At least the calm before the (next) storm is here….

Given up on swapping between tyres these days.

My steady plodding style doesn’t really lend itself to exacting tyre set-up, and I find mud tyres get all skittish on the faster bits…

It’s a special kind of wet out there now. It’s been raining HEAVILY for hours. 24hr teams still going, fast people still fast. It was slippy on the rocks as the evening set in, it must be hell out on track. I wouldn’t know, I’m not getting out of bed. 😐

Packing up is going to be an experience, getting out the field another one. 😯

Respect to folk racing 24 hours in that… Especially solo folk.

Yup, 24 solo definitely had some high points and some low points.

I have to confess to bailing at about 9am, once everything I owned was wet, and I was starting to get cold. And EVERYTHING was sore.

Been told I came 7th in vets, but I’ve not looked. Happy with that for a first endurance race.

Did 230km on what was a surprisingly tough and technical course.

Was grim.

Even packing up was grim.

Will still look forward to next yr though!

Well done all…

It’s funny how people experiences differ.

We won the 24hr male team, got 35 laps in collectively. Not one of us used a mud tyre at any point, mainly racing Ralph’s and fast tracks.

The course actually rode well in the heavy rain and got less slippery, the lap times barely changed, which was surprising to us.

Well done to all at the race, especially the solos and two person teams.

Respect to everyone who turned a wheel out there, but that respect rises exponetially the longer your or your buddies were out there. Didn’t enjoy the course so much this year but that was down to me – to wake up nice and snug and hear the rain on the canvas was nice, to open the tent and still see people circulating was humbling.

Back home, but I think I have trench foot, just from packing up, so huge respect to anyone who rode today. (But Saturday was great.)

Respect to all who did it even if their event was shorter than planned.

Congrats to everyone attending, especially the solos. Please for our club team though, that despite being only 3 riders they came 11th in 24 team male.

Dissapponemt for me as a re occurring injury occurred after my 5th solo lap – a trapped trapezoid. I rode for two more laps but on my 7th I couldnt hold or pull on rhe bars, and every root was shooting pain up my neck – dnf. 🙁 such a shame as I was targeting 24 laps and with the rain fudge factor probably would have been close to the winning Vet at the end.

Good to meet notmyrealname also.

Back next year after I’ve seen a physio.

A great event spoilt by the weather, the drive down was horrendous, traffic and constant rain made for seven hours of delight, managed to ride for 11 1/2 of the 24 hours, bloody mess in shorts finished me, and all I can say is it’s not comfortable now 🙁 still managed to finish 42nd solo male, bouncing along on my fat bike with 10 laps, not sure where i was in the veterans class as that isn’t on the timelaps results sheets. Drive home was wet as well, so plenty of cleaning and drying out to be done.

not sure where i was in the veterans class as that isn’t on the timelaps results sheets

If you were registered as a veteran then there should be a ‘V’ under the “club” heading – you just have to manually count back.

Chapeau to all that rode anything after the biblical rain that started just before 6am – some of you looked like you’d been following a muck-spreader. Fantastic course this year marred only by the weather (& my dodgy back) but a big thank you to Martin and the team for another great event.

Those pizzas on Friday were amazing too – probably a good job they weren’t able to be there all weekend…..

Hats off to all, especially the solos, sounds horrendous!

Thanks Nobby, that made me 21st vet 🙂

Missed on the pizza but crepe with nutella and banana was a new taste sensation in a good way.

Well that hat was bloody hard work!
I managed 16 laps but ended up stopping after 18 hours as I was done for. If it wasn’t for the rain I probably would’ve plodded around for another couple of laps but the grinding paste-like consistency of the wet dirt eventually took it’s toll and much like Benji, it played a big part in stopping me. All I can say is thank god for Asos Skin Repair Gel!

It sounds like you were pretty unlucky there Kryton, not really the ideal way to end after all the training.
I thought it might’ve been your Alfa parked up opposite the Travers tent so figured you were still going round somewhere after we spoke. Hopefully you’ll have better luck next time.
As for riding it on a fatback like Benji, you must be mental! After about half a dozen laps or so the Clif Climb was killing me on a lightweight 29er never mind something like a Fatboy, Chapeau indeed 🙂

Did anyone get any photos of this torture? Is the Davehayward site best for pics or did anyone spot any other photographers?

Well done to all for being hardcore

Some good pictures from Kevin.

Proper mudfest, I was in a 24hr quad team. As mentioned above it was pretty humbling watching the solos grinding round and round and round in the lashing rain, you guys are hardcore. Hopefully a bit drier next year, and hopefully the pizza tent will stay all weekend!

It was a tester race for me, not having a 24 hr on the MTB before, and having landed a place at Strathpuffer, I had a bit of a panic and managed to get hold of an unwanted entry a couple of weeks ago (thanks Pete68 OTP)….and then had another panic I didn’t really have a suitable bike and impulse bought a 29er. I wasn’t coming into it totally endurance lacking as have spent a fair bit of time on the road bike over the last couple of years, but I have certainly not been on an MTB much so wasn’t sure how it was going to go, whether the bike would be comfy (it had only had a couple of short test rides), or even if the tyres that came with it were any good.

I had the best pit crew anyone could want with several of out club riders racing the 12 hr teams meaning there was always someone about to help me on the Saturday if I needed it, and my amazing boyfriend then stayed up all night after his race finished to make me tea each lap, feed me, sort the bike out, fill my bottle up etc.

I put a ban on being told my position or how I was doing as I was adamant I wasn’t going to race it and it was in the middle of a block of training. This worked until about 4 am when the OH snapped and told me I was three laps up. I was hanging by that point after riding the first four laps like a trail centre visit and paying for it every lap after I blew…but there was no way I was stopping then.

My legs are ruined. 29ers are fun.

It sounds like you were pretty unlucky there Kryton, not really the ideal way to end after all the training.
I thought it might’ve been your Alfa parked up opposite the Travers tent

Yes that was me, well done on your result! Not ideal and this was my annual goal so I am disappointed, but I have had a good year and some good results getting to this point. Still more races to go this year!

Great event – loved it! 3rd year in a row for us and the first wet one, but on the whole, the venue held up pretty well.
dot and I did the male 12hr pairs and came in 13th. Pretty happy with that as neither of us have had much bike time this year. Course was great, albeit a little sticky in places, but given the rain on Friday, all pretty good.
Mrs Yak raced the Torchbearer and tapped out the laps before calling it quits at 9am with cold and a wrist injury, finishing 3rd. Still a decent ride out in awful conditions by that point.

Overall we had a top weekend, caught up with old mates and our kids had a good time despite one being in an arm cast and missing her race.

Well done Martyn and team.

Strange how people are viewing the weather. I did the first two laps, which are always slow because of numbers on course. The course was a bit slippy but dried through the day until by the time I rode my next session at 8pm it could have been described as mainly bone dry. I then went out at 3.15 for another 2 laps, the second of which almost killed me with a cramping back and legs. The course was a bit slippery because of dew, as it always is at this time of night. No need for anything like mud tyres up to this point!

Rain started at 4ish but didn’t get remotely heavy until 5.30ish, when I’d finished my penultimate session, and by the time I was back out at 10 the rain was epic. But the course still ran quickly apart from a few places, still no need for mud tyres.

The bulk of the event – almost 3/4s – was pretty dry.

We came 29/63, I think. A decent result considering we only had 3 and a half riders.

A small gripe – if anyone lights a firepit 10ft from my tent next year, I will get violent. We had a whole night of the wind blowing smoke and sparks into our tent. 🙁 The same turds deliberately left their rubbish in front of our tent when they left. 👿

Did my first 12 hour solo in the Torchbearer this year and managed the 8 laps I was aiming for (lucky I was just competing against myself). I can’t say the rain spoilt it as it’s just part of mountain biking and on the bright side it has saved me having to wash several sets of kit as there was no point changing after 5:30.
Excellent course though and a heartfelt thanks to all those cheering us on throughout the night, it really did lift my mood.

Where are you all getting the results from? I can’t see them on the website.

its on the timelaps site.

Weather was atrocious but the course held up excellently, didn’t bother with mud tyres, Geax Saguros were fine, slippy but fine.

Cheers.
Absolutely gutted, 8 laps done in 12h 3mins and it’s only registered that I did 5 laps, bah humbug.
By the way (possible stupid question) but what is the Time+ column all about, I’m a bit new to this.

Time+ is how far you were away from the winner

We had 1 lap missing from our result. But, our result was so dire that it makes no difference! 😀

Gunz, can’t you drop them an e-mail. Do you have any GPS data for the laps you did? Perhaps it’s an error that can be fixed?

Time+ is how far you were away from the winner

That’s a bit depressing.

Stumpy, no GPS data available but to be honest I’ve worked out that I should have been 12th which I’m more than happy with, without having to have it officially recognised.

Had a good time once the rain stopped Friday afternoon. Really liked the longer course to last year and thought it was very well planned offering plenty of places to overtake safely. This was our 2nd year as a mixed 24hr team of 5 and tempted to enter a 12hr solo next year to get more laps in.

mjsmke, do it. I’m already planning my way to nine laps next year and ten thereafter, I can feel an addiction coming on.

What do you do for food? Do you just stop when tired and hungry to eat then carry on? I was out at 12 and 5 and really wanted to keep riding. Especially as i had to stop twice to pump my rear tire up that wouldn’t seal. Still did a 53min lap too. Probably would have been a 49 if my tire sealed.

I carried a mixture of gels and flapjack to provide the 1g of carbs/kg of body weight/hour. I carried enough for 2 laps and then stopped at my tent (no pit crew) to re-stock and strech my legs, back, feet, hands, eyebrows etc.

P.S. I never want to eat flapjack ever again.