I’ve just done the SDW in a day (the BHF ride last week) and I’m thinking I quite fancy the Kielder 100 as the next challenge. Don’t want to go all that way (6 hour drive) and not make the cut off times though. I didn’t quite do the SDW, I finished 9 miles short at Alfriston after about 14 hours. However I did do over 100 miles as I got seriously lost 3 times! I stopped early becuase it was really misty on the last hill before Alfriston and I could barely see wheere I was going, I had been on my own for about 3o miles and couldn’t really face another couple of hills in the mist with it starting to get dark. Call me a lightweight if you will but also on my list of excuses is that I had a cold all week.

Anyway, like I said I fancy a go at the Kielder 100 and will aim to be a bit fitter by then but has anyone done both and could let me know how they compare? If the Kielder is a lot tougher than the SDW then I might give it a miss this year, really don’t want to get binned off the course before the end!

Oh sod it, I just entered anyway 🙂

marvincooper – Member
Oh sod it, I just entered anyway

is the correct answer 🙂

According to the little timer thingy you waited 12 minutes between asking for a advice on a 100 mile race and entering it.
Good luck to you.
(I’ve entered too, quite like the idea of a short race for once ;-))

Well what the hell, how hard can it be? Gives me some motivation to get out for some long rides over the next couple of months. Would still be interested if anyone can compare it to the SDW?

Well what the hell, how hard can it be?

That, old son, is the spirit. 8)

I’ve done the SDW a few times now, some times with more success than others, and the K100 last year. They’re both hard, though in different ways, and not to be underestimated, but if you can complete one I would think you could complete the other.

SDW is a fantastic ride but the fig rolls on the K100 are beyond compare.

though in different ways

which would be?

Well what the hell, how hard can it be?

It’s only one lap and there are no proper mountains. Significant parts of it are on fire road as well. It’s a doddle 😉

which would be?

SDW has a real sense (at least to me) of journey. You set off from Winchester, and gradually the countryside changes as you head East, the hills getting bigger and steeper (possibly a bit to do with legs getting worn out), passing through villages, glimpsing the sea, then finally finishing that last long brutal climb and then down into Eastbourne.

K100 in contrast feels a bit more artificial, if that makes sense. There’s a lot more gravelly fireroad and the K100 hills are smaller. There are some nice bits of single track but you don’t get the same sense of having traveled (but then that’s not their intention of course).

That probably makes no sense I’m afraid. You’ll just have to go and ride them yourself. Which you won’t regret (either of them).

Well the SDW certainly felt like a journey to me, I know what you mean. The first 25 miles or so were a real slog through the mud, then it dried out but the hills got longer…. Anyway sounds like the K100 should be good, certainly no harder than the SDW but different, and I’m liking the sound of the fig rolls – no food stops on the SDW so there’s a lot to carry. Roll on September!