. Will see how long the alternatives say on there. I miss the drops position on shorter rides already but tbh it's only the really long rides that test a bike's comfort. Wondering how much I can do to develop some resilience there also. Off-road it's less of an issue, you move around more. Riding drops off-road adds strain and sitting there on the road for 7-8hrs plus gets uncomfy. Any position will I think.

How were your comfort levels on BTR? What bike did you use?

[Mugsys_m8]

Sorry James, forgot to say great effort by the way!!!

I'm going to do a write up in English, but currently struggling with the french version!

I took my Uncle John in the end....it wasn't the plan: I planned to take my custom size carbon road bike, only the 25mm tyres I bought whilst stuck in Mali idly dreaming about bikes didn't fit.... In the end it was all for the best that I took my Uncle John. I fitted 32mm compass tyres and it gave me confidence in generally riding anywhere: cycle tracks, bits of cobbles, humping up and down pavements etc ( didn't stop the 1 puncture on loose chippings in the 1st night though, but I wasn't the only one). I also stuck some aero bars on because, well that's what you do isn't it... (3t ones that fold up so you can ride on the top of the bars still...). I had never ridden with aero bars and felt like " God knows why I'm putting these on, still they will give me some space to bungy food onto". In the end I fell in love with the things...just so good to have another position...when my ITB went banjo tight, it made me pain-free as I could tilt my pelvis down. I even managed to do some climbing out of the saddle on the aero bars....

I had ITB issues 12 odd hours in. This is a known issue for me (see custom size carbon frame mention above!), and I managed it without any detriment to performance until c.900km at the foothills below Ventoux, when it kicked in and the ibuprofen didn't work, only the stretching aided. I got some biofreeze gel that helped. Even still my last bivvy near Avignon was spent wondering if when I got back on the bike I would just be in a world of pain and heading to the nearest train station....in the end it came good!

My arse was generally fine, I can't remember sore back or shoulders (during TNR on the same bike I often had to stop on the off-road descents due to sore wrists and shoulders/ neck....and that's drop bars with canti brakes off road on an aluminum frame)

Apart from that the only issues I had (and still do as I type this) is numb small finger and 4th finger and 1/2 of my palm. I had similar but not as bad after TNR. I've not anything special bar tape wise, my mitts are years old and....I have canti brakes so it's no surprise really.

And that's from someone who hasn't ridden a 200km in about 10 years!!!

All in all my Uncle John, continues to provide giggles and get on with the job in hand despite being bought as a 2nd bike with which to try the 3 peaks and cross riding. It's not the most exotic bike, it's made from coke cans, it would never be the bike you would choose to ride these things on if you started from the drawing board, but it brings a smile because it's just so low key!!!!

[jameso]

M_m8, s'ok, no need : ) Interesting to know how you got on generally, thanks. ITB issues can't be easy to deal with. Especially over that distance. I get them when hiking and it reduces me to a limp, really painful.

[jameso]

Updating this thread - got a 600km done in the end, not the way I intended though. No 400km and though the 200km could have been a few rides this year, I didn't get a planned mix-terrain route taking closer to the time limit done. Next year maybe.

The 600km was a good ride. I rode to Eurobike again and decided to get a 600km done during that ride of ~1100km in total. 40hrs is 7am until 11pm the next day, or similar, so by doing 2 300km days and having a reasonable kip in between I thought it counted. There was very little off-road (ie about 5-10 miles) and it was hilly but nothing dramatic (5500m approx) but even so, it feels a fairly long way in 40hrs when self-supported. I got from 30miles south of Calais, across the Avesnois and Ardennes areas, through the Vosges and over the Rhine and up to the top of the Schauinsland climb in Germany over that 600km. Pics to follow.

What worked for me was breaking the day down into 3 parts. I always think I'm not getting far when I'm at 60ish miles just after lunch but in reality that's just the first 3rd of the day done. So 3 stints of 5 hours to do 60 miles within each, inc stoppage time for food or resupply etc. 7am-12pm, 12pm-5pm and 5pm to 10pm. Leaves a fair bit of time to fit in an hour for dinner and a sleep. As a fast touring guide it works and is repeatable over a few days, as an audax it's probably leaving too much time to sleep. The problem is I've still 'had enough' before 11pm most nights ..
I guess when I'm riding for an experience and I'm on road, riding at night is just a bit dull. I'm missing all the good views and the scenery that I go there for. Maybe I'm no randonneur after all ... Or maybe I'll do another 600km next opportunity to ride under a clear full moon?

[ianfitz]

I didn’t ride one this year but have already entered some ‘proper’ events for next year.

Including London Wales London 400, BCM 600, MP 1000 and will ride the 300 TINAT

Fancy doing some different riding next year. Excited.