it can't possibly be as wet as last year

Oh it really can be a lot wetter than last year. Kielder has its own little micro climate, and it rains a lot up there….

Personally my training has slacked off a bit recently, due to upcoming fatherhood, but already got a 100 miler in the legs (on road) and quite a few 70s and 80s. personally I really struggled on my bike last year (Trek ex9 with nevagals on) so thats going to be replaced with 100mm steel hardtail with small block 8s on, thats worth 30 mins I think…

Entered 10 at Kirroughtree to see where I'm at a month or so beforehand. If I can ride there for 10 hours and do 80/90 miles I'll be happy

long rides are simply out of the question (accept maybe once a month

That's all I do/did.

Have a look at a book called the time crunched cyclist. It's your best bet. Lot's of effort required but not a huge amount of time.

IMO you will need to have done some long rides in your life to know what it feels like to sit in the saddle for that long, what to eat and drink etc.

I'm going the other way- possibly.
From HT to full sus'.
It'll be easier on the legs over 7+hrs and for me that will hopefully make the difference.

Bottom line is that you need to have done somthing in your prep' stage that comes close to this distance XC, or at least in terms of hours on the bike, and here we're talking about 10+hrs if you can. That doesn't mean a pairs race as this needs to be continually on the bike. Only then will you know if the saddle's right, the bike is the correct one and so on.

Directly on the question. Is the event over-subscribed? Personally, if I was pretty certain I'd over-extended myself and couldn't make a decent fist of such a thing I'd give some serious thought to letting someone else have the place. That's no more than an "etiquette" point, don't feel strongly. 🙂

Only then will you know if the saddle's right,

& what are you going to do if it's not? – break another one in & start again?
It could be a big lead up 🙂

I reckon your approach is a bit OTT TBH

another option is a 29er, there were lots there last year…

Of course!
I have 2 saddles I can ride, one is one bike, one on another. Never put all your eggs in one basket where mtn biking is concerned, if it's going to go wrong, it will!

Having ridden the Montane Kielder 100 last year I am giving you my honest appraisal (& I photographed it for a 5 page MBUK article in January if you recall) so you'll recall my ride was not without its incidents.

10+++hrs on the bike, XC is not an easy thing. I'd done pairs at Bonty (11 hrs) and the Polaris (7&5hrs) in the lead up and it was not sufficient, that's why I'm saying what I do.

I've done two 12 hour rides in my life, one a proper solo, and one just a ride with a friend which was rather long. On the friendly ride I'd never done more than 5 hours on a bike, just plodded round, and kept plodding. Frankly I surprised myself, I was fairly tired after 4 hours, but never got any more tired. I think mental toughness is a huge part of it, go into it thinking that you can't finish and you almost certainly won't! It's no substitute for good fitness, but it'll help!

In terms of comfort, IME if it's comfortable after 3-4 hours it won't get any less comfortable. I wore 2 pairs of shorts on both of my 12 hour rides and had no problems with soreness, don't fret about things like that IMO.

& I photographed it for a 5 page MBUK article in January if you recall

No – I didn't see it
not surprising really as I don't read it

Best to try these things out would be my advice.

No point waiting & training all year to then find your saddle is killing you or you should have tried Chamois cream or your wet feet (you will get wet) are causing you Hell or the saddle's too low or 2 pairs of shorts actually nip you or cause poor circulation or …..

Don't foget you can ride some of the sections, go and try the Red routes both sides of the border plus the other trails to get a feel for the landscape, some of it is very rough. Because of your stated concerns, I'd advocate a trip north TBH; can't hurt!

Planning & preparation prevents pi££ poor performace.

uplink , I turned up with little training and thought to preperation last year, and pulled out after 65 miles. I don't think you can be OTT when preparing for something this big.

My training just now is.

1 weekend ride quite long – 107 miles on Sunday
2 weekday rides at mental pace with other roadies – total including commute about 55 miles
3 other days commuting – 27 miles each
1 other day off riding casual so only about 20 -30 miles but just a chilled out relaxing day
1 -2 weekday night rides of about 20 – 30 miles each.

1 thing i'm gonna do though is lose a commute day to just relax and rest. Not done any of that recently

My money's going on radoggair For The Win, if he's truly doing all this and continues to do so! 😀

Unless he does as I have, another blasted cold to stop me in my training tracks. 2 weeks to my first solo 24hr and I'm still chock full of cold (feeling very sorry for myself!).
Now on some Antihistamine as of this morning and this is helping – meaning I've developed an allergy. Just great!

uplink , I turned up with little training and thought to preperation last year, and pulled out after 65 miles. I don't think you can be OTT when preparing for something this big.

I agree to an extent
It's just I can't see how most people can afford test rides at full [or close to] full distance to check out kit & to start again if it's not right

I've done a few 12 & 24 hr adventure races in the past & a good few cycle rides ~10hrs
I've really never felt the need – either before or with hindsight – to train close to the actual time/distance
but if others feel that they need that, fine, I just feel it's a bit OTT

The guy's worried about it, "faint possibility".

OTT can't hurt in his mental and physical preparation.

Judge the mood of the original post and you'll get a better feel for his concerns then advise perhaps, that's all I've done; he needs some sound grounding so he can complete his task not hairy-chested macho-isms. 😉

Perhaps he'd be best listening to those who have tackled this event and either only just scraped in or failed to make the distance & then better understand the nature of the beast. Remember some posting here race at the Elite level & are still in their mid 20's!

Ti29er – sympathies on the cold – the missus kindly gave me hers 🙁

On the OTT – damn right if it works for you. It's good for preparation, mental strength and confidence – the confidence is really important. We all prep for events our own way, checking the saddle for long distance fit is very important – 4 hours comfort is not always the same as 10 hour + comfort!!!

there is a faint possibility ill be starting – never mind completing …

im entered but work has said im going to equitorial guinea then – im just hoping the job gets set back and we go out a couple weeks later so i can do this and the tour du ben nevis !

My money's going on radoggair For The Win, if he's truly doing all this and continues to do so!

A friend of mine was second last year, and certainly doesn't anywhere near that much training every week!

In 14 yrs time I can get a free bus pass. That'll make things easier 😉
That's assuming there's a bus from Kielder to Newcastleton & back on the same day!

aye – but you be surprised – somehow greig(radoggair) manages to translate that much training (which would have me in bits at the end of each week) into fast forward motion !

looking forward to getting beasted by him at 10UTB next weekend – i believed he entered because he was "a bit bored"

Oh yeah definitely, I was by no means suggesting that he won't go well on that training, merely that that training wasn't essential to do well, if that makes sense!?

Not quite the same as the Kielder but I entered this weekends Clic24 as a solo two weeks ago! I've done absolutely no structured training other than my normal riding, I do have experience of riding for many hours in the saddle and I do have experience of feeling like death halfway through a 24 hour race, so with experience and a positive mental attitude, I'm hoping it will pull me through.

We'll see.

Assuming the cuttoffs are no more taxing than the average sportive? I made 100miles on a sportive with 2 weeks training after being off for over a year. Just did 50miles, 75miles and 85miles on the road bike back to back over a 3 day weekend, keeping the average speed over 15mph. The 85mile ride (sheffield, manchester road, snakes pass, glossop, winnats pass, and back up through hathersage with a few 10mile loop diversions for 'intervals') dam near killed me but the sportive 100miles over the south downs seemed easy a fortnight later as none of the hills were quite as big (although they didnt half make up for it in quantity!).

Trick in my case was to ride harder and hope that on the day the drop in pace (completed it at 14.1mph and there was considerably less effort required for the smaller hills compared to the peaks even if total elevation was comparable) will be enough to keep the body going that last 20 miles.

You'll do fine. Unless the weathers crap like the gorrick 100 on Sunday in which case if your like me the average speed drops to about 5mph as you have to push everythign due to a lack of any brakes, gears or grip.

Since I'm photographing the Clic24 event, we'll see how shattered you can look!
Be sure to swear at me as you ride past out on the trails, all warm & dry as I'll be, eating yet another bacon sarnie!

Another article for MBUK and of course for the Clic24 organisation as a whole.

see im not convinced about the whole lap thing being easier – my mates who did keilder reckon its harder cause its one big loop – but all my training is big loops rather than many small loops….i also feel its harder to get into a dark place one one big lap rides – way way way to easy to stop at the pits in a 24 if your in a dark place. where as on big loops you gotta ride out the doldrums !

I'm also doing the K100 for the first time this year.. I think doubt can be used to your advantage as it forces you to train harder when you do get the opportunity. At least thats what I'm doing!
I'm not so much worried about the time in the saddle as making the cutoffs. I'll be REALLY frustrated if I get told I have to stop 3/4 of the way round!!

Here

Once dusk appears, the ride has finished.
You have to be quick to avoid the cut offs, make no mistake & it's harder (and also different as you're out on the hills and in the forests for 100 miles of varying terrain and scenery) than laps of say Mayhem, Bonty etc.

TBH, the ride was quite beautiful. Strange dank mists that hang over the forests, open heath land, the red route at Newcastleton, those thousands of spider's webs almost suspended in time, seemingly etched into the secondry forest growth with the dew, the near silenece of the dark forest, the bird chatter in the mixed wooded hill sides, do you want me to go on…?

@jonb, could quite fancy that ride Jon would have to be the 20th for me. How far? and time wise?

Not convinced – the physical side is harder but the psychological side of the k100 as there is nowhere to just pull in and go to bed ….

Either way itll just be a normal day in the hills for me with other folk to ride with.

600k audax to do in 4 weeks – that has me more worried !

I too am a bit worried about kielder. I've done no real structured training (i just ride). Did HONC 100k in 5hr40 the other week and was doing the enduro6 laps in around 32mins (as a pair). The problem i have is cramp. Never really get it on any rides out apart from events like HONC,mayhem, SITS etc although everything from waist up feels fine.

I notice rob dean posted a while back about training for long events and he said "little and often" But i can't see how this can get you ready for something like kielder where you will be in the saddle for hours.

colnagokid:

drop me an email as you're local ish to Newcastle and I'm always on the look out for people to ride with on long rides. Have a mate I'm doing training rides with off road.

20th should be fine. It's a long way off so no guarantees it'll happen.

Far as you like, long as you like. Over, newcastleton and back as a minimum I recon. Maybe add Deadwater on at the end or another part of the 100 course to make a proper distance out of it.

It's the NR Cyclone the weekend before but I should have recovered properly to do a long ride.

bayley . jon @ gmail . com

Little and often works – im a keen advocate of that not – but only if you have an already sound base.

I finished puffer 24 solo on ss on a diet of riding 12 miles a day every day with an mtb ride on wednesday night and 1 x long ride in november of 90k ….. New job and lack of time meant it was the best i could do ….how ever my daily rides were done at max output every second day

The problem i have is cramp

Try adding Elete Water to whatever you drink, seems to have sorted me right out!

Well I'm in and I've had a couple of sleepless nights tthinking about it. Never done anything like this before so it's going to be a learning curve. Currently do between 40 – 100 miles on the road commuting in the week, and hopefully a 20 – 30 mtb ride at the weekend. Really trying to keep to a sensible diet and doing lots of core strengh exercises as well. Doing the 100k CRC marathon at Grassington in July, so if I can finish that and stil feel well, I rekon I can (just) make it round.

My sister finished the London marathon with a busted knee, one year after having major heart surgery to have a pace maker fitted. I don't really have an excuse that good, so I have to turn up. 😉

Two things, what's the terrain like compared to a days riding in the Lakes ? That's what I'm used to you see, so looking for a comparison.

Secondly, there's going to be space in a car going from Preston, so if anyone wants/needs a lift shout now.

Try adding Elete Water to whatever you drink, seems to have sorted me right out!

I've tried nunn, eating peanuts, sports drinks, tonic water. It's strange as i only get it at events when i get nervous. I've even got the feeling 2 laps in on a time trial.

I never get it on any 'normal' rides (this includes 55k epics in the lakes, 6 hours rides in the brecons and a 6 hour road ride round wales)

TBH, the ride was quite beautiful. Strange dank mists that hang over the forests, open heath land, the red route at Newcastleton, those thousands of spider's webs almost suspended in time, seemingly etched into the secondry forest growth with the dew, the near silenece of the dark forest, the bird chatter in the mixed wooded hill sides, do you want me to go on…?

Very evocative! It is a bit of an odyssey through ancient borderlands and it's the things like those described above that can keep you going mentally. I started riding it with Radoggair but he dropped me after about, oh, a mile? After that I spent most of my 11+ hours riding entirely on my own, apart from some dream-like sequences with a lovely girl on a pink SS… 😯

I found the physical part pretty tough, despite finishing the Transalp in July. I was on course for a sub 10 hour time until the 51 mile check point, but then I had a bad spell where I was cold and sore and mentally drained. I stopped for about 1/2 an hour at the hot food stop (65 miles) and sorted myself out with soup, cake, sandwiches, biscuits and then got going again. By the time I was back over the border I felt really good again and knew I would finish.

Having the fitness to ride quickly and efficiently is important, so is having the stamina to keep turning the pedals when everything starts to hurt but equally important is the mental strength to push on through the bits where you want to quit and to have the discipline to stay well fed and hydrated.

Long rides will help with the self-knowledge that you CAN get through the bad bits.

Try adding Elete Water to whatever you drink, seems to have sorted me right out!

+1 here, very good for a crampee like me

trailofdestruction – there are lots and lots of fireroads with a lot of singletrack thrown in. And a fair bit of climbing. Most guys were running faster rolling tyres – I did it on nobby nics.

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