I've sustained a knee injury which has set me back weeks, is still not better & now the weather's become February again.
24hr event in 2 months time (22 May) and no where near where I was hoping to be.

Think I might give it a miss, truth be told and concentrate on getting better, fitter and try the Kielder 100 better prepared instead.

Anyone one else struggling or are you all clocking up 10++hrs a week?

If you manage to ride for 24 hours you will do well. The majority of people will take substantial breaks at one time or another.

If you are hoping to enjoy it, you won't, irrespective of whether you're fit or not, it is something to be endured and appreciated retrospectively rather than enjoyed at the time!

Either way, you have to go into it with a positive attitude, if you can't manage that, then I'd knock it on the head.

What event are you doing and have you got enough base if the knee gets better?

How fit are you generally – have you lost a lot of fitness with the knee proble? I did SITS solo last year with no actual training for it, only entered at the last minute. it was fine.

why not go but don't aim to do the 24, or have a proper sleep (6/8hr) gets you the riding/ the atmosphere but not the injury?

I've got the night followed by the day 50km Meridas coming up in 2 week's time.
That will give me some idea just how the swelling under the knee cap is affecting me.

As for training: It was going well, 4 rides a week, up to 4hrs on the mtn bike with mud tyres on the road being one such ride a week the others being 2-3hr XC rides, but lately (week before the Black Park event) these have all but evaporated. Trying to increase it from 2 x 2hr rides to 3 rides a week from this week of 2.5-3hrs each, but that depends on how the knee holds out.

I'm in pretty much the same place minus the injuries but still with the drinking, and have been thinking about skipping 24SS and hitting K100 hard, April is scheduled to do 4 250 mile weeks with the aim being to at least knock some shape into me, if I manage this then I'll be there on the start line at least, dont give up yet mate

I'm assuming you weren't hoping to win ?, if thats the case then yes bin it now 🙂

At least you can stop drinking. My knee is not going to sort its self out over one night! Plus I'm very consciouos of it now as a potential weak point so I'm finding myself favouring the left side.

So much so that the muscles are now so withered on the R but conversely so large on the L that I'm left walking around in large circles!

thats what drinking does to me 🙂

just need to transfer that skill into riding around in large circles !

I can't beleive your still at it Steve.

I sat in my tent at the 2008 SITS after booking a last minute solo, it started to rain, my mate who had promised to bring up some new tyres from his shop bought semi-slicks. I just shut my eyes and thought I don't want to do this anymore.
By some good fortune the combination of mud, rain and semi-slicks resulted in broken fingers and an early shower.
Ironically I'm riding more than ever now since knocking all 24 solo ambitions on the head.
However 😐 I did say I wanted to do one when I was fifty.

This is were you're meant to twist my arm?

Ti29er it sounds like you might need to do some gym rehab if you are getting disparity in the size/balance of your legs.

I have just about finished rehabbing an ACL replacement, but I will be keeping the gym work going all the way through til Kielder. I know that the knee won't be the deciding factor and doing regular training off the bike has really improved my fitness.

Ti29er
If you're walking round in large circles your more than halfway there 😉 if you can hold a beer in one hand and remember where your tent is then it's jobs a goodun.

Seriously though if you want someone to train with the offers still there.

The leg size was more in jest!
Although I am favouring the L side and don't press so hard on the R (injured) side.

Old: you're 50 now, so a promise is a promise…..
(I might have a solo place for you & will know more after the Merida)

PS – thanks for the offer. Off out in 40 minutes for a mud bath.

Ti29er,

If you're in the northwest give me a pm. I might be able to help through a better bike fit. I won't be able to fix you but I will be able to stop it happening again. Also I can point you to a very good physio who will fix you!

If you're not up north good luck.

Ti29er – the point made by njee20 is extremely valid. If the knee struggles then take the ride easier, assuming you're cleared by the Doc first! It's the first UK champs so worth attending (bagsy the red lantern but fancy a different course to ride!) and see how it goes. If you need to rest then do so but don't worry about it and think of it as passive training. All of this is academic if you're not motivated and in the right mindset. Just take it easy and see how it goes!

Good luck and hope to see you there!

Will know more after the Merida & make a judgement call on it then.
I quite like the whole idea of being present at the inaugrial championships – if it all goes south and the knee locks I can help others I guess.
Thanks for the feed back.

I did the inaugural Strathpuffer solo and was cream crackered when I got there and fried when I left. Needed to build in more travel time, hope you make it.

I quite like the whole idea of being present at the inaugrial championships

why ? does tht make it any different to any other race if you dont win ?

Ive never understood that mentality ! Ive done a few inaugrill events – they were nothing special

discuss !

Im not sure you can ever be fit enough to ride 24 hours. Ive certainly done a few with no training other than my normal weekly rides and a reasonable base level.

24 hour solos are more about your mental fitness. Knowing how to pace yourself, not pushing through injury, good fuel and most importantly a solid mental strategy to prevent boredom. Throw in a dolop of bonkerness, stubbournness and cheerfulness and you will do fine.

See ya on the 22nd!

If you've got the base hours in then you won't lose it over a few weeks – it's speed work that you lose quickly. In a 24 solo I don't think you need speed work unless you're going for a top 10 finish – at MM last year I finished 22nd by just keeping going and never pushing myself into the "red" cos I knew if I did I would suffer big time. Once your body is used to riding at a steady pace for 4 – 6 hours then so long as you refuel you should be able to keep going – it might be tough and it might be sore but you can keep going. As said above the mental side is as important if not more so.

As for major injuries get them sorted rather than trying to train through them – find someone who knows what they are doing and take a week off the bike if you need to. Minor niggles are part and parcel of long distance training though.

Good luck – also at the Builth CRC night/day enduro so might see you there.

Ti29er, You could try taping your knee to start gentle exercise….

It's always best to rest it until it's better completely, but we never do that because we are impatient and stupid…

Here's what I do, it's tricky to describe so bear with me:

1. Get hold of some Mefix; they sell it in chemists. It comes as a fabric slightly stretchy tape, about 3-4 inches wide and as long as the roll.

2. get a length that stretches from mid thigh to mid calf.

3. Cut another 3 lengths like the first one.

4. Cut a slit about 2 inches long lengthways in all 4 pieces of tape, in the middle,to let your knee cap have a bit of breathing room.

5.Sit on the floor with a straight leg.

6. Bend your leg a bit… this is tricky, but you want the tape to be pulling as you get about halfway through the pedal stroke.

7. with bent leg, stick the four bits of tape from mid thigh to mid calf; first one goes straight down the middle, next two can be a bit left and right, then last one down the middle again.

8. finish off with a strip of tape around your calf and one around your thigh, to hold the other bits in place.

It's not magic and its not really science; it seems to work by changing the proprioreceptive response in your quads, helping to stabilise the kneecap and help keep it running smoothly.

It should feel tight over your knee as you get to the top of the pedal stroke.

It worked for me a couple of times to settle down my patellar maltracking.

I can't beleive your still at it Steve.

One last hurrah to try and finally finish one with my head held high 🙂

SITS in 2008 was a disaster by half way round the first lap my heart wasn't in it and I switched to pit bitch for friends

2009 was a write off through injury, 2010 has been hampered by redundancy issues (me too later this year) so training has been sporadic, maneged to get a few 100k rides in and just the one 100 miler but I'm struggling with my recovery after long rides (not helped at all by drinking heavily, which will now be taken into check) so figuring that a 1000 miles in April plus a large dose of TTFU should see me through.

I'll see you on the start line then 🙂

Know the feeling I am doing the Kielder 100 and am a little behind in my training goals. The next few weekends are not ideal for mileage either so this isn't going to pick until mid-May

I wouldn't train on the injury though I've an issue with my left Quad and spend a lot of time working just on that to try and make it better and stronger which it is but it's slow. The thought of 100miles in a day seems a distant goal at the moment as my current day max as in the most of ridden of late in one go is about 21miles 😯 So bit of work to do there 🙂

Just be careful not to overtrain or push injury before it's ready to be.

This thread has reminded me to sort my ride plan…