Good luck all. After an 8hr ride on the Ridgeway I was very glad not to be racing for 12hrs.

Quick thread hijack, how’s the Ridgeway at the moment, has there been any rain there the past couple of days or has it missed it?
I’m planning on doing a Ridgeway Double next week and was hoping that it’s still going to be dry.

Bone dry, not a speck of dampness south of Wallingford. Last week was very muddy under the trees above Wendover but that was it.

What time are you aiming for? This ride was training for a second attempt trying to go under 14hrs but I’m suffering severe motivation issues.

Btw a couple of the chalk descents have enough dust to grab your wheel at speed – very nearly a big off.

Sounds similar to the past couple of weeks when I was up there then. A little damp in some places at the Ivinghoe end but otherwise bone dry.
It wasn’t the descents that had me off this week but the rutted section west of Bury Down, first time was annoying but doing it a second time was a bit stupid 😳

I was initially hoping to get under 14h but realistically I’ll be happy with anything under 15h.

Good luck – I’ll eait to see if I have to do it again!!

Great fun, best time was giving out the free beer & the look on people’s faces when you tell them to keep there money.

Nice chilled out event, the antithesis of MM

My fastest lap is 37 minutes so far but I had many beers last night so using that as an excuse

And a fine rain has started… 🙁

Gonna see how it progresses and decide whether to just get some sleep…

And a fine rain has started…
Gonna see how it progresses and decide whether to just get some sleep…

This is Devon. That’s not rain it’s just damp air…

Well after riding for nine hours straight and reaching 5th, I’m out. 9 months physio hasn’t fixed my shoulder and a i got to the point where I nearly had a very nasty accident as my left hand grip became weaker and the pain stared to make things blurry.

Anyway, I’m now watching you all with two bottles of Moretti and a bottle of Rioja.

The rain is stopping in time to avoid the dust becoming mud I see.

By good those pizzas are are good. I’ve just polished off a veggie pizza with anchovies and capers.

Still raining, the band is good though

Kryton come to the beerbabe stall in the arena and have a beer

Unlucky Kryton, when they put the placings upon the 24/12 Facebook page after 6h it looked like you were going well.
Time to kick back and enjoy the rest of the weekend now.

Can a pizza with anchovies be veggy?

Sorry to hear about your shoulder – beer and wine deserve whiskey to finish!

After 6 laps in on 24hr solo I called it a day last night. Every one of my laps was separated by about 40 mins in the thunder box.

What a difference a year makes. After last year’s stomach and cramp disaster I came up with a completely different plan. The ‘no training’ bit was accidental but it forced my hand somewhat. I stopped caring!
(Came down to Plympton with some horrible stomach bug from the kids too, up and down to the portaloos all night. 😥 )

Advice from here was to stop eating gels and get a heart monitor.

Didn’t have any gels or any energy drinks, ate pork pies, scotch eggs and olives. Went out with no spares, no tube, no water and let fate have its way. Stopped every lap and had a sit down. Most importantly I rode on heart rate, didn’t get involved in chasing people and stuck to below 170bpm religiously.

As I went to bed I was 11th in open male 12hr solo with 14 laps. 🙂

I love this event. Course is GREAT, some iconic bits missing but it’s great to mix it up. (Big Tipi is sorely missed and MUST make a comeback.)

The course was brilliant. Big climb out the way and that was it. Some amazing flowing sections. Really enjoyed it.

My favourite event ever I reckon. Called it a day at 9.30ish after 7 laps for me and 9 for my teammate. Great respect for the 24hour crew. So impressive as always.

Really good fun doing Bluebell Wood inthe opposite direction to usual, and Cottage Return is always the highlight of the course. Did miss bombing flat out down the big field/hill at the end though

What a event liked the zig zag through the camp site with cheers and keep going.

Course was ace and once you got to the top the real fun got going.. Not sure my legs and arms like me now with 29 laps done inin 24 vets..

Oh and the kids races where great to my son loved.

Agree Big Tipi was misses this year.

And…. Relax. What a great weekend. Now the Spanish Ibruprofen has warn off it’s a visit to the Pysio for me but ultimately that didn’t overshadow a great weekend. I really enjoyed the course, the weather was great and there was some great racing and banter throughout, not to mention the excellent pizza and thier fridge full of anchovies.

My shoulder issue probably mean the end of lengthy endurance events for me, but I’ll be back next year with the family instead to play a part in a team 24 instead.

Also really enjoyed the Arena and it was good to meet Rocketdog, Judy & Roy at the beerbabe tent.

Did I mention the excellent pizza?

never say never Kryton! cool to meet you too

As above, really….

I liked the course, although a bit of trail on the other side, with the final shoot down the field would have been nice & could have got rid of a bit of the twiddling through the camping area; it was OK, but pretty bland….but good for getting more people camping trackside, I guess.

Support around the track was brilliant.

It was our 9th year, this year & I loved the feel of the course, in that you knew once you got the climbing out of the way there was just whoopy fast stuff left.

Didn’t really miss the Bontrager tepee to be honest; apart from being the ‘centre’ of the arena area, I am not sure what it really bought to the event – normally just seemed to be a few ‘cool dudes’ in there with their kids watching the TV around a fire…..meh.

We decided to sleep once the rain set-in on Sat evening. It’s more of a sociable weekend for us with a bit of riding thrown in, so no point getting all wet & miserable. Back up for around 6am to carry on.

Can’t believe they have tea & scones at the motivation station – had I been solo, I think I would have stopped……!!

Just need to find time/space to hang out a very wet tent!!

As always a great event. Loved the course, but missed the downhill along the grass (but didn’t miss climbing up to it).
Rain wan’t too bad and didn’t mess up the course too much, but could have eased a bit when we were packing up.
Pizza’s were great, that’s all I had all weekend.
Well done to the solo riders and everyone involved in running it.

but could have eased a bit when we were packing up.

turned into a beautiful evening by about 6pm.

Yep, great fun, nice to catch up with some people and meet others! Great rides by pictonroad and Jay_THT (and others). The Clif Climb was brutal, but nice that there were no other major climbs to contend with. Loved that once you got to the Bluebells Wood it was basically all downhill! Pleased with our 2nd place in 12 hour pairs. Less pleased with the horrendous traffic coming home!

Great course, a bit shorter than normal and missing a few classic sections but it was no worse off for it and it had a great flow to it apart from the new bumpy/lumpy section with all the wheel sized ruts in it, was nice going up and then coming down, a proper lap of two halves and overall it was spot on, all the right bits in all the right directions, and ‘only’ the Clif climb to contend with going up, it was ace!

Called it a day after 13 laps in Solo 12hr, made my usual mistake of going out too hard too early, did a string of ~34-38min laps before slowing to 40+ and realised I had done 9 laps in the first 6 hours! Started to flag in the heat so calmed down a bit had some food and then went back out for a couple more slow ones, then started suffering from double knee pain and lack of MTFU when the rain set in so had a long break and then went out for a final dry lap about 11pm with a friend where we cruised round, had a cup of tea at the top of Clif climb and generally enjoyed the last lap 🙂

Really missed the commentary this year but overall another brilliant year, will be back again for #12 🙂

Had a great weekend and it was my first attempt at a 12 hr solo. Everyone was really friendly as usual and got loads of encouragement. And thankyou to those handing out free sweets!
Looking forward to seeing the photos from the official photographers. Does anyone have any links to them?

Dave Hayward was the official photographer, nowt on his website at the moment.

Kevin Sheldrake has a load on his website here.

We had an excellent weekend finishing 6th in the 12hr Open Male Team against some proper fast boys.

I’m considering an official email suggesting some sort of ‘grand tour mountain stage’ motivation for the climb. Especially at the 22/23hr mark… If they could drum up some volunteers to go up there and make an atmosphere it would be great fun 😀

The Clif Climb was brutal

You know those moments when you realise your decision to not do something was the right decision…

8)

Towards the end some of my ‘friends’ were watching at cliff climb, I wanted to really but they motivated me to ride it

Back now. That was a great weekend 😀
Loved the course this year. The reversed sections worked really well, especially bluebell wood, and from there onwards. Cliff climb was tough, but I preferred it to the old tarmac climb. It mentally worked better for me as it had natural segments to it.

Anyway, results – my lad won the u12s, my daughter came 2nd in the u8s, Mrs Yak won the Torchbearer, and our open male 24hr team came in 3rd. Proper chuffed!

Awesome pizzas too 🙂

A big thankyou to Martyn and his team for (imo) the best 24:12 yet.

Got back very late last night (ferry failed some safety checks and couldn’t sail, then it only had 3 engines so was really slow to boot).

Had a great time for the first 6 hours supporting other riders (we were in at “celtic corner”, Isle of Man, Scotland & Ireland flags and a big cow bell for riders to hit), then grabbed some kip for a while, woke up to a leaky tent and then got ready for the torch bearer.

Managed to do 15 laps (last one is missing from the timelaps thing, I knew as I went around the last time it would put me up to 8th, have mailed and hopefully they’ll find it). Really happy as I was faster than I thought I would be, consistent lap times (once you remove the kit change/bottle making) and the bike worked a treat despite being 26″ 😉

Great event.

Just email time laps – if you’ve got a GPS trace or whatever even better, but they’ll sort it.

Dave Hayward pics are up.

http://www.davehaywardphotos.com/Cycling/Mountain-Biking/Pivot2412

There’s 2 of me, but they’re both shockers, so I won’t be purchasing.
When I say shockers – nothing to do with Dave’s photography skills – purely the subject matter…..

The first one was my first lap at those little stone steps & having failed to do a lap on Fri, I saw it all last minute & took the chicken run as I wasn’t sure how big the steps were (and then had instant regret 😆 )……
The second is coming into the river stretch in the morning & there is a serious amount of beer-gut trying to break free from the shackles of my jersey…!!

I almost got taken out by a young deer bursting from the undergrowth at the shooting range.

And I need to apologise for a very close overtake which surprised two young ladies on Topeak Traverse. Impatience got the better of me, big apologies! 😳

Also big sorries to Matt Carr who demanded a Strongbow, not a waterpistol blast from my kids. My eldest misheard and aimed a bucket of water at him. 😳

After two laps we were running 9th of 11 teams. Sometime in the evening we realised we were 4th and closing on 3rd. Suddenly it stopped being a casual thing…

We finished 3rd Vets. 4 of us on unsuitable bikes, mainly carrying unsuitable bellies. Sheer bloody mindedness carried us through the night. My first time on a 24hr podium, after 18 years of doing them.

Can you tell I’m chuffed? 😀

Back now having had a bit of a holiday after the event.
4th time doing it, 1st time in the 24hr. Had a great time, did better than we hoped finishing 8th in the team open male, and one of our youngens won the u8 boys.

Fantastic support throughout the 24hrs, the tea ladies at the motivation station were ace.
Loved the lap, the food, the kids with water pistols, the high fives, the free beer, the massage girls putting us back together again, the sunshine.

A bike shop seemed conspicuous by its absence, luckily mechanicals limited to broken chains. And the topeak guys did a brilliant job keeping things rolling.

Already looking forward to next year.

Have you seen that chap in the official video – the red jersey right at the end last 15 seconds or so? Nutter trying far too hard for 24 solo… 😉