Eat real food, not gels etc for that duration unless you have cast iron bowels or welcome emergency evacuations.

Hope it doesn’t rain.

Treat each lap like a cx race.

Move around on rest laps.

Hope it doesn’t rain some more.

Alternate laps. Eat carbs between each lap. Fresh kit for each lap.

Last time I did a pairs over 12 (Gorrick, 3rd) it was this albeit I didn’t bother changing kit, but it was a case of smashing carbs then smashing a lap continuously. At it approached 6pm we did do a double lap to allow our parter time to have a naturally timed “meal” to support the remainder of the race.

Where is the venue? If it is a flat field in England and rain is predicted you might want to singlespeed the bike. If it is Fort William and rain is predicted you may want to get your will up to date.

But in seriousness I did pairs in 24 hour events a few times, there are loads of strategies, but single laps for 8 hours, double laps for 8 hours then single laps for 8 hours was at least easy to remember.

And pack lots of spare kit (clean jersey for the podiums).

A mechanic and somebody to cook you meals is ace – depends how serious you are!

A lap board was also a life-saver, when person A comes in they write on the board what time they got back to the tent, you will get total brain fade in the middle of the night and will only have yourself to blame if you forgot to write and the board and have no idea when you are due out again.

Have fun!

You won’t feel like eating between laps so make sure whatever you take you can get down – otherwise you’ll be miserable.

In the past I’ve eaten bowls of Frosties with cow juice then napped for 40 mins, that was on a team of 3 for 24 with long lap times (90mins +). Then on a team of 2 for 6 I was lucky to be doing it with Torq so we had all their high tech goodies to nom on! Laps were about 45 mins so just enough time to eat & get changed. Another time I don’t remember what I ate so???

Re eating – IME everybody is different. I have darkened the podium on a few of these events back in the day, one memorably fuelled by Greggs sausage roles for a long section. I did partially vom one up at one point, but managed to keep the calories on board. The longer the event the slower the pace and the more you can cope with real food. Living off carb drinks and gels would have me in the bushes in an unladylike fashion.

Pacing is key – ride at a pace you can keep up for 24 hours and don’t get dragged along in the First Lap Madness – you will spend the rest of the event passing those people…

Another thing is mental toughness. No matter how bad you feel so is everybody else, you just have to hold on a bit longer.

And again, its fun, honest!

When I did dusk to dawn at thetford as a pair, we did alternate laps all the way through, we just wanted to keep active through the 12hrs, also Thetford in September was cold.

Depends on lap distance, some of the earlier Facebook posts from the organisers indicated 40-50 mins per lap, so our team (admitedly 4) are looking at 2 laps before coming in.  If it is closer to 1 hour, then we’ll switch to 1 lap.

I know they aren’t publishing the course as they don’t want people riding it (its private land), but it would be good to know a distance and approx time…

You’ll be surprised how much you recover in your rest periods, don’t be afraid to go flat out on your laps.

Intetestingnto to know about the camping situation

I had ask via social media based on a concern that the site is invited to be used all week. Apparently the camp site is moved up to the top of the hill, and they’ll be reserved trackside spaces for solo’s. I’m not confident that arriving Friday with a family tent will allow me to find a decent trackside spot tbh.

I’m riding solo but not bothered about trackside camping. It only takes a few more seconds to get to your camp if you’re further in from from edge of the field.

Over the years have done 12 and 24hr solo and 24 mixed pairs (laughably we got a podium on that one). If it’s properly raining (I know its not quite August but here in Devon August has the second highest rainfall to December) it will be muddy and slippery so you might want to consider a choice of tyres, spare brake pads, drivetrain even and lots of riding kit. The mud at Newnham is very claggy and sticks to the bike to the extent it gums up the drivetrain and cleaning equipment is helpful to have. They do amend the course depending on conditions. One year was baking hot and hydration and pacing was key – favourite year as was really warm throughout the night. Great event!

I hate pairs, it’s the worst of all worlds, Solo you can just chugg around at your own pace, fours/team you get a decent break so you’re mostly fresh, had some rest and eaten some food and maybe even there’s enough time for a kip.

Pairs is awful, laps are normally 45m to 60mins so not really enough time to get back from the finish area, get some food, change clothes if it’s shitting it down, and back to change over again, and your legs are mostly semi fried all the time. So IMO, double laps from the get go, think about trebles during the long night shift. But really either kill your team mate so you can solo it, or recruit 2 more idiots to do it with you, it’s much/some more fun.

Pairs…not good, everything else, slightly less not good.

dai1983
Free Member
Was think that it would be easier to identify when I start getting knackered and the light starts fading.

Get one of those whippy flags on a pole, or a large balloon on a pole. Or just some colourful bunting you can put in your tent/pit area.

Rainbow Banner

Not much to add too above. My initial thought would be to do double laps throughout, with single laps you don’t really get much actual rest time before you need to get going again. But maybe this applies less to a 12hr race, my experience is 24hr. This is why I ended up preferring solo, just keep chugging along.

I always found organisation and prep is key, focus on making your pit life easier. The riding tends to look after itself.