12 Hr. Race Prep

[han-grrl]

Hey There

i did my first 24 hour mountain bike solo race this past summer...

ok for mental prep - oy Dont' even THINK about what place you plan on coming in, unless that is part of your goal. Remember, who you are racing against is completely out of your control, so a "place" is not necessarily realistic. also, unless you have an opportunity to practice the race course, (i only had one crack at it the day before) that is another "limitation"

So number one: set your goal for your race - mine was to complete 10 laps.

then plan your training - i did long rides, realistically i could only do 6 hour rides ( i mean i DO have a life out of biking)...i wanted to practice with some shorter races (8 and 12 hour) but the scheduling didn't work for me. i did a combination of long road and mtb rides. as you do your rides, start to work on eating. see what foods work. remember nerves will make an upset tummy.

as your race gets closer, COMPLETELY plan out your race - when you will stop, how much to eat each time etc etc. this will make your support crew manage you better.

my plan - i stopped every lap for a "snack", then every 3 laps for more of a meal. i ate fig newtons, plain chips, granola bars and powdered donuts for my snacks, and my meals were either plan pasta with oil and cheese or perogies with some bacon. i have sensitive tummy so this worked well for me. no fruit. i had some power gels and Boost meal replacement as back up, but that was the "nothing is going in" emergency use only. i didn't end up using it. i drank about 1-2 cups of eload or Exelerate every lap and lots of water. the laps were 16 km long roughly (about 10 miles).

well i hope that helps.

just enjoy the riding...the best part of solo, is no one is waiting for you, and going too hard is actually NOT a good thing, so you really get to enjoy riding the course.


Have fun!

Hannah

[mtbdarby]

Good for you! It is definitely a different sport, much of which is mental.

That said, I have only done a 6 hour solo race and I finished 5th out of 5, but I won! Like Hannah said, plan your own race unless you're competing to win it. My goal was to see how I would do in a 6 hour race, what foods would work, rest patterns, etc, and just to say I could do it. Turns out it was a wicked hot day and I don't do heat well. It was also a short lap - only 4.5 miles. I stopped briefly after every lap and in retrospect, I should have stopped after every 2-3 laps. Stopping made me want to stop riding. My goal was to ride 6 laps and I did 7. I found food didn't sit real well but sport beans and gels were alright.

Make sure you have good lights and backup lights. If you can find a person or two for a crew all the merrier. Find a place before the race to set up your cooler so you don't have to go too far off the course to get there and waste energy. Most races will designate an area for solo riders to do this. Go at your own pace. You will most likely be on the course with teams and shorter distance racers so don't get sucked into ramping up the pace to keep up with them. Remember to take your electrolytes and practicing using them ahead of time.

Make sure you bring a cheering section with cow bells for motivation - really, it works! I would recommend Mountain Biking Like a Champ (or something like that) by Ned Overland. Most of all, have fun, take pictures and post a race report!

[snowtulip]

Thanks for the information! I can't seem to decide on what to do. Initially I thought 24 hr. of old pueblo also had a 12 hr. component, but doesn't seem to. There is also a 12-hr race in El Paso in March. If you guys have any southwest suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks for the info. on food, wasn't even on my radar (although I'm sure it would have hit me right before passing out). I tend to become so focused that I forget critical things, so the suggestion of planning food will really help me establish a routine. I also hate gels, so I'll have to figure out what else to try, I haven't tried sports beans.

How do you manage to get the long rides in during the week? Right now I'm planning to do long rides on the weekend, but know that I should also during the week, correct? Or are short rides during the week fine?

Thanks for your help and info!!!!!!!!

[han-grrl]

I only did long rides on the weekends.

one on saturday and one "shorter one" on sunday (so like 4-6 one day, and 2-3 the second day). i would do some fun rides over the week, but not many actual "training rides" just fun mtb stuff.

as for food, when you do your long rides, take food with you, and eat every hour or so, and see how you feel.

i would suggest that if you haven't done a long race (repeating loops) before you might want to try a shorter one (like an 8 hour) to see if you like that style of racing. perhaps you would prefer an enduro...(where you ride just one long race course).

[snowtulip]

Hannah, thanks for the additional info.

I think I would actually prefer an enduro type of event rather than loops. I love mtb. touring and it's just this great long, ongoing journey. Mentally I love that, not sure about loops yet.

I haven't thought of enduro because the only thing that comes to mind is the Leadville 100 and I've heard how incredibly difficult that is. Do you know of any "tamer" events?

Once again, thanks for all the info.!!