Force yourself to eat properly even if you font feel like it.

your core strength is very important, do pressups, crunches etc etc, so important come 12hrs when you’re not aching to death

don’t stop for too long

don’t get caught up with racers keen to only last 8hrs before blowing

don’t carry more spares than you’d need for a week in the alps, race light

Survival techniques rather than race winning: 🙂

Stay awake. That “quick rest” will power you down and it’s hard to get moving again.
Stay warm. If you’re going to stop chuck a dressing gown on to preserve your body temp.
Eat wisely. There isn’t enough food in your body to do a 24 hour effectively, so eat food you can digest quickly.
Drink regularly. I use water bottles to keep track.
If self supported use the simplest bike possible. It’s faster in the end.
Don’t expect a worn drivetrain or brakes to last what is effectively 12 XC rounds nonstop.

And last:

Do not stop if at all possible. Keep moving forward at all costs.
You can still walk or crawl on bleeding knees if you’re knackered. Save the self-pity for later.
If you can do that for 24 hours, then no matter how badly you think you have done, you will beat riders you thought were fitter and faster than you. The race is lost in the pits.

Food- eat what your body is asking for. If you have a vast pot of pasta that you’re forcing down a mouthful at a time and your body is screaming out for a bacon roll it’d eat in one bite you’re going to be eating less. Less eating means less energy, which is bad. Pasta, bananas, Haribo, flapjack etc are all good things to have but bring tasty things you think you’ll enjoy eating too.

Strategy- If you’re not racing solo figure out what length of stint works for you. One lap on then one off worked well for me and my race partner, with a stint of 2, or in the case of the Strathpuffer 3, laps between midnight and 5 or 6am to give each other a chance to rest.

Rest- get lots if you’re not soloing. Don’t do things between stints, other than eating as soon as you get in and getting changed, unless you have to.

Kit- mudguards are useful if the forecast is poor. Take every bit of cycling kit you own. The morale boost from dry kit is enormous. Use glasses if it’s wet- I have seen on guy I race with ruin his eyes not wearing glasses in the wet. Similarly make sure your saddle is in the right place- my race partner shut his gentleman parts down for 3 months by racing Relentless with his saddle pointing slightly up!

Bike- Service it before hand, make sure everything is in perfect order before you go. Take spare brake pads, chain, cables, powerlinks etc.

i ate 31 torq gels, mixture of normal and a few caffeine, few torq bars, 1 tin of raviloi warmed up, brazil nuts, and drank 2 x torq recovery shakes at around 10 and 20hrs. i’ve stopped eating sweets and stuff now as they make me a bit sicky, had a few clif blocks tho. i’d do the recovery shakes again, i think that worked well! not tried repeating any of this theory yet though, took me 6 months to recover

If its not too shitty, you can lick the bottom of Cliff shots and stick them in a neat little line along your TT for later consumption.

I’m wondering the same after having some clearance issues with my Anthem last weekend, albeit in very specific circumstance. I’m going with skinner tyres (to the Bonty 24/12), and thinking either spare wheels with Beavers, or the 26″HT ready to go with muds on to circumnavigate the linkages bunging up with mud issue, but not sure which.

My mate does that for 25 mile TTs. Must be working, he’s done a 52.xx

Oh, I found Torq recovery shakes good too – I’ve only done 12 hours but one of those after 6 was good, a bit more solid than just energy drink.

That was my original justification for the Anthem purchase about a month after last years Bonty 🙂

Yes I think my thread addressing the issue points to it being a very unique set of circumstances.

The past two Mountain Mayhem’s were both Solo for me, 2014 without a support crew, 2015 with one. 2014 I was 10th, 2015 I was 7th. A support crew make a huge difference!

I ate every lap, changed bottles every lap and broke the race into 3 8 hour segments. Also told myself at the start I would not stop or sleep, if you say that at the start, chances are you wont.

I wrote a blog this year and last, which you might be interested in: http://ridingcircle.blogspot.com/2015/06/race-report-2015-mountain-mayhem.html

Not sure I can offer tips as such, more stuff that I’ve learnt NOT to do!

Done two MM24s solo and what I’ve learnt is:

1. Get support. I’ve done both unsupported and even being ‘quick’, you lose lots of time in the pits. Plus packing up after the race is pretty depressing!

2. Train appropriately. My training consisted of max 2-3 HR rides due time constraints. On both races my knees and back were my weak points and I might have learnt a way to combat this if I’d done longer rides.

3. Bring a spare bike. I did, and changed at 14h on my recent race. It just changed the painful areas and gave me a psychological boost, plus you’re not worried if something goes wrong.

4. Don’t take Cornish pasties. Just don’t. Trying one cold at 2am is horrific. However in last month’s race, a bacon cheeseburger at 4am was literally a lifesaver.

5. Pace yourself. I went much better this year by riding at a painfully slow pace to start with. Let the quick boys and girls blast past as they’re in a different race. You’re just there to finish and survive!

6. Don’t believe the rider you come across on the last lap, who’s on the same lap as you, when he says he’s going out for another lap beyond 24h. I did and he didn’t……

7. Enjoy it. Not sure how, but it is possible.

8. Raise money for charity. It’s a great motivator and I’ve raised 2k over 2 years for stuff that means a lot to me.