And i feel total unprepared.
A mate and i booked up with the aim of using the event as a means of motivation to get more cycling in. However, my house renovation and young family have been my priority, which has meant i haven’t got out much. Mean while my mate has been raking up serious miles.
Being a complete novice (with meager event goals) to this type of event, what advice would you give to get through my stints without embarrissing myself too badly and being a complete hindrance on the circuit. Don’t get me wrong, i’m not a complete numpty, just new to the racing scene.
Also, any general advice to help me survive would be appreciated.

Thanks Flip

You feel unprepared, l have just entered as a solo as none of my mates wanted to join me as a team. Completed an ironman in June and hoping the training is still there, took me just under 14hrs so hope this will help. Never done one of these before but hey you don’t know what your capable until you try. Just enjoy yourself, its a weekend away with the bike and like minded people.

Take all the kit you have it gets cold standing around nice dry kit each lap if you can.

I’m soloing for the third year. Really hoping it is nicer weather than the last two years

It was great last year.

Signing up as a pair tomorrow. Mate of mine is doing solo. Did consider it, but not fit enough. Praying for a dry one…

As above, take as much kit as you can so you can get into dry kit and have a thick coat for the change over area. It’s quite a long lap (normally about 11 miles) compared to other events I have done where it’s normally more like 8 miles.
If you haven’t ridden at Thetford before – it’s flat, but you get no rest & it can be pretty tiring. The singletrack always encourages me to go faster & faster, then I wonder why I have am knackered!

The-milkybar-kid – Member

It was great last year.

Err yes, if you’re a masochist 😆

Ok i’ll stop moaning, I now feel shamed by all you soloists. How does the transition area work, is it a case of judge your mates lap time and be there/ ready 10 mins before they return?

woops just realised that you are talking about a different race, l have actually entered solo at relentless, oh well thanks for the tip about lots of clothes.
Any other tips as yet to buy lights, are the exposure 6 pack overkill.

Flip456 – yeah, you need to get an idea of your team mates lap time, stick your bike in the rack & wait for them to come round. It’s rubbish at night as all you can see are really bright lights coming towards you…

Problem is in the wet, the lap time can massively increase – especially as it’s quite a long lap.

We wear a warm layer and then get the person you have waited for to take it back to your tent.

gnp73 – outright brightness isn’t that important with endurance events. You need something with run time…or get a spare battery.

I borrowed a 6 pack for last year’s D2D as I’d loaned my lights to a club mate.

Didn’t need the power but it was very handy to have. More importantly the reduced power setting was still brighter that my best light at max.

Definitely make sure you are in the transition zone before they turn up. Have a huge, massive warm coat + some food to pass to your partner when they come in (assuming you haven’t eaten all the food :)).

As you said you haven’t trained too much, make sure you ride within your ability and make sure you hold back some energy for later in the race. I’ve done a few solo races, and would say that a 2 man team can be quite a tough challenge. This may sound super harsh, but from the sounds of things, you won’t be competing for the podium, so the most important thing is to make sure you have an enjoyable time.

Definitely get a plan of what you are going to eat between laps, and set alarms to remember when to get back to transition – the time will go 10000x quicker than you think it will, and if you miss your partner at transition by a few minutes, they might as well have taken it easy during the lap (+ they will be moody with you!).

Have you got someone coming along for support? Despite what you might think, it’s incredibly fun supporting someone doing an event like this.

Finally, saw your post about Bacton Woods and local riding – I live in Norwich, and always out at the weekend/mid week on rides, if you’re looking for someone to ride with 🙂