[Closed] Glentress 7 - training advice

3rd time this year as a soloist, looking for a top 10 place this year.
It's prrety much either up or down. 6/7 miles per lap. Hard long slog up and then awesome downs. It's a great event with a real good atmosphere. I imagine it'll be tricky if it rained, especially the down hill sections being cross camber and very, rooty in places.
If your doing it as a pair I would train by riding hard for 45 mins to an hour, then easy or stop then go out again, and repeat up to 3 or 4 times. Get used to stopping and starting. I imagine you might do anywhere between 3/4 laps each so about 18-24 miles ish each. As a pair I'd ride a hard tail.
I'm on a short travel full suss but only cause it'll be none stop for me.
Hope that helps, a bit

How seriously are you taking it? I've solo'd it the last couple of years, it's just 7 hours, going at a moderate pace for 7 hours isn't really that onerous. I don't train, I just ride my bike, but I reckon a fairly normal ride for me is just automatically decent prep for this sort of event. (I ended up something like 23rd in men under 40, just missed out on the 8th lap due to a mechanical- rubbish for a fast boy, not too shabby for a lazy weekend warrior)

If you want to go [i]fast[/i] for 7 hours, or even fast in a pair for 7 hours, that's a whole different deal though- even at the end of the race the speed of the race leaders is outrageous.

I did it last year as part of a pair, we managed 8 laps but my team mate missed the cut off by about 20 seconds so only 7 counted 🙁

Great fun and the weather was amazing last year, the rooty downhill bits might get tricky if it rains.
Training plan was to ride my bike, twice a week for 10-15 miles. All off road and plenty climbs. Went to the gym a couple of times a week but nothing too strenuous.
Entered again this year so I don't want to give too many secrets away 😉

Oh, and bike wise I used my 2008 120mm Stumpjumper last year and this year am torn between a 100mm Epic and 140mm Stumpjumer. Anything will do, really, but by the end of the 4th lap I was pretty glad I went full sus!

I don't want to take it mega serious but my team mate has won stuff and been on the podium in similar races so I don't want to let her down. I love training anyway and any excuse to ride more is good for me. Already doing spin classes if I can't get out and I have a 3.5mile XC course near me so was thinking I could use that for training. There is a lot of climbing in it and it's fairly unrelentless. It's more the climbing that is I want to work on - I'm very comfortable with the descending at GT, although I've never done it on that particular bike - I always ride full suss. I won't be the fastest descender but I should manage it all.

Plan is to get down there with the XC bike and try to put some laps in and see where I can work on it. I can do a 7 mile lap no problem just now (and repeat a few times). I'd just like to be able to do it quicker.

Have done mixed pairs the last three years, first two on a 5" full susser and last year on a 100mm hardtail 29er. 29er hardtail all the way for me, the climbs suck and taking it really chilled out last year managed to do laps in around the same time as pushing myself on the full sus, there aren't really any very rough bits, just some roots to deal with. Ultimately one of these super light short travel full sus 29ers would be great I think, give a bit more comfort. Someone did moan on here last year about the teeny tiny little braking bumps forming at the bottom of the descent after 7 hours mind.

We found two laps at a time worked best, it takes me about 30 mins to warm up so doing 45 mins then stopping for 45 before going again I didn't really get in a groove. Two laps gives a flying second lap fully warmed up for the climb. YMMV

It's dead easy to pass people on the climbs but harder on the downhill as it's mostly singletrack. Approaching the top of the last climbs I tried to get past anyone who looked like they might be slow down, there is a real mix of faster and slower people, but usually only a couple of shouty aresholes, I think my favourite line from someone behind me last year was "Elite rider!", no info about which side they wanted to pass on, and there isn't an elite category anyway, and there were about 50 people in a line in front of me.

First lap is basically a big queue of people but it soon spaces out and by the end of the day you can get clear descents with no one in front or behind.

Rain would make the final descent quite interesting I think! Great event though, not doing it this year sadly.

Thanks all - some very useful advice in these posts. Appreciate the help.

Bummer, I'd forgotten to enter this 🙁

Do cancellations come up?

To echo what's been said above, its a lot of climbing in a lap. Having done it as pair and solo in the past I found pairs harder, the stop start was very difficult for me. Last year I did a very bimbley 5 laps solo in about 5.5 hours and decided i'd had enough - I certainly wasn't expecting our looking like podium potential. Four laps as a (much fitter for me) part of a pair near killed me the year before as we did one on one off each and the stop start ruined me, lap four I stopped and near threw up at the cake stall. I think what totally broke me was feeling hungry between three and four and having time to eat way too much rather than normal trail eating, sitting still for half an hour convincing your self that slice of flap jack was enough was too much for my will power. So... I'd practice riding hard for 45-50 mins then resting for the same and repeat if I were to do it again.

bigjim - Member

First lap is basically a big queue of people but it soon spaces out and by the end of the day you can get clear descents with no one in front or behind.

Yeah, especially with the route from the last couple of years where the very first section is the most technical bit of the loop. I just decided to climb like a bastard on the first lap to beat the queue, almost killed me 😆

OTOH, that's also where the cake stand is so there's worse places to queue.

Oh, in terms of difficulty/technicality, it's probably a little harder than some competitor events but if you find it difficult then you're going to die in the enduros, so don't worry about it 😆 I've done it on a rigid twice with no bother and i'm pretty averagey.

I did it last year as half of a mixed pairs team.We just entered it for fun,I used a 26' Anthem 100mm travel & survived.Last year the weather was great,which was a blessing with those off camber roots.That said my team mate put 20 minutes extra on one lap as she crashed into a tree at one stage...
One thing we enjoyed was basing ourselves at our camping pod,that way we could chill,have a brew or lie down when we finished our lap.It was my favourite weekend of last year,especially as we did the Natural Tweed ride on the monday.
Unfortunately this year I can't get the time off from work so we're giving it a miss.

OTOH, that's also where the cake stand is so there's worse places to queue.

I've done it the last 3 years as a pair, it's good fun and a good lap.

Tips?

1 Get as near to the front as possible for the start.
2 Dropper posts are ace with so much descending.
3 While there are a few serious folk, most do it for fun.
4 Don't bother with a Camelbak, as the lap is short enough for a 1/2 filled bottle and the minimum of gear (I just carry a Gel and a pump, tubeless).
5 It's a climb followed by a descent 🙂

Managed 10 laps last year - helpful that my partner is young and fast 🙂

Both of us riding Ti HT's.

I did it solo last year for the first time, was relatively fit but hadn't done a lot of training on the bike. As has been said there is a lot of climbing and a hardtail will always be faster for this. If in doubt do the same loop a couple of times with each bike on different days and see what the difference between your times are. I did it on a 100mm anthem as well last year but have since bought a stumpy carbon hardtail 29er. My strava times for the climbs at GT have come tumbling down on the hardtail. I'd imagine pairs would be different to solo but no easier, as you are going flat out for the lap you are doing where solo you have to pace it slightly more.

In terms of training I'd put a gym session in there once a week as well. Compound moves such as squats, deadlifts, kettlebell swings along with lunges, leg extensions and calf raises etc will help with climbing and overall fitness massively along with the rest of your training.

[i] that's also where the cake stand is so there's worse places to queue.[/i]

IMO worst location ever, they should have it at the top of the freeride are,a so at least you could just grab a cake and then eat it on the final fireroad climb. As it is I never bother as you are straight into the 'plummet' and the downhills.

I'm not sure you're the target market tbh. Eat cake while riding? What's the rush, you've got 7 hours.

(I can't eat the cakes anyway so **** all y'all.)

I did it 2 years ago and as I recall the climb to the top was brutal, far harder than in previous years. Downhill wasn't particularly tricky as I recall, other than one nasty rooty swithback/stepdown which caused most folks a few issues.

Bike wise I rode an anthem 26er, perfect bike for it IMO. Certainly didn't require anything with more bounce, and you don't get too beat up..laps took around 47 min, with the majority of that spent plodding up fire roads.

Training wise I was switching it up between 2-3 hour road rides and quick evening thrashes round my local 9 mile loop. I was also doing a few hill rep sessions, which I feel massively improved my climbing ability.

As above, its pretty hard to pass anyone on the downs, all your time is made up on the climbs, so if you are going to train focus on being able to put in a sustained effort for 20-30 minutes or so...

My main training currently consists of around 4 strength or flexibility/stability sessions a week with an average of 2 cardio sessions which are a mix of normal tempo riding and intervals. My plan is to add in the XC loops and my road bike arrives soon so I'll be doing a decent ride on that weekly hopefully. When there is better light I ride 3-4 times a week. An average ride is around 2500ft of climbing, although weekend rides can be more. I'm hoping with a good base to work from, I can build on this to get more consistent as it gets closer.

Glad someone mentioned the dropper - I don't have one on my XC HT and have no plans to get one....but OH had mentioned putting one on his so might nick it for the weekend.

Also wasn't planning on pads or camelbak, less that I have to lug around the better.

Again, really appreciate everyone's advice on this. I'm really looking forward to this event.

Out of interest Northwind, why don't you eat the cakes?

I'd like to say it's because I'm such a superb and dedicated athlete, but actually it's just coeliac disease, can't eat wheat.

Northwind yep makes sense then. I'm gluten intolerant, non-coeliac, so usually get away with the flapjacks but find eating on the trails a nightmare but sandwiches are a no-go. It's a whole other thread TBH.

Must be worse for you.

I did it solo last year and am in again this year , not much to add other than it's a really good day and the last downhill is ace !

Did a team 24 and doing a team of 3 12hr shortly.
Don't worry about eating on the trails do it while your bored in the pits.
Hydrate
Consider double laps as it's easier than lots of stop start.
Have some back up energy hits for when your knackered and likely to crash.

As for training ride more, hard short sessions mixed with long stuff to get used to sitting on the saddle for that long.

I did it as a soloist a few years ago. I was not fit and did no training, hence my lowly finishing position. I think if you are riding your bike fairly regularly that should be enough.

Hey Julz, you'll be fine! I've ridden the past two years in a mixed trio. I'd follow the advice of double laps - especially on the first lap as its shorter and the transition area is pretty rammed at lap one but it calms down after that. I've ridden it on my Scott Spark (26 inch) and my 29er hardtail and the hardtail is faster hands down! I'd stick a dropper on if I were you, the descents are ace and unless your used to riding with your saddle up I imagine a dropper makes them easier/faster/more fun. I'd just carry a bottle, pump, tube and tyre levers. You'll be grand.