Ultracycling

Both @hippy and @tomasito rode it last year. There was a thread somewhere.

Here.

Plenty of hotels and campsites (and bivvy spots if thats your thing). I tended to fire up Booking.com at about 5pm each day to make the decision where to stop that night, which also leads to healthy last minute discounts. Booking.com also allows to filter by hotels with 24/7 reception.... with a bit of planning it is easy to create your own map of all hotels along the route that are open round the clock.

The RATN facebook group is a useful resource so I suggest joining. Search Netherlands on here for the full lfgss thread.

I also wrote a race report at becomingadot.com which may be useful or interesting for getting a flavour. Tom Hudders also wrote a very good one linked to from the thread.

Speak to @hippy he hated it, I can understand why

Yeah, I bivvied and was doing ok the first couple of nights but the weather turned and this combined with a lack of food options fucked my race up. NL bike paths are not meant to be raced on either - fucked my hand having left arm warmers on for the first 2 days racing and the constant moving from aerobars to brake hoods at all the junctions basically caused the elastic to rub the nerves.

It was cool hanging out before and after the race though and for an intro race it's super easy to deal with and the fact it's in NL makes it relatively safer. I was trying to win though so wasn't best pleased. My own fault for being lax with research on after-hours food options. I just assumed "oh it's Europe, there's always something". There fucking wasn't though. :S Worse than France.

Michael's a champ though so I'd definitely like to do some other race of his, just not that keen on trying to win in NL.

Also. No hills, must be so boring!

This is the bit that concerns me. Aero bars and cycle paths dont really mix. I should still.probably fot some. Any other ways of avoiding the dreaded palsy on drops. Got it bad on PBP and the weeks after. I think its longer this year. 1870km

That's what makes it hard
The potential poor weather and the monotony of the flat. It must be like the fans but longer.

The only Dutch riding I ha e done was from hook van Holland to liege. Did that in a day as it was not so far and the urban areas broke it up but this route is not that urban. Perhaps pack a pannier full of food.

Michael's a champ though so I'd definitely like to do some other race of his

@Cycliste and I are doing the Three Peaks Bike Race again this year. Grossglockner, Col de Sanetsch and Mont Ventoux, finishing in Nice. There's some interesting routing choices to be made with regard to Grossglockner. Looks like the three mandatory peaks might well be joined by Oberalp and the Furkapass as bonus passes.

Dales Divide looks ace - perfect way to spend Easter weekend. I'm in.

Route: http://trackleaders.com/dalesdivide19

I've done a Dutch 400. The scenery can be reasonably varied, although athletically the lack of ups and downs makes the pedalling quite monotonous.

The cycle paths have the problem of often going around the edge of towns and not having facilities directly on them. Whereas a British audax route will naturally go past village shops and garages etc, it's quite easy to plot a route all the way across NL on cycle paths that goes past nothing.

I had a look at this mostly because I want to ride Ventoux but it clashes with the 12hr TTs I was going to target this year. Not enough summer :(

I dunno, it makes up for it a bit with some pretty towns, windmills and pretty waterways. There is the lumpy section towards the end around the Amstel Gold route. I'd like to go back and do it again properly but I'm old now and seeing cool stuff > winning.

I hope the route goes through towns. I ha e decided to do it. Just got save a bit up and put it aside. I hope there are place when I come to register.

I had a look at this mostly because I want to ride Ventoux but it clashes with the 12hr TTs I was going to target this year. Not enough summer :(

Yeah, it clashes with the Breckland 12, but having done it last year and subjected myself to all that miserable bumping and thumping over the northern end of the A11 I'm happy to give it a pass for this year. Still considering doing the 12hr Nat Champs a couple of weeks later though if I can get a teeny weeny bit of support for the ride.

The wind was more awful than the bumpy a11.

I've no idea about the course, only that it's the fastest available this year I think. Does it share any of the 100mi course? That was atrocious when I rode it due to weather though, I barely remember the road surface.

My plan is probably Breckland with the National as a backup event. I'm just trying to crack 300, I don't care about anything else. Probably should get out of my pants and on to a bike at some point. It's getting embarrassing that the missus is out riding and I'm sat at home.

Does it share any of the 100mi course?

Yes. The starting circuit begins with some slow wiggly single track roads onto the A11. The southern circuit includes the southern part of the 100 course (the bit between the Snetterton turn and the Caxton junction) but goes south from that down to near Thetford. The northern circuit is the 100 course with the bottom bit (between Caxton and Snett) chopped off. The finishing circuit is then a bogging slow slog along lots of twisty single carriageway roads, which I ended up doing for over two hours.

My plan is probably Breckland with the National as a backup event.

Just the National for me, I think. Have you done the D12/1 course?

The welsh 12hr has a road bike category. Might have to do that and 24hr. The breckland 100 mile course uses much of the 12hr tt a11 route but not all of the off a11 bits.

I'd just like to reach 240 miles in a 12hr on a road bike and 400 for a 24hr. Got to stop going to sleep though.

I think the D12 is basically the same as the Nat 24hr isn't it? In which case I've ridden it a LOT.

I'll have to remind myself of it. It was years ago - https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/torrential-rain-affects-north-norfolk-wheelers-100-mile-time-trial-30522

From your writing it sounds slow though, I thought it was a relatively fast circuit?

I think the D12 is basically the same as the Nat 24hr isn't it? In which case I've ridden it a LOT.

How easy is it to do without support? Is there a single point to leave the car with supplies in it which I can access on the whole course?

From your writing it sounds slow though, I thought it was a relatively fast circuit?

The start circuit is basically some twiddly single carriageway followed by a whole north and south circuit. Then there's a few laps of the south circuit, a few laps of the north circuit, and then there's the finishing circuit. The south circuit is fast, provided it's not too windy, and reasonably smooth. The north circuit is fast but punishing due to the road surface. The finishing circuit is slow. Overall it's pretty fast though. I don't think it's as fast as the H12H/8 course, due to the finishing circuit, but it's pretty speedy even if the north circuit is deeply unpleasant due to the road surface.

Prees Heath RAB. It's where all the support guys setup for the 24hr. Helps that there's a chippy there.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Rontec/@52.9364912,-2.6603179,301m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sprees+rab!3m4!1s0x487a92220d996b25:0xfc5285c38f61583d!8m2!3d52.9367962!4d-2.6611269

The surface better or worse than the Newbury course? Potholes you can dodge or is it lane-wide trenches?

Prees Heath RAB. It's where all the support guys setup for the 24hr. Helps that there's a chippy there.

I've found one Strava activity for the D12/1 and it looks like there's a middle section which doesn't go near the Prees Heath RAB. Looks a bit undoable on an unsupported basis if that's still the course.

The surface better or worse than the Newbury course? Potholes you can dodge or is it lane-wide trenches?

The northern circuit is worse than Newbury, by a considerable margin. Lane-wide bone-jarring trenches all the way across the road. Plus potholes. The smoothest line is to try and ride along the rumble strip by the side of the carriageway. It's smoother than the road surface.

Hmm, I'm pretty shit with maps/directions/anything that's happened in the last 30 years but this seems quite different to the 24hr course:
https://mywindsock.com/uploads/1204569/

I guess I just recognised the names and thought "yep, looks like the 24" but it seems to take quite a few different out and backs and loops, still pretty centred on maybe Whitchurch RAB though.

Hmm, fat guys, shit roads and fast tyres aren't a great combo. Guess I better kick off that heroin addiction sooner than planned.

How much self-support do you need? It's best not to stop too often as it obviously takes time and the temptation to not get back on is not helpful!
I've done two 12 hours unsupported and planned on a one-stop stategy for each, so only needed to get to my car at about the 7-hour point.
Admittedly on one of them I dropped a bottle so needed a second stop at about 10 hours for a final bottle.

Normally one stop every three hours, more towards the end. My 12hr TT bike has capacity for two water bottles, but I'm a thirsty wee thing.