My hardest day on a bike was a completely innocuous local ride in Somerset that I’d normally have knocked out with my eyes closed – but my partner at the time, who fancied herself as a nutritionist, had me on a low carb diet as an experiment. I totally bonked on the way home – could hardly push the pedals round, collapsed on the pavement when I finished, literally could not form a sentence. **** that diet right off.

That reminds me of a 30+ km run I did once. Bonked about 8km from home and was in all sorts of trouble. An old fella walking his dogs said I looked like I was going to die as I stumbled past him with 2km to go 🤣

I used to do the Flintshire Challenge every year. One year we had recently moved house , and the night before the ride we went over for a bit of a housewarming/meet the neighbours. One neighbour had made Sangria and the next morning a woke with a hangover from hell, but decided I’d be ok and the fresh air would do me good…..oh no.
Halfway round the 50 mile route I threw up, purple/red vomit and collapsed in a heap. I had enough to get home, which was local, showered and changed then went back to the event to let the organisers I had quit.
I was surprised I made it as far as I did.

Ben MacDhui features in many of the harder rides I’ve done over the years, and a couple in particular stand out.
One, starting in Aviemore, riding up the ski road and then climbing up via Lurchers ridge to Cairn Lochan, out to Big Mac, down the Etchachan/Hutchison trail to Derry Lodge. Lunch in the sunshine there, before heading west to ride then clamber through the Lairig Ghru leg-break boulders to head back to Aviemore. That was about 11 hours in the end and an awful lot of carrying.

Another time, starting the same, before continuing south from Derry Lodge and out past Linn of Dee, west out to cross the Geldie, over the pass and down the Tilt to Blair Atholl in time to catch the chipper. My buddy was absolutely hanging by his chinstrap coming down the Tilt track. stunning day though, with loads of superb singletrack.

One with a different flavour was in October some years ago, when I rode out from home in Angus to Dunvegan on Skye, on what would now be called a ‘gravel bike’. The NC7 sections were then grit surfaced, the Corrieyairick to Ft Augustus a lot lumpier than now as this was before the Beauly-Denny powerline track improvements. It began to rain when I was in the cafe at Laggan, was hosing down, cold and the burns high going up over the pass. I was properly chilled by the time I’d descended into Glen Shiel past the Kintail munros and I remember that it didn’t seem any warmer down at sea level heading onto the Skye bridge. I think it took the whole of the next day to get my core temperature stabilised. Long day.

I rode into work once in heavy snow on the MTB (must have been 2010, harsh winter).
It was towpath the whole route so safe enough but even in town, there was still substantial snow – too much to drive in, trains weren’t running either. Naturally there were very few people in the office.

Did a day’s work, rode home, 15 miles through the fresh snowfall. It’s mostly uphill all the way through a lot of canal locks, it was heavy snow so very slow going and it was incredibly cold – so cold that the canal had frozen solid in places and there was snow on top of the ice. Obviously it was pitch dark by then as well.

I absolutely died a death about 5 miles from home on the longest of the lock flights. I was in bits, pushing up some of the slopes, feet sliding in the snow. Got home, collapsed in front of the fridge and just ate whatever was immediately edible. Opened a tin of rice pudding and spooned the lot in cold.

I’ve blown up badly before – I recall one embarrassing ride very early on riding road bikes where a clubbmate had to push me up the final hill home – but that snowy one was just grim.

The Whole Enchilada. It’s mostly downhill and I got the uplift but easily hardest and at the same time best ride ever

I also underestimated it a bit and was so thirsty by the bottom I was drinking from the rocks as soon as I hit the bottom of the valley and consumed a whole pack of energy gels at the first bikeshop I found rolling back into Moab

Also impressed a mountain rescue lady by fixing a bent mech with a rock and getting it from completely broken to getting 10 out 11 gears. Got me all the way to the bottom as well, no way I would have survived the walk out

@tomhoward

SDA course at Glencoe, circa 2010. Savage.

…nods

The Whole Enchilada. It’s mostly downhill

Apart from the rubbly track from hell towards the end (when you already knackered, right?) before the last D/H. Uphill enough to be a pain in the arse, not steep enough to be actually worth getting off to push, deep sections of sand, small marbles under your tyres, ledges that are just a bit too tall to grunt your way up and over…,  Did it once in just tremendous heat (middle of the day in the desert), and remember thinking: “just kill me now”

I mean; it’s an amazing track…but that section…

Yeah it’s intense! And even the push to the top from the uplift drop off is pretty nasty, fair bit of altitude

That desert heat though…..

2017 Bontrager 24/12. It started raining on the first climb and just got heavier and heaver. Destroyed all my brake pads, left with one working pad in the rear in the darkness. My riding buddy sensibly bailed after hours and hours of grinding slog. I battled on but around 11:30pm my brain just gave in and ended up sitting under a tree with rain pouring down my neck. I self sabotaged so I wouldn’t cross the line in time to start another lap. Finished 9th overall I think…

The DrP Brighton – London – Brighton spectacular. Started it twice, finished it the 2nd time, 163miles, proper day out. The first time I didn’t finish. Unbeknownst to me I had set off with a bout of Norovirus in the system. Started struggling more and more, did that, ‘you go on and I’ll get the train’ routine and for only time in my life all my riding buddies agreed. Apparently I looked like death. Minutes after they left I spectacularly projectile vomited my soul away into a London park hedge. Took an hour to walk the mile to the train station. No idea how I didn’t soil my bibs on the train. Got home, and spent the next 48hrs ‘sleeping’ on a towel on the bathroom floor.

Both tough for different reasons.

A particular edition of a long running and occasionally exceptionally stupid mate’s race, in the Pennines. 100km of the featureless, trackless, mind-numbing nothingness up the Pennines. Starting in Nateby, up onto Nine Standards, Tan Hill, across the ’66, Goldsborough, Cauldron Snout, High Cup Nick, Dufton. Wouldn’t have been so hard if it hadn’t come a week after a muddy Sleepless in the Saddle and if I’d have had some decent recovery. Never been quite so broken by a single ride…

SDW double for me. Although there have been rides that I’ve fared a lot worse in.

There was a Gorrick 100 that I bonked in and felt like I’d been smashed on the head with a hammer by the end and also a saturated Brass Monkeys (both at
minley funnily enough) that I thought was never going to end. I remember laying in a soaked field at the end of that trying to scoff anything I could get
My hands on.

Last years Vittoria Bike marathon at pippingford was pretty grim – it had rained incessantly the day before and there were over 50% dnf’s looking at the results. None of them should’ve been “that hard” on paper

I did the Pioneer stage race in 2017 and there was one day at over 60 miles and 3,000m of climbing which saw us grovelling for about 12 hours. Also the 200km of ‘The Rift’ last year had a couple of sucky moment and some the last couple of climbs on the Fred Whitton can be a bit draining.

La Marmotte, just rode the course, not the actual event – was pretty tough…

Yeah, I did the event in 2013 and was definitely my toughest single day on a bike. Three HC climbs and my Garmin was showing 40 degrees at the foot of Alpe d’Huez. The locals were gathering spring water to throw over us. The hardest event I’ve completed was the Bryan Chapman Memorial audax this weekend – but that was over two days.

Taking my bike and the ex’s over the Thorong La Pass. Pushing not riding though.

I went over there in a snow storm. My gloves froze and I have a permanent loss of sensation in one finger. The altitude meant I could manage only a few steps at a time before stopping for a rest. Can’t imagine trying to push a bike as well!

Big Beastie. 100km+ and almost 4000m of climbing in the tweed valley, up and down up and down , March, had barely ridden post vasectomy. Wanted to bail so many times.

40odd miler back when I was young, fit and healthy. Trouble was it was with Tim Woodcock, the photographer, and we had to keep going over sections again for the Mountain Bike World photographs.
Meant it took twice as long.. Pretty sure we started out at 9am but it was dark by the time we rode back to the beginning of the loop. Had a bag of chips to get over the bonk.
Every ride seems to be as bleedin hard as that these days.

65 miler on Good Friday with 7,500ft of climbing on the South Downs, training for the full SDW 100 mile/12,000ft in July. 9 hours elapsed and 7:10 riding, needed plenty of breaks for food, drinking and general breathing!!!

I have done a few corkers, biggest day out in miles was the 310 miles in 19 hours from Newcastle to London, and i’ve done the 250 miles from Manchester to London for same charity.

Hardest day was either 180 mile Dragon Devil with 4800, climbing or the 160 mile Tour of Flanders route as i’m not a natural climber.

But enjoyed them all, only one i have enjoyed was 150 mile Flat out in the Fens, no climbing, nothing but soul destroying headwinds, you know it is bad when you are looking forward to corners for something to do…

Some of these make me feel very inadequate!

2005 Etape du Tour.

Drove to within 10km of the start.

178km for the event.

26km back from Pau to the car.

So 214km in total.

Temperature got up to 40 degrees C and the Marie Blanc was a proper bastard.

For me it’s probably the west highland way in a day. 96 miles, 12,250 feet of climbing. 14h26 moving time 15h45 total. The misery of hauling my s150 down the side of Loch Lomond still haunts me, but it was a great day.

Will see if the frontier 300 next month beats it. Twice the distance, more ascent, but no hike a bike down Loch Lomond.

Day two on my successfully Cairngorm Loop 200 ride in 2020. Couldn’t walk more that a couple of hundred metres for week after. Ankles were seriously sore.

Day two (might be a them) of our attempt to ride to Cape Wrath. Riding from Durness in the smallest gear I had into one of the strongest winds I’ve ever encountered. The ferry was off so we rode to a bothy instead, trudging across the bog in the pissing rain, carrying our bike bags. That was a great night next to the fire. Well deserved.

My first imperial century was a tough one as well. My pal said “let’s do a 130 mile ride!” I said “I’ve never even ridden 100 mile” my pal said it was all in my head and he was right. Still a long tough day on the bike. Good fun though.

I’ve ridden 200km threw times and all were very tough but probably not as tough as the above. It’s all life affirming though. Food and drink never tastes so good as when after a tough ride.

The three ways up Ventoux in a day, around 100 miles and 12000 feet I think. TBH only the Mallaucenne climb was hard, it was a perfect day and we had support so nothing like some of these horror rides. Worse thing about it was I was too knackered to go out properly that night. Still went out but not OUT. I love everything about that area of France.

Day 3 of the Haute Route Alps in 2012. Madeleine, Glandon then Alpe D’Huez. Not especially epic but it was after two days of hard riding, 35C in the valleys, my shoes were too narrow and every pedal stroke hurt, and I was desperate for a dump in the last hour. That was the worst bit.

A ride I did to Grossglockner up the High Alpen Strasse. Started in Leinz, again very warm in the valley. The climb is pretty much 50km long (with s little bit of downhill) and 3-4 km from the summit we were in the snowline. I was dressed for the valley, plus a light gilet. Then it started snowing. So, so cold. Only three of our group of 7 made it to the top (and we were all decent climbers), and we took the van down as it was just to risky to ride.

Hardest ride i’ve done lasted less than an hour.
A hilly TT where i went out too hard and then have no recollection of anything past the first junction until i “came round” sitting on the verge a few minutes after i finished with blood all down my front from the nose bleed i’d developed on one of the climbs (6 of them IIRC).
On the plus side, i won a fair bit of cash and beat a lot of well known riders. Took me about 3 days to get back on the bike though.
Not bad for a race i only entered on a whim half way through an MTB season.

Hardest ride from a motivation perspective was the 12 hr pairs race at the 2017 TwentyFour 12. It rained all day on the Friday before, all of Friday night and for the entire 12 hours of the 12 hr race. As the race went on the little motivation I had at the start of the race soon started to wane, I was running out of dry kit (I had brought all of my riding kit). Towards the end, the changeovers became silent, no words.

We finished in 4th place with 14 laps, our best result for the 12 hr. ALL of my kit, the bike, the tent, the car – everything – was soaked and muddy. After the race, the bike needed a complete strip and rebuild and a new chain, freehub bearings, lower headset bearing, BB bearings and brake pads. It took days to clean the car, the tent and all of my gear.

So glad we didn’t do the 24 hr race, the rain had stopped on the saturday night and then course became a total mud fest…

Not sure what was more silly Manchester to London or the Keilder 100 MTB race when it rained from the very start and didn’t stop all day. Ran out of pads at 30 miles in did another 30 with no brakes in the rain and grinding filth new set fitted at 60 miles in and they lasted to the end. 500+ field on the start line I think only 180 finished it on that wet  wet wet day i came in at 50ish position just as broken as the bike. Chainrings, cassette, chain and the jockey wheels all went in the bin after that one. Manchester- London was just a stupid day out, Managed 235 miles in one go as I got lost in London trying to navigate to my brothers house whilst bonking horribly. No money what’s so ever at the end if I could have gone into a hotel and got a room and a meal I would have around 40 miles earlier I would have.

Don’t forget your cash card ! .