Team BKool CycleChat

[Soarerv8]

Woah Noah, appear to have beaten you by 0.3 of a second on Sitka.

I don't seem to get any ghosts at the moment, they are there in the warm up and then as soon as the whistle blows they all head off back into the cafe.

I am definitely a bit quicker if I have someone to chase / try to escape from.

 

[Soarerv8]

Still in a hotel north of Inverness now and still not had much of a sleep since the race. Not the result I was looking for as I only got in 13 laps but I was kind of expecting my hand problem to come back and it did. The pain started after about 2 hours and it got worse as time progressed. I fell off a couple of times and broke my suspension lock out cable which didn't put a stop to things but suspension wasn't as soft as I needed. I got to the point where I could no longer hold onto the bars on the rough technical parts so had to walk those bits which were quite long. Legs were fine still and I was able to pedal up the steep bits but by 2 am I saw that my position was falling off fast so I lost the will to continue. Normally I've always ridden on and completed the 24 hours but I just couldn't do it this time. I think my days of 24 hour racing ate over.
There's plenty other races to be done though and failing that there's always bkool so still plenty fun to be had .

Well done for going for it in the first place Bill better to have tried and failed and all that.

 

[bridgy]

Bridgy .... 22 seconds. Holy cow...I am gonna have to do it again.......***K.........!!!!!!!!!!!

No no, no need to do it again!!

If it's any consolation I just got an email saying RickB beat me by 2 minutes - which is quite normal! (I'll get you one day Rick! )

 

[Roleur1]

No no, no need to do it again!!

If it's any consolation I just got an email saying RickB beat me by 2 minutes - which is quite normal! (I'll get you one day Rick! )

Red rag to a bull mate! gotcha on the Lymm ride though.....ohhh... fighting talk.......1m 22s......whos counting tho....!!!! much

 

[Add]

Still in a hotel north of Inverness now and still not had much of a sleep since the race. Not the result I was looking for as I only got in 13 laps but I was kind of expecting my hand problem to come back and it did. The pain started after about 2 hours and it got worse as time progressed. I fell off a couple of times and broke my suspension lock out cable which didn't put a stop to things but suspension wasn't as soft as I needed. I got to the point where I could no longer hold onto the bars on the rough technical parts so had to walk those bits which were quite long. Legs were fine still and I was able to pedal up the steep bits but by 2 am I saw that my position was falling off fast so I lost the will to continue. Normally I've always ridden on and completed the 24 hours but I just couldn't do it this time. I think my days of 24 hour racing ate over.
There's plenty other races to be done though and failing that there's always bkool so still plenty fun to be had .

I feel I aught to accept a little responsibility for the hand thing.... Once Kipster posted the link to the lap times, I was watching it with increasing anticipation. Sorry you didn't have the race you wanted, but not only were there plenty of people who didn't even complete as many laps as you in the full allotted time, 16 hours of continuous cycling is still a noteworthy achievement in its own right.

Did you ever seek advice on the hand thing, or did you get the usual Quack routine of..'just rest it....' ?

I say get those feet up fella, plenty of coffee, Loose Women (the TV show I'm talking about!) and rest, and look forward to seeing you back on here as soon as the legs are ready.

You might get to whup Guy Martin yet, you aren't the type of chap that throws in the towel.

 

[kipster]

Kipster - when you out there? I am out there mid March with a group of 9 of the club lads. Staying in Se Arenal...last time I did colobra/ puig major was in 1995. Had 42 x 21 on my 753 Barry Chick in those days, weighing 11st......shite...13.5 now with 34 x 27........ambition vs ability scale reversed...

30th March for a week, @Bonno just emailed ProBikeHire re sizing and availability of bikes, something nice and light to get me up the mountains.....

 

[bobinski]

+1 ???

As in repeating the question. About Bill.

 

[bobinski]

Still in a hotel north of Inverness now and still not had much of a sleep since the race. Not the result I was looking for as I only got in 13 laps but I was kind of expecting my hand problem to come back and it did. The pain started after about 2 hours and it got worse as time progressed. I fell off a couple of times and broke my suspension lock out cable which didn't put a stop to things but suspension wasn't as soft as I needed. I got to the point where I could no longer hold onto the bars on the rough technical parts so had to walk those bits which were quite long. Legs were fine still and I was able to pedal up the steep bits but by 2 am I saw that my position was falling off fast so I lost the will to continue. Normally I've always ridden on and completed the 24 hours but I just couldn't do it this time. I think my days of 24 hour racing ate over.
There's plenty other races to be done though and failing that there's always bkool so still plenty fun to be had .

Well done Bill. Frigging frustrating about the hand Even more so given the legs were fine though not surprised given the way you keep going on bkool., You are still a Legend on this forum

 

[RickB]

Still in a hotel north of Inverness now and still not had much of a sleep since the race. Not the result I was looking for as I only got in 13 laps but I was kind of expecting my hand problem to come back and it did. The pain started after about 2 hours and it got worse as time progressed. I fell off a couple of times and broke my suspension lock out cable which didn't put a stop to things but suspension wasn't as soft as I needed. I got to the point where I could no longer hold onto the bars on the rough technical parts so had to walk those bits which were quite long. Legs were fine still and I was able to pedal up the steep bits but by 2 am I saw that my position was falling off fast so I lost the will to continue. Normally I've always ridden on and completed the 24 hours but I just couldn't do it this time. I think my days of 24 hour racing ate over.
There's plenty other races to be done though and failing that there's always bkool so still plenty fun to be had .

Sounds like it just all went wrong for you. Gutting when you build up so much for an event.
Still an incredible effort you've put in Bill which I couldn't imagine doing. Hope you recover quickly and get that hand sorted!!

 

[BILL S]

I feel I aught to accept a little responsibility for the hand thing.... Once Kipster posted the link to the lap times, I was watching it with increasing anticipation. Sorry you didn't have the race you wanted, but not only were there plenty of people who didn't even complete as many laps as you in the full allotted time, 16 hours of continuous cycling is still a noteworthy achievement in its own right.

Did you ever seek advice on the hand thing, or did you get the usual Quack routine of..'just rest it....' ?

I say get those feet up fella, plenty of coffee, Loose Women (the TV show I'm talking about!) and rest, and look forward to seeing you back on here as soon as the legs are ready.

You might get to whup Guy Martin yet, you aren't the type of chap that throws in the towel.

Adam, the only responsibility I can allow you to accept is that of helping me out. I adopted your suggestion of a small top frame bag for snacks and key and it was great. I'll never race without one again. Also for the road bike the tri bars really seem to solve the hand pressure problem too. The actual symptoms are my own stupid fault for riding glove less for thousands of hours due to me trying to reduce heat build up, even during some of the past 24 hour races. Strangely enough my hands and fingers are now back to normal, as they were always warm, whereas at the DD they took quite a freezing in those extreme conditions. I kid you not, it was actually quite a bit warmer during the puffer this January than it was that day in Wales in May! How crazy is that? And that's without even mentioning the driving horizontal rain and sleet we had that day. I'm sure the Double Devil would normally be an incredible fun and pleasurable experience with slightly sore legs at the end.
As for one day beating Guy Martin, I was perhaps a little hasty there. I was this time, still ahead of him after 4 laps but I got the chance to have a chat with him during the transition because of our similar speeds on the long fire track climbs, and he told me this was just one day of many long days riding and short nights sleeping he's doing for a huge challenge he'll be doing in the US soon. So that made sense as to why he was only going the same speed as me at that point, whereas normally he'd be up there fighting for top spot. Poor chap had to be back at work this morning fixing lorries too so to Guy.

 

[BILL S]

Well done Bill. Frigging frustrating about the hand Even more so given the legs were fine though not surprised given the way you keep going on bkool., You are still a Legend on this forum

Thank you very much Bob. Very kind of you to say so. And yes, frustrating at the time but now just looking back on it as an experience. I think my biggest mistake was to use my lighter/faster and shorter suspension travel bike instead of my trusty old stump jumper which has always seen me good in the past. Maybe I just need a carbon stumpy 29er instead of the two mtn bikes I have. Hmmm????

 

[BILL S]

Sounds like it just all went wrong for you. Gutting when you build up so much for an event.
Still an incredible effort you've put in Bill which I couldn't imagine doing. Hope you recover quickly and get that hand sorted!!

Thanks Rick. The hands are near enough recovered for normal life and turboing already so no worries there. Now I'm wondering if my own thought process will trick me into entering again in the belief that more suspension will solve the hand problem. Hmm maybe bubble wrap glued to my gloves.....
Definitely be seeing you at the usual time and place on Thursday though. Looking forward to it already.

 

[BILL S]

Well done for going for it in the first place Bill better to have tried and failed and all that.

Cheers Soarer. I do have a long history of trying and failing but I was always glad I went and usually do go back for more, even though at some point I always say "never again" (even during and after some bkool rides).

 

[RickB]

Thanks Rick. The hands are near enough recovered for normal life and turboing already so no worries there. Now I'm wondering if my own thought process will trick me into entering again in the belief that more suspension will solve the hand problem. Hmm maybe bubble wrap glued to my gloves.....
Definitely be seeing you at the usual time and place on Thursday though. Looking forward to it already.

Out of interest, what bike did you use for the event Bill? I'm currently fixing up a couple of retro Marin full sus bikes from the late 1990's and going to get back into MTBing a bit. Used to ride a Commencal Meta5 back 8 or 9 years ago.

 

[Add]

Well it's good to have you back, and really pleased to hear the hands are returning to normal so quickly this time.

So the DD might still be on then! I wouldn't do it if the weather was as unpleasant as last year. That said its only £35 to enter, I don't even mind taking a knock on that if it starts blowing a bloody Hoolie again.

Pretty cool you got to chat to Guy Martin though.