Kielder 100 September 15th 2012

[scrappy123]

Id give it a go Woody,

if you put in the training and have the ambition then go for it. So what if you have to cut route short. Its good to have something to aim for. I wasn't as fit as i should of been for the CRC ruthin 100 but still managed it ;D

Think i have set my bar a bit high for next year as i would love to do this one www.joberg2c.co.za/ ;D

Thing is i put in extra off bike training (running & weights) for last few weeks but have been in bed last 5 days with the snots for Christmas and my second course of antibiotics, hopefully i can get back on schedule tomorrow I may not make Africa, but I'm not embarrassed if i don't, im enjoying thinking about it and the training is only doing good for other marathons.

[woody]

Never heard of that event before but it looks a good one. There's a famous race in South Africa called the Cape epic, check it out.

I agree with what you say about having something to aim for. I've done all the usual races like the CRC series, Dyfi etc and although they're tough I can get round OK. Just looking to step it up to the next level and challenge myself.

My aim is just to complete the course, I don't care about time or position. If I fail then that's OK, at least I will have tried and won't be left wondering 'what if' in years to come.

Hope your feeling better.

[Rob]

If you put your mind to it you can achieve anything, should have signed up to the Transwales and then the kielder, you would be well prepared then

Good luck.

[woody]

Well, it s 9 weeks on Saturday until this and my training is going Ok but not great.

I've done quite a few long road rides, the longest being the Fred Whitton at 110 miles (7hrs 43mins).

I've also now done two 80 mile mountain bike rides. The Llandegla to Prestatyn ride last week and a ride starting in Buckley, heading out through the Clocaenog forest, around Brening and Alwen then back home. These rides have been tough but with quite a bit of road thrown in and nowhere near enough climbing I don't think they compare to Kielder.

Nows the time to step it up and enter uncharted territory by pushing through the 8 hour mark!

[woody]

Just re-read my previous post, I got through the 8 hour mark once on a 130 mile road ride but that was as good as it got.

Oh well its too late now. I'll find out on Saturday how well prepared I am. I've spoken to a couple of guys who've done it and they reckon once you get past the 8 hour mark sucess or failure is all in the head.

My aim is just to finish the course, I'll be riding at my own pace and ignoring all the other riders. If I can do it under 12 hours that'll be a bonus.

The weather forecast isn't looking great either, but apparently good weather brings out the midges!

I'll report on my sucess or failure on Sunday.

[Oggy]

Good luck fella

[Russ]

Hell yes plenty of luck! take some part worn bedded in brake pads with you, if its the grinding paste again new ones will be useless, bed in a couple of sets and use them as spares and they should last..

[seismic]

Hope it all goes well this weekend. Something I have looked at several times but always had a good excuse in my mind not to do. Hope the conditions are kind to you.

[bird]

Good luck

[Phil]

MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU

[Russ]

Just seen the results well done!

[woody]

‘I’m never doing this again’. That’s what I told myself as I hit 70 miles having ridden for seven and a half hours and with another 30 miles and three and a half hours yet to ride. Sweaty, mud spattered, nauseous from energy junk, tired legs, neck ache, back ache, saddle sore, even my hands were hurting. ‘Just another 30 miles’ I said to myself. Welcome to the Kielder 100.

I drove up to Kielder on Friday afternoon heading straight to the campsite on arrival and pitching up my tent in a boggy field. The weather had been awful earlier in the week with horizontal rain and cold temperatures but we were to be lucky for race day as the wind died away and the clouds cleared overnight to leave a pretty decent day for the time of the year.
That evening I signed on at the event HQ, checked the bike over one last time then listened to the riders brief before retiring to the tent for what was to be a pretty crap nights sleep.

Being awake at 4:30 gave me plenty of time for breakfast and getting to the start line ready for the 6:30am start. The midges were swarming and I think everyone was relieved to finally get started as we set off behind the lead out vehicle. When it swung off after about a mile to signal the start of the race we headed straight up what was to be one of the first of many miles of fire road track.

I had started close to the back of the field and seemed to go even further back as the other riders appeared to forget the race distance and started off at a crazy pace. Ignoring them I settled into my own pace spinning gently up the climbs and making sure I kept my heart rate out of the ‘red zone’. I’d already decided that for me this wasn’t a race, it was me against the course and that the only thing that mattered was getting through all the cut-offs in time to finish. The first 20 miles flew by. At the 51 mile cut-off I was an hour and 15 minutes ahead of the cut off time and going reasonably well but at this point the course seemed to get harder with an exposed section over raised boards followed by miles of rocky, energy sapping single track which mostly seemed to point uphill. By the 62 mile cut off we had past the piper signalling our entry into Scotland and arrived at Newcastleton. I was still an hour ahead of schedule but was starting to wonder if I’d bitten off more than I could chew with this ride.

The route being 100 miles had a bit of everything fire road, natural single track, grassy sections, rocky sections, board walk, rooty sections, boggy sections, muddy sections and all both up and downhill. At Newcastleton we hit something new- trail centre single track - and although I enjoy a good trail centre as much as anyone else I can honestly say I didn’t enjoy it, the short punchy climbs were a killer and no amount of swoopy single track can revive tired legs and body.

Leaving Newcastleton I hit 70 miles and my lowest point in the race, 30 miles wouldn’t usually bother me but the previous 20 had been hard going, I needed a lift and when it came it was in the form of fire road! Lovely flat fire road, about five miles of it all the way to the final cut off. Now I knew I was going to finish I felt myself perk up and there was more fire road to come, in fact the next 20 miles was mostly fire road both up and downhill. Like most people I usually consider fire road to be boring, but at this point it was just what I needed being able to keep a reasonable pace uphill and flying at up to 40mph downhill, ticking off the miles faster than I could have hoped for at my 70 mile low point. Now I found myself looking at my watch, getting back in under 11 hours was becoming a real possibility. So I pushed on and as I did I started to overtake other riders. I’d been overtaking people for most of the race picking off those riders who were paying the price for setting off too fast and those unfortunate enough to suffer trouble with their bikes, but for those final miles I seemed to pass more and more.

In the last 5 miles the course had a real sting in the tail as it picked up the trails around Kielder with more of those short steep trail centre type climbs but it didn’t matter, it was nearly over and then with one final twisting descent the finish line appeared.

11 hours 15 minutes (over 3 hours behind the winner) and 88th place, those last 5 miles killed my hopes of getting back in under 11 hours but I didn’t care, I’d done it.

As for the promise to myself never to do it again………….I may have had my fingers crossed !

[Russ]

I give it a week and you will be drooling over this site www.crazyguyonabike.com/

[garnish]

Well done woody that's a tough one.

[seismic]

Incredible fortitude, well done. As I said in a previous post something I want to do but always have a good reason not to do. Next year maybe A team MBNW effort next year ?