I've done one and thought about making it a bit harder.

What about unsupported? That's everything you need for 24hrs on your back, no solo tent, no support crew.

I guess "alpine style" 24hr racing.

Anybody already tried it?

Could you carry (say) 15-20 litres of water?

well, the South Downs way double riders do nearly 24 hours and the only outside 'assistance' they can have is water from the taps en-route.

Water at the 24 hour races is rarely trackside, which means a lengthy deviation from the course on a regular basis.

Personally I don't see the point, if you want to do that, why not do something more interesting than a 24 hour lapped race, do something like the SDW where you will actually get somewhere.

You're not going to win the race riding like that, but you're not going to get anywhere either.

If you want to make it 'harder' why dont you try to win it? Asssuming you didn't win it, that is! 🙂

SDW double is pretty much what you describe!

48 hour solo anyone? twice as much fun for your money 🙂 (though there were 'issues' over the prize money in 2008)

http://www.ultracentric.net/mountainbike.html

Oh and agree – food would be doable, water you'd struggle with. I reckon you could manage 12 liters in 2×6 liter bladders on your back (I take 1×6 plus 20 liters of kit on bikepacking expeditions) – 18 would probably be too heavy when riding for 24 hours. You'd have to find space for another 6-12l on the bike – which would likely be 2 regular bottle cage positions, one under the down tube, one on each fork leg, possibly the seatpost, each of those a large 1l bottle, and maybe a frame bag with a bladder as well – kinda 'GDR across the desert parts' style. Doable? Just? Fun? YMMV 🙂

You've done 1 ? did you win ?

personally thats enough challenge for me. Making it harder is just tryimg to give your self excuses for not winning ! Come do strathpuffer 😉

I've done solo 24s with no crew, carrying food and drink for 6 hour sections so you only have to stop 3 times. Suits me better than blast for one lap, stop, collect new bottle, eat, blast for one lap etc. Slow and steady! Though the one I won I did have some help for about half of it, went for shorter stints (2-3h) without refueling/stopping, and took a few short rests (one trying to fit borrowed lights for the first time midrace, and one when I had a 3am slump and needed to inhale pringles and cola).

make it harder by:
Riding to win.
Riding singlespeed
Riding fixed
Riding a unicycle

put a tank of water in a tent trackside, and carry all the rest of the stuff?

shortcut – Member
make it harder by:
Riding to win.
Riding singlespeed
Riding fixed
Riding a unicycle

Hit the nail on the head with the first option. Racing to win is the hardest thing of all. Unless you're the winner. 😉

What you describe is "Jimmy No Mates Super Solo" People regularly do that up here.

No its not george – jimmy no mates still has a base camp with kit …..they want to carry all their kit…….silly idea if you ask me.

only ever done one race with support due to logistics. It went alot better than ones with no support.

Make it harder by doing a ride that doesn't involve riding round a field in cicles?

miketually – Member

Make it harder by doing a ride that doesn't involve riding round a field in cicles?

how dare you!

how dare you!

😉

I did that on the first CLIC 24 I ever did.

No because I wanted to make it harder but because I didn't bother checking what the rules were. I assumed that solo meant you turned up on your own and rode the race. I stopped a few times to top up the camelbak but that was about it.

I felt a bit cheated when I saw all these other 'solo' riders with tents, support teams, riding with groups of mates. Still, I managed 9th in category which, given how I ride, I count a top 10 finish as a victory.

sounds a bit like doing the kielder 100 to me…

Having not really done any endurance events I’m probably not qualified to comment however I can see slightly more appeal in an “unsupported” point to point 24Hr racing than a lapping format in terms of it being more of an "extreme" challenge, you’d have to plan for a full 24hrs not X number of laps at a time, like you say water, food, batteries and the pretty massive amount of logistics and organisation required once you go from marshalling relatively short laps to covering silly distances is always going to be the sticking point…

Totally unsupported racing i.e. you can’t even scrounge water from sources along the route you’d need to carry ~53Lbs of water (assuming 1Ltr/Hr) then you need food, spare batteries for lights, tools, tubes/patches, possibly additional layers depending on conditions anyone lining up at the start without around 70Lbs of kit plus their bike will probably need rescuing before the end of 24hrs, panniers FTW I reckon…

Thats still not the same thing WCA – that's pretty much what I did on the one I won! I think it's possible but agree that you'd have more fun attempting this on a trail ride like the south downs way, Wheelwright coast to coast or similar.. Or doing one of those Alpine style just stopping for water. But the Mike Curiak attempted the Iditasport Impossible (1000+ miles in Winter in Alaska) with everything required other than water which he melted from snow. A months worth of provisions, kit, gas etc. He didn't even allow himself to take the heat from the few huts along the first part of the ride, staying outside to eat. THAT's making things hard for yourself…

Oh and I just spotted that this years (rain postponed) ultracentric event has a 72 hour option! The mind boggles at the quality of hallucinations you'd be having by then…

when i did a 24 solo I barely managed to fit all my kit into a 206 – how would i get it into panniers!! 😯

Lol so we are doing the cape epic in one hit now then ? From muddy field in england to the desert ?

try the welsh ride thing in may.

which 24 hour race in this country is 'riding around in circles in a field'?

cookea – physiology is a wonderful thing, I reckon some folks could get by on half that amount of water – the variation in amount carried/used on the few desert days of the GDR os quite incredible. Still very difficult. I think the Alpine style – everything needed but water – is the way to go for this kinda thing. For a fun route try the UK 'proper' offroad C2C – see here for an incredible attempt at a sub 24 hour ride by Rich rothwell:

http://www.the7ds.com/seven-deadly-spins/english-coast-to-coast-7ds5-141

(He 'only' managed 28 and a half hours so the challenge is still on!)

sounds a bit like doing the kielder 100 to me…

Twice.

But the Mike Curiak attempted the Iditasport Impossible (1000+ miles in Winter in Alaska) with everything required other than water which he melted from snow. A months worth of provisions, kit, gas etc. He didn't even allow himself to take the heat from the few huts along the first part of the ride, staying outside to eat. THAT's making things hard for yourself…

That was ace. He even worked out that since he couldn't physically carry and eat the calories he needed, he should put on X pounds in fat to burn during the ride.

which 24 hour race in this country is 'riding around in circles in a field'?

Forgot my 😉

🙂

it's ok Mike, its just I'm not sure where this particular (and very popular) cliche comes from. From my experience I'm not aware of any that are that simple.

Some courses do go through/around fields admittedly – but that's not all they do.

Aye, Welsh Ride Thing at the end of May. 48 hours in the hills and mountains carrying everything you'll need. There should be a write up of this years coming up in the mag shortly.

is it going to be in soon stu?

I'd have opted for the 7 Stanes all in 24hrs (the record is about 23hrs I think) and the C2C in as quick a time as you can manage (no idea of the fastest time though).
No sense in doing a 24hr event if you have already done it and found it easy (relative).
Be a pioneer?
Or tackle something really grueling and inspirational, which a 24hr ride with no support is not (no disrespect meant to those who hardy souls who do ride 24hr rides unsupported).

round a field comes from the many boring courses out there……

24/12 and mayhem being my experiances in that…

Puffer and relentless being much more exciting

Youll see what i mean in january terrahawk

Taylor could be this issue or next … I believe.

wahey

Ride to the event, and ride home.

Ride to the event, and ride home.

That's the proper way to do it.

Hmmm, got my first 24 hr solo booked, going to be hard enough just riding for the duration lol