TORQ in your Sleep 12 hour solo

Best of luck for yours :)

8 hours on the bike yesterday in preparation for this.

Did not feel great for the last hour, but okay this morning, that might be the coffee talking though. Probably means I need to eat (and drink) more on the bike.

Six hour race at Bedgebury next week, then Big Dog, then this.

Nice one @Jon. I'm having a few days off from exercise, as I don't do at all well in the heat.

Need a while to adapt to it anyway. Sudden 10 degree increases in temperature can >>>>>>>

Any rides planned for the weekend? Keen to get out to a forest of some kind.

There's this :-)

https://www.lfgss.com/events/1289/?offset=425#comment13701698

Thanks Pete! What is it like train journey wise? I won't have a car for at least another week :/

These guys seem to know more about it than me.

https://www.lfgss.com/comments/13686417/

@TomvanHalen @7Üp

Takes just under 2 hours, I think.

Hour and a half from King's Cross to Brandon, not too bad. Buy a separate off-peak return for each leg to save money

Well, slightly less than eight weeks to go, which amounts to only six weeks of training!

Not ridden further than six hours so far, but have remained injury/illness free, so I'm healthy, if not particularly fit. Been doing a couple of interval sessions on the turbo each week for the past three weeks and I feel they've helped with my ability to deal with any short, intense efforts ( which I'm hoping to avoid, if I can ).

Bike-wise, I've been switching back & forth between suspension and rigid forks and am very tempted to stick with my rigid fork + a 2.6" tyre. I've been riding rigid mtb pretty much exclusively since getting a 29er five or six years ago, and am simply happier riding that way these days. Suspension never feels quite right, no matter how I set it up, so I'm weighing up the extra physical fatigue of no sus versus the mental fatigue of constantly wondering about my fork settings.

Nutrition-wise, I'm happy to go with two bottles on the bike. One with carb drink and the other with plain water + electrolytes. I've been using a mixture of gels and bars on my rides so far, and have decided to go with just bars. I'm hopeless at having a gel on the move without making a mess, and after a few seconds hours gels are a miserable, unsatisfying experience. I can see where they're probably easier on the stomach during high-intensity riding, but I'm going to be slowly plodding along. I'll leave some savoury stuff with my pit crew, which I can munch on while he refills my bottles :-)

Weight seems to have plateaued at 103.5kg for the past couple of weeks. Still, two stone lighter than when I started, and while it'd be nice to hit my 100kg target, it'll still be a lot less of me to carry around for the ride.

Sounds like your preparation has gone/is going really well. Good stuff.

well done, top work on all fronts. glw racing!

Suspension never feels quite right, no matter how I set it up, so I'm weighing up the extra physical fatigue of no sus versus the mental fatigue of constantly wondering about my fork settings.

Yea - big front tyre run soft might be the better way to go for this kind of riding and course.

Gonna bung a load of air volume reducers in my Lefty and run it soft at the top with a real quick ramp-up to take the edge off the roots.

Gonna bung a load of air volume reducers in my Lefty and run it soft at the top with a real quick ramp-up to take the edge off the roots.

Sounds like a good move. I often think my old 60mm Headshok was the best fork I've used for small chattery stuff.

Until it got rusty and died.

Bike-wise, I've been switching back & forth between suspension and rigid forks and am very tempted to stick with my rigid fork + a 2.6" tyre. I've been riding rigid mtb pretty much exclusively since getting a 29er five or six years ago, and am simply happier riding that way these days. Suspension never feels quite right, no matter how I set it up, so I'm weighing up the extra physical fatigue of no sus versus the mental fatigue of constantly wondering about my fork settings

Did some singletrack pottering with @Howard last night, and am happy with how the rigid bike feels over rooty stuff*. Also tested out my light for a bit, and that works just fine.

*For four hours anyway...

Planning on doing this route in a few weeks, which should take me about eight hours.

Feel like I need to get in a century ride, if only to help boost my confidence a bit.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/23123136

It wouldn't be the hardest thing to do a couple of recce laps on last year's course?

I'm not really bothered about checking out the course. I figure I've got long enough to practise riding it anyway :-)

achievementunlocked.jpg

Feel like I need to get in a century ride, if only to help boost my confidence a bit.

This never happened, but I'm ok with that.

Chapeau, sir.

Cheers, Andy. Next challenge is staying well away from anybody that looks ill.

One last spin on the turbo tomorrow, and then a week off the bike.

awesome work dude.

you are going to nail it.

Very good. However would recommend a few super easy two hours next week.

I'd try and fit a couple of rides in next week, with some short, sharp efforts, just to keep the body ticking over.

Looking forward to it, I'm ready to hand you water bottles and food!