Clic24 2008

[Moose.]

Anyone else doing this? I shall be, along with 7 other fellow riders in two teams of 4. Was a laugh last year dispite the mud

[WBC]

Planning to ride in a team of four, should be good. Also planning to ride Bristol Bikefest, Bontrager twentyfour12 and Cheddar Challenge. Can't wait! Fingers crossed for good weather. I didn't ride CLIC last year but heard it was pretty wet to say the least.

[Moose.]

What a cracking weekend it was! Weather couldn't have been better really and the course was in perfect condition So how did everyone do? Me managed 5 laps each in our 4 person team over the 24 hours which we were please with. Here's my totals from the GPS:



Here's a few pics from the event so you can see what you missed:


My mate Edd arriving in style


Cambelt tensioner broke meaning valves met camshaft


Yours truely on my first lap


Our base camp

And as this is PH, here's the coolest cars in the campsite:





Roll on next year! And if you're thinking of doing it next year, then please do. They're aiming for 500 riders and after this year's weather I reckon they might just do it! It's a really well put together event and all in aid of a very worthy cause

PS Sorry I didn't get a chance to pop over Neil, I had a quick wonder round in the early evening but didn't spot your car.

[neil_bolton]

Hey there!

I finished - I scraped in a whole 6 laps - getting to do one night lap, and the breathtaking sunrise lap which really was rather a special experience.

For someone who has't trained at all I was proud to have scraped round, albiet at a plodding pace, but at a consistant pace.

I also had the pleasure of managing to overtake at least 1 person on the sketchy farm descent on every lap - even my night one!

I loved the experience, and was not as deathly as I thought it'd be.

I saw the escort van come in - we couldn't have been too far from you as we were about halfway down the field by the wall(ish).

Oh well - next year eh?

I loved the course - it got harder as the dust was blown away and exposed the rocks, but it just meant I had something to get my teeth into before that climb

Great event, great organisation, and very worthwhile cause!

PDV6 and others, we'll see you there next year?

p.s. I do have GPS readings, but annoyingly it decided it didn't like my descending and would turn itself off on the heftier bumps meaning I didn't get complete readings until I started it again. Additionally, forgetting to charge it doesn't help - I'll get them up later with my pics - heres one or two for you:

My fav pic - me descending - just makes me wanna go ride again



Cheesy grin alert...the Start - 24hrs to go - I did my last riding at 11:10 the next morning...

[neil_bolton]

Also, interesting to note that from your GPS readings:

1. you were doing similar times to me, slowing slightly for the later laps...

2. Your heart rate is similar (you must be about 25-27?) but with a higher max BUT, like me, the average slowed on the later laps.

I purposely took it easy on all of my laps in order to save myself from exploding and not enjoying it - and it paid off - along with decent hydration and fuelling - which very much was needed in that heat!

[Moose.]

Saw a couple of people go over the handlebars on the singletrack in your pic Neil, going too slow I reckon Fair play over taking on that farm track though (I assume you mean the one just before the road section). I had a big moment along there on my 4th lap in the dark; I got slightly off-line and the rear wheel caught a large rock throwing my feet off the pedals. Quite how I stayed upright I'm not sure. Up until that point I was getting quicker and quicker down there (GPS max speeds were along there).

Favourite moments were overtaking a load of riders on the single track heading towards the first stream crossing on my first lap (ok they passed me on the next climb but I live for the downs) and belting down that rocky "bread" road just before the fire-track climb and every lap forgetting to brake for the left/right bit in the middle. Much respect for my mate Gav for doing it on the fully rigid single speed and constantly lapping in the early 40 minutes! Best comedy moment was the two guys coming in just before noon with the blow up dolls on their backs. Total class

1) I'm sure I could have done another lap, but our last rider came in at 11:20 and there was no chance of me doing a 40 minute lap that late in the day! I was amazed the "Bike City" rider did his last lap in 37 minutes!

2) Not a bad guess, I'm 28 I noticed my heart rate slowing every lap, on the fire-track especially. Looks like I'll have to re-enter my max though, as I exceeded it (again!)

Stamina was definitely the order of the day! I was pleased my lap times remained fairly constant and if I can do 6 laps and keep them all under an hour next year, I'll be very happy

[neil_bolton]

For those whom were getting under 50 minutes, I take my hat off to them, it was very hard work. To those lapping under 40, I cannot even contemplate that sort of pace, but most likely it was they guys whom just dusted me on the climbs like I were standing still - insane!

The Blow Up Doll guys were hilarious, and really showed what it was all about!

The descents were special, and really gave you something to look forward to certainly, before that climb...

The farm descent I mention was indeed the one before the road - I was being nice at first to the slower riders, but in the end I decided to just bully past and take the dodgy lines, was a real buzz!

All in all, I really enjoyed it - and made me really get in touch with what riding is all about - no wonder the enduro events are so popular...