The BB 200 Thread

[Bearbonesnorm]

I'll post up a full results list tomorrow.

[johnnystorm]

Already seen some great times on Strava... looking forward to photos (if only of the aftermath) and stories.
Well done to everyone who had a crack this year :)

Plenty of tales.....

Me going arse over apex on the rocky run into Tyn y Cornel and denting my Exposure Six pack (sundry cuts and bruises on me but they'll heal themselves), The chap with the Ti El Mar riding into a waist deep pool at Strata Florida. Looking forward to Mountainbaker posting up the pic of me "enjoying" the ride through Carnau.

[FLV]

Nice to be out, nice to be drier than last year underwheel too.

Big thanks to the organizers / helpers and especially butty makers :D

[Zippy]

Well as an introduction to this type of racing, that was brutal!

I'm sure everyone has lots of little stories and I look forward to hearing them. My high/lowlights of my 17 hours and 15 minutes ride include:

Carnau was a slag, I really hate it, and it's what started buggering up the muscles in my right leg.
Towards the end of the carnua heading straight for the gate, bike dived into the bog and submerged literally half itself in bog, including all gps units and maxx-d...this made for a faulty usb cable for charging the gps - but the other half worked so I just swapped charging between the two units.
Riding with Kevin on the cross bike for ages.
Regretting the whole thing after 8 hours
Numerous navigation errors
Kevin and I feeling sorry for ourselves sheltering in the toilet stretching and eating before tackling roman camp.
Thinking that I'd ride over the river crossing somewhere in the last 20k coz my feet were relatively warm despite being moist, then not making it, so put my foot down, which then slipped so instead got half my body soaked (and minor 5 minute breakdown slumped over afterwards)
Riding in limp mode for about the last 7 hours, and then seeing John Russel zoom past in the last 4.5 miles looking as fresh as anything!

Still recovering, contemplating what next, but I'm not getting on a bike again in the next few days! Here's my strava:
http://www.strava.com/activities/88768976

Big thanks to everyone I chatted to and made my day, Chew, Flatfishy & Dee on the organisational front on the day and Stu for all the setup etc. Maybe see you at the next one once I get over the ordeal of this one.

[Fozzyuk]

Truly Epic.

Brilliant fun even if I had the wrong bike and the wrong gear

The last 10 miles was definitely the worst bridleway in Great Britain 8-)

With my setup it was near impossible.

At the really steep climb out of the stream I had to take the bike apart and make 3 trips up

Thanks to the organisers absolutely brilliant

http://www.strava.com/activities/88844347

[evilgoat]

All of the above comments about the quite evil last 20k.

Had a bit of a wobble at 85k but managed to talk myself back into it and enjoyed the watersplashes and claerwen in the dark.

Then felt knackered, had shoulder problems and started making silly mistakes so decided to bivi down for a few hours. back up at 4am and roman camp was just ace at that time.

Rolled in 25 1/2 hours. Pretty chuffed with my first attempt.

Said after that i wouldn't do another. now thinking never say never again.

my strava: http://www.strava.com/activities/88872998

[Yorlin]

Did anyone else have much trouble with the 'monk' guy? Take it that was one of the organisers having a laugh!

When I was trying to sleep he would pull the zip down and shout 'hah!' and laugh, then zip it back up again. He did this two or three times, but that was all. Put some little bones in my bike bottle too but I just tipped them out! He's got some good legs following me about like that.

[Taylor]

???

[mountainbaker]

That was an amazing ride. Still a bit lost for words, but I really enjoyed it overall! The "Grassy Banks" at the end were pure evil, but I made it up. Finished in 20h 32m, which I was happy with!

Was great to end up riding as a group with Andy and Neil, thanks for the company for the entire 11 hours of night riding!

Huge thanks to Stu and everyone else organising, I'll be back for more for sure.

The drive home was interesting. I 'shut' my eyes for a second on a very rainy M5. That scared the s**t out of me! Drove the rest of the way with the window open!

Here's Jonnystorm, enjoying the descent off Carnau...


Strava Log: http://www.strava.com/activities/88781433

[johnnystorm]

Did anyone else have much trouble with the 'monk' guy? Take it that was one of the organisers having a laugh!

When I was trying to sleep he would pull the zip down and shout 'hah!' and laugh, then zip it back up again. He did this two or three times, but that was all. Put some little bones in my bike bottle too but I just tipped them out! He's got some good legs following me about like that.

Around one of the reservoirs I thought I ought to stop and eat something. I rode towards a large rock to sit on. On closer inspection the "rock" had horns & mooed.

Cheers for the pic :D
Are we having fun yet?

[mountainbaker]

^ That's the same cow that was standing right in the middle of the track when we rode through there.

[ianfitz]

Around one of the reservoirs I thought I ought to stop and eat something. I rode towards a large rock to sit on. On closer inspection the "rock" had horns & mooed.

Cheers for the pic :D
Are we having fun yet?

Haha I think we saw that "rock" too - a white one? did cause a bit of puzzlement at the time. Did Mark and I meet you by the small bridge just before the slippy rocky climb about 7km from the end?

I'm still reflecting on my BB200 experience. I definatley enjoyed it though, managed to ride at a steady pace throughout, felt strong for 180km, but really felt it in the last 20 I'm sure that was nothing to do with the nature of the course though

Despite being ruthless (or so I had thought!) in removing extra kit - I still ended up with way too much. Inevitable really as it was my first one. Doubt it ill be the last though...

[Zippy]

Here's Jonnystorm, enjoying the descent off Carnau...

That's the bastard bog that submerged the front half of my bike (including completely submerging my assortment of 2 GPS's and Maxx-D light and water damaging the charging cable) and flipped me off the bike a bit hard (lucky the bog is a soft landing!)

[MikeD]

So now that a few hours have gone by and I've forgotten the last 20km or so, that was ace :) Rode with Chris from Halifax (on an Orange, as presumably required by local byelaws :) ) for several hours, good to have some company. I opted to bivi at the head of the reservoirs just before Roman camp -- it seemed like a long way to the next vaguely sheltered spot from there and I didn't think I had the legs to go right through. Wasn't the best night's sleep ever, but I'm glad I had it -- considering what heavy weather I made of the remaining distance on Sunday I think I'd have been in a right state if I'd pushed on

Bacon sandwich was legendary :)

[Chicken Legs]

Thanks to Stu and everyone who helped organise the BB200.
I knew it was going to be tough and I wasn't disappointed, I arrived hoping for a sub 24 hour and came away with my black badge 20 hours 32 mins :)
The last 20km was challenging and added a nice sting in the tail, made all the more enjoyable by having the good company of Gabe (mountainbaker) and Neil (composite), top guys.
Once the pain has left my body all the memories will be good ones !

[slowupslowdown-under]

Still digesting it all at the moment as so much to recall.

Totally surreal night stages on and off road. It was like being in a foggy dream - bizarre!

The USE dynamo hub / Kemo worked flawlessly - well worth the investment if anyone thinking about powering their kit on long events.

Thanks to Stu for riding with me from the café after Carneau. Proper banter which got worse (more bizarre / random) as day became night became day (ish) again.

Anyone know how the three young lads from Halifax did?

Also - how is the guy who ended up in hospital??

[mountainbaker]

Once the pain has left my body all the memories will be good ones !

Once I forget about dragging my bike up that rock face, all the memories will be good ones!

[Chicken Legs]

Once I forget about dragging my bike up that rock face, all the memories will be good ones![/quote]

Already forgotten that steep bike drag and now you have brought all the memories flooding back, classic, desperate struggle, I love it !!!

[composite]

Just reflecting a bit now on the whole affair. Was a good ride and something I would happily do again. It was tough but I managed to stay in a good place in my head so it was manageable. It was great to ride with Gabe (mountainbaker) and Andy (Chicken legs) and I think this made a lot of difference in terms of keeping going.

The roman fort area wasn't so bad even in the dark and the rain.
Carnau was bad and took ages. I had a OTB as well there into a bog, lucky the landing was pretty soft...
The 2 really steep banks near the end were killer though. My arms were really tired by then and it was a struggle getting up them.
Strata Florida was a bit wet, but by the looks of things on youtube we actually got away lightly compared with how it can be. That was the last main landmark we got through before it got dark so I was happy we had got that far by that point.


By the time I woke up in the morning the carpark was quite quiet and my head very fuzzy. I wasn't sure where the farm house was to get breakfast or my badge. :( Were we meant to pick them up there or are they going to be posted out? Can I get mine posted out if I was meant to pick it up? Man all I had in my head was getting home at that point. I was stumbling about in daze.

[gairym]

Maaaaan, I'm mighty jealous.

I'd really hoped to be able to make it this year but it wasn't to be (ironically the wife hasn't yet given birth and so I could have made it without missing any new lives being born!).

Well done everyone and being hard as nails!

Next year....?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Right then ...

Firstly - congratulations to:

Phil Simcock, anyone who was out should be able to imagine just what it would take to return a time of 13h 8m

Shona Oldfield, the only woman to ever recieve a black badge

Tom Middleton, now the proud owner of the Lanterne rouge award. He finished with Roy Brooks and Dainius Dilba in a time of over 40 hours but because he was last through the gate he 'won'. Very entertaining night spent watching a SPOT screen with Roys other half waiting for them to arrive. I managed to stay awake until 1am but had to retire at the point having had no sleep for 36 hours.

Everyone who turned up to ride whether they finished or not ... well done.

Thank you:

Flatfishy and Chew for coming to help rather than riding ... maybe they didn't really want ride.

Everyone for not abusing me too much for the final 20k ... although I have to say, it really shouldn't have been a surprise, it's the same section as the last 2 years, just backwards.

Dee for ... well pretty much everything. Without her there'd be no Bear Bones website, forum, events or anything ... you'd also have been hungry yesterday.

Serious:

Sad to report that a rider was hit by a car early yesterday morning about 20km before the finish. He was taken to Aber' hospital by ambulance. That's pretty much all I know at the moment but when I find out more I'll post it up ... get well soon Michael.


Next year ... same time, different place.

[Cheeky Monkey]

Congratulations to you all, sounds like a belter 8-)

Healing vibes to the wounded.

[evilgoat]

Hope the rider who was hit makes a good recovery.

Did it happen on the A44 crossing?

There was an ambulance there when I went through at 7.55am, and I recall thinking that I really hoped it wasn't a BB200 rider involved.

[Mattie_H]

I'll add my thanks to Stuart, Dee, Flatfishy and Chew for all their hard work organising yet another fantastic event: tough as hell but bloody good fun. When my head is less foggy I'll write something up on the blog and post a link here.

Not at all good to hear about the accident: healing vibes.

[nostoc]

Stu, I'm in Aber so if this guy in hospital needs any practical help like lifts or whatever give me a call 07973444521