BB200 2023

[Hyppy]

Blimey that was ridiculously hard. I actually got through the bit that most people were moaning about OK. It was the flaming lakes / byways that caused the sense of humour failure. Pizza at Llanwrtyd Wells saved the day.
31 hrs and 1 minute!
I am now broken...

Top effort, Phil. Good to catch up again.

[Richard G]

Blimey that was ridiculously hard. I actually got through the bit that most people were moaning about OK. It was the flaming lakes / byways that caused the sense of humour failure. Pizza at Llanwrtyd Wells saved the day.
31 hrs and 1 minute!
I am now broken...

Excellent job sticking with it. That'll take a good few days to recover from!

[Johnallan]

I've had a nice weekend but not sure my mate Carlos shared the same feelings.

We did spend quite a long stretch (about 8 hours..) with me trying to be 'encouraging', while he carried on moving at a pace that would likely mean we missed pizza. After making last orders with 1 minute to spare, we both had a much nicer time

It should've been a casual affair with a takeaway supper, proper nights sleep in a bivvy, porridge and coffee at first light, and a second breakfast from a cafe at 9am. The hills and mud are still tiring though and poor Carlos says he's never doing it again! We all say that though don't we?

Pauline's unique hospitality at the Wynnstay was delightful, as was the reception from Dee and Stu. Thank you

Hopefully I'll be back to complete my badge collection by adding a blue one the the stack. Although I'm likely to need a new friend

[redefined_cycles]

Blimey that was ridiculously hard. I actually got through the bit that most people were moaning about OK. It was the flaming lakes / byways that caused the sense of humour failure. Pizza at Llanwrtyd Wells saved the day.
31 hrs and 1 minute!
I am now broken...

Well done Phil. I kinda got the gyst of the death march sections even without being there

Amazing you kept going and only had a sense of humour failure towards the end. I'm still in two minds to attempt it before the month/year is out. The big sounds treacherous!

[redefined_cycles]

I've had a nice weekend but not sure my mate Carlos shared the same feelings.

We did spend quite a long stretch (about 8 hours..) with me trying to be 'encouraging', while he carried on moving at a pace that would likely mean we missed pizza. After making last orders with 1 minute to spare, we both had a much nicer time

It should've been a casual affair with a takeaway supper, proper nights sleep in a bivvy, porridge and coffee at first light, and a second breakfast from a cafe at 9am. The hills and mud are still tiring though and poor Carlos says he's never doing it again! We all say that though don't we?

Pauline's unique hospitality at the Wynnstay was delightful, as was the reception from Dee and Stu. Thank you

Hopefully I'll be back to complete my badge collection by adding a blue one the the stack. Although I'm likely to need a new friend

Nice short trip report there John. Thanks v much. So was it the TD that did indeed close at 0300. Was it tasty and did it help get Carlos sense of humour back.

I'd offer to be your friend, but I doubt I'd have any chance of keeping pace. Look forward to many more reports this and next week.

[Richard G]

Anyone know if Kevin got around?

[Johnallan]

So was it the TD that did indeed close at 0300. Was it tasty and did it help get Carlos sense of humour back.

It was absolutely sublime! It closed at 11 though (actually slightly later) but well worth the effort to get there

[whitestone]

Well I did say that kms 75-125 would be "interesting" and so it proved. Whether I managed to get the right lines or was just lucky but none of the river crossings/evil brown pools got above knee height.

I started with cramps as we dropped into Elan Valley for the first time and was plagued by them for the next 90km This meant that I'd manage a couple of pedal strokes before having to get off and walk a bit. Bivvied for about 6hrs at the top of the steep descent to Rhayader (with Benj?) who offered me some miso soup before we crashed out and it seemed to help prevent any cramps whilst sleeping*.

I was up early, Ben was going to have a more relaxed start, and the rest had done me good since I was able to get up inclines that the previous day would have me walking. Didn't see anyone until I got back to the centre in just under 31hr. Given just how much I walked I'm not surprised at the time.

*sleeping was slightly interrupted by my mattress deflating during the night!

Edit:

Folks, just picked a tick out of my knee. Be worth giving the legs a once over for uninvited guests

[redefined_cycles]

I know none of you need/want it... But another well done Bob

I'm certain I'd have probbaly scratched after/at the bog stages! Who knows! Knee height isn't bad. Is that miles of knee height or just the odd plod into it with a poor footing!

[Escape Goat]

Tough route but i gave it everything i had....13h 54min!

[Escape Goat]

I love hearing these stories. I can’t wait to hear more.

[redefined_cycles]

I love hearing these stories. I can’t wait to hear more.

I managed 80k by 2 pm. Then the list of issues came;

*the route
*cramps
*stomach cramps
*headache
*dizziness
*dehydration
*bonked and then kept bonking - couldn’t eat. Anything.
*bedded down at 12am and slept until 7. Rode for a few KM and scratched.

I had a nice chat with Benjii and his chilled mood helped somewhat as I fell asleep under the stars. I was chasing a sub 24 hour, setting close to 16kph average speed for the first 7 hours. My stop time for that was sub 1 hour (including some slow HAB that Wahoo class as stopped as it’s below the minimum speed which can’t be adjusted.)

80k was the start of the end for me. For anyone doing it this weekend, you’ll see the bit that slowed me down. I then foolishly said “that wasn’t actually that bad”. Heh.

As I only took a handful of photos I’ll post my full experience here at a later date - don’t want to give anything away regarding the route.

Will I ever get a black badge?

Yours sounds like the perfect story for if I'd attemtped it Allen. Well done and even more well done for knowing when to chuck in the towel (sorry to hear about it).

Looking forward to more stories from you and others. Good info about Wahoo not adjusted below 1mph to being moving time (that explains me alot for a recent ride I attempted)! Anyway, enjoy the (good) food for the rest of the week. You earned it.

Regards that black badge. Maybe we should adjust our expectations a little and aim for the 28H badge first (mind you, I only ever managed one normal/blue badge). I'm guessing if you'd not pushed as hard during that tough phase you'd have suffered less 'issues' and most likely gotten round (un)comfortably.

Nice1 for the inital report and full list of 'drastardlies'.

[Richard G]

Well I did say that kms 75-125 would be "interesting" and so it proved. Whether I managed to get the right lines or was just lucky but none of the river crossings/evil brown pools got above knee height...

Glad you got around buddy.

If you're wondering who the nutter was in the car that waved at you out of their window near Llanidloes... that was me. (you were coming down from the roundabout, I assume you took a wrong turn)

[whitestone]

Well I did say that kms 75-125 would be "interesting" and so it proved. Whether I managed to get the right lines or was just lucky but none of the river crossings/evil brown pools got above knee height...

Glad you got around buddy.

If you're wondering who the nutter was in the car that waved at you out of their window near Llanidloes... that was me. (you were coming down from the roundabout, I assume you took a wrong turn)

Yeah, one of a few in my befuddled state! - "When did they put in a new roundabout in Llanidloes? Oh! They haven't, this is the bypass" ( I did set off from the centre in the right direction though but things went rapidly downhill from then on) I only realised it was you about two minutes later after going through the list of people who might wave at me, starting at 'A' of course

Shaf - would need to check on the map but at the pace I was riding there was about an hour of, into pool, a bit of dry track, another pool, track, river crossing, track, repeat. The river crossings were cleanish water so you could see how deep they were, no such luck with the pools.

[riderdown]

Will I ever get a black badge?

You would have last year if you hadn't bedded down in a bus shelter

[Richard G]

The river crossings were cleanish water so you could see how deep they were, no such luck with the pools.

I was racing a Landrover and also had a bunch of motorbikes coming the other way at points. No such luck with the clearness for me.

Edit - Ride related generally, my lungs still feel terrible. Whatever was making me feel sick also seemed to be affecting my ability to take a full breath. I suspect it might have been Lactic acidosis, as I had really serious heartburn at the time too. Hopefully the first and last time that happens.

[redefined_cycles]

Rich. That's proper mind over matter there as your mind was strong enough to force you into that 'oh no' zone that the brain always protects us from. That breathing difficulty you have now is probably a result of just that - overworking the breathing muscles and forcing that O2 in (and more importantly in this case, CO2 out).

Well done

You never did say if you got that 16.5 target you'd aimed for.

[redefined_cycles]

Thanks Bob. I suspect (but probably wrong) all the talk by Bikepacking.com saying it's a reasonable difficulty route(s) and lots of folks turning up in gravel bikes, may have caused Stu to push the boundaries to what's acceptable (to you lot).

I'm just so glad I decided to do a DNS as my first ride today and in them first few miles I've downed the Ibuprofen and CoCodamol. Still needing to stop and stretch the lower back. I imagine I'd have been stuck out there on the course yearning for a stretcher

[whitestone]

I love hearing these stories. I can’t wait to hear more.


I had a nice chat with Benjii and his chilled mood helped somewhat as I fell asleep under the stars. I was chasing a sub 24 hour, setting close to 16kph average speed for the first 7 hours. My stop time for that was sub 1 hour (including some slow HAB that Wahoo class as stopped as it’s below the minimum speed which can’t be adjusted.)

80k was the start of the end for me. For anyone doing it this weekend, you’ll see the bit that slowed me down. I then foolishly said “that wasn’t actually that bad”. Heh.

As I only took a handful of photos I’ll post my full experience here at a later date - don’t want to give anything away regarding the route.

Will I ever get a black badge?

Was it you and another that he was chatting to at about the 125km mark? It was about that time that I passed someone thinking about bivvying and he was chatting to you. I'm assuming I was riding/pushing with Benji over the high point of the route.

[Richard G]

You never did say if you got that 16.5 target you'd aimed for.

I tend not to share any details until after the second weekend, but no, I didn't. I was just ahead of target at half way, but *** area redacted *** had taken my mojo and I lost all motivation to push myself after that.

Spent the last 6 hours just persuading myself not to quit. It's getting harder and harder to make myself bother as obviously I've not really got that much to prove any more (at least not since I got my first finish after smashing up my pelvis).

[Escape Goat]

Was it you and another that he was chatting to at about the 125km mark?

Yeah it was :) nice chatting with you.

[whitestone]

Thanks Bob. I suspect (but probably wrong) all the talk by Bikepacking.com saying it's a reasonable difficulty route(s) and lots of folks turning up in gravel bikes, may have caused Stu to push the boundaries to what's acceptable (to you lot).

Bikepacking.com have taken the most reasonable of recent courses and removed the nasty bits, for example this one https://bikepacking.com/routes/bear-bones-border-bash/ is based on what most recognise as the easiest course and removes the hard bits!

In our (seemingly annual) conversation yesterday about gravel bikes, Stu noted that "It's not whether the route is suitable for a gravel bike but whether you are." Of those I've done the 2016 edition (i.e. the one used by the link above) is the only one I'd have been anywhere near happy on a gravel bike.

I tend not to share any details until after the second weekend, but no, I didn't. I was just ahead of target at half way, but *** area redacted *** had taken my mojo and I lost all motivation to push myself after that.

Spent the last 6 hours just persuading myself not to quit. It's getting harder and harder to make myself bother as obviously I've not really got that much to prove any more .

I know what you mean Rich, that internal dialog subtly changes from "I can do this" to "Why am I doing this?" Injury, age, health all begin to take their toll.

[redefined_cycles]

Well stated Stu/Bob. Yes, I definitely not suited to a gravel bike on any serious off roading. But there's folk that are and good for them.

[Hyppy]

Well that's my first BB event done, so firstly thanks to Stu and Dee. And also thanks to the rest of you that I met at the Wynnstay Arms (wow, what a place!?!) the evening before, the morning of the off, en route, and the morning after. You all made it an ace weekend.

I took about an hour longer than I'd guesstimated I would based on distance, elevation, and envisaged terrain: 21 hours and 10 minutes, and am pretty pleased with that.

I guess we can't really talk about it till next weekend's done, but in summary: A bit that I thought would be tough was tough, another bit I thought would be tough wasn't so tough, and between those bits was the toughest bit. And I hadn't registered that bit at all in my pre-ride virtual recce. Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts proper next week.

[redefined_cycles]

Allen. I can't see any areas mentioned in my quote of you So we're sorted and Stu won't penalise you for next year