Ultracycling

Hope it's going well!

Actually I've just clicked the tracker: 500km done and 200km to go. It looks they are middle of the field

We finished at 4am last night. We were going to have a leisurely stop in Camprodon but the forecast was for heavy rain today so we decided to push on. Some bastard obviously put a load of steep shit in at the end so it took way longer than expected and we ended up copping a bit of rain in the last 20km anyway but I guess it's still better than doing the last 60k in the wet.

Stunning scenery out there.

I'm probably more broken than normal because 1) it was actually mostly rideable which exposed overuse issues I've not had before because 2) I've not ridden the MTB I used this long or for 3 months.

Well done!

Cheers. Not gonna post them here but there's some stunning pics (well the scenes are stunning the pics are average) on my strava.

Everyone, put Jesko's Taunus Bikepacking event on your bucketlist. The route is amazing. Never heard of this region before but I'll be back for sure but next time touring not racing.

Isn't that @fussballclub neck of the woods?

Just north of where Mittlegebirg starts, right? I've toured around there back in 2005.

Would go back.

Looking at the tiles, yup

1 Attachment

Isn't that @fussballclub neck of the woods?

fussballclub lives near the Eifel, so a little further to the north-west. He wouldn't have much trouble riding to the Taunus from there, though.

Mittlegebirg

Mittelgebirge

Gesundheit!

Sooo... scratched from the short event I signed up for. Riding was fine but the heat was just too much for me, ultimately got to over 40 degrees on the last climb I did. Even with cold drinks, shade, dunking in fountains I couldn't get my HR down and I couldn't face riding the Ventoux in that state.

On the plus side, REALLY enjoyed the riding (until I didn't). Usually I listen to podcasts/audiobooks/music on longer rides but didn't bother with my headphones at all, just enjoyed the sights and the time to think. Organisation and route were good (went through villages with bars/food every 40-50km rather than having people have to go off route).

I've worked out what I think I can improve on in terms of training, kit, food and the riding itself. All that said I enjoyed the whole experience a LOT more than I felt I would at the start. Will definitely be giving some more a crack.

Here is my report of the Taunus event I posted about last month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkcoPix5VB4

I doubt I'll do a full write up but, in short, Bright Midnight was a blast.

Absolutely loved the route and don't know if I could have picked a better first ultra. Even in the pouring rain, with aching knees and generally smelling absolutely atrocious, the scenery was so varied and impressive that any "fuck this" thoughts were instantly dismissed.

Was overbiked for most of the route, had a blast on the hike a bike sections, first time I've done any long climbs or descents, ate so much junk, met some great people but avoided any drama, rode through a couple of nights, camped, cabin-ed and treated myself to a fancy hotel, saw a snake, met a corgi, completely forgot about work, was the only person with panniers #onelesstailfin.

Justinas is the nicest guy and I really hope this event runs again.

4 Attachments

Awesome

Is someone other than me gonna give @WhitleyJay a shoutout for coming in 7th in TAW? Would love a write up. I think the parcours weren't as easy as advertised 😂

Thank you, very kind! I would add that was 7th finsher in what was a small event with an even smaller pool of people treating it as a race but i’ll take it! So much happened over the 2,400km, far more than a post, but will give a bit of a summary. For anyone who has it on their to do list, I’d highly reccomend it!

Ireland definitely delivered and the west coast certaintly lived up to the ‘Wild Atlantic Way’ name. On the occasions where I could lift my head up without getting battered by wind and rain the scenery was incredible with more variation than I was expecting. Passing through 10 counties you could really see the changes in the coastline, plants and animals as you contiuned further south.

The first two days were a tough start, plenty of punchy climbs, horrednous headwind with sideways rain and a longer gravely/off road section. The headwind was making some 3% climbs feel more like 20% and I walked a few short sections as it felt like a more conservative use of energy while maintaing essentially the same speed. It wasn’t all doom and gloom though, I think almost everyday I would go from wearing almost full winter kit to getting sun burned with the sunny sections standing out way more in my memory now its over. Gap of Dunloe was pretty character building with some truly atroicus weather. I was pretty envious when I saw photos of riders having a great time with no wind and blue skies in the hours either side of when I went through. One plus is the wind helped keep the clouds moving so if you did get stuck in a downpour you knew it wouldn’t last all day.

My plan going into it was keep it fun and get round safe. To try make this happen I wanted to ride all day while allowing enough time to chill a bit at the end of each day and get a minimum of 6 hours sleep. This kept me averaging not far from 300km a day, sometimes less, sometimes a bit more. All going to plan until the 6th day when I crashed in the morning losing my front wheel in a sea of deep potholes and gravel (I was too busy watching a deer in the field next to me). This left me and the bike a bit battered, no more front shifting and a slightly less functional body. Feeling sorry for myself that night I checked into a B&B to have my first night in a proper bed and a bit of a reset. After a longer sleep and a decent breakfast I got the bike working again and was able to continue just at a slightly slower pace.

Overall, I was super happy with my bike set up and packing. Tent and mat in a rubble sack strapped to the top of the rear rack. Then two ortleib fork bags on either side, one for clothes and one for sleeping bag. Felt sooo much less faffy than typical bikepacking bags and think I saved a noticeable amount of time each day not playing tetris to get saddle and bar bags properly packed and secured. Rubble sack and velcro starps is the future! Used the tent a good few nights, audax hotels, a hostel and a B&B.

Oh and the amount of random loops and out and backs down peninsulas was actually less soul destroying than it looks on paper. The detours were mostly worth it and it was a great opportunity to visit dead end car parks with the occasional lighthouse, what a treat.

5 Attachments

Love the picture of the cattle.

nice work!
great pictures too

Is someone other than me gonna give @WhitleyJay a shoutout for coming in 7th in TAW?

That's awesome 👏

I take it we're all going to be glued to dotwatching Lachy's Australian Lap attempt for the next month and a bit?

https://efprocycling.com/culture/lachlan-morton-takes-on-the-around-Australia-record/

https://efprocycling.com/culture/great-southern-country/

This is the first I've heard of it.

Shows how often I'm looking at the socials these days (thanks Musk, ya twat)

https://bikepacking.com/news/lachlan-morton-around-australia-record/

Think of all the pies, pasties, potato cakes, snot blocks and ice coffee he could eat

#welljel

Glad to be of service then!

His numbers just for the amount he's already done would be enough for me to bore people to death for the rest of my life on, if I never road a metre further :)

A guy in my club who emigrated to Australia last year rode with him for 20km in Brisbane this morning.

Looks like he's way in front of the FKT. Who's record is he going for? I remember reading about someone getting the record when I was in school or something back in the 90s. Back then a 4hr ride was 'epic' so I had no thought of doing similar but nowadays I'd love to ride it, even if it wasn't fast, just that it's too far away now :)