Ultracycling

Yes but the length of time the day is hot for changes. I was in GC two weeks ago and it was around 25c but only between like 1100 and 1600.
Manage to get one cloudy day to go for a hike in the mountains but the rest of the time was hot and sunny and really only suitable for lazing around by the pool

I'm sure I could cope with either option :)

Maybe finish the route and THEN laze around the pool.

I've only been to Tenerife, hence the appeal to link up all the islands in one go. Then again I also wanna do South America and Scandinavia and Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and and and...

Lanzarote 2 weeks ago was very pleasant for a spot of gravel riding.

2 Attachments

Looks awful, how did you even cope?

I was in FUE for a project this time last year, and it was pretty perfect riding weather, shorts but not overly hot. Did rain a little bit, and the wind was pretty serious but then the clue is in the name

Yeah, I mean, I was riding in shorts and short sleeves at Christmas near Valencia but at night it was sub-zero so I guess that's the biggest difference when heading further south. I just looked and I've already added the event to my "todo" list :)

Looks awful, how did you even cope?

It was pretty touch and go at times, particularly as my favourite restaurant in Teguise was closed for the entire week I was there, meaning that I had to have dinner at my second favourite restaurant twice. I just had to dig and and stay focused on making it through the week.

I'm sure it would be a great event. I've ridden in Gran Canaria this time of year a few times and it is a beautiful temperature. A good bit cooler in the hills than sea level. I think frost is rare but the nights can be quite chilly, inland. I once did a night ride and it was surprisingly cool. And really dark too - not much light inland and hardly any cars out after dark.

They use 'audax' as a general description of a long cycling event, it's not accredited by ACP or anything like that, you won't get any points for it.

The ferry timings mean that you have to really go to get round in what they call 'audax' time. Only a couple make it. eg the woman's winner (Lael) last year didn't. It's a bit harder than getting round a 200 before it gets dark..!

Yeah it's a sort of limbo event - not an audax, not an 'ultra'.

Not really sure what an 'ultra' is by definition though either if I'm honest, it has no governing body either. Any event that's more than a hundred quid to enter, you get a free hat and FollowMyChallenge are involved? /s

It's more of a stage gran fondo/sportive.

an ultra is like an audax except you pay £450 and the organiser has instagram
and no bread rolls at checkpoints sorry not in the budget

also your friends can dotwatch you doing 1.9w/kg up a hill

Kicking off '24 with the AMR tonight https://amr24.maprogress.com/
Big names at the start include Uba, Ibbett, Justinas, Baillon, de Marchi, Marin,...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz6BOzaLJWo

Any idea what happened to Marin? Broken tracker or scratch?

Food poisoning before start. Said went back to Marrakesh to recover and restart.

Shit that’s no fun. Worst food poisoning I had was in Morocco at a “good” hotel at the end of a couple of weeks hiking in the mountains.

Yes tough luck really but it happens. So many variables in this game.

Looks like Ulrich is back on form. Only 7km between him and Drikus now. Wonder if he's got enough time to catch Justinas.

Also strangely for him no updates. Problem with phone? Not in the mood after being a bit sick maybe?

Reception might be an issue and it's a shorter event so less time available to 'social'?

Sprint finish? :)

Update: looks like he had a crash or something

Yeah, so I finally bothered to look at the tracker and it doesn't make sense. Looks like Justinas has won, 2nd place crashed out and Ulrich is either 2nd or way away from the finish.

That's right

I’ve done plenty of audax rides and ‘touring’ with a sense of urgency and looking to dip my toes in the world of ultra.
I can handle a long ride of a day or two but beyond that for a prolonged time I have questions that seem to be barriers in my head.
Q1 Simplest first…..
Food and locks!
On an audax I can put up with garage forecourts - never pleasant but secure as in cameras etc and I just pop in get trash food leaving bike unlocked but…. After day three and you need real food in a supermarket in a busy town you don’t know what do you do?
If I went to my nearest Lidl and left my bike unlocked it would last maybe 30 seconds. To leave a nice bike outside my Lidl would require so much lock weight I would never want to carry on an ultra.
Is it 10 days of mars bars and walkers crisps or 3 kg of locks or am I missing something?
Appreciate any advice!

I carried a tiny "deterrent" cable lock on some ultras. I rarely bother now. Mostly I've been disappointed someone hasn't stolen my bike when I've come out of a place.

There are other things you can do, take off the spendy bits when you walk into a place. Locate the bike out of site of the forecourt if you're going behind doors, ask if they've as place you can put it if you're eating in there, eat outside, yada yada