Race writeup: Sleepless in the Saddle 2008, UK 24-hour xc (quite long...)

I'd kept fairly quiet about this, but some people knew I'd been silly
enough to enter the Sleepless in the Saddle 24-hour race as a solo
rider. I've done a few 24-hours as part of a team, but never solo
before.

I had two goals for my first attempt at solo 24-hour cross-country
racing:
1. Survive until the end without injury, and
2. Aim to do ten laps (I usually do five as part of a team of four
riders, so twice that should be possible I reckoned).

I got back from Unicon (where it was hot and sunny almost the whole
time) on Tuesday to find that the weather here had been very wet, with
no improvement expected, and heavy rain forecast for the weekend of the
race. Bummer. Knowing what the gound in Catton Park gets like when
it's wet, I checked the web on Friday before setting off, half
expecting the race to have been cancelled. No, looked like it was
still on, so I set off up to Bristol. My parents had offered to drive
me from there up to the race and back, so we transferred all my kit
into their van and off we went (they were planning on dropping me off
and heading off somewhere else for the weekend, but they ended up
getting really into the racing and being a very useful support crew, so
thanks to them for that!)

We arrived at Catton Park in fairly bright weather. The campsite
wasn't too muddy and I managed to put my tent up in the dry. Things
were looking quite promising. I had a stroll round the trade tents and
signed in - it was about then that it finally sunk in when I actually
had my entry pack in my hand, marked "category: solo men". Eek, no
going back now. Ate plenty of spaghetti (thanks Mum!) and went to
sleep.

In the night it rained. Quite a lot. My tent hadn't been tested like
this for some time and leaked a bit, but not too badly. I got a
reasonable amount of sleep. In the morning the rain had stopped -
perhaps the band of rain had passed over us already. OK, not much to
do in the morning without team mates to argue with over who does the
first lap (and the dreaded run), so I just checked my kit over, drank
plenty of water and ate more food. By the time of the riders' briefing
it had started to rain again...

Then we were off... I jogged round the "run", grabbed my unicycle and
set off on my first lap. The course was quite similar to last couple
of years and most of it was pretty muddy, but no worse than it got two
years ago - and the rain was going to stop and let the course dry up,
wasn't it?! Anyway, I'd been clever and put a 2" tyre on my 26" wheel
in a frame meant for a fat 3" tyre, so I wasn't going to get any mud
clogging problems, was I? I felt quite smug as I saw bikers struggling
with binding wheels and chains - even in the bits I couldn't ride at
least my wheel still went round so I could push rather than carry. It
was quite slow going (the leading bikes were lapping in 45+ minutes
rather than the normal 30ish) and four hours into the race I'd only
done two laps, but was enjoying the mud riding practice. The skinny
tyre was helping a bit, but it was still very hard going.

Because of the gloomy weather I decided to stop and fit my lights
before going out again. Back at camp as I sat there fiddling with
lights and eating some food it started absolutely hammering down with
rain. By the time I went back out the track conditions had
deteriorated into an utter quagmire - even some of the nice open grassy
bits had become so soft and slippery it was almost impossible to stay on
(although it was fun trying!) There were broken gear mechs, chains,
tyres, whole wheels (!) and everything else you could imagine strewn
around the course and I was very glad to have a nice indestructable
unicycle. Five hours later I'd done another two laps. People were
giving up and going home. These were by far the worst conditions I've
ever tried to ride in, but I was determined to survive until the end.
I only had six hours of runtime on my main light, so my plan of doing
three night laps (which normally would have been well possible in that
time) was scuppered by the grim goo. Time to get a bit of sleep before
it got light again. One of the trade tents was giving away T-shirts to
anybody who had suffered a broken mech... I heard they had seen over
200!

Sunday morning was gloomy but not raining, and at least I'd be able to
see the gloop I was trying to ride through. I felt more positive than
when I went to bed in the early hours. I'd probably managed to get
about three or four hours' sleep and was feeling surprisingly
refreshed, and being light always helps to boost morale. Looking
around, the campsite had thinned out a bit overnight - it seemed that
quite a few people had had enough. Oh well, only a few hours to go -
might as well go out and try to enjoy it (I don't get much mud riding
at home because most of the Dartmoor trails are very gravelly, so it's
quite a novelty for me to ride in slime), and by this point I was so
muddy I didn't really care anymore.

My first lap of the morning was probably the most annoying conditions
of the race - the mud had started to dry up a bit, but reached a sort
of toffee consistency. I discovered that ankle-deep toffee will clog
up even with my massive mud clearance, and I actually resorted to
carrying the unicycle for a mile or two. Then we had another heavy
shower. The rain actually made things a bit better because it diluted
the really sticky mud enough for it to get spread to the side by the
constant passing of riders/walkers and a rideable line began to appear
round a good portion of the course. It was still very challenging
riding, but mostly possible (with lots of crashes, wipeouts and
remounts, which are all part of the fun) apart from some particularly
bad bits in the woods. My lap times were still over two hours though,
even in the light.

I managed another three laps, crossing the finish line after 24 hours
and 40 minutes. General tiredness really hit me on the last lap and I
ended up walking some of the climbs I'd ridden on every other lap. I
was even having to concentrate pretty hard to react to overtaking
bikers' calls of "on your left/right". After the half-way point the
adrenaline (and caffeine boost from the Red Bull tent!) kicked in and
perked up a bit for the finish. Shaking Pat Adams' hand on the line
was a really good feeling - I'd survived! The weather had even
brightened up enough to dry the tent off before we had to pack it
away.

So, overall an interesting experience. I succeeded in my first goal of
surviving to the end without injuring myself, but only managed seven of
my target of ten laps. But I'm happy that I stuck it out to the end
and didn't give up like quite a few others did, and I don't reckon I
could have done any better given the conditions. The top bike teams
only did about 20 laps this year (they usually do 30+). Perhaps I
should give it another go in better weather... hmmm.

Although they probably won't read this, I'd like to thank all the
spectators, commentator and other riders for their incredible support.
As unicyclists we usually get a fair amount of interest and respect, but
I think the fact that I was racing solo made it even more of a novelty.
I think I only got two negative comments during the whole race, one a
fairly lighthearted "I don't think you ever ride that puppy" from a
bloke who always seemed to pass me in the bits I couldn't ride (but he
said it when I was feeling particularly ****ed off at night), and one
"give me the line NOW" from an arrogant idiot half a second before he
pushed me into a bush on my penultimate lap ("on your left/right" would
have been nice mate ).

So, same again next year and hope for better conditions? Not at all
sure at the moment!

Rob

BTW, I didn't take my camera, but there are a few pictures up on Joolze
Dymond's site and a few other links on the Singletrack World forum.
Also sitspix.co.uk has a few. The results aren't out as I write this,
so I don't know how I did overall. I know the first three solo men did
20, 17 and 16 laps respectively - amazing.


--
rob.northcott
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Well done Rob! That sounds like alot of hard work, but also good fun in
the end. I'm glad you survived and are considering another in better
weather! I'm sure you did alot better than many bikers. After seeing
you ride at Mountain Mayhem, I knew you were the right person to
attempt this and am glad to hear it went well Mountain Mayhem
must've been good training for you, especially having to do the extra
laps for me! Hopefully see you at an event next year, well done.


--
annaats

Anna.
Southampton Unicycle Hockey Club - Sundays at 4!

It will be alright in the end. If it's not alright, it's not the end.
Be who you are and say what you feel, as those who mind don't matter
and those who matter don't mind.
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Thanks Anna. I'm certainly much happier about my performance last
weekend than my muppet-like muni day at Unicon
Just seen your picture of me at Mayhem in the Uni mag BTW

Rob


--
rob.northcott
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hey rob,

Well done for keeping going, that sounds pretty minging.

I wonder how many other 24 hour muni riders there have been? Probably
less than 10 I'd guess. Thinking about it, I'd be surprised if there
are very many people who've done 24 hour rides at all.

Joe


--
joemarshall

' old pics' (http://tinyurl.com/56yl2f) 'new zealand pics'
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'Where have I been riding? (GPS) ' (http://tinyurl.com/6fxw5x)
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joemarshall wrote:
hey rob,

Well done for keeping going, that sounds pretty minging.

I wonder how many other 24 hour muni riders there have been? Probably
less than 10 I'd guess. Thinking about it, I'd be surprised if there
are very many people who've done 24 hour rides at all.

Joe


Thanks Joe. I don't know who else has tried it apart from Des at
Mayhem a few years ago (when his knee injury forced him out after a
good start). I've heard various rumours that you and/or Roger may have
done one but nobody seems to know for sure.

The conditions were certainly the mankiest I've ever seen - loads of
people were giving up at night and I must say it did cross my mind, but
then I thought "sod it, it's the same for everybody, let's see how I
do". I'm glad I kept plugging on - I reckon I did the best I could
have done on the day, which is what counts really.

Rob


--
rob.northcott
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rob.northcott wrote:
Thanks Joe. I don't know who else has tried it apart from Des at Mayhem
a few years ago (when his knee injury forced him out after a good
start). I've heard various rumours that you and/or Roger may have done
one but nobody seems to know for sure.

The conditions were certainly the mankiest I've ever seen - loads of
people were giving up at night and I must say it did cross my mind, but
then I thought "sod it, it's the same for everybody, let's see how I
do". I'm glad I kept plugging on - I reckon I did the best I could
have done on the day, which is what counts really.

Rob



In terms of 24 hour mountain bike solos, I've done one, Ken L did two,
I think Nathan hoover did one. Des did one, but knees did things to
him. I don't know of anyone else.

In terms of 24 hour rides generally - obviously Ken Looi, Sam and Lars
Clausen have all done road 24 hours.

Maybe this is one for another thread like the 100 mile ride thread...

Joe


--
joemarshall

' old pics' (http://tinyurl.com/56yl2f) 'new zealand pics'
(http://s119.photobucket.com/albums/o...rshall_photos/) 'new
pics' (http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/joemarshall.org.uk)
'Where have I been riding? (GPS) ' (http://tinyurl.com/6fxw5x)
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Good work there Rob and thanks for taking the time to do a write up.

Those 7 laps will make a good 56 miles+ which is exceptionally good
going especially with all that mud.

I'll keep my eye open for any photos.


--
norry

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Good job, Rob. Thanks for the write-up! You're truly gnarly for
sticking with it through the bad weather.


--
steveyo

steveyo
...like having your own personal rollercoaster...

- a few 'uni race write-ups'
(http://home.nycap.rr.com/rduhan/uni_race_writeups/)
- muni and kokopelli uni 't-shirts, mugs and stickers'
(http://www.cafepress.com/steveyo)
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Nice one Rob - 24 hours solo with British mud is well hardcore.
Congratulations for having the guts to even enter, let alone keep going
to the end!

Hopefully more of us can make it back to Mountain Mayhem next year (not
solo though, nonono).

Sam


--
redwelly
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Well done Rob, the Mayhem mud was bad enough, completing 24 hours in
worse conditions is pretty awesome!


--
domesticated ape
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