Ultracycling

Top effort by both!

Measuring in distance doesn't do justice. You'll need to measure it in days. But then again Ulrich is one of, if not the best in the world.

It's all blooming impressive. Has he finished yet?

Not quite.
Hippy had consolidated his 4th place and only 25km off the podium

Amazing. Think I've spotted another #onhere name on the course too. I'll hang fire for them as I'm not sure how everyone is with IRL names...

Only pulling a lot of weight there.

Never has 25km been so far with a bicycle.

indeed lfgss is overly representing itself here, I don't know what societal factors are at play to make us londoners choose this as idea of fun

James W here though, in my tent that failed to pitch on some gravelly rubbish so wet/bad sleep, going to eat but probably calling it soon

@hippy by the way unstoppable, out of supply and water, 2 calories and a dream, pushing up monster climbs - go get that bread

Ulrich finished I think.
Go hippy.

Well done @Nerv - good effort. It looks very hard!

Hippy still battling away in 4th. Close race on now for 2nd place - Hippy unlikely to catch them.

No chance. Huge time gap.

They'll be back 6am or so tomorrow I think, not sure who will be first.

Hippy doing great. Current breathing out his arse at 2850m. Might stop him swearing!

Hey! Congrats!

Hey! Thanks - a bit of scratchgret - but such is life, even with hindsight not sure if it might still have been the best decision with all factors. Cycling is so new to me as a passion that I need to preserve that at all costs. But I know I would have been so proud to make the finish, and if not at least lay everything and every drop of energy on the table.
Ankle is unexpectedly better, but that took a second day of low intensity that wouldn't have occurred en route. Did some hike a bikes down to and past Olot, it faired well.

Viewing other's scratches is so much different now being on the inside, the complex decision making in the most imperfect of conditions, glad to learn from it

Will see ya in Girona - as I told James B, the route is a trial and teacher and I appreciate it the more I look back on it and it's difficulty. Already got demons to shake and might be back some time

I'm not sure if it's your desire to have Lesperit more on the radar, but I hope more people put it at the top of their list either way.
It's still an absolute adventure through a gorgeous country. The ultra aspects of weather and resupply logistics are truly more complex and humbling than I expected. The course might not be finished by all but that's part of the journey, finding ones limits is almost assured.

James

Well done Nerv! Nice to read your thoughtful comments post race 😀

Thanks - I'd also add that the physicality of the southern loop is still more than I'd ever pushed myself day after day, and I'm happy with coming through that

It created inevitable physical wear and tear, saddle sores, knee pain, hand pain - and was trying my best to keep them in check with on the trail tweaks. and that mostly worked

I'm glad that the water situation, albeit barren, involved no puddle filtration (one of my goals got achieved at least) - but sometimes ran my 5L dry and saved by the odd Font.

It's really interesting to see people's different approaches. I myself unexpectedly loved night riding, but without an exceptional W/Kg to compress the time between stops, and tbh some dawdling, I therefore missed end of the day resupplies and couldn't night ride as much as I wanted, an unintended curfew of sorts. I imagine if I swallowed the weight I could just carry all I need for night pushes. But I definitely have room to train and get a bit stronger. Emil carried a stove and reports not too big an issue sourcing trickles of water enough to cook with, not a bad idea tbh, she's still chugging along and I think everyone left on course can make the finish if they allow the time.

Was my first time with low sleep and trailside sleep. Tbh a great place to have experimented and learnt that aspect too.

The rules and our esteemed leader's vision allowed for neutralised resupply zones and therefore my methodology allowed a lot of leapfrogging and meeting most of the people on the course. Much food was shared with folks and stories of our journeys - loved the camaraderie of this small cadre.

Tldr go signup

Well done Nerv, keep going hippy.

Thanks... more mental spew to add as I like this space - fairly anonymous from my friends!

I had done plenty of hike a bike leading up to this event in Scotland, I think the second half would have played to my strengths. My confidence was knocked by the third crash and higher stakes that it made. (Raw shins, iffy contact point pain going into hike a bike)

All that time put in Scotland, I let that slip when I decided to scratch. I think with hindsight that makes scratching a mistake - maybe still a possibly good informed decision, with the information I had at the time, but uktimately not the best decision, It's my first scratch ever so I hope to learn from it and use it in future

Gives me unfinished business with the route

You always look back after scratching and think, woulda coulda shoulda. But if you have valid reasons its legit. And you know deep down if it's legit or just weak metal game. I had an asthma attack and coughing blood at 3700m and even after that one I was thinking ooo but... But I knew I'd got it right.

It sounds like you had legit reasons to scratch. I did so for similar at the ht550. And these days I'm not a fan of doing damage to get a finish, I font think it's worth it to sacrifice long term health. Live to ride another day.

Thanks - feeling better about it, a decision I want to consciously diarise this first time as I know it'll influence my future rides

Anyway going to catch up with Xavi, Tobi and the others today, all beasts!

One's a cycling legend, the other is Uba
@hippy

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meeting of legends :)

Surely discussing how bad are tubeless on a road baikkk

I wasn't even trying to. Didn't look at the tracker. Didn't care about anyone else.
For me there was one goal for this event and it was going further than last year. Once that was sorted it was about going as far as I could. Each day was a fucking battle and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do the next. It's nothing like a road event where it's just more of the same and you eat some food and a paracetamol and keep going, it's literally a question about whether or not I can physically move myself and the bike over the nuts terrain in front of me. It would be hard walking some of these trails let alone carry a loaded bike over them. Somehow I managed though. As @Nerv says "with no water, 2 calories and a dream"

Not sure how long this one will take to recover from. Lots of new injuries (ie. you don't tend to dislodge boulders that roll onto your ankle when you're road riding or smash your pedals into your shins 27,000 times per day).

Anyone know a good PTSD therapist?

I'm amazed you and everyone else (including me) got as far as they did. Massive respect to anyone who even stands on the start line of this monster. Also, great meeting you IRL on the course and afterwards.

Raw shins

You deffo won that competition. :D