Rain, rain, rain- Kielder 100

I wonder how many people will have a pile of pads like that ^^

eBay will be flooded 🙂

That was me on the pedal axle. I never expected to make the cuts, given I lost the entire pedal at mile 56 in a bog (it blew up at mile 12, but was able to keep it on the spindle until then). Made it with two minutes for the final cut, not sure if I was happy about this or not! This and no brakes from mile 80 made for interesting times…

A big thanks to all the organizers, and to all the supportive riders out there that carried me home!

And from Matt Jones who did the Killer Kielder, he just posted on FB:

100miles mtb 5miles kayak 26miles run 18hours 15mins

congrats Matt!

well done budge thats a fine effort man i reckon i would have sacked it if i only had an axle to turn. respect dude.

Hello all,

Well I did it, as thebudge says 18hours 15 mins in total for Killer Kielder. Finished just before 1am.

Can’t say thanks enough to all your guys I spoke to on the day, really helped push me along.

If you think its worth a few quid for a brilliant charity, my just giving link is http://www.justgiving.com/killerkielderchallenge when you see the pics of me at the finish line you’ll get a sense of how hard it was!

Was expecting the ride to be one of the easiest bits but hardest ride I’ve ever done, respect to all the finishers. That finishers t-shirt will be a collectors item!

Sat down now having my 2nd beer in 6 months (first at 1am last night) the bbq is about to be fired up, good times…

Matt

http://www.killerkielder.co.uk

Won’t be doing that again if there is any hint of any cloud in the sky
2 sets of pads and a knackered rear brake meant I spent half an hour famnying about with the rear brake
Couldn’t put in granny at all because if I did the dreaded chain suck kicked in
Missed the 51m cut of by 1 minute and was sort of glad really
Felt for the girl who made the cut off by 7 minutes but was directed the wrong way. She was not happy
In the end I drove home and went to the pub

Missed the 51 mile cut-off, having lost time repairing an increasingly unhappy chain.

Sigh. A 9 speed chain on an SS drive train seemed like a fine idea in the warm and the dry of Summer, but in the face of all that grit it just slowly disintegrated..

Picked up a new chain at the 32 mile checkpoint which was a thing of agricultural beauty, and then pedalled as fast as I could, getting to the 50 mile checkpoint at 1:25pm, and the 51 mile cut-off at 1:35pm.

But I’m not sure I would have got much further anyway – my rear brakes were just about still slowing me down, but I destroyed a new pair on the front in a matter of minutes.

Great course (at least the first 51 miles) with much more singletrack than last year, and all that lovely warm gentle rain, splashing delightfully up into my eyes.

Sorry to say though that I’m probably going to have to try again next year!

EDIT: The people I spoke to who finished it all uniformly looked shattered. Faces caked with mud and grit, with just lips and eyes still visible; clothes caked in mud and grit; bikes looking like relics from the Somme. And a vacant stare of great suffering endured. Great day out!

My 3 month old tramce x2 looks about 90 now 😀 it needs some plasters.

Dead pads by the Newcastleton cut-off for me, had to walk the hidden valley descent. Fire road braking was done via shoe on front wheel.

Started to lose rear shifting at 50 miles, gave up completely just after 60. Front wouldn’t shift down to granny either.

Came in 13h25m.

Failed last year, so to do it this year in much worse conditions feels awesome!

Shopping list so far – Pads, chain, jockey wheels, 2 pistons, rear shifter, possibly front shifter too.

Wow that was an epic!

I was the last person through the final checkpoint and amazed to have finished. So much slower than last year and I was expecting to be faster.

I suppose I’ll have to go back next year!

Need to try this event, just for the sadism of it all!

Crank brothers pedals are ar*e i went through 2 sets of eggbeaters in a year (including 1 set of £220 2Ti’s) with pedal bodies/wings wearing out and mechanisms becoming so sloppy you couldn’t pull on the cleat.

I’ve gone full circle now and am back on SPD 540’s (£30)!

I would have been screwed out there today, my SLX calipers have split pins retaining the pads. Need a stout pair of pliers to change them! Can you buy ‘proper’ retaining pins for them?

Glad to read most folk were slower than they hoped. I finished just shy of 12 hours, which I was disappointed with, then saw the dnf ratio. minimal training meant I was weak on the ups, but got plenty overtaking in on the descents – only wore one set of pads.
Respect to finishers on SS – though no shifting/chainsuck issues for them I guess.

Miketually? Finish, or still out there?

I bailed at 30 miles :cry:, I was ****, just cound’nt get going, started to feel cold cos I was that wet, body and mind just give up. 10 of us stayed at some lodges up the road and typically this morning It was blue sky so because I was so bisapointed with myself I went for a ride around kielder lake to make up for it a bit.

I’ve just finished checking my bike to see what work needs doing.

New jockey wheels – no teeth on any of them
new cables
new pads 😉
brake overhall including new pistons*
New rotors*
new chainrings
new chain
new casette
new bearings for hope rear hub

so expensive race

*apparently I went through my pads, the backing plate and was using the pistons to stop so have ground them down ruining the pistons and rotors.

all my pads were sintered and brand new except for me having gone to the effort of fitting them, burning them in on the road in the dry and them removing them to keep as spares for the race.

@squiff – that was me exactly last year! stayed in lodge, bailed by first cut-off and lap of the lake to enjoy something.

@jonba – I’m planning on just seeing what my rotors are like with new pads. I have chamfered pistons in the back brake.

I was 15 mins late for the 78 mile cut off, some the that mud round Newcastleton was madness. Definetly much tougher than last year.

Stupid BB30 bottom bracket on my brand new race bike seized at 50 miles. I carried on riding it to destruction untill Newcastleton hoping that the Tech Zone would have a spare. Unfortunately no spare, so game over.

Gutted as I was enjoying the epic conditions and made it Newcastleton before 1pm so had plenty of time in hand for them to fix it.

I’ll be back next year, unfinished business.

Much respect here for everyone who started. I’m sitting here smugly having correctly predicted the weather after finishing last year (it’s not possible to have two dry years in a row) so looks like I’ll be entering next year.

Glad so many still enjoyed despite the truly awful conditions, anyone who rode that deserves respect and to the 177 out of the 600 or so that started you really are something. To keep enthusiasm to ride on in mud, rain and the cold takes something to finish.

Ben Thomas did just fantastic just minutes off last years winner in what was perfect conditions then, that is unbelievable.

So many tired looking faces, of what I could see through the mud packs, but so many smiles still. Mechanicals was the biggest reason for DNFs by far. Pads being the main culprit even those that had sintered and yes those that thoight bedding in would have helped in the horrible mud. Sounds of grinding BB, chains crunching and a snapped frame from last year winner, he still came 7th IIRC, it took it’s toll.

Well done all hope to see you back next year.

Ben was really strong yesterday. I basically cracked myself by keeping with him & Giles until Newcastleton. Then my bike started to fall apart so it was just a case of surviving until the end while bodging it together every few miles.

I was 50 minutes slower than last year on a shorter course. It was hard going.

Yeah feed back we were getting as that lead 3 were close through out, sterling efforts.

And I was wanting to do this event.. So glad I didnt make the 8hr drive 🙂

Congrats to those that rode it! Maybe next year, but if its raining, think I’ll stay at home!

I bailed at about 33 miles. Physically felt fine, mentally had enough. More than enough. 8 hours for the winner in those conditions is awe inspiring. Chapeau.

After seeing so many broken chains and drivetrains, singlespeed was definitely the right way to go. Even if some of the gloopy, draggy climbs were horrible.

Great, great event. The marshalls were brilliant, even though they were out in the same conditions as the rest of us.

Well done all.

:o)

Congrats to those that rode it! Maybe next year, but if its raining, think I’ll stay at home!

Nah! It’s a great event regardless.

Ooops and yes Marshalls deserve a big up too to put up with that.

And for those who care, there was only 10.4mm of rain at the castle. 😯

Which isn’t that much.

Lee, teh moor out to Bloody bush pillar collects a hell of a lot of water, and drains down either to Newcastleton or Kielder one way or another. Thats why they built the reservoir there.
What happened to Geda? I spent 45 minutes making his brake pads fit! 😯

I spent 45 minutes making his brake pads fit!

Timed out?

Miketually? Finish, or still out there?

Missed the 51 mile cut off by a couple of minutes.

I can do K100 in good weather on naff all riding. Not in that.

I rinsed my riding kit in a bucket before it went in the washer. After I tipped the water out, there was a good 1/2 inch of silt in the bottom of the bucket!

Next year…

My little report.

race started pretty good and after only 4or 5 miles a group of about 15 of us formed of the front. As miles went by the group slowly whittled down to about 8 of us. During these early few miles the hardest part was staying on someones wheel on the fast parts as the mud made it horrendous to see in front of you( i also got bells palsy a few weeks ago so couldn’t actually blink my left eye which made it even worse getting dirt out-thats my excuse 🙂 ). By the 1st food drop our group has went down to just 6 of us and the pace was comfortable, nothing electric but easy enough to stick together. 4 miles later my race fell apart when i punctured at the bottom of a hill and i took ages to fix. i actually thought my only tube was split so was cursing away until i realised it wasn’t. By time i had fixed it i was about 13th or 14th but with no one around had lost my pace. Over next few hours i caught and overtook a few people and finally reached Newcastleton food stop lying about 9th. Took a wrong turn and eneded up doing that swoopy grassy section twice (oops) and then the climb through the trees killed me.By time i completed newcastleton trail centre i was feeling good again so upped my pace and caught someone else. We rode together for about 16 miles where i passed mr cockburn who altho had mechanicalled was still suprisingly cheery. Just before final climb i dropped the guy i was riding with. Finished in 7th which was a good result although should of been better if i had not punctured. Well done to everyone who entered and bigger well done to those who finished and also marshalls and organisers.

To those who finished above me, especially Ben, amazing job and fast in those conditions.

Next year……….maybe i’ll do it for the 4th time 🙂

Ben Thomas, winner of the Montane Kielder 100 MTB Marathon

Roo – I timed out about the same as you. Would have made it but I had a puncture just after the bridge into England.

It’s been glorious today though – rode out to Bellingham the hilly way and back with my son 🙂

Well, last year I missed the first cut by about 18 minutes. This year the mission was to make the first cut, I didn’t. I missed it by just under 9! I would have happily carried on if I had hit it but wan’t going to argue with them, having used my spare pads and lost rear braking, lost my granny ring to chain suck about 15 miles in and was pretty knackered.
Did find one bonus in riding in glasses (really short sighted rather than riding specs). I didn’t properly clean them until after the first cut off and only then realised how hard it was raining when I could see it, just thought it was spray until then 🙂

Just hosed off the bike, which was really easy seeing as it was just silt/grit/the stuff they put in T-Cut to be abrasive and not much actual damage. Rotor survived pad loss at the rear, chain rings and cassette looking ok-ish but due a change soon anyway, chain needed changing soon anyway so that is fine but my main worry was my brand new (7 miles old) jockey wheels… They are fine! So KNC, I am already sold.
Waited for my mate who came in around 12 hours and spent some time chatting to some of the finishers, everyone had a tale, it was amazing to see the range of emotions from relief to delight, pride to annoyance and a good set of completely blank expressions.
Everyone who finished was, as has been said, bloody awesome but after a chat with thebudge he gets my vote as hero of the day. I only did the last few miles of the Mary Townley loop with a Crank Brothers Candy spindle to peddle on, going that far, in those conditions… Just amazing.

As for next year…

Sure Ben will be back – he wanted to go sub-7!

Well done to all, looks grim!

I must have spoken to quite a few of you out on the track, nothing seems so crazy when you are pedaling up a gentle slope in granny gear, or overtaking someone over the period of about 4 minutes only to fall off your bike on normally ‘easy’ terrain, with brake levers that go right to the bars and do absolutely nothing. I am proud to say I made the first cut-off by 20 seconds, but no way was I going over to Newcastleton as the last person after that.

I heard about that missing pedal in the mud. That wasn’t an eggbeater by any chance? I lost mine years ago doing the Jedburgh Justice trail.

Radoggair

Well done fella,that was some effort.
Only heard about your eye condition the other day.
Hope it’s improving.
I ran out of brakes just before the Newcastleton check .
Gutted, as I was bang on the times I wanted and feeling pretty good.
Ah well. 🙄

Sure Ben will be back – he wanted to go sub-7!

I can honestly say no one will ever go sub 7 hours, no matter who it is. I think the best we will see is around 7.5hrs.

Its not just the climbing involved but the terrain is so hard to keep a constant pace with all the rocks, holes etc on the trail

Surely the course changes though – Andy was 50 minutes slower as he said, wouldn’t need to take all that much out of his time. Certainly be a very special ride though!

Radoggair, I’m with you. 7.5hrs seems achievable, perhaps less. TO go closer to 7hrs, I think it would take one of the worlds top XC riders who do Marathons too. And there’s nothing there to really attract them ie Coverage, UCI points or prize money.

Well done for getting through yesterday.

Smiker

There’s £1000 prize apparently!

Just to add my bit, was pretty suprised to be well up at the first cut-off and just kept plodding on – finished just under 12 hours. Was a long old day! I didn’t have the brake pad problems that most had – as I was on v-brakes they were just next to useless throughout and I was really struggling on the downhill singletrack bits. This was my first ever race so just really, really chuffed to have finished!