He was having a go at the double but having some major trouble with the puncture fairies :(.
I caught him going up towards Truleigh YHA, not knowing who he was until we introduced ourselves to each other.
Up to that point (60 miles) he'd had 7 punctures! 😯 and wasn't in the most positive of mindsets. I did try and cheer him up with 3.5 miles of listening to a chorus of creaks from my suspension and binding rear brake 😆 but I think I might have undone any positive vibes when I'd said I'd taken 1:40 out of him, plus have never punctured on the SDW.
In theory he should be on his way back to Alfriston as I type and fingers crossed he's still at it 8).
[i]he'd had 7 punctures! [/i]
Blimey. That is soul destroying.
Easy to say should have run tubeless but hindsight is a terrible thing.
Good luck to him...fingers crossed he makes it
easy to puncture tubeless on the SDW as well. sharp flints can rip the tyres. I suppose its luck/tyre choice and maybe try less dragging of brakes? Anyway, I hope he completes.
I'm hopefully doing the SDW complete for the 1st time in a couple of weeks (14th), assuming weather is ok.
nuke - MemberBlimey. That is soul destroying.
Easy to say should have run tubeless but hindsight is a terrible thing.
Good luck to him...fingers crossed he makes it
He was on 29'ers so I couldn't give him a spare or two. Very strange to have that much trouble and I gather Mrs DD had had to go shopping for more :(.
Twas another BHF 65 / 100 mile ride today and I'd passed quite a few peeps on the trail side with punctures.
Superfi
He bombed away from me on the two descents we did so I don't think there was any brake dragging going on on his part!
Well I made it M1kea! 2 impact punctures, 1 piece of glass, 1 thorn, 1 faulty valve, and 2 unexplained tube failures. At flat number 7 I almost baulked. At Eastbourne, it took me a while to find the 100 mile marker (I never bothered to reccie the last 3mile, Doh!) and was over and hour and a half down. By 12:30am, two out of the three Lupine lights had failed and by 1:30am the last Lupine was on half power. Met wifey at mile 150 and what followed was a brief discussion and a difference of opinion about being sensible vs pig headed! Stomach cramps by 3am meant I couldn't eat, but managed to top up water bottles at Queen Liz Park. Crawled into Winchester at 7:55am. Job done and done it!
You do realise you do need to do it solo / alpine stylee to do it 'properly'? 😉
Big props for completing it and it makes my bailout after 130 miles / 15 hours all the more galling for not having the guts to carry on.
Did/do have a gps tracker of any sort?