Ian Holmes wore inov-8 x-talon 212 with metal pedals. He kept running past me on the ups and then I’ll pass him on the downs. Talking to him after the race he found it hard on road sections.

Doesn’t look like we’ll be doing a specific shoe. Not for a while yet anyway…

I have a GPX I’ll put online of my race tonight. Will post a link here.

Nope, no special shoes ;-)
Legs were killing after running in stiff cycling shoes though. Lost me a bit of time… Not used to that!
I’ll have to go out in some really stiff shoes to practice for next time… digging out the salomons… ;-)

I rode single speed – i’m pretty sure no one in front of me was single speed…
I was hoping for under 4hrs.
Finished in 3hrs 45mins in 56th place – 3rd under 23. 5 minutes behind single speed record.
38:16 gear.

going for elite time on single speed next year. It is possible with better place at start, not getting held up on Whernside and better conditions.

Pic of me on the descent from Whenside – about to skid my back tyre out – http://www.flickr.com/photos/britishcyclingphotos/6182124152/in/set-72157627626068827
Climbing PYG – http://martin.photium.com/photo12994334.html
My splits – http://live.sportident.co.uk/home/event/coursecontrolsummary/resultsatcontrol/entrypunchsummary.html?controlnumber=1000&entryid_rowsperpage=25&entryid_currentpage=3&eventid=8693b77e-1b33-4e7a-a56d-d732b18cf40d&mobile=false&entryid=c84c2ccd-aa99-4986-aa56-63ba8756e128

The photo is deceptive. The ‘Wall of Death’ is a lot steeper than it looks on the images and certainly a lot steeper than it looks in the video of Heather!

I had trouble getting up with a 28 front, 27 rear and a racing ralph on the back. I kept losing traction and couldn’t spin up due to not having a low gear.

Apparently it was named the ‘wall of death’ by lafarge (site owners) after using as an off road 4×4 track.

As for the course, it will be a mixture of fire/gravel roads roads and singletrack through the forest.