Record breaking ride - Breckland CC 12 hour 281.63 miles

My own ride was somewhat overshadowed by the fact that (Dr) Jeff Jones (Chippenham & Dist) managed to fluke the competition record by three miles 305.51miles so my own five mile breaking of club record (my own) with 281.63 (23.46mph Av.)  was lost in the excitement. This was the event that was cancelled at 200 miles last year when I was leading and the rider that pushed me that day Nick English (AW Cycles) was again present so with BBAR contender Jeff Jones and Steve Berry (San Fairy Ann) and local favourite Dave Green (RAF) we had quality in the 31 man (and one woman) field. We had to compete with the National Championship taking  on the other side of the country (Shropshire/Cheshire) the winner of that race (and champion) with 302.75 miles Andy Bason (Pedal Rev) would have made claim to the record had he not finished half an hour later than Dr Jones at 6.30 in the evening because he had also broken the old record which stood to Andy Wilkinson at 302.46 miles.

There is nothing that can prepare you for getting up before light, scooping up a meal of prepared meal of fruit and cereal and trying to get your body active enough to start a race just as the day is starting, you just have to be as prepared as possible so a little light sleep is possible in a hot hotel room (with helpers) and little bonuses like securing the room at the back of the building come a long way down the list of worries that begin with miles and miles of preparation and racing, and  praying for the right conditions. Last year I felt those conditions were pretty perfect on East Anglian roads that are notorious as a graveyard for sporting performance and yet here I was again willing to risk a second dose of pain against judgement of the gods for a second chance at that elusive target I had set myself, the 280 mile 12 hour. Just over 30 riders have achieved this feat, mostly young men in their prime not riders entering their fifth decade

Going with the flow

Brother Alan rode up from South London to be chief helper the week before his own marathon ride and a last chance to make sure man and machine were ready for the Paris-Brest-Paris which he plans to complete in 80 hours with fellow club man Paul ("Show me the mileage") Alderson who plans to do the ride in 20 hours less! We had a picnic on the same spot, re enacting our preparation last year in the hope that it would be lucky or at least reveal to us some notion of justice that had been denied last year. When the preparation is done all that is left is faith and belief and where that fails in the twilight hours we pray, pray for good luck and good weather, selfish as it may seem I become the centre of my world, athletes are at the best of times egocentric but here at the alter of an important  event we are stuck in purgatory between the unknown and the possible, sleep is impossible and so we hope

Fiona and I drive to the start in the dark, Alan has to ride, no room in the car (2 x bikes, 5 x wheels, tools, food, drink, more food, more drink, everything for every eventually for a day camped at the side of the A14 between Thetford and Norwich. The Eccles road interchange at Attleborough is common to the two main DC loops of the ride one ten miles up and one ten miles down so the helpers are gathered here for 9 hours of the ride and it becomes an impromptu cycling festival with chairs and tables of food and drink to keep everybody (riders & helpers) going for the day

Nick English (AW Cycles)

There is a mad dash to get ready for the off, more than a normal race and with a car full of stuff to wade through (and then repack) but I'm on my way at 6.20 so all I have to do is go as far as I can on these roads before 18.20 that evening. The roads are damp from the dew, the air is fresh and clean out here in the Suffolk lanes only the fields of early cropped wheat because of the good weather at the start of the year. But what would today bring? There was a bit headwind from the West and after the first 25 miles (59:51) and I have caught half a dozen riders. Next we had a 20 mile pull into the stiffening breeze  the full length of the course from Browick interchange to the Croxted (Jct) big flags billow and little flags flap maddenly fast but it feels good to be going now everything else I can put behind me, it has not got tough yet but there is plenty of time. This second 25  takes me 1:03:27 and by the time I saw my helpers for the first time at 50m I was over 3 minutes down on last years schedhule, not a good start but I take my first food of the day, a banana. I rallied over the next 75m (1:00:49) (1:00:49) and (1:01:49) bringing me almost level, then we had the payback for the early hard section and as we swapped circuits we had a 20m wind assisted section which saw my fastest split of the day (58:28) this was a great fillip and put me up for the first time. Jeff Jones meanwhile had caught me for 10 min at 75m going very strong but only just behind him (on time) was Steve Berry one of the early starters going away from me. Nick English my 5 minute man caught me on the downwind section at 120m we exchanged a nod and a smile, this is what we had come to do, grim as it may seem the draw of competition with others and the elements but more importantly ourselves makes the half day race the ultimate racing puzzle, to pitch your ride with all the conditions to space it over those twelve hours, everybody  has bad patches, doubts themselves and then with determination and sheer willpower you come across the plains of  self doubt the wilderness of suffering over the middle stages and a dim light appears in the distance , and your moral begins to rise and you can see the end and when you can see a personnel goal achieved it is the feeling of pure nectar itself

Here in the race we are coming to half way 150m (6:05:54) over 4m up on what I thought last year was an amazing ride so by the time I got to 180m with 4:36 remaining I felt sure I could relax a bit and here it nearly went wrong, I decided to stop, mainly to have a p*** as I had been needing one for the last four hours, in fact since I had a p*** on the move at 30m when I should have gone at the start but in all the rush I forgot and then as soon as I was on the road I got that 'full' feeling down there which to be honest stayed with me for the whole day, not a pleasant feeling. The toes on my right foot had been gradually going to sleep, something I have had in the past, this year I even started with no overshoes so I could adjust my (Velcro) straps but nothing seemed to make it better

New Record Holder - Jeff Jones

So 200 mile a good place to stop (1:03:57) and 8:14  when i stopped I got my shoe off and sprayed my toes with 'freeze' spray. My helpers knew I was going to stop and had things prepared but its the things that had been annoying the noisy chain ("Alan give that chain a spray with silicone") load up the bottle and gels and ("Fiona give that visor a clean") and in all the industry and activity I FORGOT TO HAVE A B****** P***  so I was on my way and before I could think about it I had that 'full' feeling again. Never mind do another lap, no panic, at this stage I would do 285 with only 22mph I calculated and I was at just under 24mph for the race so all seemed fine so long as I did not puncture or get lost on route to the finishing circuit (we never got there last year remember so still a few unknowns to conquer, for the twelve hour what you need is repetition and certainty, take all the variables out of the equation, when you are on the limit, your brain does not function properly and the anxiety of the night before can come back to haunt you.

I stop the next lap and taking a p***, It takes ages to get going when your bladder has been treated like its had a massage from Joe Pecci, it's all manner of sports drink (SIS, coffee, cola) but its always Gatoraid coming out. "Do you think the people there know that and think it's a problem"? I have only had two bananas two hot cross buns to date with chocolate (and yes banana) so the inside of my skin suit looks like a dirty protest has taken place but what else do you do with the wrappers? The rest has all been gels, I save up the first caffeine one for over 100 miles and its what taking mainline heroin and speedball crack at the same time must feel like (Why would I know?) It smooths out all the edges off your riding style, my RPM to this point has been 90 a bit down on what it would be for shorter distances but I cannot allow myself to 'plough' along in a big gear as cramp creeps up on the ununwary and then it's difficult to shake off. From 120m Steve Berry's wonder ride began to slide,  but it was he going slower not me speeding up, he was slowing at a greater rate and that is where the danger lies, the steeper the decline, the harder to arrest and the further away the finish seems, he was having problems with cramp, Nick English was closing in on him after a modest start, his power meter was telling him he could take second spot, Jeff Jones out in front just seemed so strong for only his second outing in the event he was putting a canny ride to go with the extra speed he has found this year.

225 miles (1:04:25) comes with better posture but these past few hours in the heat of the day on concrete roads leave one half baked to go with the exhaustion but there is still a way to go, we leave the A14 at 236 miles and ride the four miles to join the 12 mile finish circuit, I had almost exactly two hours to ride. I had no knowledge of how long I had stopped for, making two stops had complicated matters but  I only have to keep above 20mph all the way to the finish to attain my target, it would be close but surely I ride my bike to work faster than that and regularly do intervals well above on hilly roads, but that is not to take the ten hours of punishment metered out to the body already, the first hurdle is to 'manage' the change from DC roads to the undulating B roads that punish with their variety in effort and tempo, it takes a lap before I am comfortable but I have to take on more food (another bun) that goes down greedily where the others had to be forced down as I find I am hungry. I take extra drink from a friend (thanks Peter!) who whips a bottle out of his van as I wave an empty at him.

Steve Berry (San Fairy Ann)

250 miles (1:09:05) and the slowdown had been dramatic, I still had a few minutes over the 1 1/2 hours in hand (I thought) but it was that close I could not afford to ease up, I usually 'come around' a bit and have a final flourish but today I seem to have left it all my efforts on the DC, no matter what I do there is no style in my riding, it is rough, urgent and ugly, the timekeepers every mile come and go and I even catch a few riders but when the next 25 miles comes up (1:12:09) its a bit of a shock 275 and only just over 15 minutes to make my play. I have done the up wind side of the course through the HQ at Scoulton and thankfully the heat has gone and we are among trees. I  complete my third lap and go on to Hingham Green where Alan and Fiona are waiting, my time has come and gone, I'm sure I'm there and its good to get a provisional result a good half mile over. With Jeff Jones breaking Competition record with 305.691 the course will be re measured and officials will go over the data with a fine tooth comb, they may make some adjustments which will not affect the record but I could loose my 280 but for now its a Club Record and a PB, a good effort, quite an achievement and payback for last year. Nick English has moved on to 2nd with 290.095 and Steve Berry held on to beat me for third 284.604, I did not even win the Vets prize that went to Stan Maciac (Didcot Phoenix) 260.609 at 65 years (+74.219) Not wanting to overstate my case I'd put this as my best ride ever, I've won more prestigious races and performed better but today I achieved a dream and while I could have gone further I think I'm satisfied.

This ride puts Jeff Jones in the box seat for the BBAR and moves me up to 12th but I will need to improve my '100' to stay in position and Jeff could do with improving his as it all looks tight at the top with some very fast times done already.

Photos - Stephen Penney

Happy man - "What do yo mean I did'nt win the Vets prize"

Result Here

Read Jeff Jones account here

BBAR standing

Kent CA 12 Hour -

I've had to sit down and write some unedifying accounts of races in the last season and I'm dreading how to tackle this one bearing in mind, it did not go as planned or give me a satisfactory outcome beyond the fact that I finished and in doing so I now have a complete set of distances for this years BBAR. My distance 259.847 mile almost twenty miles short of my best and at least a mile per hour short of what I would have expected even in the worst outcome

Satisfaction is always going to be a comparative state so maybe I should wait a little longer to reflect or use some different criteria to judge my performance (this is what most people are suggesting when they console you on a bad ride), Did I overestimate my opportunity or the toughness of the challenge, there's always an element of this, when you are fit you might have a tendency to feel that it might be easy but it’s the result that matters. There is no doubt that I am in good condition, my recent ‘100’ prove that I am not far off my best but my result is not good enough to get me into the top echelon that I desire and that hurts
Breckland - Result that never was

There is also the fact that I was doing this event because the Breckland event was cancelled at 200m (8Hrs) and I have had to get used to the fact that my fitness and focus on that day had been ‘wasted’, ignoring all the reasons for this just extending my form for a few more weeks to ride another event with all the effort and time of another half day, not that I'd do anything different again given the opportunity - that's what it takes! But sitting here in the cold light with the result in my lap I am having difficulty seeing through to the sport, it all seems like some cruel joke at my expense

No matter that my distance would have won the event last year (six of the last ten years) on this tough and unremitting course down in the SE corner of the country.

Kent courses now that most DC roads are off limits bearing in mind the traffic levels in the South East are not known for their speed, you would say unfashionably slow, not since the 80's when Lloyd broke the '10' on the Q10/19 (A21)have they garnered national records, those have gone to the less populated regional roads. The Kent CA event has a reputation for being exposed and hilly being based around Romney Marshes and the hop growing area of inland roads from Tenderden to Ashford. I knew this and the results of recent years were similarly dauntingly slow but it was my only remaining opportunity and I had to make the best of it.
Brothers Alan and Phil had stepped up to the mark to be my helpers for the day and we went for a little ride to the HQ from our base in Headcorn to test the roads on a warm sunny Saturday evening. We were up at 4am it was cloudless but colder than of late and I hoped the wind would be less than of late. I'd ridden the team Swift '10' the previous weekend in unprecedented gales that saw me record a decent 21:30 on the new National Record course (17:56 by Hutch a month before) but even he only just scraped inside 30mph with 19:57 and my uneven splits of 9:04 (34mph) and 12:30 (24mph) tell the story of the day.
I was the fastest man in the field and as such all eyes were on me, but I was too concerned about, not getting lost on the initial route and settling down into a decent racing rhythm, I need not have worried about the course it was well signed and marshaled. Before the first hour was up I had some inkling that it was going to feel like a long twelve hours, the flat roads around the Marshes were exposed and the wind was getting up. I found myself fighting my way up the seafront at Camber Sands along the esplanade into a fierce Easterly which had me fighting to keep 'evens' when I should have been eking out my effort for the remains of the event, the first hour garnered 25 miles but it was obvious I could not sustain this attrition, I went through 50m in 2:4 (my Av. Sp. here already below the 200m mark in the Breckland event!) Two big laps inland followed and we could get away from the wind but this was replaced with a substantial amount of climbing on the rolling countryside, 100m came up in 4:14:40 and local Steve Berry (San Fairy Ann) was a clear leader in 4:4:43, there was a clutch of riders within a couple of minutes of my time Andy Sheppard 4:13:39 (GS Stella) Paul Holdsworth (Houndslow & Dist.) 4:14:56 local Andy Miles (VC Elan) 4:16:10 and Brian Walker (Swift) 4:19:25
The next 100 miles which should be a stabilising time of the race proved to be the most difficult, there were many agricultural vehicles, combine harvesters, balers and tractors, I had to nip around on the narrow and windy roads those less speedy sat behind on a fog of dust and straw. I caught Walker for 15 minutes at 150m there were two laps of the Woodchurch circuit with a steep climb and my bearing in my wheel exploded and I had to change onto my spare bike at 178m. Luckily I was close to my help but the bike felt awful to ride as you would expect after nearly 8 hours on one bike
All change - again!

There was a brief flat section with a crosswind but relief for me as I could settle myself down for a few minutes and get some rhythm into my racing but it was all too brief on these unremitting roads before it climbed up to Hamstreet and up again towards the finishing circuit. I could not continue on this bike as the saddle was giving me grief but the ‘boys’ had a puncture on the car and were temporarily delayed in getting to me so I had to continue on until they caught up, a second change and I had a bit of a sit down for a few minutes to take stock. I just needed it to be over and began to clock watch with more than three hours remaining; Berry caught my going as strongly ready to break the course record which has stood for fifteen years (Ian Silvester when the event was the National Championship)
Finished

My computer had not worked when transferred onto my spare so I had over 2 hours unaccounted for, but with the stops I cannot imagine how my distance could be more than 264 miles which would have been a disaster so to find that it was less than 260 was a blow to my moral and the death knell for this seasons BBAR. I could not have averaged more than evens for the last 4 hours on top of the 22.6mph up to my bike change where I was already 38 minutes behind my Breckland speed of 24.2mph, I have to go away and re evaluate my season but I do seem to have been plagued by incidents in nearly every event I have made a target for this season, this has left me bewildered and not a little depressed when I think of all the time and effort my team and I have put into getting it right o7ò



KCA 12 Hour Result Here

Excercise in suffering - Breckland '12'

After a decent seasons best in the Pennine '50' up on the A168/19 (Boroughbridge Dishforth - Knayton x 2) 1:50:38 I could feel my 'form' beginning to return, I suffered a bit in the last ten miles but I'd only got off the track at 10.30pm Friday so the early Sunday event just a bit too soon after two strenuous track events.
I had a week to recover before the seasons most difficult challenge the 12 Hour, I'd chosen the Breckland event in Norfolk purely for the fast roads and the chance to go for a big mileage as over 200 miles are on the A11 between Thetford forest and Browick just West of Norwich. I ignored the bad time I'd had here just a few weeks back in the National '100' and put faith in my preparation and race strategy, the week before had been almost total rest apart from a 'middling' 22 minute '10' on the Tuesday to test out the spare bike.
The team (Fiona, Adrian & I) met at the 'cruddy' Travelodge at Barton Mills where we would rest our heads for a few short hours before the early start, we still had time for a picnic with wine and a fresh brew on the idyllic banks of the River Lark with swarms of dragonfly and a couple of dwarf deer for company.



4.30am is an ungodly hour to think about racing but with rain as well the omens were not good, of course it had been showery all week but at least the wind seemed to have abated so we set off for the HQ at Scoulton in the dark. There's always a flurry of extra things to get ready for the 'half day' race, bike and spare, frame numbers, I cannot remember the last time I fitted one of these but at least we have 'zip' ties these days and not the old plastic covered wire that used to catch your leg, then we have to move it behind the saddle as it fouls the larger 750ml bottle in the reduced modern frame.

On the line - In the rain (Photo KLCC)

Feeding strategy is simple, only one bottle "So don't let me go dry, whatever!" but with a good team I can relie on we have done this 2 or 3 times now and I have confidence. Food is rolls with banana and Chocolate spread or Ham & chicken for later I go to the line with only gels and a energy bar I plan to take in mouthfuls from the first hour so that my system is always working and does not get supressed. It's only spitting but I have to be careful on the road as the first 10 miles on 'B' roads with potholes and a set of lights, gratings and white lines all there to trap the unwary and put an early spanner in the well oiled machine of performance, of course I don't need that. After working perfectly my computer fails to start at the beginning so I have to stop after half a mile and adjust my sensors, then the sensors clash for 5 miles until I cannot stand it any longer, I toy with the dilemma of doing this on the move but in the wet just a slip and I'm over or take a finger off in the front wheel, but I just cannot have the magnet 'ping' for twelve hours, it would send me mad, or break the spoke or sensor, or both the frustration is boiling my brain and I want to get on with the race, so I stop again! two stops in the first 10 mile, probably just a minute but it feels like disaster, it feels like failure is stalking me.

Dreamtime

I get out onto the quite roads of the A11 it's light and the rain is worse but not bad, I have passed 3 or 4 riders already, I settle myself down, calm myself, try and get thing going in my favour. There is little traffic, but a car is up an embankment and the driver being attended by the police. Was a rider involved? Keep going at a steady pace, I'm at an hour for 25m, the field do a loop of the whole DC course to 53 miles but then we cut short at Eccles road underpass and do a shorter 20m loop which means we will see each other (and helpers) more often. It is here on this communal spot to both circiuts that most helpers have gathered, 50m in 2 hours dead and I take a bottle, 75m slightly slower in 3:01:42 but the wind is getting up and it's harder going East and the splits will be uneven all day so I don't need to worry that I'm a bit inconsistent. 100m in 4:04:09 two minutes up on last year but I'm three minutes up on Brian Phillips (E Grinstead) and eight on Nicholas Engilsh (Reading CC) my 5 and 10 minute men, Phillips catches English ahead of me but then begins to fade, English one of the most improved riders of the year riding to a power meter is keeping his pace very even but has gone remarkably slow at the start and will hope to pick us off one at a time. Dave Green (RAF) the man with the best distance is my 5 minute man behind me and I have not been aware of him but suddenly he is an extra 5 or more minutes down and I am in the lead. Ian Sutton (San Fairy Ann) my 15 min man is very strong but drops away after 120m. We have a 20m haul into the wind as we change circuits at 135 miles and I have to concentrate to keep it together but I'm managing 1:02:30 for my splits, I catch Phillips during this phase and we acknowledge each other cheery but short, neither of us in any doubt that we are not here to chat but to suffer, every rider suffers, for his speed and to defie the race, the race is not broken yet and we must suffer a bit more that the race will come to heel and be broken but not yet, closer to the end. English pulls back a little every lap but then has to stop (comfort break!) and looses it all, Sutton I am about to catch at 175m when he too has to stop and next time I see him he is another 5 min down.

The traffic has got up allot, mostly cars going to 'car booters' or the Snetterton race circuit but once we move onto the Borowick loop it seems to ease of, and then in the distance the sound of sirens and the screech of police cars, could be anything but deep down you know it affects you, as I reach the Eccles road turn I see flashing lights and a rider in the road, I go around the turn a mere half a mile up the road none of the helpers seem aware what is going on, I take a bottle and back out onto the A11, I pass the several cars and a helecopter is low overhead and lands in a fields adjacent to the incident, I'm almost blown sideways and the hay from the newly harvested field is all around me, as I pass away from the scene I get down to my riding. 200m comes up in 8:18:10 a whole 12 minutes faster than last year! I've done so well over the middle section, I'm still above 24mph and a quick calculation in my head tells me I only need to keep 22mph for the remainder to make the magical 280 miles maybe even more. 200 miles is a watershed, more than two thirds gone and 3:40 to do the remainder, it's lifts me into the wind. Still allot to do but after my early faltering miles it feels like relief. When I get to the far turn a marshall steps into the road and waves his arms, I carry onto the overhead bridge, more marshall's in orange coats "Race is cancelled" and some helpers confirm it is all over. I literally turn the air blue with my language as it sinks in, the ride of my life has just come to an abrupt halt, and a lady helper puts her arm around me instinctively she knows what to do I know it's over, then I have to apologise, we all know it's over.

The 'Grindstone' (Photo KLCC)

I have a 10 mile trudge back to the helpers, the A11 is closed to all traffic but the rider is gone, everybody is in a state of panic and confusion but the over whelming sound in my head is silence "Who was the rider?" "Is he OK?" It wasn't supposed to be over and yet we are sitting, standing resting our weary bodies on our bikes gradually as the late afternoon sun dries the sweat on our skin into scales of salt I have to peel off my skin suit and remove my number in an acknowledgement that we will not be going on. We pack away and go back to the HQ, there is a bit of discussion but we don't know very much, the rider is young Will Dorsett and local from the North Norfolk Whs. he's been taken Norfolk & Norwich hospital, tea and cakes are plentifully and free but they stick in out throat, we would pay twice for the chance to finish what we have started, no rider climbs off without regret and bitter is the taste when over eight hours of toil is against the 'grindstone'

Adrian, Fiona & I are the last to leave the HQ (even the organiser had locked up and gone) I felt like waiting until 6.35 when I was due to finish and I would wake up and it would have all been a dream. But by that time we were on our way back to Leicester in silence, lost in our thoughts for the day and the injured rider. We all take risks to race on the public roads, to a non cyclist like Fiona it seems like madness to share with cars and worst lorries but we all do it and we do it because we have a desire to go fast, statistics put DC roads at no more dangerous than 'A' or 'B' roads it is the circumstances and the individuals that create the danger not the roads themselves. We all use the highways in the (calculated) knowledge that to enjoy our sport, indeed ride a bicycle then we need to be allowed to make the choice about the places and circumstances but protected from the individuals who would make it a foolhardy choice.
Young Will was battered by a car that got too close and was lucky, he has a broken arm/wrist and required surgery on his knee and took a beating from his collision & fall but looks to be pulling through, others have not (& will not) be as lucky and we all must be aware that it is a danger we all face.

Accident report here