[Closed] Soloing.

Just think about the lap/hour ahead, and avoid thinking 'oh my god I've still got x hours to go'. Talk to people, or listen to music, think of bits you enjoy and look forward to it each lap.

Or... don't do solos.

I have arrived at the conclusion that there is no silver bullet for the mental side of long multilap solo races. You either have the motivation and mindset to see it through to the end or you don't - I don't think there's a lot you can do about it. This year has been my best ever, but I ditched relentless after 5 laps because my head wasn't in it.

Looking back over what's been a long year I've done best at long single lap races or in a team for the long multilap events. Guess what I'll be doing more of next year...

[i] "I don't want this enough to keep going" problem.[/i]

I'm not entirely sure that's a problem, sounds like a far better honest assessment than lots of other people have.

You either have the motivation and mindset to see it through to the end or you don't

Do you mean as a person, or each time on the day?

Jojo - how about this? If you don't keep going I will beat you - now that should give you motivation 🙂

Ultra marathon competitors seem to segment their races into mental 'stages' so as not to overwhelm their minds. Try a session with a sports therapist if you're serious about your racing, neuro linguistic programming is a very effetive system.

I'd say a bit of both. I'm the same as goan in that a single big lap is psychologically a lot easier than lots of laps, where the ultimate futility of the event becomes more obvious 🙂

For me its definitely as a person. I have found that I don't have the type of motivation to ride round a lap repeatedly for 24 hours by myself. I do however have the motivation to ride for 24 hours or longer on a single lap, or as part of a team. Horses for Courses I guess.

Not really speaking as the voice of experience here (only done one 24hr solo!) but being really well prepared beforehand was a real help - if you're worrying about your bike, clothing, food etc then you'll be giving yourself excuses to pull out.
Know your strategy and be prepared for a back up in case of some mechanical/bad lap.
Break it down into sections - just one more lap then I'll get food etc
Have a support crew that forces you out on the bike anyway with "encouragement".

The one thing that got me was the weather. I was doing OK (up in top 10) and kind of getting into a rhythm but then on one of my pre-planned stops it started chucking it down. Had I been out it wouldn't have been a major problem but with clean dry clothing on, I looked out at the dark wet cold night and then went round the corner to my tent and fell asleep. 😉

edit: I wasn't the only one, must have been 50 odd soloists just packed up and went home right then! At least I got a few more laps in the following day and technically I "finished".

I use "this time tomorrow it will all be over & I will be tucked up in bed" & also work on percentages ie: It's 4am, I'm dying but I've done 60% of it, only 40% to go...

TandemJeremy - Member
Jojo - how about this? If you don't keep going I will beat you - now that should give you motivation

That made me chuckle and will be considerable motivation! 🙂

The other thing I think, and this might be a bit sadistic, and show a poor knowledge of history but I think look at what prisoners of war went through, building things like bridge over the river kwai(spelling?). They had to work XX hours a day for months on end, digging/building etc. I have to do this ride for another 11 hours then it's done. Why the hell am I moaning?

However I had none of these thoughts when I cramped up on the BHF challenge yesterday!

Have a support crew that forces you out on the bike anyway with "encouragement".

I think that's an important one. My support at Relentless last year went to bed at 1.am 🙁
The support team we had at Strathpuffer when I rode as part of a pair, the really icy year, was fantastic. Always there with hot tea and encouragement.

Rokitman, that's a good one. It' something I though about at one race that was a memorial race. I kept thinking "I might feel crap just now, but at least I'm alive to feel crap".

Negative reinforcment is only a short term stratergy, works in a similar way to your fight or flight response.

well i managed no laps at relentless because jo and goan poisoned me with their colds. that's my excuse and i'm sticking to it. happily!

i've got a particularly desperate record at relentless and that was weighing on me a lot this week - i couldn't face another abandonment basically because of the jitters. i think a lot of it has to do with cycling round and round the same course. i got this last year at puffer - did a fabulous lap, then quit because i couldn't see the point in doing another. i completely agree that a point to point, tho not necessarily easier physically, would definitely be much more do-able psychologically.

i id my first pain at ten under the ben and it's further ruined me for solos. my so is my support team and does a wonderful job but this was the first year i've got to kick back and watch her doing it while getting that thing called rest. my pairs partner was similarly complimentary esp after he quit and she was waiting for him with a beer! but as my so says, all of that is fair and good but it doen;t get you up the hills (or in my case down them)

i'm waiting to discover the psychological knack. or maybe it's just because i'm old and fat and lazy and the call of my sleeping bag is just too great!

I think everyone will be different with this. for me it will be a case of empty my mind and just keep on peddalling. The only other solo I have done was at sits a couple of years ago where I tweaked a hamstring at 6 am and use that as an excuse to stop.

I really want to do myself justice at the puffer but am realistic enough to know that I will not be challenging the real racers so the challenge will just be against myself.

I shall clear my mind of everything but the lap I am on and attempt to just keep on plodding on not thinking about finish times or number of laps or anything else. I shall be attempting to enter a trance like state. I just hope I stay on the right course 🙂 aiming for 100+ miles and top half finish - which for me will be an olympic medal.

Start of slowly and just get slower - I think that is the bit that you will find hard Jojo - not racing the folk who overtake you but just keep churning on.

Do it for a good cause. That should keep you going. I did Strathpuffer 2008 solo and raised money for the hospital that cared for my friend who had recently died of bone cancer at 22 years old.

Didnt matter how cold, icy, dark or painful it was cos it was nothing compared to what she went through.

It does work, in 2007 my quad tendon tore after about 7 laps and i had to sack it off but had i been doing it for a cause i'd have had all the painkillers down me and been back out there... very slowly!

As has been said already really- I break it down into stages, count laps, try to work out how far I've ridden, how far that works out over the whole 24hrs, how many laps until my next stop, what I'm going to eat...

Find a comfortable pace, chat/joke with other people, ask them what category/how many laps etc.

You need to keep telling yourself what you've achieved and what you have to look forward to I find.

I think unless you're really aiming to do very well, the idea of actually working out how far you have left to do isn't very helpful. If you say you're going out for a 240 mile MTB ride it'll be "yeah right, no chance!"
If you say you're going to do 24 laps in 24hrs, that's more manageable.
If you say it's 4 laps in 4 hours, that's even better. Then when you reach the end of that you say "OK, that was good, I'll do another 4 laps in another 4 hours

I am sure that breaking it down into stages won't work for me. I need to be in a state of mind where only "now" exists, in a little bubble of space/time all of my own. Knowing there is still 12 hrs to go will be just too depressing. Knowing I have only done 50 miles will be just too depressing.

Don't look forward or back - just exist in the moment and "be" that will be my way.

as others have said a good support crew/person is vital. someone who can tell you to mtfu and get back out there 😉

have something to 'look forward to'-after x laps some real food/change of shorts etc. find bits of the course that you like, think about how to ride it better. as tandem jeremy said it will keep you in the moment.
....now, i wish i could take my own advice!

I find the 2pm start seriously messes with my mind.
A 12:00 start time, ie a midday start is aok, 2pm I find unhelpful.
That's 4x 6hr segments, finishing at mid day very clearly defined, in part by the dawn, but that extra 2hrs really gets to me.
Anyone else suffer this stupid phsycological hurdle?

have something to 'look forward to'-after x laps some real food/change of shorts etc.

Ti29er - Agree completely, but not just for that reason. Sit around all morning eagerly waiting to start and then when I'm riding I think about getting home. If the race finished at 12, chill for an hour, pack up - home by 5, rather than home by 7. Dunno why that bothers me, but it does!

juan-are you offering to be my pit bitch 😉

totally agree about the late start times being difficult for soloists. the 10am start for strathpuffer works really well

but I think look at what prisoners of war went through

gosh, it's [i]that[/i] much fun ??

i'm sure someone before has suggested not taking a sleeping bag or tent. that way you have to keep going to stay warm...

I don't actually know if it's fun really. Some bits are but the courses generally aren't fun to ride, they're a bit dull. The ones I've done anyway.

It's more about the sense of achievement isn't it and the adventure? A bit like running the marathon. The fun / buzz comes at the end, when you cross the line.

I am not sure solo-ing is actually fun per se.
It's out there, to be attempted when you are mentally and physically up to the challenge; and sometimes even if you're not yet quite ready!
Doing it is horrid at times, but some, such as Bonty 24 this year or Clic24 last year were sublime, thanks in part due to the mild dry weather and in part helped by riding with similar minded riders.
MM two years ago was not good, nor Sleepless in 08.
Getting your head around "going out again" is tough if the weather has changed for the worse or at 2am you no longer fancy it any more or the bike's playing up.
I find feeding is a key element to making it through the wee small hours. A little and often and stuff you actually enjoy.

Thought: Try The Monane Kielder 100 in 2010? One lap only!

I'm gonna have a crack at the 100...

rockitman - the strathpuffer course is rather more interesting than SITS I believe.

Dawn and Dusk tend to be the toughest times, research into biometrics have found humans can't cope very well at these times as your body is trying to shut down or wake up in its settled bio rythms. Stats show more accidents happen during these times, sure I read somewhere a study by aviation doctors into it.

genesis - I thought it was 4 pm and 4 am?

4am is otherwise known as The Dead mans' Hour.
Most things like this are Naval derived, but if you've served you'll know about Standing To, 30 mins before last light + 30 mins into the night & again 30 mins before first light + 30 mins into the morning.

One strategy that I know works very well for a friend of mine is to try and ensure that each lap is different so that you're not stuck in a rut of doing the same thing over and over and that you can 'look forward' to the next lap.

For example, my mate brings three bikes and swaps them each lap (which only costs a couple of seconds) - they're similar enough not to cause problems with fit but different enough to be a change (two full sussers and a hardtail with shock seatpost). He also does things like try and ride the whole lap in one gear or some laps really go for it on the climbs and then pootle along on the flat/DH and visa versa.

This obviously works best on a course where the lap is long enough that you're not doing too many of them (eg around an hour per lap is good).

I find that having a good support team probably helped me teh most. When you com ein at 6am, fall aslpee, then 10 minuites later are being woken up, and told that i'm letting the team down (i was soloing 😆 ) that i need to get out and do another 2 laps before 8am. It was hard but being told I had to, made me go out. If i was on my own i would have quite happily goen to bed.

Also i find doing solo with mates. This gives you something to aim for, and found that this did help a fair bit.

Talking to people again as people said does help.

Think finally knowing that whatever really happens you will be able to get round in a half decent time (unless you have a major off/mechanical) I remeber thinking that one lap took me about 2 hours. Was actually about 1:10 😆

However if your not competitive, then i wouldn't do one. Having said that if yoru like me, and try and race everybody (regarless of class) then that will get you in trouble when your feeling it after lap 4...

I know I would never have the motivation to ride one of the endurance events solo - too much repetition. I think the monotony would do for me although I have entered a few in pairs and quads. I much prefer a big long silly in the hills rather than laps....they're free as well and I get the sense of achievement and radness from riding all day.

Well Mr Fanylion, you just exude radness anyway, so you have nothing to prove 😉

oddly i really enjoyed mayhem 08 .... the course was different almost every lap after about 6pm due to rain - then dry then dry course by sun up

jo - i split the course into sections and just think of the section coming up

eg relentless at weekend ...

section A - pits to the first marshal point
section B - Along the wall and up the crazy climb
section C - to the top of the lazy k
section D - to the finish

i find this helps with getting you through the event.

Concentrate on the race. It's a race, after all - and you're not trying to win but you are trying to beat as many people as you can. Try and get yourself worked up as a competitor.

Also - I listen to the BBC World Service (on Radio 4 frequency in the middle of the ngiht) whenever I have to stay up really late. Worked for me on 24hr solo 🙂

It's easy - just take a positive approach and don't stop. 🙂

What works for me is looking at my watch and saying to myself something like, "Great only 23 hours and 55 minutes to go", and then after a bit of hard work "Great only 23 hours and 53 minutes to go", etc. But seriously taking a positive attitude towards the passage of time helps me.

Also take the attitude you'd sooner walk or crawl round the course carrying your bike than stop. They only count the laps you do, not how you do it. As long as you're moving, you're winning against the forces of despair/misery.

The biggest danger for soloists is being sucked in by the speed of fresh team riders in the small hours, and trying to keep up which rapidly leads to exhaustion.

Thanks Molgrips, I'll have to download podcasts as it's highly unlikely that there will be radio 4 reception around Strathpeffer 🙂
...Any recommendations on cold and water proof Ipod cases?

I tried riding with music the year before last, but didn't get on with it. Might try it for the really late/early laps when there will be fewer people out and about.

Thanks Jo! Good luck for the puffer!

At least the puffer course will be interesting/challenging/reasonably technical. That will surely be better for the mind than a slog around a soggy field somewhere in England.

Having failed in my previous two 24 solo attempts to finish due to injury this years Mayhem was make or break for me. My gym trainer/masseur's (trans Wales, trans Rockies etc. competitor) last words to me before the event that I was in better shape than ever before but it would be 80% mental and 20% physical - and it was.

I broke the race down into two laps at a time with only stops to get drinks/food, bike cleaning and quick change of clothes - I was NOT going to stop for any extended length of time. I tried not to have preset goals to get to but when day break came I did think to myself "I've broken the back of this" but had to remind myself there was still 8ish hours to go!!! At one time I did think to myself "why am I doing this?" but just focused on the trail and back to knocking off two laps at a time. I had one moment where I had to stop by the side of the track and down a gel as I felt woozy but then got back on and focused on someones wheel for the next 5 minutes to get back on track. Things won't go according to plan for the whole of 24 hours but just accept it and keep moving forward.

I'll train with music but don't race with it. I concentrate on the lines I'm taking and how the track is changing over time, trying to be smooth and do each lap as well as or better than before. What can seem like a boring section can have some interest in it.

This worked for me but then again 90+ percent of all my riding is done solo 😯

Interesting reading.

I'm thinking of having a bash at a 24 hours solo next year and think the laps nature will make it hard for me. I was thinking of pretending that there weren't laps and just having a "feed station" set up by my tent - trying to simulate one big lap.

i seem to gel with listening to music, finding people who ride the same pace as you and take turns leading etc. The mental aspect was the hardest part when i done the kielder, i felt physically i was good enough though a 10 mile 'downer' sick patch made me wanna give up.

I remember when i done the merida sportive this year i rode the last 30 miles or so with this guy. We both had same pace but the last 15 miles he pulled me through. I thanked him at the end and we chatted about the event. Although this was my first sportive he had done plenty and he told me that he knew at 1 point he would feel sick, want to stop, become lightheaded etc but he also knew that if he could ride through it it would disappear and he would recover. I used that at the kielder 100 and sure enough i pulled through ( just).
I guess if you know what to expect and what your mind and body will do to you and you know how to pull through it, the event should become easier.

some laps really go for it on the climbs

DO NOT do that.

The first reason you get tired when riding is you run low on carbs. This won't happen in a 24 hour race because you'll be eating and drinking well. Won't you?

The second reason you get tired is lactic acid hurting your muscles. So the idea is to ride below the onset of lactate production (this is not the same as the anaerobic threshold ie sprinting pace). It's a very gentle pace, which jsut about corresponds with the onset of enough breathing to interfere with normal talking. Because it's so gentle, you need to train with lots and lots of long gentle miles to train your fat burning endurance metabolism (burning fat doesn't produce lactate). But you've been doing that for months already, right?

If you ride over this gentle threshold even for just a short effort per lap you'll produce lactate which will hurt your muscles and make the whole race a lot more painful. It's the reason why so many people fall to bits during the night. Seriously stick to gentle riding and you will be more comfortable all race, and the mental side of things will come easily!

I remember when i done the merida sportive this year i rode the last 30 miles or so with this guy. We both had same pace but the last 15 miles he pulled me through.

Latching onto other riders really helped me at Kielder (big thanks to Martin for the first 1/3 and Kate for the middle 1/3). From the food stop onwards, I didn't fall in with anyone riding at my pace, which made them really hard.

With it being one big lap, it was really hard to latch onto people. I think I was only about an hour behind Martin when I arrived at the food stop, and he only finished 90 minutes ahead of me, but there was no way I'd have seen him in that last 40 miles.

On a lap race, it's more likely you'd find someone of the right pace to ride with occasionally, I'd guess.

On a lap race, it's more likely you'd find someone of the right pace to ride with occasionally, I'd guess.

I wonder if anyone else will go slow enough for me to keep up with them?

My thought is to set off at "Sunday afternoon pootle pace" and just get slower. At Sits when I soloed I did find it hard not to try to race folk who overtook. Just keeping to the gentle pace I know I can sustain was hard

TandemJeremy - Member
I wonder if anyone else will go slow enough for me to keep up with them?

The puffer is an excellent 24hr event, althought pairs or quads for max enjoyment.
Last year we had all manner of weather which at 3am and when it's drizzle at your base camp then almost white out at the highest point was something else.

I doth my cap to the folk who enjoy solo (including two of my mates this year), barr mechanicals these guys just keep going, not for me though, I prefer an all out lap the hand the tag to someone else,relax,tea,fix bike dry clothes,eat then out again 🙂

Although I have no medical knowledge I wholeheartedly agree with Molgrips.

Best piece of advice I was given was by a another soloist on the startline at Mayhem:

"Every minute lost at the start is an hour gained later on"

Unless you're superfit, trying to race will break you. The aim is simply to ride the bike for 24 hours...

I did a couple of 24 solos back in the day. I totally agree with the comments about it being mainly a mental game, especially for the mid pack type of rider that I am.

There are various strategies for dealing with the length of the event, you should know what works for you beforehand from doing some long rides on your own. I found just staying in the moment without looking too far forward was best for me. Try and get the best out of each lap, focus on the bits you enjoy, and look forward to a little treat like a breather at the top of the hardest climb, a hot drink at the end of the lap.

Be aware that you will hit some low points in a 24. There will be times when you feel like you are pedalling through porridge and another lap is just not possible. You have 2 choices - jack it in (loads do at that point), or fuel up and press on and the chances are that the bad patch will pass and you'll feel fine again.

I have done a few solos recently, not the whole 24 hours yet, not because I don't think I would manage it's more I dont want to do it solo yet.

I have improved at all the tens this year, solo at ben and Moray. The best thing for me is not to stop. Just run in get some food, bottles and keep churning away. Yeah you are going to have those couple of really bad laps but usually in my case time wise there are not bad, just the way I feel is!

24 hour is different. I would say still keep churning away as long as possible, but maybe a couple of times come in and get some decent food down you, rather than just the convenient food.

Split the race up into sections like terry, I also try and use the same gear for the same sections. Yeah maybe you will shift down a couple late on in the event but you know that you are going roughly the same speed.

I have not jacked one yet, I just couldn't! It usually does start to get better after your really low point so just keep going!

molgrips - I tend to agree with you but the guy I was talking about is pretty successful at solo and it works for him regardless of what common sense dictates which I think sums up a lot of the solo experience - do what works, not what someone tells you should work based on simple scientific theory - another good example of that is the food - in theory there's all sorts of energy gels, specific types of food you should eat but eating something that you actually like will most likely actually be better (within reason...) in the long term just for the mental side of it.

In the 'Puffer, there are 2 things soloists have to contend with, exhaustion and the cold.

Exhaustion is par for the course, so you just have to keep going.

If you're suffering from cold, there's nothing wrong with having a short/long sleep and then carrying on (assuming you have decent warm sleeping gear).

Fair play to those who do the Puffer. Exhaustion I can cope with but the cold, at the moment would be beyond me...

I suffer with any sort of race at all - I'm just not competitive. I hate riding laps (christ, its just boring repetitiveness) and I don't like feeling like I'm useless if I don't come first, so I don't put myself into that situation. I suppose you're just a bit further towards the competitor side. I'd start off thinking "i dont want it enough to enter", rather than finish!

I suffer with any sort of race at all - I'm just not competitive. I hate riding laps (christ, its just boring repetitiveness) and I don't like feeling like I'm useless if I don't come first, so I don't put myself into that situation. I suppose you're just a bit further towards the competitor side. I'd start off thinking "i dont want it enough to enter", rather than finish!

Unless you're superfit, trying to race will break you.

Even if you are super fit, what I said will still work better.

Clubber - everyone's body works the same way, but the parameters are different for some folk. If your mate followed the science, he would probably do even better 🙂

I know a guy who could do pretty well (like top 3) at these things, but he would often just burn out. Then he got supported by a pro who made him follow the science of which he was previously sceptical and he won with a really great ride. So he finally realised that the science is actually right after all...

From the Strathpuffer website:

Dougie Vipond is entering the Mens Pairs with Duncan MacCallum. [b]Desiree is going for the Womens Solo title too[/b]. Expect lots of tears (mainly from Dougie . . . )

Surely that's all the motivation you need? Nobody wants to be beaten by someone who seems to be named after a potato...

Interesting comment on the PoW comparison.
I'm vegan and often think while I'm racing about all the horses and other animals that have been worked to death and how easy I've got it.
I don't suppose this makes much sense to anyone else, but then, nor would most of the other stuff I think about while close to physical and mental collapse either.

I've nearly always raced entirely solo with no support crew.
A few friends turned up on Sunday morning at Mountain Mayhem (101st/150), but seemed more interested in sitting around chatting than motivating me.
I think a proper support crew would make a big difference. If they had been there all night, I might not have slept for 6 hours.

I've always said the first 3 hours is fitness, after that it's attitude.
At Bristol (34th/69) and Cheddar (11th/34) I could have got one more lap in if I had really tried. I ran out of attitude.

One good thing about doing a 24 is it makes any shorter race easier.
My first ever race was the SPAM Biking Winter Challenge and was quite concerned about riding 50km in a day.
I did the September Blast (24th/43) recently and my only concern was whether I could do the 100km within the 6 hour time limit. I had no doubts that I could ride for 6 hours.