Certainly you’d be looking at somewhere in the region of 1,000ft per 10 miles.

Thanks Butcher,I’ll start putting a few training routes together.
Plenty of hills around here,unfortunately I seem to prefer going to the beach!

Last year I did it on 32c cross tyres. If I was doing it again I’d use the fattest ones that would fit in my frame as my arms and shoulders were ruined by the end. No need for super grippy tyres. Doing it on a mountain bike is cheating!!

As for training, get used to descending at 45mph on a cross bike on fire roads with rocks on. That, and go for some really long training rides. You need to know how it feels to be riding for 8hrs straight. Do lots of core stability work as it will help with back pain etc over that sort of distance.

We stayed in a hotel right next to Kielder Dam last year – it was brilliant and very cheap between the 3 of us.

GB

ton – Member
i remember the tracks being made of grey hardcore which was a bastard to ride on.

Yup, that’s the stuff. It hasn’t changed, you should expect the same course (maybe a slight change here or there) but most of it is on that grey hardcore rough stuff. You’ll remember the smoother tracks where the forest trucks have been over, but the rest is just access routes.

Accommodation wise, well I stayed in Slaley Hall over Hexham way, bloody long trek over to keilder but I needed the sauna and massage treatments.
When I turned up in the morning for the “race” the tent park was frozen solid as it was in the lea of one of the hills.. looked bloody freezing and not really ideal for warm muscles.

Still, no midges to worry about.

Great day on the bike, the event was run exceptionally well.

We came back the following night for a “dark stars” night at the observatory.. blooming amazing.

looking forward, it has given me a bit of a aim to get fit after my forced time off the bike.
got a couple of audax rides to do, a weekend in the lakes in march, so hopefully i will be ok.

gonna be riding my disc trucker with 47c tyres, hopefully it will be comfy enough.

Just a thought for you – Ed Oxley (Great Rock bike training and now HebTroCo) – did one of the Rovaniemi Arctic events about 4 years ago; can’t recall if it was the 150 or 300km version aaanyway he did no specific training, he just did lots and lots of bike riding which included a CX race on a fat bike.
End result – he was third finisher.
Motto – as others have said, just ride and enjoy.
This from a bloke who did newcastle to swindon and return on a whim and an old road bike with no planning and little training – couple of randomly packed panniers and no pre-booked accommodation.
You’ll be fine; go do big fella!

ton – Member

gonna be riding my disc trucker with 47c tyres, hopefully it will be comfy enough.

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Perfect.

Take a camera, don’t forget to take photos. It’s awesome, some of the landscapes are quite astonishing. The fast lads will be well gone, forget them, ride the route and look around.

I saw some stunning frozen tree felling sections down one long decent that were very very spooky, if I hadn’t been going flat chat I’d have stopped and taken some photos.

Rides like this, unless you are chasing the lead, are fabulous for landscapes and views and aching legs.

It’ll be exhausting, but fabulous.

Really forward to this, doing the longer route as it seemed like a good idea at the time on my trusty Salsa Fargo. So if you see a man that looks like a rugby prop forward trying to be a cyclist, no rude comments…

i remember the tracks being made of grey hardcore which was a bastard to ride on.
Yup, that’s the stuff. It hasn’t changed, you should expect the same course (maybe a slight change here or there) but most of it is on that grey hardcore rough stuff.

I think you’re mis-remembering. The route is planned to avoid those ‘grey’ tracks wherever possible. The fire roads around the reservoir/village is mostly that stuff, but the bit in the east is sandstone based and the Wark forest sections are much smoother. Around 10Km of very minor back roads in the west – and don’t forget the long MTB descent to Bewcastle 😉
Training? There’s nothing too steep, so long days in the saddle. Get used to the bike/gear you’ll ride. Finishing is in your head – we all know we can ride 130/200Km, or you wouldn’t have entered. The feeds will be ace and there’s a drop bag option at 100Km. If you’re at the 100Km feed, finishing the 130Km route is pretty much the easiest way back to your car.

1 month to go… how’s the training going? Fit and fast or crapping yourself and considering whether it’s ok to miss out on a unique T shirt?

My weekly long ride is currently at half distance and just over half elevation, heart rate is coming down and average speed creeping up. Will prob top out at 130km in training in about two weeks time and take it easy from there. With a bit of luck and favourably weather on the day I’m hoping to sneak in under the 10hr mark for the 200

I’m doing 100 / 130 k rides on Sundays at the moment. Week before last was a bit under 7900 feet in climbing and last Sunday was my first Audax (Carmarthenshire Stopper) just over 6000 feet.

i am a non starter i am afraid.
started the year well, but have gone slowly downhill.
at present i am struggling to ride 10 miles in one go.

🙁

That’s it. I’m not reading this thread again. I was just about convincing myself that if the weather isn’t terrible and I eat loads I’ll possibly make it round. I might crawl weeping over the line, but there’s a chance I’d get there. But no. Now I’ve seen how far you’re riding as training and I fear I am very wrong. Very very wrong. And I have a sore throat, and it’s probably too late to get any fitter now…oh bollox.

@ton, that sucks. Hope things improve,

@stwhannah I’m training to hit a specific time, I expect a few others are doing the same. But the cut of is 13kph which is pretty doable without ‘completely’ busting yourself.

FWIW Ed Oxley came third in the Rov150 in 2013 – it certainly wasn’t the 300 as that wasn’t run until 2015 and there’s only been one Brit finisher by bike….me!

As for the OP your base level fitness will probably carry you through, but it depends on the level of discomfort you’re prepared to suffer – longer rides help you to tolerate it better. If you’re really stuck for time, high-intensity intervals will have most impact on your fitness. Z2 on a turbo – I’d rather be lobotomised!

Have to admit I’ve resigned myself to missing out this year.
There’s only 24 hours in a day & recently I’ve spent most of my weekends away from work finishing of the renovations on the ‘fixer upper’ house I bought the other year.
Still on a positive note,at least when I get in from work I won’t be walking into a glorified building site any more..

It’s alright, Mrs Yak has only just realised it’s 200km . She had it in mind that it was 101, but that’s a different race… Anyway she’s booked Monday off work to get a long ride in.

Proper prep n’all…. 🙂

Quick follow-up question for Mrs Yak.
Is it tyre-slashing snakeskin sidewall sort of stuff or will the lightest fastest xc tyre be fine? I know I should know this as I’ve ridden there before in the kielder 100, but forgotten what I used. What I do remember is that my mate slashed a tyre at about 90miles… but that could have been bad luck, and that course had a bit of singletrack too that this one won’t have.

So then, what tyres please….?

Yak, its a long remote route, snakeskin/protection/exo versions are always a smart choice, not least because regular versions may not even hold air tubeless for the length of such a long event.

Plenty choices out there for fast tyres with a bit of protection though.
Riding a MTB, a Thunder Burt snakeskin (2.1) would be my choice.

Thanks. I’ll whip off the standard ralph/raceking she’s currently running and put on a snakeskin ralph and saguaro combo as that’s probably the fastest ‘tough’ combo we have in the tyre stash.

Disagree, I reckon most of the many, many punctures I saw were pinch flat related. There was nothing particularly dangerous to tyres that I recall.

Disagree, I reckon most of the many, many punctures I saw were pinch flat related. There was nothing particularly dangerous to tyres that I recall.

For an extra ~50g per tyre and 1-2W of rolling resistance the more robust casings are always pretty much a no brainer on a long event. Save the light flimsy ones for XC races where you are never more than a couple of km from your spare wheels in the pits.

Bear in mind that Schwalbe and Conti don’t actually guarantee their lighter carcasses will hold air tubeless, so relying on them beyond a 90min XC race is a somewhat questionable tactic unless running tubes.
And if running tubes, then a ‘tough’ variant run tubeless is going to roll faster, be more puncture resistant and be no heavier.

All tubeless. There’s no problem with them holding air. It was really whether slashed sidewalls are likely. She’s not particularly hard on sidewalls, but still, it would be gutting to have to pull out because of a big sidewall tear that couldn’t be booted.

I’m assuming that if the tyres are already on the bike then Mr & Mrs Yak know whether they consistently hold air in normal use or not. 🙂

If you are on a CX bike then a bigger volume tyre would be a definite requirement, up to 40c if possible and tubeless, but for an MTB whatever you have on should be fine. This is fireroad, it’s going to be ‘less’ demanding on an mtb tyre than normal use. Just a lot longer

I’ve gibbed onto the 130 event. I want to have some hope of enjoying the day. Done lots of miles to date but can’t quite get my head around 200k whereas 130 is more comprehendible based on the rides I have done to date.

Accommodation now sorted – all excited now 😀

How are people carrying the gear required? Many doing it solo or in teams?

I’ve just got back from a cheeky recce of the section which takes it from 130km to the finish.

Hillier than I’d hoped but, on a more positive note, I’m fairly certain I’ve identified the [u]exact[/i][/u] point where I’ll have a major sense of humour failure and launch the bike into some bushes before sheepishly having to extract it again. So that’s good.

Is it ridiculously bumpy ascent where you dream about killing someone? *

* that was my point last year

Nope, it’ll be the section of wet & sandy, momentum sapping mtb-ey track running through some woodland after you turn off one of the longer climbs at about the 95 mile point.

Really? Can’t remember anything too hateful after 150k, is it new?

Shouldn’t be, was taken from a gpx of last years route.

*that* section climbing alongside the river up to the welcome to Scotland sign almost made me want to throw Paul in said river.

Rocket Ron front, thunderburt rear both snakeskin any good on MTB

Just happily pootled 130k with a smidge under 7000ft climbing on the single speed today. Slighty over geared so will drop a couple of teeth and should be fine for the 200 with mangled knees but if painkillers and brute force stop working then 130 will be comfy and keep my physio from slapping me for being a bloody minded tit 🙂

Did my last big ride yesterday, legs are nicely tired today and the tan lines are sharpening up too 😉

Lovely tapering* until the big day now.

*beer drinking, fettling and fannying about