BB200 Report

[Ian]

Here's my report from the weekend: http://ianbarrington.com/2014/10/14/bea ... -200-2014/

Enjoy

[Mike]

Nice write up ian. And there's a few points/tips I'd take from it for next yr so thanks.

[mountainbaker]

Nice write up Ian, thanks for that. I share your sentiments about the experience, getting food strategy right, staying away, navigational abilities etc, it all came together on this ride. If it hadn't, it would have been horrendous! I'm also pleased I was only 4h11m behind you, better than 6h35m behind last year.

[Alpinum]

Good read, cheers for that.

[slowupslowdown-under]

Great write up!

As with mountainbaker - glad it all came together in the end. Pre-planning, training, team work and a bit of luck all played their parts at various stages of the race. No doubt the fine weather was a massive help though too - I felt one drop of rain around the whole course!

Cant believe we were only 1.5 hours behind Ian at Penmachno.

Lessons learned this end: think I'll be 1 x 11 next year after yet more frustration with drive chain cost a daft amount of time in the end (lost granny ring at mile 60 so only had a 38x32T as highest available option after that) and led to more pushing up rideable stuff than I had planned for or would have liked.

Also, a big revelation were those Expresso shot energy 'gels' (more like nuttella consistency goo). Great pick me up with none of that acid nastiness of the usual suspects - and lets face it, nothing tastes right at daft oclock in the morning! Would have been snookered without them. Thank you to Outdoor Fitness for the tip.

Despite preferring to ride without anything on my back, in hindsight a bike with the less amount of weight on it so it could be properly carried rather than dragged would have helped enormously!

Always good to learn lessons about kit but even better to know how far you can push yourself.

Was chatting to someone at the start (Slarge??) about how when your body tells you that you are at your limit you can always find 25% more. Reckon we were close to that at times for sure.

[Ian]

Nice write up ian. And there's a few points/tips I'd take from it for next yr so thanks.

Cheers. Out of curiosity, which ones in particular?

I'm also pleased I was only 4h11m behind you, better than 6h35m behind last year.

A lot of people put in some amazing efforts to finish in the time they did. I think the amount of hike a bike was a good leveller. You can only push your bike so fast (or slow), and so large parts of the route would be covered in similar times.

[Dave Barter]

Ace write up Ian and now I know the bikes I saw outside the cafe in Barmouth must have been Alan and Phil. I was very tempted to join them

[mountainbaker]

A lot of people put in some amazing efforts to finish in the time they did. I think the amount of hike a bike was a good leveller. You can only push your bike so fast (or slow), and so large parts of the route would be covered in similar times.

Yeah, for sure the HaB was a leveller, but some people were quicker walking than others. Once I was with Adam and Matt on that stretch after Parc, they got a good [walking] pace going along the top, so I had to walk pretty fast to stay with them. I think it's amazing that so many people got around at all, the amount of resolve, camaraderie and stubbornness really is astounding.

Now when is Stu going to ITT the route?

[Wotsits]

Really good write up Ian, thanks for sharing..

[Mike]

The main thing Id change was the bike setup. The weight of it for a start. Those hike a bike sections were more like a drag a bike, id defo go lighter up front it was so hard to lift/carry across that terrain. And not stopping, fatal the legs get cold n tired. Once we'd stopped for a few hrs rest my motivation was pretty shot. Getting going again was hard! But least I had warm feet.

[ianfitz]

yes, as always a good read thanks Ian. I've started writing something which i may well put somewhere soon.

I'm very pleased to have 'gone black' this year and comparing our times from last year I've made a massive improvement! 22:30(ish) v 16:30 ish last year to 23:49 v 22:33 this year. 8 hours to 1:13 difference...

that's why i was asking after how you felt it had gone, as in my post ride confused state I couldn't work out if you'd had a bad ride or I'd had a good ride. sounds like we both did

[slarge]

Nice write up Ian, and it's funny how, even though the ride was blimmin tough, it can go well or badly depending on feed strategy, sleep plans, mental state, etc. It feels like the past few years have been big learning curves for a few of us on these long events and they are becoming quite doable. (5 years ago I thought a 12 hour ride was beyond possible, now it seems that could be relatively straightforward.)

Looking forward now to the winter event (assuming I get the decorating done that I had to start on Sunday night!!)

[Ed1]

Nice one Ian, a good account.

Well that was my first BB200 and my naivety probably helped. If I known there was going to be that much hike-a-bike I probably wouldn't have bothered!
But, no harm done, type 2 fun as they say.

The highs definatley outweighed the lows, cloud inversion as the sun was setting, good company during the night, sunrise on Cader Idris and that bowl of porridge and rasberrys at the finish!

Much respect to the guys that were still out Sunday evening, I salute you.

See you next year.

[kbrembo]

Nice one Ian

Well done.

What gearing did you use ?

[larsmars]

Another BB200 report... slightly postponed due to a recent 2 week business trip. It's based on the report I posted here already, plus photos and videos.

I've added a video edit to the post from some GoPro footage taken early on. Sadly, no evidence of the tussock hell, as the SD card was full by that point.

http://www.tourintune.com/battling-the- ... bones-200/

Thanks to mountainbaker for the GPS track visualiser. Very cool.

[Taylor]

That lamb's ace.

[Charliecres]

Lambtastic!