ECCA 12 HR

[Tamar]

Results are only provisional at present, and, for Paul and myself wildly inaccurate. My speedo read 227 miles but they had me down on the board as 201 miles. Not what I wanted to see after 12hrs toil. But apparently it is usual for some results to be up the spout at first and they all get sorted out in a few days/weeks time. Paul's speedo stopped working due to the rain but he was some way ahead of me.

So - subject to final confirmation

RV 256 miles (pb)
PVT 235 - 240ish
TC 225ish

Keith did 265, winner 288 I think

Many thanks to the supporters - it wasn't fun riding in the rain - must've been worse standing in it.

[Jon H]

First time I saw you on that main road section in the rain you looked as if you were completely done in and ready to pack, so I was glad when you gaven a big smile and thumbs up a while later on the circuit.

Well done on finishing your first 12 hour. Hope they get the results sorted out soon. I was very surprised to see 201 for you on the board. From the number of circuits I saw you do on circuit C and the finishing circuit I guessed you must have been somewhere in the 220s.

[Tamar]

Thanks Jon.

I had a few really bad patches where my back was hurting so badly I really didn't think I'd be able to carry on. I burst into tears going past Joyce at one point. Then Keith overtook me and said 'come on love, you've broken the bulk of it, only 4 and a half hours to go'. Which actually didn't help much as I wasn't sure I could ride another 4 and a half minutes. But he did persuade me not to give up.

I stopped at my next feed, got off the bike and stretched my hip flexors for a minute or two, and that relieved my back no end. It was after that you saw me cruising along feeling happy and giving thumbs up, thinking the worst was over. Sadly it was a short-lived relief. My back got sore again and for the last 3-4hrs I was stopping every 20-40 minutes to stretch (and being overtaken by lots of people grrrr). Tried to ride through the pain in last hour so not to waste any more time, but just ended up crying so loudly I was embarassed riding past the marshals so had to stop again to stretch.

Really wish I'd followed physio's advice earlier this year and carried on routine of stretching and core-stability work he set me...but of course I just did it for a month til my back stopped hurting then fell back into my lazy old habits. Think I may re-aquaint myself with my fit-ball in the near future though.

V v pleased with my distance nonetheless.

Next year I have my eyes firmly on club record.

[richv]

Well an expensive day out, but more of that later.

Last year I had sworn that I would never ride a 12-hour again having finished in a completely wrecked state. It was a week before I could eat anything other than soup

So why was I doing it? A very good question which I still haven't worked out the answer to. Well 3 of us were down on the startsheet (Paul T, Tamar and me) and we all needed to finish to defend last year's team victory.

Riding a 12-hour is more a logistical challenge than a race. I'd left it to the last minute to enter and was thus a bit behind on the preparation. Managed to blackmail a brother into getting up at 4.00am in the morning to come and drive my support team (aka Joyce) around the course.

Tuesday was bike preparation day. 5 minutes to raise the bars and put on some better gearing (for some reason Joyce was adamant that 56x11 was not the right gear to ride a 12-hour on ). Come friday evening having finally changed the gear cables (too short) the bike was ready to go, or at least I hoped it was.

That left saturday for food shopping. For a 100 it's a case of a few bottles of Go and some gels. For 12 hours that diet is not an option. Part of the art of riding a 12 hour is to get the calories in as quickly as you are using them. If you don't you bonk. Too many sugary drinks have an unwelcome effect on my stomach, and vomiting isn't an effective way of absorbing your calories So bread, jam, ham, fig rolls, milk (skimmed), that really artificial stuff you can put in milk to make it taste like milkshake , complan ... all needed to be purchased.

Then sort out the plates, cups, tea towels, stove, etc.

Then pack the car.

8.30pm on Saturday and everything sorted. Oops one thing missing, the training. The longest ride I had managed this year was 105 miles (the ECCA 100 and then 5 miles back from the finish to the HQ the b*****ds). I was also suffering after effectively having 3 weeks off the bike whilst I was on holiday, then ill. Since then results had not been good including a DNF at 40 miles in the SCCU 100.

Well given that plan was to go off steady and see what happened. At least the weather couldn't be any worse than last year

Sunday morning, collect Joyce, get to HQ put bike together, apply plenty of nappy cream to chamois then all set. Weather looked a bit grim, but it was dry and not too chilly. Decided to start without arm warmers and see how it went.

Off I toddle to the start (bonus point about 12-hours, no need to warm up ). Set off on the first leg which took us down the A11/14 past Newmarket. Settle into a nice steady rhythm, aiming to ride at about 225 watts. Everything fine with the world. The Newmarket weather forecast I'd been looking at predicting heavy rain all morning was obviously wrong

Get to Newmarket and it starts pouring I can't really remember quite how much it rained (blanked out of my memory) and I do remember at one point I thought we were drying out only to get soaked again, but my abiding memory is thinking about whether to stop to get a waterproof and deciding it was pretty pointless as my kit (including my shoes ) were as saturated as it was possible to get.

Only good thing was that the wind was pretty light and I was bowling along nicely. Had told Joyce that my plan was to ride 4.5 hours for the first 100, 5 hours for the second and then either hang on or blow and die in the last couple of hours. Was well up on Schedule catching Joyce and Andrew napping at one of the feeds where they were still fast asleep in the car as I bowled by

Caught Tamar who had started 8 minutes in front of me at some point on this section which was good to know. Last thing my confidence needed was Tamar beating me and she was now safely behind me so I could relax a bit as long as she didn't come back past.

After 85 miles it was onto the morning circuit, as 12.5 mile loop around Six Mile Bottom. There is a horrible drag from Six Mile Bottom up to Newmarket which you go up every lap without ever seeming to get the benefit of going down The rain continued to come and go but things were improving a bit. Warm sugary tea was the order of the day doing a sterling job as a carb-drink replacement in the wet and went down nicely with a couple of fig rolls and choccy biscuits at 11.00am.

Hit 100 miles in 4.13.00, so somewhat ahead of schedule. I think Joyce was having kittens about me going off too fast. I was fairly interested to see if and when I'd blow as everything was feeling nice and comfortable.

Caught Tamar again just after 100 miles and had a quick chat she pointed out Paul was just up the road (I suspected she may have been trying to catch him from the way she said it ) and sure enough shortly afterwards caught Paul. Quick chat, the obligatory Paul pulling alonside and half-wheeling me and then he slowed for his feed as I tootled on.

An hour or so later and we were off the morning circuit and sent down to Royston to link to the afternoon circuit. Was expecting the wind to have got up a bit as it had just about dried out by now but wasn't too bad. The last bit of this link is one of the worst bits of the course with a climb coming at 7hours. I only have one chainring on the TT bike so heaved it up the climb in 53x29 and then had a strawberry milkshake and biscuits to celebrate kindly provided by Joyce and Andrew

After that it was onto the afternoon circuit and things were still going well. Power had dropped off slightly but average was still 222 watts and legs were a bit sore but nothing too bad.

Got to 200 miles in 8.56, so 4.43 for the second hundred and well up on schedule. I did the calculations in my head - 20 mph average to the end would make 261 miles, club record was 262 miles, I needed 265+ miles on my speedo as it was overreading slightly. I was averaging slightly better than 20 mph so as long as I kept it up it would be close. Downside was that I knew sooner or later it was going to hurt

Then comes one of the moments which makes you want to laugh or crying. Going along nicely, just passed one of the sponge/water points (who needs a sponge or water when you've spent 6+ hours in a shower ) mind not really on what I was doing and I crash into a water-filled pothole. No idea what's going on but know bike is not working. Off bike and quick check. Bike looks structurally sound, rear wheel seems fine and inflated, front wheel flat, but why all the noise? On the phone to the support car tell them I need a new wheel asap in meantime I will roll round circuit towards them on the flat. Back onto bike and start to roll on but bike does not like it. Slightly surprised as you can normally manage 10 or 15mph on a flat tub without too much problem. Just about to get off bike and stop when see Ruth Tunnell who is out supporting Paul. Quick negotiation about one of Paul's front wheels (thank you Ruth/Paul) some delay whilst we get an allen key to do wheel skewer, faffing around with wheel and then back on the bike.

Carry on round circuit and get to point where I have to break for traffic on main road and everything goes a bit pete tong. My carbon-specific brake pads appear to have no grip on Paul's metal rims and I always set the rear brake very light (normally there's no need for it and is you have big gap it's not going to drag if you bash the wheel out of true ). Somehow manage to avoid flying out in front of car, including putting bike a bit sideways and carry on. Shout for a new wheel as I go past Joyce/Andrew for the last time on the afternoon circuit and we then go onto the finishing circuit where I stop for the new wheel and normal braking is resumed.

I'd lost about 11 minutes on these 2 stops so all thought of any record had gone. That was a relief as I don't really like pain, and trying to pull out that extra bit to make up a few miles after you've already ridden for 10 hours didn't really appeal. So nice and steady round the finishing circuit, aiming to average 20mph. Sticky patch at about 1.5 hours to go but manage to ride through it and then perked up by coffee and choccy biscuits with half an hour to go - if you want a realy good caffeine/chocolate rush cycle for 11.5 hours before

Off on the last circuit and the aim was to make sure I'd got over 250 miles, if I had 255 on my speedo then I would be pretty sure. Hit 255 miles with about 4 minutes left. The last bit was into the headwind and I was pretty sure I would hit the timekeeper at the turn just as my time expired.

The killer about 12-hour races is that they are not 12 hours. Timekeepers are situated round the finishing circuit every couple of miles and when your 12 hours expire you have to keep going to the next timekeeper. It is a cruel and unusual punishment to tell your body that you only have to keep going for 12 hours to then add on another 5 minutes

Well I was pretty pleased with myself having timed it to arrive at the timekeeper just after 12 hours. I was looking at the watch and it ticked over to 6.02pm just as I got to the roundabout and there she was standing on the other side of the roundabout. The sppedo had clicked to 257 miles so the correct distance would be well over 250 miles. As I cruised round the roundabout people were shouting at me to keep it going. Bonkers I thought as I'd only got another 20 yards to go. And then the penny dropped. The woman at the side of the road wasn't a timekeeper but simply a checker to note people as they came round the turn, I had to still keep going

Fortunately the wind was now behind me and having done a deal with my legs that they could stop working as soon as I got to the next timekeeper I managed a bit of a spurt. Finishing with 258.8 miles on the speedo in 11h53 recorded time, about 12hrs 4 mins racing time.

Back at the HQ I felt a lot better than last year, I may even do it again next year. Provisional distance up on the result board was 254.5 miles. About 13 miles on my pb.

Unfortunately the team went to API who had 3 riders finish with 250+ miles.

[richv]

Oh, and the expense - when I got my wheel back from Paul I had a look and worked out why I couldn't ride it on the flat tub. The impact had completely smashed the rim and fairing of the carbon wheel. Time for the bin after 4 or so weeks use

[Andrew G]

[quote]only 4 and a half hours to go'

[Andrew G]

That's one of the best reports I've read Richard. Helps a mortal try and understand what's involved in doing a 12, and just how you manage to keep going. Well to be honest I don't understand how you convince yourself to start one, let alone keep going. There must be a real mental hurdle to jump when you hit 6 hours of hard riding and realise you're only at the half way point.

[Toks]

Absolutely amazing well done guys - you're all certifiable of course. Yep completely bonkers - 12 hours on a bike riding bloody fast too A brilliant and painfully funny report Rich! Are you back on Solids yet? What was your NP for the ride?

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

my ride seems (and report) is uncannily similar to Richards, except at a slightly slower speed.

Negotiations with myself and my heart rate (haven't got to power meters yet) revealed that setting a ceiling of 140 bpm for the ride would see me through.

Interesting start - rolled up to the line (no. 70) after no 68 had gone and TK said 20 seconds. I asked about the missing number and then he realised that I still had another minute - can you imagine a DQ after 12 hours for starting early

Trouble is, that I spent the first 6 hours struggling to back off, and the last 6 hours struggling to keep it there, especially on the easier sections.

Bowling up and down the A11/A4 with a light wind was a dream, if only we'd been riding a 100. Even with a HR of 140 - 144, went through the 100 check in 4:37 (only 5 minutes slower than my 100 a few weeks ago). tamar had suffered a puncture and I went past her, but being Tamar, she wasn't going to let that happen and tore off up the road as if riding a 25. I backed off to 140 again and she was soon out of sight. At about 70 miles, caught up with her again and went past.

Round the first circuit, soft pedalling up the long drag which somehow seemed easier than the last time I remembered it, and legs were really comfortable. Pick up support crew with hot sweet coffee - heaven, a few lumpy into the wind bits and back round again. RichV comes past, having completed a full lap (less 8 minutes) ahead, and seemed to be going alright, then Tamar catches me again , but on the same lap. Team ACC line astern completed another lap, more food (bacon roll and coffee - I'm really beginning to enjoy this apart from the rain and the riding)

Divert off to the next circuit. No sign of support crew. By Duxford, having eaten and drunk everything on board, decided to call them up. They were still on the circuit. I was cold wet, hungry, thirsty, and about to call it a day. A man in the layby supporting another rider took pity on me and sliced up a chunk of melon, put me back on my bike and shoved me off up the road, telling me to keep going. I kept thinking they would catch up, but got all the way to Royston with no sign of them. Used the small ring (unlike Rich) on the climb out of Royston and picked up Ruth by Fowlmere. Stuffed myself silly on sandwiches, cake, coffee and 2 fresh bottles, then carried on.

The road along to Sawston had a strong wind behind us, and 25 mph was easily achieved, then spotted Jon Hemming, who had come out to support us after riding his 50 in the morning (thanks Jon) - next time round he was handing up my bottles. the back of the circuit was lumpy, into the wind and a view of fields and ........more fields. The mind wandered, so did the speed, then pick up some fruit and a sandwich. Saw a big pot hole at the side of the road and made a mental note to avoid it

Switch over to the finishing circuit with 2 1/2 hours to go, swing by McD's drive through on the way to pick up a big Mac, then continue at 27 mph onto the finishing circuit. Everyone is there except for Ruth. Spent 2 laps desperately hoping to see them. Luckily I was getting drinks from Jon, but needed some food. Eventually they moved onto the circuit, a good sandwich and kept going, lapping really quickly - looking across to see Keith Coffey wasn't actually making up much ground on me for 3 laps. Passed Tamar (again) and she was showing signs that it was all getting a bit too much, but not long to go.

Thrashing round the circuit, mainly at 25-28mph on the wind assisted and downhill sections, felt that around 235 miles should be on the cards (computer malfunction due to too much rain ). Provisional result showing 225. If that proves to be correct, I will be extremely disappointed

Post Script
Left knee was a little bit sore when I finished, but overnight it seized up completely, and at the moment I can hardly walk on it. It as an old injury that used to flare up years ago, and hasn't resurfaced for a long time. Will need to hae some serious R&R.

[Tamar]

Best bit about the 12hr is all the food! I was so excited when I went to bed on Saturday (at 11.30 when we FINALLY located the musettes that Keith had 'put somewhere safe') that I could hardly sleep.

In my box of treats were:
- some small (200ml) bottles of chocolate milkshake, 6 for £1 on the market - I bought a dozen
- four grease-proof bags of boiled potatoes & salt and four of paste sandwiches (ham & chicken and corned beef & onion paste, cut into quarters with no crusts).
- a dozen mini scotch-eggs
- a plentiful selection of nutrigrain bars, fig rolls and a soreen malt loaves.

Each musette would contain 1 milkshake, 1 greaseproof bag alternating sandwiches/potatoes, a couple of mini scotch eggs and something from the cake/bar selection.

Keith, the fool, had opted for gels, bananas and cake. No savoury stuff at all. He clearly has iron constituion as well as legs of steel.

I'd bought a top-tube box for the bike and filled it with jelly babies and also popped a couple of powerbars in my pocket (but they're usually difficult to chew so I don't really rate them for eating whilst trying to breathe).

I set off with jelly babes, a few fig rolls and the powerbar but didn't really fancy them. I nibbled a bit of powerbar but then shoved it in my pocket and left it. At 25 miles I was getting peckish and a few miles later I was delighted to see Dom & Peter dangling my first musette. Paste sandwiches, a scotch egg that went down in one gulp and a chocolate milkshake. Unfortunately I fumbled getting the milkshake out and dropped both it and the musette. Damn. The paste sarnies were lovely though. I ate them slowly and they lasted me about 2 hours and made me very very happy.

Second bag I grabbed but not firmly enough and it hit the road.

Next pass was good and I got my chocolate milk and some potatoes as well as a couple more scotch eggs which I stashed with the jelly babes in the top tube box.

I'd been drinking Torq energy drink all along and that was going down pretty well but I'd been really looking forward to the chocolate milk. Imagine my disappointment when after two mouthfuls I felt my stomach cramping. I stashed the milk in my pocket but a few miles later it fell out and that was that.

It was difficult to drink enough 'cos I didn't feel that thirsty - it wasn't exactly a warm day. And in any case I didn't want to have to stop to pee. I asked Dom to add another scoop of powder to each of my bottles.

As the ride went on I wanted fewer and fewer solids. When I did a burp with sick in it I gave up on solids all together and stuck to my extra-strength Torq.

All in all I think I only had:
4 x 750 mls of normal strength and 3 x 600mls of extra strength torq
4-6 fig rolls
1 bag of jelly babies (minus the nasty green ones)
Half a tropical fruits powerbar
2 mouthfuls chocolate milk
2 mini scotch eggs
5 squares of paste sandwich
4 salted potatoes
1 slice of soreen

Still seemed to be riding reasonably well (apart from sore back) so must've been getting plenty of cals despite the fact I took refused more musettes & bottles than I accepted.

As for the actual riding. I was SOO cross after losing a load of time on my puncture that when Paul overtook me I could contain myself no more and set off (not at 25 pace as he alleges) but certainly at 50 pace. I was a bit annoyed but unsurprised when he caught me a few miles down the road.

Onto the first circuit and after the supersmooth A11 I found the climbs a bit of a shock, but then I discovered that if I rode them out the saddle my back didn't hurt. I also went faster! At my next bottle, Dom said Paul wasn't far up the road. I was feeling great so upped my heart rate a bit. Rich came by and I passed on the good news that he had another ACC victim not far ahead.

I caught Paul and felt very smug as I pulled away from him again.

Felt invincible. Was loving the climb - weird!

Can't remember exactly where I was at 6hrs but I remember that my average was still over 20mph despite frustration of puncture. Yay! Treated myself and any marshals who cared to listen to a celebratory rendition of Bon Jovi's 'Livin' on a Prayer'...whoa-oh, we're half way there!' Trust me - it seems perfectly sensible after 6hrs pedalling.

V disappointed to be turned off onto the long transit to second circuit. Got a bit stressed after crossing three roundabouts with no marshals or signage. Arrived at some traffic lights. Panicked and stopped to phone Dom to make sure I was on course. I was! More time lost though. Rode forever into a headwind. Tried to keep lo-pro, but this is where my back really started to protest. Tried to go get out of saddle, but it didn't feel right if I wasn't going up a hill. Ate some jelly babies. Watched avg speed start to come down. Hit the turn and had to climb up a hill....but even out the saddle my back was hurting. Misery, despair. Finally arrived on second circuit. A few nice fast bits but mostly pain, misery and despair. Perked up after stretching and was riding strongly again for a bit. Caught and overtook the woman (who eventually won it) who had overtaken me whilst I'd been off the bike stretching. Legs felt good still. But relief was shortlived and my back started to hurt more and more and stopping to stretch relieved it less and less. And wasted more and more time.

Arrived on finishing circuit with 2hrs to go. Paul caught me again, followed shortly after by the winning woman. How depressing. Couldn't stay with them at all. Fume. Back hurt too much to pedal hard and lost time stopping over and over to stretch.

Tried to forget about them and started counting down the last two hours in 10 minute blocks and trying to spot where the timekeepers were. Some were obvious, sitting at tables with nice clear markers. Then there'd be really long stretches with no obvious timeers. Were the people sitting in that strangely parked car timekeepers? Got increasingly nervous that I would end up riding for miles looking for timekeepers. Really wanted to STOP!

1 hr to go. 1hr to go!!! Thank god. I KNOW I can ride for an hour. 50 minutes, 40 mintes. etc etc. More tears, more stopping, some brief periods of hard pedalling but not enough. Didn't care though. Wasn't going to break the club record, wasn't going to catch Paul, but was going to get over 220 so really just had to get my sorry self through remaining minutes without totally losing the plot.

FIVE minutes to go! Thank f*ck! Where's the timekeeper?????? Was that one?? Three minutes to go. Hoo-f*cking-ray. Two mintues to go, only two more f*cking horrible pain filled....one minute to go! Left at r'bout and.....timekeeper! Argh, brake!!!!! Tried not to make it look too obvious, misjudged it, still had 15 seconds to go as I crawled over the line. Stopped bike and asked (rather incoherently) if I was meant to go to the next time keeper. He must've seen the desperation etched across my face and said I could stop. So I did. I burst into tears like a proper girl and phoned Dom to come and fetch me.

Can't wait 'til next year. Apart from the sore back it's a great event. It was just like Eddie Mundy had said to me when he phoned me on Saturday to wish me luck. He said just think of it as a nice day in the saddle where you don't have to worry about a thing 'cos everyone else is looking after you - food is provided, directions are provided. You just have to enjoy the riding. And for a lot of it, I did.

[Graham O]

[quote="mrpvt"]swing by McD's drive through on the way to pick up a big Mac, then continue at 27 mph onto the finishing circuit.

[Snoop Doug]

Fantastic stuff folks! What a rivetting read, truly inspiring. I love all the eating opportunities - a kind of picnic on yer bike. Who knows - there just might be four of us doing this next year....

Very well done.

Snoop

[Andrew G]

I'd love to have seen the look on the fat McD regulars faces when Paul rolled in to the drive through.

I haven't laughed so much in ages as reading these reports. Other than singing Bon Jovi are there any other tricks you use to stop yourself going mad?

[-Adam-]

over 200 miles in a day, crazy.

riding a bike for 12 hours, crazy.

and in crap weather, crazy.

but still, fair play, thats pretty epic!

[Ian A4size]

Well done all, fantastic reading, oh the agony.

Well i have the appetite for a "twelve", but not the legs

It was a sh1t day for riding thats for sure.