[Closed] 24 hour race advice (relentless 24)

1. Start slow and get steadily slower.
2. Eat loads of real food, dont under estimate the need for protein and fat especially later on. Avoid gels till the last few hours.

Figure out a pace you can sustain for say 6 hours over hilly terrain and then knock about 25 - 30% off and ride at that.

Eat what you want / like / feels good, I like honey roasted & sea salted nuts, crisps, sausage rolls, bananas, energy bars, flat coke and the odd can of red Bull. With a bottle of carbon drink on the bike.

Get your position dialed on the bike.

Get a nice track side set up.

Get good lights.

Have a load of spare bike bits and kit in sealabless boxes in your pit area, just in case

From other people...
A large variety of food
Food that is really easy to eat - one guy said gnocci for later on as you can stab it or scoop it easily
A helper to fix lights, charge stuff, hand out food, fill up drink, give moral support and deal with what you abandon.
Local 12/24 gives a special tag to hang on the saddle so people know your solo and encourage/know why your hanging..
Make sure the food you eat is useful, it's great eating what you like but if it's taking lots of energy to digest slowly and delivering nothing back then it's pointless. (I have some bigger stuff coming up and read through the intro section to Feedzone portables had lots of good advice on food groups etc. and lots of tips/recipies for the easy to eat portionable food)

You want comfy shorts, comfy bike with a comfy saddle and a setup that doesn't put too much weight on your hands.
Good idea to have a HRM and know what your target heartrate is.
You need a helper really, preferably somebody who can fix a bike and won't get too drunk. They can hand you fresh water bottles and during the night switch light batteries.
Nutrition is tricky with stomaching stuff etc, I think it can be quite personal you need so do some long test runs and see what works for you. Energy drink is a good way of getting carbs in, need to get the mix right for you though, too strong and that is still difficult to keep down.
Ideall to have a spare of everything, including bike, even if it is a relatively crappy one that you can use for a lap while helper is fixing the other one.

Not raced off road solo 24hr but I have just ridden the national 24hr timetrial .I think everyone takes short breaks .I had 5 minutes off the bike every hour or so through the night and a 30 minute kip at 4.30 am as I felt ill .I used a mix of real food and gels and powders .I was supported by helpers as well

29er or full suss?

I did my first solo 24 attempt at relentless last year.
Was sitting something like 30th/105 when my wrists packed in (couldn't squeeze brakes any more 🙁 ) at 15.5hrs and called a halt to my riding. Ended up approx 60th/105

[u]Bike:[/u] 29er (or B+) hardtail - the lighter the better - there be climbing!
[u]Training:[/u] Ride your bike [b]a lot[/b] - I'd finished roughly top 1/3rd of GT7 and 10utb and completed a Raid Alpine, so had got a decent number of miles in - it wasn't enough.
[u]Pacing/Strategy:[/u] Most of what you read online will tell you to go slow, keep the wheels turning and avoid stops - ignore it - the course is [b]hard[/b] (too hard in my opinion). Last year there were 3 steep climbs, unless you are either fit enough for a top10, or get off and push there's no way you are keeping your HR down. By 10pm there were riders standing at the side of the trail hunched over their bikes looking utterly destroyed. Plan for a short break every 2 laps or so.
[u]Parking/Pit[/u] Last year the course did a lap of the car park. Lots of trackside spaces. Worst case scenario car certainly won't be more than 50m from the course.

Have a load of spare bike bits and kit in sealabless boxes in your pit area, just in case

Excellent advice - basically take all your kit

Lots of silly things popping into my head like ' will my Garmin last 24 hours?'

No, your garmin won't last.
I used a velcro torch mount to put a battery pack on the bars.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fenix-Velcro-Light-Mount-Bracket/dp/B001CJXB5E

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Poweradd-Ultra-Slim-Flashlight-Smart-phones-Blue/dp/B00E87C7A2

OP Drop me an email, address in profile.

Bike fit, as above. Don't change anything near the race. Re that garmin - go and buy a £10 usb power pack from Amazon. I tape mine under my stem and it keeps my Garmin at 100% for 22 hrs.

Variety of food as mentioned. Prepare loads of bottle but with different flavours, you'll get bored of your favourite / establish drink quickly.

As a guide if you've ANY leg pain / stress back off - ride under the pain point at all times. Don't sit down or sleep your head will be ****ed after that. Keep riding, see the bad thoughts / feelings through, there is awaits an end. Find different points of enjoyment to focus on; sunset, sunrise etc. Combine lights on with evening meal to save time.

Enjoy

When you start feeling knackered try to look at it from a positive viewpoint, eg when I got exhausted in the 'Puffer I looked at my watch and thought "thank god, only 23 hours and 45 minutes left" 🙂

@Kryton, see my earlier post, with the exception of maybe the top10 riders its not possible to ride the climbs at low intensity. Theres >400m climbing packed into an 11km loop. Two of the 3 major climbs see several 'larger' riders pushing from lap1 as they cant ride it even going full gas on fresh legs. The course is as the name suggests; Relentless

The two worst offending sections below, you come into the bottom of the first having already done a steep climb out of car park, then you've got about 2mins of flat to flush out the lactic acid before the 2nd segment begins

https://www.strava.com/segments/1469757
https://www.strava.com/segments/11208569

I was merely speaking generically about 24's, I've no experience of Relentless.

Just found newsletter from No Fuss in my inbox. Seems we are getting treated to an extra hour this year!

Relentless 24

The UK 24hr championships are set to see course records smashed this year. With the clocks going back one hour at 0200 this will mean that riders will get 25hrs of racing plus one hour to complete their final lap.

So glad I read this, been thinking about entering a 24hr. Have done Ironman triathlons etc but this just sounds like hell. Good luck.

I use a Garmin power monkey to back up my 800 .Plug it in after 12 hours after about 17 hours it is dead and leaves me with a full charge so I can get about 29 hours use from the 800

Looking at the profile need to change my gearing......
Currently 42 28 on the front of a 29er
1x10 1x11?

I'm not the strongest rider in the world by a long shot,and have a preference for spinning an easy gear. Got 36/22 on the front and a 36 on the back, certainly wouldn't consider anything bigger for solo and would happily take 2 lower gears if they were available.

At mayhem I ran 30t up front on a 1x11 with 11-42 out back. That was 330m of climbing in 11km lap