Isn't is something like 10 minutes every week.
Thus if the race is 1 week earlier, you have 10 extra minutes of day light.
I'm sure someone will be along in a minute to give us the correct figure!

Why will you lose 5/6 weeks – holidays are a great time to get in some miles. I always lose weight on my own holidays.

With a few months to go, he could easily shift 1/2 a stone as that last picture suggests his stomach is resting on the top of his thighs! 😉
No beer before the end of the Montane Kielder 100 & see the genuine effect that this will also have on performance.
Bet that hill side gets wind-blown on a bad day – where is that BTW and how's it riding up the switch-backs on the opposite hillside?!

Either will do.
It's not at all technical.
HT might be quicker, but TBH, I personally don't find much difference between my HT & the Full sus' as the HT is 29 & the HT is 26, so they're evenly matched for speed on dry fast trails. The HT 29 might edge it at Clic24 on 2nd thoughts.
If you're 24hr solo, bring both.

Bikeradar oft' has some very good articles about training, nutrition and other related metter.

Click here for images

Here is the Met Office forecast for Charterhouse / Clic24 in 2010.

Here

Once dusk appears, the ride has finished.
You have to be quick to avoid the cut offs, make no mistake & it's harder (and also different as you're out on the hills and in the forests for 100 miles of varying terrain and scenery) than laps of say Mayhem, Bonty etc.

TBH, the ride was quite beautiful. Strange dank mists that hang over the forests, open heath land, the red route at Newcastleton, those thousands of spider's webs almost suspended in time, seemingly etched into the secondry forest growth with the dew, the near silenece of the dark forest, the bird chatter in the mixed wooded hill sides, do you want me to go on…?

Would be tiresome (!) living here.

Since I'm photographing the Clic24 event, we'll see how shattered you can look!
Be sure to swear at me as you ride past out on the trails, all warm & dry as I'll be, eating yet another bacon sarnie!

Another article for MBUK and of course for the Clic24 organisation as a whole.

In 14 yrs time I can get a free bus pass. That'll make things easier 😉
That's assuming there's a bus from Kielder to Newcastleton & back on the same day!

The guy's worried about it, "faint possibility".

OTT can't hurt in his mental and physical preparation.

Judge the mood of the original post and you'll get a better feel for his concerns then advise perhaps, that's all I've done; he needs some sound grounding so he can complete his task not hairy-chested macho-isms. 😉

Perhaps he'd be best listening to those who have tackled this event and either only just scraped in or failed to make the distance & then better understand the nature of the beast. Remember some posting here race at the Elite level & are still in their mid 20's!

Unless he does as I have, another blasted cold to stop me in my training tracks. 2 weeks to my first solo 24hr and I'm still chock full of cold (feeling very sorry for myself!).
Now on some Antihistamine as of this morning and this is helping – meaning I've developed an allergy. Just great!

Best to try these things out would be my advice.

No point waiting & training all year to then find your saddle is killing you or you should have tried Chamois cream or your wet feet (you will get wet) are causing you Hell or the saddle's too low or 2 pairs of shorts actually nip you or cause poor circulation or …..

Don't foget you can ride some of the sections, go and try the Red routes both sides of the border plus the other trails to get a feel for the landscape, some of it is very rough. Because of your stated concerns, I'd advocate a trip north TBH; can't hurt!

Planning & preparation prevents pi££ poor performace.

Of course!
I have 2 saddles I can ride, one is one bike, one on another. Never put all your eggs in one basket where mtn biking is concerned, if it's going to go wrong, it will!

Having ridden the Montane Kielder 100 last year I am giving you my honest appraisal (& I photographed it for a 5 page MBUK article in January if you recall) so you'll recall my ride was not without its incidents.

10+++hrs on the bike, XC is not an easy thing. I'd done pairs at Bonty (11 hrs) and the Polaris (7&5hrs) in the lead up and it was not sufficient, that's why I'm saying what I do.

A Special deal at the Travel Inn (?)

I've kipped in the car quite a few times (5?), but away from the Chase as there are lots of Police patrols. I've twice had coppers knock on my window to "check on me". They left me in peace both times.

I'm going the other way- possibly.
From HT to full sus'.
It'll be easier on the legs over 7+hrs and for me that will hopefully make the difference.

Bottom line is that you need to have done somthing in your prep' stage that comes close to this distance XC, or at least in terms of hours on the bike, and here we're talking about 10+hrs if you can. That doesn't mean a pairs race as this needs to be continually on the bike. Only then will you know if the saddle's right, the bike is the correct one and so on.

There's only one steep-steep climb and you ride it – twice. Or walk it as it's not very long, maybe a 3 minute walk.

Loaded up with Antihistamine for the day and thus far, yes, it seems to have made a difference.
It's the first time I've ever tried it.
I still say it's a normal cold with something else on top whist my immune system was fighting something else off.

It's a bu££er as I've been off the bike far too long and my first solo 24hr is on the 22nd May. I've now been off the bike 6+ week thus far this year.

Yes, see you there.

The place for all your answers is going to be the SWPP.
Not a market to get into TBH but this is the place to find out more both with the lectures and the on line community.

Do you remeber last year's mud?!

One caveat is if alcohol is involved.
If we had a Zero Tolerence in force where drinking (any drugs)& driving was involved I'd vote for that.

Why worry?
Put in the hours and turn up and ride.
If it's not enough, so what?
YOu'll be better prepared mentally for 2011's event.
Either way, it's great to be part of something like this, but if the ticking off of the miles gets you in a fluster, then ride longer distances so they're less intimidating.

After all, it's only the equivalent of the M25 to Bristol cross country! (Or the M25 to Nottingham). 😉

Oh!
I might have to watch this series!

Dr Who is a modern sensation. It's a huge success. Look at how it sells overseas for a start. The BBC should be congratulated in producing something so in tune with the modern viewers.

The new Dr looks a little quirky and not in his early 20's. It's a long way from the Tom Baker days – thankfully!

The courts have to have some say in the sentencing.

My aunt was knocked down and killed and the driver suffered horribly. He nigh-on had a complete mental breakdown over it.
It was not his fault per se. She’d gone to walk “home”, forgetting she was by that time in a home, and her home she remembered was on the other side of a newly constructed dual carriageway.

Extreme case I know, but judges that I have “met” in court have been extremely smart, well informed and experienced. Often their hands are tied and must weigh up both sides of the arguments before making decisions & quite often just reading a new organisation’s strapines doesn’t really give us the full body of evidence.

I’m not saying it’s right, just tipping the balance a little the other way as the post is starting to look like a witch hunt!

evenings and alchohol make it worse

Am I missing something?
Is that not a self inflicted "wound", drinking in the evenings?

I'm popping up to the local pharmacy later as my "summer cold" is not shifting and wonder if there's a pollen / hayfever issue I'm unaware of. Living at the bottom of a hill on the outskirts of Watford doesn't help as it's in a natrual "bowl" and we have the M1, and M25, not 3 miles away.

How and where was the Morocco trip?
I've twice solo backpacked for 7 days across the High Atlas out of Imlil / Arund.

It's my 50th that I want to be fighting fit for (5yrs time). Patagonia? Torres Del Paine National Park?

I was chatting this evening with a guy whose son is never fully “right”. Chest, breathing, mucus, headaches, ear ache and defness, tear ducts don’t work, coughing, etc etc.

It’s all well documented from his birth and is the result of a perforated ear drum.

Bizarre? I was flabbergasted at what this seemingly simple birth defect (he’s supposed to be getting better as he grows) as it seems to impact into just about everything above his nipples!

Do you have cats or dogs or any household pets? Have you spendt 48hrs away from home to see it there's a difference (inc' fresh, washed clothes from another machine so no cross contamination).

YOu have:
May, June, July, August and some of September.
Plenty of time.
A ride every 2 days.
Increase the distance on 2 of these rides each week.
By the end of the month you will be stronger and fitter.

Put in some road work for the time in the saddle. On your mtn bike. It's slower, but it's what you'll be riding on the day.

Join a local bike club and go training and riding with them – that is a very sound idea as you are not pushing yourself hard enough yet.

Here are some more, inc; a couple from Mayhem, making up on of my submissions to 2009's PX3 international competition.

LINK to PX3 Submission

From 2008. It was so warm & dry & peaceful at 01:00.

If you are going, say hello.
I'm the official photographer (3rd year) so make yourselves known & I'll do my damndest to make sure I get around to taking some 1/2 decent pictures both in the campsite & out on the trails.

I'll be wearing a pink carnation in my lapel and will be carrying a copy of the FT. Plus a few cameras.

I see that there is an older, more establish post, so here endeth this one!

Don't know about anyone else, but doing things like riding and mtn biking and generally having an adventure, and the alcohol takes a very back seat to the doing. It always seems a waste of time afterwards as the recovery period really impacts into the doing and the enjoyment the next day and the day after.

You can be drunk any old day in any old town, why pi££ it all up the wall on your 40th? Such a criminal waste of an opportunity IMHO.

I've got a good one for sale.
It's a Elite Hydro Crono Mag if you're any where near Watford.

HERE[/url]
This is what I did.
Hired a Gixer thou' and spend a week having a fantastic time over the first week in June, TT week.
Saw 160+ on the clock.
Plenty of XC riding and horsey stuff too.

PS – I note that the cones both start & finish in ever encroaching places now were it once stated at the hairpin and again after the CNB pub.

Oh, too lean, too young & too toned.
Sadly, I am old, lumpy, hairy & can't ride a horse (struggle on a mtn bike too!).

No muscles this time.
Remote flash off to the left to light the tree and blue bells.
Just for C.G.

My / a washing machine.
(Never leave home without clean shreddies)

So much so that no one has even bothered to venture an specific bike in any of these answers.

That should be answer enough.

I'd wager you most riders here on STW have two bikes.
So there's no answer.
It's like asking me what the best camera is, or what the best car is.
What's good for off piste Scottish Highland multi day epics is not going to be the weapon of choise for a 2hr blat 'round Cannock Chase.

Unless you narrow the criteria a little it's a somewhat pointless question.

People with money will spend it how they see fit.

People with top of the range Ferraris, Porches, AMG Mercs: do they track-day them? Not many!

Because a neighbour has a Cayanne Turbo (£70k+?) does it mean she is happy to drive in the deep snow? No she leaves it at the bottom of the road when it's icy. She has not the first idea what it can do, on track or off road, & I'd wager you that goes for 90% of the people who buy such performance cars.

If you apply the same criteria, how many reading this post have actually taken their cars & / or m'cycles on track days? Bikers tend to do it more readily, but if you have a car why haven't you taken it to a track day to exploit it's full potential, no matter that it's a Focus, Mini, or a Passat?