I took part in both Mountain Mayhem and SITS this year for the first time, both times as part of a four man team. I know a lot of people on here don’t like these events, but I loved the atmosphere and challenge of it.

I would like to have a crack at going solo next year. Just wondered what sort of experience/fitness people had before their first attempt. Were you seasoned racers, experienced weekend riders, or total novices?

My only goal is to complete and try to be on the course for as long as possible. I’m certain I’ll need a several hours sleep at least, but having never attempted such a challenge I am looking for some guidance in terms of fitness required, what kind of distances/times I should be building up to in training over the next 6 months.

Thanks guys

Training i’m guessing is just do as many long rides as you can, but would love to know other peoples training plans as I want to do the same.

Personally, I’d look to do a 12 hour solo first, to give you a good idea on what kind of mental and physical issues you’re going to be putting yourself under.

There’s lots of 12 hour events about, the first this year being at Newcastleton – 24hours of exposure.

Training wise – i’d recommend Chris Eatough’s training programmes, if you fancy something like that. http://www.chriseatough.com

He doesn’t have a specific 12 hour plan, but it’s essentially the same training as for 24 hours – so you can just buy one of them, and take an hour off the 6 hour+ rides.

To give you a rough idea, the programmes are a mix of tempos, intervals, spins and endurance rides. Expect an average of 15 hours a week, peaking at around 18 hours.

Shorty: Long rides are essential, but you want to also increase your vo2 max and lactate threshold – this is where the tempos and intervals come in. The key is to ride at around 75% or above 85%, these are where you will make your most gains (and most of that at about 75% – your endurance pace).

Cheers

Ricks

Forget about all the stats, just do some normal riding for a few months then just sit on the start line and go for it. I have done 2 solo efforts, I will never win but I really enjoyed them as I put myself unde no pressure at all

Mantastic +1

Go out at an easy pace, and if you’ve anything left in the tank in the last few hours, then go for it.

Eat and drink frequently – don’t leave it until you need it.

You’ll probably find that a properly prepared bike is more important than anything else.

Agree with mantastic. You won’t win, and unless you’re incredibly motivated doing 15 hours of structured training week in week out, to finish in the middle, will be very depressing!

Do as much riding as you can reasonably fit it, a 12 hour solo isn’t a bad idea, gives you an idea of what you’re in for. Don’t intend to sleep, just keep going. If you’re able to plod on (however slowly) for 24 hours you’ll do very well.

Thanks for the comment guys. I am hoping to do the Fred Whitton next year too, so will be getting plenty of endurance training in. Riding for 24 hours at this stage sounds like a superhuman endeavour though!

I’m in the same position as you nammynake, I really want to do a 24. I believe that goals need to inspire you and this one grabbed me from the first time I heard of it.
Now I’ve got to somehow change my riding style from 4hrs flat out to 24hrs of moderate effort.
Bonkers though this target seems, I figure that learning efficiency and endurance has to be the best beginning to an illustrious racing career (ahem, at 37.)
I’ve done one race – Maxx 40 in the autumn, and to begin with the challenge with my mates was to finish it within about 6.30hrs. Then I got into training and looked up the winning times for the past 3 years – circa 4hrs, and trained to that target i.e. maintaining 10mph average on varied and hilly terrain. In the end I came second with a time of 4.02hrs.
Goal for this one is to ride for 20hrs with 4 meal breaks, maintaining an average speed whilst riding of 8.5mph. This will probably change over the next few months but it’s a starting point. At the moment I’m simply trying to ride as much as possible (about 10-12hrs week) both on a turbo and out in the mud at Bedgebury as well as mates rides etc.
If you fancy swapping emails so we can do a bit of motavating during the dark months then lets do so (just tell me how to on this forum).

It’s almost entirely a mental challenge. I’d done several 10 & 12hr solos before doing MM and done pretty well but the weather and my mental state did it for me. Lashing rain at 11pm as I was about to start out again having stopped to change and eat just broke me completely. I crawled into my tent and went to sleep! To be fair, half the rest of the field did too, the weather was abysmal. If you’re reasonably fit, well prepared with food, kit, bike etc then you’re part way there. The rest is solely down to how bloody minded you are!

I did both sitsa dn strathpufffer solo – and I am no racer. I ride a fair few miles and al I did was try to up my milage over the months before hand and to get my tactics righ on the day. Teh sort of person I am the tougher it is the better I am going to do comparativly. My trget was a top half finisha dn Ididn’t quite hit it for either – but wasn’t too far away.

Get teh miles in, get your bike super comfy and reliable with plenty of low gears.

ride adt a sunday afternnon pace minus a bit and you will be amazed how well you can do.

I rode a lap, stopped for a 5 mins, rode a lap, stopped for half an hour ( or tried to)

At this level you really are only racing yourself – just do it. 24s are much better than 12s imo for pootler. at a 12 people will be racy all race but at a 24 you have the tortoise and hare thing happens – in the night you can make up loads of places as people stop and sleep.24 hrs of no sleep is easy

Just go for it

How long does it take you chaps to recover from this sort of thing? Physically and psychologically. Can imagine feeling like I don’t want to get back on the bike for a while after something like that.

Didn’t take me too long to recover – but I made sure I didn’t really break myself. Psychologically no problem at all – physically a couple of days

YOu have to remember ( if you are like me) that you are not racing the fast boys – its about as many miles as you can and about conserving energy as much as possible. Its not flat out effort – its a gentle pootle for a long time

A couple of days to recover??!! Christ it took me a couple of months to get back to where I was.

GB

Aye – but I pootled round for 16 hrs in 24 or something – not raced for 24 🙂

My only goal is to complete and try to be on the course for as long as possible.

If this is your goal then I would forget about looking at very structured training plans and concentrate on long rides, preferably consecutive long rides at weekends. Find a pace that you are comfortable with and one that you think you can keep going for hours on end.

Conditions at the Mayhem and SITS can get, erm, wet and muddy, so experiencing wet, muddy conditions on your long rides can be beneficial, as is just getting out there when the weather is rubbish and other people are tucked up inside. Doing this will pay dividends to your mental ability to keep going through all weather during the event, far more than a few hours of structured training.

I now follow structured training plans for 12 and 24 soloing as I want to be in with a chance of winning or at least podiuming (of which I’ve achieved for 12 and 24h solos). Personally, to just finish, you just need to ride a lot and have the right mental attitude.

Also, bike setup is extremely important, set it up as you want it as early as possible and stick with it! Don’t go changing parts, tyres, angles etc a week or even a month before the event. What may seem like little niggles during a 2 hour ride for example can be the difference between you finishing or quitting a 24 hour solo.

If you do fancy the structured training route though, then you can’t go far wrong with the Chris Eatough plans, he is after all, one of the best. It’s mostly what I follow, but with a lot of tweaks as to what works for me.