For me it ended up a bit of a disaster

Quite enjoyed the route, hard, very slippery in places but fun, I had to cut it short and opted for the 65K after a tumble left me with a very sore knee and wrist
Got home [3hr drive] and was taken straight to A&E – broken wrist, out for the rest of the Summer probably 🙁
Back to the clinic today for the prognosis

anyone want a Kielder entry and accommodation? 🙂

Bloody hell, hard lines!

I had a bit of a stinker, feeling slow from the word go and was riding really heavy and clumsy so was just getting frustrated with myself. Ended up bailing from the 85k and doing the 65k. Almost felt like I’d bonked at one point although I thought I’d eaten plenty…

Its almost as if a month in the office and in the pub wasn’t adequate preparation… 8)

My club mate had to bail at 25k due to a knee injury. I did the full 85k (although my computer said it was less) in a moderately respectable 5hours. Slower than last year but I did the sportive the day before (also in about 5 hours) and was struggling to get out of the granny ring on any of the climbs.

Seemed like entries were really low, chatting to the guy at the final feed station he said there were less than 100 people on the full distance which sounds a lot less than previous years

Apart from my knee deciding for all of Inners that smooth pain-free motion was not an option, I loved it! Great chat with folk, including Mr Greig Brown. 4:17 or 18.

Probably due to my go-slow for an hour I didn’t feel tired at the finish, even after gunning the Minch Moor to the finish section. I think I’ve become so comfortable with the distance and route, that unless it’s wet the challenge isn’t really there anymore, and I’m not really fussed about ‘racing’ in an event that isn’t a race. Hopefully next year will be a super wet one like 2007 and 2008.

@jonba – Entries down for all sorts of events. Lots of overlap these days (100km at Dalby on the same day for example), means the events have to compete a lot.

I loved it! Did the full route this year. I thought it was easier than the full course in 2009. Easier, faster and more fun. I trundled round in 7 hours. the 2009 route took me 1/2 hour longer.
Beautiful day, beautiful scenery, and some utterly amazing riding. What i like about the selkirk course, compared to say the Ruthin, is that for whole stretches of time, you are just ‘mountain biking’ watching the trail, picking your lines, riding this, hitting that, enjoying the views. Instead of constantly, grinding the pedals, watching the Garmin refuse to tick over. “have i switched it to stop?” ” I have been riding this hill for ages and dont seem to have travelled any distance” “i cant believe i dont have any gears left”…. were as Selkirk is “cant believe how brilliant that cheeky jump felt, even with 35 miles on my legs”

Or in summary, that was a brilliant course, i liked the 2009 course, but this one was more fun!

My favourite part of these events is the last couple of hours, when the trails are quiet and you can casually granny up the hills, chatting to like minded folk taking a slower approach their marathoning. I wont pretend i could have finished it any quicker tho, thats as fast as i ride 🙂

Did the full route in 6 hours. Loved the course but thought it was pretty tough compared to last years but i was struggle in the heat.

Had an OTB into a muddy pool and on picking myself up I found it was knee deep and pretty stinky too. Which appeared to appeal to the flies.

Some tough climbs but worth it for the awesome decents even got clear runs through most of the sections. I ride it alot but the singletrack from the 3Bs to Yair and Elibank is brilliant and the final downhill to back to Selkirk was fast fast this year.

Was the muddy pool the one after the last photographer? There was someone sat next to it when I went past who looked like they’de been for a swim. Guy in front of me came off so I shouldered the bike and waded through.

I agree with the sentiments of Frasercook, it doesn’t feel like a slog some of the time because of the really good sections of trail used.

‘Its only a race if you win’
………. so about the event 🙂

Cracking day first of all, weather was stunning and judging by my 50/50 hot/cold bath last night i got rather toasty.
Anyway, really good event. Climbs really tested you to the full and descents were fantastic. Wish i had 100mm rear travel at times, including on the ups. Course was good but i felt badly waymarked at times. I along with alot of others got lost at points across the course and sometimes luck got us back on course. Motorbiker told us at 1 point to ‘just head towards over there’. ? ( we couldn’t see there, all we seen was heather and mud).
Overall though ended up having a great chat with alot of folk along the way, and at times was cycling way out of my comfort zone.
Came 3rd in the full marathon, i think i was just under 4 hours, 3:58 or something.
Pretty good considering i had done the 100 mile sportive day before in 4:45.
Great great weekend.
Well done IJS445 who completed the course in a good time this year

6 hours for me. Great course as usual but noticably fewer folk on the start line, maybe due to being a week earlier than past years. I rode 1×9 and surprising managed all the climbs. Puncture on the last descent from 3B was my low point. How does the course compare with the Kielder 100 in terms of pain?

Kielder is a different kind of pain. Kielder is alot of fireroads and is technically nowhere as near as hard. Its mostly a mind game where your mind is telling you to quit constantly. There is some decent ST but its few and far between. The climbs (apart from 2) are no where as steep either and these 2 last for 1/2 as long as Selkirk. Prepare yourself for a long day out, at times very boring but if your hitting Selkirk in 6 hours then Kieler you will be around the 12 hour mark.
Its all about the challenge

Muddy pool i dived into was after the Broadmeadows climb as you headed across the hill about 150m from the gate at the bottom of the climb up to the 3Bs.

Hats off to the chap that did it on a rigid singlespeed 26er, rather him than me!

Cheers Radoggair – your sunburn looked ridiculous from Saturday must be even better today!

Fantastic as ever! Superb course as usual, only slightly disappointed that we didn’t get to fly down Caddon Bank, though my legs didn’t complain of the shorter climb up to Minch Moor. Thought the waymarking was good, but then I’ve ridden the trails a fair bit and it was my 5th time round the long course!

Pretty happy to get under 5 hours and very glad I took it easy on the sportive the day before (which was also great!) Top weekend overall.

Cake eater – Kielder is a lot longer (easily double Selkirk), but the climbs are a bit more gradual and the descents a fair bit easier (though some are very rough). A LOT more fireroad too. I’d try and get some more long rides in before then if I were you.

I did badly, 5 hours to do the 45k, up nearly 40 mins from last year. It was very, very warm though. Onle slight off, big graze on right arm, and then a little soak in a large puddle/small pond near the end. Blissfully cool.

Just remembered: there was a really nice, enthusiastic young lass, I think she was about 15, on a red/black Spesh that I got chatting to. I don’t think she pushed up the entire time I saw her, on the pedals the whole time. Very inspiring. Future star there.

I’ll echo the above. Kielder is not twice as hard (thankfully). The climbs are easier as plenty of them are on fireroad. There’s less technical stuff so you don’t get as worn out. Also on the flat and downhill fireroads you can really crank up the speed and make up time/increase your average. From other riding/racing around there you can hit 25mph coasting sown some of the hills and 35mph if you start to pedal.

The key to Kielder for me was mental in that 11 hours is a long time on a bike and preparation – 11 hours takes it’s toll on your bike so anything a bit wrong at the start will ahve broken before the end, also you can’t survive on energy gels and haribo so think about what you might want to eat and drink and trial it out on a ride.

6hrs 20 for me, and happy with that for full distance.

being a local, i know the route pretty well. portage section wasn’t even that bad. part of me was sad we didn’t get to do caddon bank, but my legs were happy.

i think the first section of single track in elibank needs something. it’s always soaking wet, and by the time i got there it wasn’t fun. maybe a wee bit boardwalk or some big rocks?

the full distance seems to get slightly shorter each year, i wonder if they’ll ever go back to 100k… Pete?

anyway, i had a great day, and the weather was the cherry on the top

Did the 45k in 5 hours, was my first event and I forgot to train so I was happy enough

Great weather and trails…glad I only live about 6 miles from them 🙂

5 hours 10ish for me on the full distance.

Great event again and a nice bimble round enjoying the trails and views.

I too was a bit dissapointed that we didn’t go down caddon bank. Seemed a bit odd as it was marked out with arrows going down there when we rode inners on friday avo. Anyone know why they cut it out?

Anyway apart from that another great event. If only they could put courses together like this at the other rounds.

SSStu did you Mukluk it?