Ultracycling

The rule of thumb is about a month to recover from a long ride so 6 weeks is on the long side. But it does vary, and it increases with age.

Often people can do short stuff pretty quickly but it takes longer to do distance. Eg my 10 mile PB was set a few days after PBP,but I wouldn't have fancied a 25. I remember feeling pretty strong a month after Tcr in 2016. But my worst day on a bike was trying a 100 the week after a 12 hour.

Kurt is such a legend. Tips cap.

Certainly does increase with age I've found, esp catching up on sleep. And in my case that's mainly longer tours/BP trips with long days but reasonable sleep rather than racing.

There was a guide or formula posted online somewhere from one of the original Divide racers, number of days spent at race intensity ie 18hrs+ on the bike and number of hours less sleep than normal to give time to recover. It was a number of months for a long duration race like the Divide. Probably also the generally sht food available there..

It also depends a lot on what your volume is to begin with. I get away with finishing a bunch of big races in a year because I've had large volume for years leading up to them. Unlikely if I tried doing that off 6hrs a week of turbo training.

What do people use for chain lube on ultras nowadays?
Things have moved on with wax, etc, but not everything is practical for an ultra.

I have not used it yet, but the new Silca wax lube looks good. Comes in a small bottle option as well

I've got a bottle of the silca stuff but not used it yet. like most it should be applied to a pretty much clean drivetrain. I'm miles away from that.

The same shit I've always used. Ceramic Finish Line.
I don't bother with waxing for ultras.

#goochwatch
#toomuchinformation

haha

I'm now wondering how difficult it would be to ultrasonically clean and then hot wax my balls...

"We're gonna need a bigger ultrasonic tank!"

rep lol

OK, thanks. I've used White Lightning for years and years, but I saw some study last year that said it was the worst thing to use from a friction point of view, so thought I should look for something else. Since then I've just been using up crappy bottles of oil that have been in the garage for ages, like one that came free with the chain cleaner.

Silca must be good for £32 a bottle! I guess I'll have to try it.

I used Squirt for my last race
Have to say; it seems impossible to keep a chain clean riding 15+hrs a day, day after day

I like the muc off nano they did with sky.

Depends where you are. Off road it must be very hard, but I find that in summer on dry mostly main roads in Europe, my chain doesn't get that dirty. I don't think I've ever cleaned it during an on-road ultra, just squirted on more lube a few times.

I've been using Rex Domestique. Disappears pretty quickly in rain but the chain stays pretty clean and some lab tests say it's fast. Conveniently small bottle, that costs the same as other bigger bottles. For example last year I did TCR and then cleaned the chain with just a rag, lubed the chain and it stayed quiet and shifting was good for the whole PBP without lubing it again, as there was no rain. So basically, I like it because it's easy to keep the drivetrain clean.

Not sure if anyone saw this article? Seems really condescending to me
A woman (Pro) managed to ride 1000km in 5 days. 5 days in a row. A woman !

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/11/her-race-was-cancelled-at-the-last-minute-so-she-rode-1000-km-home/

Well it appears to have been written by a woman and for one of those lazy pro cyclists, that's a huge ride, so maybe it's 'amazed' and 'stoked' as opposed to condescending. Most of it is the rider's quotes anyway. Perhaps you forget that not everyone busts out 200k rides like it's scratching an arse cheek.

Nice report of the Race Through Poland 2019
https://vimeo.com/467090558

GBDURO21 - entries open 1 Jan
Hi Frank,

Well hasn’t 2020 has been a bit of a stinker? We’ve missed the camaraderie of our usual XDURO and Trans events. On the bright side, #GBDURO20 happened and was groundbreaking in self-sufficient guise.

However, it wasn't for everyone and we’re excited to announce that #GBDURO21 will be reverting to its usual self-supported 4-stage format. Our Lands End to John o’Groats route is unchanged and as always there will be plenty of challenges. The dates for #GBDURO21 will be 14th - 24th August 2021.

Entries open on the 1st of January 2021 and will remain open for just one week. If you were accepted for #GBDURO20 but didn’t fancy loading your bike with 20kg of food after the format was changed, then please re-apply (you won’t need to pay your race entry again). If you didn’t get a place first time then have another go, everything gets better with practice :-)

If you secretly liked the self-sufficient format then we can let you in on a little secret, it will return in 2022.

So get ready for 1st January and we look forward to seeing your entry.

Ed & Angus

Are you thinking of entering?

I've got a place in TCR which clashes.

This is more likely to go ahead than TCR. And I rode a section of the route in Scotland in August, which was great. But I wouldn't enter two clashing events if there were limited places as not fair.

So no, not unless TCR is cancelled before the entries on this close.

Looks mega
https://bikepacking.com/plog/migration-gravel-race-kenya/

In a few months Abdullah is going to attempt the 24h world record https://www.masakacyclingclub.com/ambassadors-abdullah-24hour