BB200 Fast'n'light or Pack for a kip'n'brew?

[Dyffers]

Light, and we'll see if I can do fast this year. Will be carrying enough food to get me round without a shop stop, and definitely no stove.

I'm bored with riding the Niner 'race' bike this year, so just for a laff I've decided my Yelli Screamy is going to get a run. I'll probably conclude this was a bad idea about dusk on Saturday.

[mountainbaker]

Will be packing light, but might not be riding fast, will be singlespeed, which will probably hurt a lot, and my body is still recovering from the trauma of New Mexico with very little sleep.

[Single Speed George]

allso going single speed ...so even if i do manage light weight (whitch i wont) its still gona be a slog !

[slowupslowdown-under]

Light as poss with the aim to finish in 23hrs 59 mins!

[DrMekon]

I haven't got light kit - will be on 29+, with 3 season bag, mat and bivvy. Don't plan to sleep, but if opportunity for a cafe stop for some decent food presented itself, I'd struggle to pass it up, as I find bars hard to tolerate over long periods.

I'm thinking I'll treat it like an straight through 600km audax on knobbly tires.

[Richard G]

Having looked at some of the veloviewer stats in here, talk of ridiculously long other events that have been done, and people talking about doing it on singlespeeds...

...I'm suddenly extremely nervous. lol

[Ben98]

Depends how I feel after the dales 200

[Zippy]

Having looked at some of the veloviewer stats in here,

And just think, they might not be posting up all of their rides

[Richard G]

Niiiiice. lol

If I include my trainer time my totals would look fairly respectable... but there's no substitute for the real thing.

[Giacomo]

Last year the BB200 was my first event of this type.

I packed everything that I thought i'd need... Very warm/heavy sleeping bag, tarp, bivy bag, stove and lots of spare clothes. My bike weighed a ton. It was also a singlespeed with a ridiculous ratio for the welsh countryside.

It was very hard, but I felt i'd packed for my own incompetencies - for me, everything I had packed felt necessary. If I got wet, I had clothes. If I got tired, I had shelter. If I was hungry, I had food. If I wanted a cup of tea, why not!? I didn't know what to expect, but thought it was likely i'd find somewhere to kip for the night. I ended up carrying on through the night finishing in a very satisfying 24hrs and several minutes. Wasn't really aware that finishing in under 24hrs was 'a thing'...

Anyway, my approach is to pack what I feel I need to get through it and keep an open mind whilst out there.

Giacomo

[Richard G]

Related, I took out the Wildcat gear I have for the first time on a ride last weekend and I have to say that I was quite pleased with how it worked.

The saddle bag was rock solid. If I'm honest I'd have to say that I didn't really even notice it there once it was fitted. The only problem I had with it is that I couldn't really find a good way to mount my rear light (I clipped it on sideways, but I was continuously worried about it falling off).

As for the mountain lion, I really liked the way it didn't rub against my headtube. The straps did slacken off a little on the ride, but it wasn't a great deal of hassle to get them back into place. Good stuff. I'll definitely be looking at getting that custom frame bag done when I have a little spare cash.

[Dyffers]

The saddle bag was rock solid. If I'm honest I'd have to say that I didn't really even notice it there once it was fitted. The only problem I had with it is that I couldn't really find a good way to mount my rear light (I clipped it on sideways, but I was continuously worried about it falling off).

Put a removable zip tie round it and through the bag loop and pull tight. No more worrying

[Dyffers]

I'm thinking I'll treat it like an straight through 600km audax on knobbly tires.

This approach worked well for me in 2012, and not so well in 2014. I think the ratio of riding to bog snorkling last year may have skewed my road-based ride time model

[Richard G]

Put a removable zip tie round it and through the bag loop and pull tight. No more worrying

As in right around the front, or around the clip? I wish it had a slot in as that would work quite nicely for that.

[Ian]

Richard - thanks for the positive feedback on the gear. Always good to hear

I tend to clip a rear light through the four-way buckle at the rear of the harness, with a little rubber loop that one of the webbing strap goes through.

[Dyffers]

Put a removable zip tie round it and through the bag loop and pull tight. No more worrying

As in right around the front, or around the clip? I wish it had a slot in as that would work quite nicely for that.

Right round the front. Should still be plenty of light on show unless it's some fancy thin design.

I take it you haven't got enough seatpost to put it underneath then? Like this (under my Wildcat seatpack):

[Richard G]

No, not a lot of seatpost to work with.

[paramart]

jay like the sound of the pub, was going to go for it but that sounds a better option, are you deffo ss it

yeah defiantly mate. You doing it on the fatty?

no will grind it out on the ss

[jay91]

jay like the sound of the pub, was going to go for it but that sounds a better option, are you deffo ss it

yeah defiantly mate. You doing it on the fatty?

no will grind it out on the ss

good man

[stucowp]

I'm planning on going lightish probably similar to YD300 kit but minus a few bits as I feel I was carrying to much kit for that, but fairly sure I'll drop a food stop in for 30 mins if route permits without any detour, then again all plans might change after YD200 the week before!

[whitestone]

I'm planning on going lightish probably similar to YD300 kit but minus a few bits as I feel I was carrying to much kit for that

Didn't seem to slow you down

[stucowp]

I was in a lot better shape then Bob! Struggling to get decent time on the bike over the last 6 weeks as well, so struggling for form which showed up at kielder 101, I may suffer at YD200 I think. I only hope it puts me in a better place for BB200.

[Richard G]

I can't imagine doing such a big ride a week apart from another big ride. I'd never recover property in time.

I'm no-where near as hardcore as you nutters though.

[whitestone]

I was in a lot better shape then Bob! Struggling to get decent time on the bike over the last 6 weeks as well, so struggling for form which showed up at kielder 101, I may suffer at YD200 I think. I only hope it puts me in a better place for BB200.

Hmm, I'd have been ecstatic at 18th place in the 101.

Tha'll be reet lad

[stucowp]

I can't imagine doing such a big ride a week apart from another big ride. I'd never recover property in time.

I'm no-where near as hardcore as you nutters though.

Neither can I! Although I did the sandstone way as an over nighter the weekend before YD300 and it seemed to do me a world of good I guess I'm hoping for something similar again!