Richard Sterry starting out on 300+ miles and more than 30,000ft of climbing at about 8 this morning. Been brought forward due to weather forecast for the weekend.
@hillburner and hash tag #SD3 on twitter.
at least the wind's dropped off a bit this morning 🙂
Wow.... that's gonna be a hell of a 30+ hour ride that. !!!
'legburner' would be a better twitter name for this ride, I think 😉
That's very silly.
😯 😯 😯 😯
At what point do we get to question his mental health????
That's SERIOUSLY impressive
Excellent, go for it.
Why?
Nutter!
[i]Why? [/i]
because it's there?
there's a bloke less than 1000km from a world record bicycle circumnavigation. Why? Because he wanted to.
people doing stuff that I don't understand or want to do myself is not a bad thing in itself is it?
progress can be tracked live here (assuming his battery holds out!);
[url= http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/60289217 ]http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/60289217[/url]
wwaswas. I understand doing challenges but riding the same piece of trail 3 times seems odd / lacking in imagination. Why not ride a longer / different trail?
I guess because in the South East (or maybe England) there aren't that many 300 mile long bits of bridleway that only require the odd road crossing but not much more in the way of tarmac?
Also, it's a progression: SDW in a day was a major challenge for 'early' mtbers, then the double was done and then it was done faster.
It's a recognised route, one that people aspire to ride, setting the 'target' at the next level isn't a bad thing.
My experience of the South Downs is you can ride the same route more than once, but it's never the same twice.
[edit] I think it's one of those things you either 'get' or 'don't get' I'm not going to try and justify someones elses choice of route and personal challenge any further.
Does he have a target time?
How long before the first sub-24 triple?!
TJ, why do the three peaks when you could just go up Everest. FFS the SDW is a known quantity people use the double as a reference to set themselves against others.
I understand doing challenges but riding the same piece of trail 3 times seems odd / lacking in imagination. Why not ride a longer / different trail?
I was kind of thinking along the same lines. The SDW makes sense as a double, but three times does make seem like he's on the wrong route.
It's an impressive ride without a doubt and one he should be proud of but a triple doesn't really capture the imagination.
My experience of the South Downs is you can ride the same route more than once, but it's never the same twice.
I ride on them every day to get to work and then again to get home and I never get bored. 300 miles non stop though does seem like a very tough mental as well as physical challenge.
Thats insane, i love it. His average speed would suggest 36 hours of riding. Is the eastbourne bit slow or is this the kidn of speed hes gonna pace at the whole ride?
wwaswas. I understand doing challenges but riding the same piece of trail 3 times seems odd / lacking in imagination. Why not ride a longer / different trail?
Maybe it's a really long 'bleep test'??
🙄
DrP
9-10 mph is a fairly reasonable average, ime, it's a bit lumpy at the Eastbourne end too.
He's aiming for 36 hoursish, I think.
TJ, if you dont get it, dont bother posting on this particular thread. Leave it for those who do get it.
Go and start another one please. With respect, your not the sort of person who is likely to be persuaded that this is a good challange / idea 🙂
I managed to do only 85 miles of it and that took me 11 hours !
"He's aiming for 36 hoursish, I think."
Is that without stopping for sleep and stuff?
Trimix - au contraire - I get doing "challenges" but merely queried why riding the same bit of trail 3 times was the chosen one here.
good luck to him, just doing it one way was challenging enough, shall watch with interest and hope he achieves it.
Not sure I could do 30 miles! Good luck to the [s]freak[/s] man 😉
Only hit 24mph going down South Ease 🙄
Good luck to him. I'll be watching and (virtual) cheering online.
I like these things. Mike Hall's almost home, Tour Divide (Fixie dave Nice is already ITTing it from South to North) kicks off soon and Aidan's EWE race is next month.
Trimix - au contraire - I get doing "challenges" but merely queried why riding the same bit of trail 3 times was the chosen one here.
you've done a 24 hr event before?
Good luck to him. Anybody know how many gates that'll be? 😀
Why do it 3 times?
I would guess its because it's going one better than what been done before. I don't doubt in years to come that someone will do the double double. It's what people do always strive to go one better than what has been done before.
Who's going to do the battery pit stop for his phone, or is it some other device tracking him.
The run at the start of May was quite an impressive time! Although he quite obviously has a thing for doing dull routes ie repeating the same trail.
you've done a 24 hr event before?
Yeah, they're daft too 😀
I get TJs point.
Richard's ride is going to be really impressive in athletic achievement, but to me, and really want to emphasises the 'me' bit, isn't very inspirational. But as it's not his purpose in life to inspire me, that's not meant as a complaint in any form and I hat's off to him attempting it!!
I guess it reminds me of people who do an Ironman, then a double-ironman, then a tripple, then a decca. It seems like going on holiday to the same place each year but for longer.
Which is also fine.
Daisy Duke off here did a double last year. He was hoping for a sub 24 but a couple of tumbles and a problem with his lights meant he missed it by about an hour IIRC.
Top effort though 😀
It seems like going on holiday to the same place each year but for longer.
My sister does that and she is definitely weird.
Full respect to him, it may not be the most interesting terrain etc and doing it three times over seems insane, but as others have said, he's 300 miles away from a world mountain biking first record which is an achievement in my opionion.
I'm in Worthing and it's warm and humid out there right now... he's going to need to drink plenty over the next 36hrs that's for sure.
Loving the fact he has a live progress feed! Very clever.
[url] http://www.endomondo.com/workouts/60289217 [/url]
[i]My sister does that and she is definitely weird. [/i]
It's probably genetic 😉
It's probably genetic
🙁
Cheer up, you might be adopted
[i]Cheer up, you might be adopted [/i]
that could make a good nature or nurture type study 😉
Currently tracking him too.
I might go and nick his bike and phone when he next comes past me.... (actually, I'll get him third time round - bound to be less of a fight...)
DrP
That must be near 300 gates! (unless he's lucky with cooperative ramblers)
[b]Muggomagic:[/b] Yes, he's already done a double and the double record is very fast...on another double he'd be competing with the likes of Ian Leitch and Josh Ibbett to set a new record. No one's done the triple yet, though and the record is there for the taking and I guess it's a bit more noteworthy than another "slower" double.
Good luck to him anyway. I'm out on the downs myself today and tomorrow and will keep an eye out for him.
I'm with TJ (Oh my God!) and muppetWrangler on this.
Why do it 3 times?I would guess its because it's going one better than what been done before. I don't doubt in years to come that someone will do the double double. It's what people do always strive to go one better than what has been done before.
muggomagic - Member
After a double where does it end? Five times back to back? Ten times? A hundred times?
Will anyone care if you manage 25 times when the previous record was 24 etc. etc. and is 25 times in 15 days more or less of an achievement than 24 times in 13 days?
Leave it at 2!
TJ, why do the three peaks when you could just go up Everest.soma_rich - Member
Exactly TJ's point - both of those are just one "lap" with no repetition.
As a natural thing to aim for, "there and back" does make more sense than "there and back and there again".
All challenges have a different spin. This is indoubtedly a physical challenge but also a massive psychological challenge. To do one lap or a to b keeps you motivated but to reach the 'end' after 24 hours and then turn back again?!
As a first go at riding for much more than 24 hours, doing it on familiar terrain makes sense.
Cheer up, you might be adopted
I've often thought that was the pretty likely, seemed rude to ask though.
why not do the SDW triple? FFS plenty of people get paid millions for riding/running round and round the same tracks again and again.
respect to the long distance lunatics.
Loving the fact he has a live progress feed! Very clever.
Just looked at his feed - ran 37 miles on the SDW at 6:12 min/mile.
Eeek!
why not do the SDW triple? FFS plenty of people get paid millions for riding/running round and round the same tracks again and again.cakefest - Member
Yes, but you don't get everyone doing Mayhem or the World Championships turning it into a challenge, having a website to track their progress and starting a thread on here.
respect to the long distance lunatics.cakefest - Member
Yes, but chose a longer route rather than do one multiple times.
to be fair the bloke doing it didn;t start the thread, I did, and lots of people start Mayhem threads on here...
I'm not sure what he's doing is any 'worse' than a race on a circuit that people do multiple times in 24 hours etc, he just has 100 mile 'laps' not 20 mile ones?
If you were going to ride as far as that, would you not find somewhere a bit better, bit nicer, to ride, ie not southern England!!
C
I love this kind of stuff, [b]more so[/b] because it's on the same route repeated.
I know he won't have the slightest inkling of this but I wish him the very best in his attempt. It's a tough day out doing it in one direction.
Go on fella!
I'm not sure what he's doing is any 'worse' than a race on a circuit that people do multiple times in 24 hours etc, he just has 100 mile 'laps' not 20 mile ones?
Exactly. Instead of trying to do as many laps as possible in a set time, he's trying to do three laps as fast as possible.
Nobody has addressed my question.
Where do you stop?
Doing the route more than once in the same ride adds to the challenge. A significant part of this is mental.
I'm riding London to Manchester in 13 hours (I hope) in July. Toward the end of it, I know I'll be struggling but being able to focus on the distance going past and knowing I won't have to look at it (the same bit of road) again will help. A small but very helpful mental stimulus. Imagine being knackered [b]and[/b] knowing you have to do the same thing again. You really have to dig mentally deep when you're wiped out and it's the same scenery.
What a beast! Looks like he's on big wheels too.
Maybe the next thing is the SDW3 on a fatty? There must be loads of records to be grabbed on a chubster.
Nobody has addressed my question.Where do you stop?
Its not a very good question however you dont stop. If he breaks/creates a record for 3 then its there to be beaten.
TandemJeremy - Member
Trimix - au contraire - I get doing "challenges" but merely queried why riding the same bit of trail 3 times was the chosen one here
"same bit of trail" makes it sound like he's sessioning a short part all day, not cycling 300 miles off road!
surfer - MemberDaisy Duke off here did a double last year. He was hoping for a sub 24 but 7 punctures in the first 50 miles [s]a couple of tumbles and a problem with his lights[/s] meant he missed it by about an hour IIRC.
Top effort though
FTFY
By complete chance I caught Ben that day at about 60 miles. I'd taken 1:40 out of him as we climbed to Truleigh Hill and I was well impressed to read that he had the chops to carry on to finish. I would have certainly bailed well before then.
Very best of luck to Richard and I sincerely hope he makes it. My best double attempt failed at 15 hours and it is all about the mental will to carry on.
I completely get why he's trying the triple.
Good luck to him, wish him all the best for this massive challenge.
Chris E - If you were going to ride as far as that, would you not find somewhere a bit better, bit nicer, to ride, ie not southern England!!
Don't think it's got anything to do with the scenery. Except for the first chunk of miles and then blips along the way. I think the SDW is virtually a motorway - technically not too tricky when dry - and built for this sort of long distance effort.
Longwayhome - Nobody has addressed my question.Where do you stop?
Incredible question. How did we get aeroplanes? Gunpowder? Oil? Flasks? Battenburg cake? Printing press?
You never, ever stop.
Whats the record one way?
Good luck to him, it's going to be tough.
To those who are grumbling about a 3-way (ha!), the only reason to ever care what other people think about your challenges is if you are sponsored up to the eyeballs and/or a career adventurer.
Guys like this get more respect from me, they do it because they want to.
Richard Sterry was out running. He tracked 36.87 mi in 3h:48m:37s.
this is from his profile on the link - he may be mad!
I'm just jealous of him having enough spare time to seriously train for and attempt something like that.
^
Begrudgingly, I agree....
DrP
I wish him luck, it's a seriously tough challenge and the only SDW x 3 challenge I'm ever likely to do is 1 way in 3 days!
But....... I'm with TJ, 3 times? I just don't get it.
Can't believe all the people carping about whether this is a valid challenge. FFS!
If you don't like it, either just ignore it or go and do something more impressive/imaginative.
Like my dear old mum used to say: if you've got nothing positive to say, don't say anything.
I'm really suprised people are asking 'why'.. Inspiring stuff imo, I can't imagine how tough the 2nd turn-around must be.
Like my dear old mum used to say: if you've got nothing positive to say, don't say anything.
And whining about people who have differing opinions to you is positive how? 😀
Just looked at his progress- at this rate he will need 25,532 calories by the time he has finished.
Almost 10 times the amount we should normally eat.
That will be some massive curry/beer fest at the end then 🙂
I get why he's doing this. It's a challenge that he's set himself - doesn't matter that it's the SDW - it could be any epic route. Top respect from here.
There's a huge number of people who don't get why we ride bikes. Doesn't make it bad or wrong, just different. I love the fact that there are some people out there who want to push the boundaries of what is possible.
25,000 calories - that's like eating a fat person!
@IanMunro - Fair cop. I thought that myself after I posted it 😀
Just think it's incredible that the only thing people can think of to say about this guy's effort is that it's a bit unimaginative or somehow wrong.
Good luck to him!
Eating 25,000 calories would be tough enough !
Trimix - Member
Eating 25,000 calories would be tough enough !
Oh i dunno.. sounds like a decent weekend to me.
Just think it's incredible that the only thing people can think of to say about this guy's effort is that it's a bit unimaginative or somehow wrong.Good luck to him!
No worries, I know exactly what you meant, I was just being an arse 😀
Talking of which hopefully they're won't be any pics of his after 36 hours 😀
You can't eat 25000 calories in 36 hours.
If he eats 60g of carbs per hour, that's 8640 calories. Even if he's trained himself to eat more carbs than that, it'll not be enough. He'll be running on body fat.
25000 calories = 6.25 pounds of fat
[i]25000 calories = 6.25 pounds of fat [/i]
let's hope he's not a scrawny bugger with no fat - he'll be bonking badly by the end.
Anyone know where he is now?
I can't access his data from That Work Thing.
What bikes he on too??
Seeing that feed I'm quite tempted to join him for a few miles as he passes Brighton again!