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• #202
I've done a bit of sleep dep riding, but never more than 48 hours without sleep, and if I get the dozies, I always stop as soon as is practical. I know from experience that it is really hard and also I believe from reading stuff that it is not good for you (increased Alzheimers, heart attack risks, etc) so I don't do it too often.
In the past I've always been opposed to the idea of rules to insist on x hours stopped per day. But I think Sofiane's ride might make me change my mind.
I never thought anyone would go for much longer than 48 hours, let alone 4 and a bit days, without stopping to sleep. I'm not an expert, but I believe that it is significantly more unsafe that what all the rest of us do, and I'd hate to see things going that way.
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• #203
Agree. 4 hrs block per 24hr?
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• #204
Agree. 4 hrs block per 24hr?
That's basically Skinny's TCR sleep pattern IIRC. Served him pretty well.
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• #205
Agree. 4 hrs block per 24hr?
I'm not in favour of that as riding through one night might sometimes make sense, and sleep cycles mean multiples of 1.5 hours. But I'd find it hard to object to, say, 3 hours minimum per 48, or per 72...
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• #206
How about the Transatlantic Way rules:
All riders must take a mandatory continuous 3 hour stop in every 24 hour period. Excluding two 24hr periods not back to back
i.e. You can ride through two nights of your choice. -
• #207
Christoph Strasser would ride Race Around Austria (2200km / 30000m climb) in just under 4 days with 1hr sleep total. Supported and on-road but it's a decent metric of what can be done.
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• #209
It's definitely a race, unofficially.
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• #210
They used to have records for sleep dep and I think it was out to something like 11 days without sleep (and without drugs) before they shut the attempts down and removed them from record books for people's safety. Think they did the same with eating records.
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• #211
Yeah, look forward to hearing skinny's race recap.
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• #212
When it comes down to who can sleep the least it all seems a bit meh to me. Couldn’t be arsed with that.
(Not taking anything away from Sofiane or the other riders, epic achievement by him, thought of it makes me feel sick).
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• #213
Think they did the same with eating records.
:)
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• #214
I know, right!
I watched this yesterday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERnUK86vZtk
I think I'm in the wrong sport.
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• #215
I think they are daft!
Those were the ones I had in mind when I said I had always been opposed to them -
• #216
If he had 1.5 hours sleep - 1 complete sleep cycle - that would be much safer than Sofiane's approach.
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• #217
Well... reasonable to an extent. He picked on her for a technicality. Emotional support? We don't check for doping, not even for mechanical doping. Yet we'll point out a potential emotional support as a disqualifying issue? Nah, he's lost all perspective. Also, his "explanation" of harvesting wind power was pretty weird. Who carries an umbrella for a bikepacking race? Why did he have one with him? For shade? Not a chance. Look, I don't really care, it just didn't ring true that he came across as "quite reasonable", so I wrote this :).
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• #218
No, it's 1hr total in the 3.5 days, split into naps.
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• #219
No, it's 1hr total in the 3.5 days, split into naps.
Brutal. But at least he has a full crew ready to catch him if he falls off his bike. Would he use the same model if he was on his own, up a mountain in Africa, etc...?
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• #220
I listened to it yesterday. The umbrella episode sounded wierd. But I thought at the time that he had a point re Lael and the film crew on TD. It's one thing to ring your wife for a moan and some sympathy, or get support messages from twitter, but if you've got a crew specifically following you, it (for example) makes it safer for you to take risks that you might not otherwise take. I think it means that you are racing on different terms than everyone else. Plus Lael blatently cheated to win TABR but didn't seem to see it the way everyone else did.
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• #221
I've done a bit of sleep dep riding... I know from experience that it is really hard and also I believe from reading stuff that it is not good for you (increased Alzheimers, heart attack risks, etc)
Reading Matthew Walkers Why We Sleep Science is pretty scary when you take into account missing sleep in normal life let alone doing it regularily to the extend that people do for ultra races.
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• #222
It doesn't work that way though does it? He's crashed in RAAM before due to falling asleep. It's not like the car is always behind him and although it can help keep him awake at some points he's also on his own so the risks are still there.
If it's a minor crash the team will likely find him quicker but that doesn't make it any less risky in terms of crash damage. -
• #223
but if you've got a crew specifically following you
No one seems to complain about that happening in TCR. Were there private film crews doing the same thing in SRMR too or was it only the orgs? Also the previous films about TD and TABR that focused on only a few riders - where was the outcry over those? People want to see these races, the 'market' has changed over the last few years. The precautions they were having to implement from the org (trackers for the film crew, no direct contact) seemed over the top but they abided by them so why did they still get shit?
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• #224
Yeah, I'm definitely dying soon.
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• #225
Moved to ultra cycling thread
But a much shorter time - and not new as the fastest PBP riders have done the same for the last 100 years!