I have a couple of questions. I’m thinking of doing the exposure 24 hour race thing in May.

[*]I’ve never done a bike race type thing, so if these questions are stupid, sorry![/*]
[*]As it’s a solo event, am I still allowed to bring someone to fix my bike if it starts going wrong?[/*]
[*]Am I allowed to have a spare bike, just in case my main one goes wrong?[/*]
[*]How does the timing work? Do you get timed for being in the “pits” fixing things?[/*]
[*]Is there anything you wished you’d known before you did your first 24 hour event?[/*]

timing starts at the start , finishes at the finish …. your timed continuously – you dib at the end of each lap, any time spent in pits is added to your lap time

you can have support crew

you can have spare bikes at most if not all events

as for things i wish id known – having no where to go to sleep really helps you stay on the bike – its probably no coincidence that the 2 or 3 ive done well in are the ones i havnt taken any sleeping equipment to !

As it’s a solo event, am I still allowed to bring someone to fix my bike if it starts going wrong?

Yep, in fact at the Exposure race there’s neutralised support too!

Am I allowed to have a spare bike, just in case my main one goes wrong?

Yep, it’s a good idea

How does the timing work? Do you get timed for being in the “pits” fixing things?

Not usually. Some races let you ‘dib out’ if you’re taking a rest, but usually you just go through the timing tent thingy once a lap – if you have a 3hr stop on a lap, you do a 3hr lap.

Is there anything you wished you’d known before you did your first 24 hour event?

I wish I’d known how grotty you can feel at 3am – if I had I probably wouldn’t have started* 😉

*Kidding…though you will feel tired and rubbish at points, so does everyone 🙂

I did it once and got really bored. Upon reflection, if I’d paid attention to my placing in the race, I’d have been far more motivated to try harder (racing for me is about achieving places over competitors).

My other advice would be to take it easy early on. I went out at full race pace and was knackered after 6 hours. Nutrition is probably the most important factor.

I did my first 24hr solo event last summer. There are a lot of similar threads that I waded through for advice. So my advice would be get searching on here, task your support team to ensure you are eating and drinking enough, change clothing during the night, talk to folk whilst out on the course.

Also, you will probably feel like sacking it off and going to bed so be prepared to feel this way and ignore it.

Knowing my postion and that I was climbing up the rankings helped with the motivation to keep going towards the end.

Good luck

You might find some useful information in here:

A few tips in this blog all about 24 hour racing

One thing I wished I’d known before my first was that the really fit guys who win these things feel just as bad as normal people. they don’t breeze through it like one might a 2 hour race.

Chris Eatough, 24 solo world champ, once said that after 6 hours he feels knackered, as bad as after a massive day ride with his mates, wonders how on earth he can ride that another three times. He also described a feeling of absolute dread and doom as it goes dark, being quite scared in the early hours.

If you’re planning to complete it, rather than try to win it, then these events are mostly about what’s in your head, not your legs.

Defiantly just trying to get through 24 hours really. I don’t think I stand a chance of winning.

Besides it’s the taking part wot counts isn’t it? 🙂

Cheers for the advice so far

I was a Mayhem solo virgin last year, did 5 laps straight off, a couple of night laps early on, 3hr sleep at about 2am, then started riding again at 11am and totalled 10 laps.

I got terrible cramps, which I rarely get when training, based on that my tip would be to know your body and your kit and plan for every eventuality.