My BB200 Black Badge (training) Thread.

[redefined_cycles]

I'm getting older, fatter and potentially uglier and definitely slower. I think I made a similar thread in the firdt year of attempting a BB200 and had the Peaks200 ITT as my main training plan. Next two years I didn't actually complete or didn't complete in the time limit.

So here I am, back at it but this time aiming for the black badge. I probably will get the black but will aim for 20H instead and that way alwasy in limits with a decent buffer [edited after the alpinum chap spoke ]. Always rings in my head the blurb for the advert of the ride which explains that only enter if you plan on working hard to push the limits and keep to times. Pootlers might wanna wait for the other various BB events.

So I'm gonna pop in my training plan here, but after the trainigs been completed. Though like with most things in this forum, it's not set in stone... Hope you enjoy but it'll be a gentle nudge (if I'm atill alive) for future events and what worked or didn't.

[lune ranger]

Stop less. Simple

[redefined_cycles]

1 I have the Santa Cruz waiting to be built but I'm going with the Bontrager saying (best bike for you is what you currently ride) and sticking with my Bruce the Pinnacle 3+. Today I suppose was the first training step. Needing some wallpaper paste I took the backpack and dropped the little monkey off at school. Then commenced a run at a target of 7 mins/mile tot he decorators merchants.

It was horrible and every time my legs couldn't go on I continued walking as fast as I could. Had the water bottle dangling so I'll have to grab myself summat to csrry water easier. Arrived home with 1.9 miles in the legs and feeling like jelly - all over, not just the legs. Then continued to sleep, eat pizza, shower and wallpaper the loving room. Can't remember which order but I do know my average was 11mins per mile.

More coming.. hopefully rides... watch this space!

Project wallpaper the living room - 2 months and counting


Yes Luke, that saying rings in my head all the time. But I love stopping so am gonna travel faster and need to ride up more hills than I'd usually attempt. Hence working on the lungs as I think the leg muscles might be up for it...

[rollindoughnut]

It's nice to see this thread. I'll be training for my first BB200 and yes I'll take it seriously and yes I'll be 'racing' to beat the clock. (I realised the futility of trying to beat my fellow man over the last decade of xc and cx racing).

Personally I respond really well to lots of hours in the saddle. I aim to just cruise around at an easy pace whether on or off-road but then as my fitness improves I find myself pushing harder because it feels good to. Tend to hit a sweetspot at around 12-15hrs a week.

My main anti-faff strategy is to carry lots of high carb snacks in handlebar feedbags. I find that when I'm in the peddly zone if it's any hassle at all to eat, I tend to put it off until later. I've taken to rehydrating meals with cold water too when I'm I this mood. Things like sweet and sour chicken with rice are actually quite nice after an hour of sloshing round in a backpack.

My main reason for doing this event is to give me the reason to get out the door for some big days out in preparation. I'm in my happy place when deep into an 10hr ride.

[whitestone]

1. Get used to long days in the saddle. Don't have to do this too often but you need to know what works and what doesn't
2. Be efficient
2.1 Stopped time is generally wasted and pulls down your average speed.
2.2 multi-task when you do stop - try and do things in parallel rather than in sequence for example.
3. Be energy efficient - if riding means "going into the red" then get off and walk.
4. Split the ride/route into sections and give yourself mini-targets. This could work against you if you fall behind schedule early on.
5. Eat. Lots

200km in 24hrs is 8.3km/h that's roughly 7m 15s per Km so if you stop for 5mins for whatever reason you are now 600m "behind" where you would have been. Do that every hour and you'd be 14km behind. Planning for a 4hr bivy stop means your average speed needs to be 10km/h and your 5min stops put you 20km behind.

[slarge]

Ride lots Shaf, but build the base fitness rather than try and crack out a 200km training ride. So aim to ride 5 days per week, and 20km each day. Then build that up and add a 50-70km ride once or twice per week. And build that up....
Try to aim for at least 10 hours per week.

Plus also build in some stretching (pilates), and maybe some strength work (3 minutes of squats, planks, press ups etc each day).

What you're looking to do is perfectly possible, it just needs some consistency in training. Also, as a side note- make sure your riding time is spent pushing yourself, not just ambling along. I see lots of people "training", but in reality they're just turning the pedals. That doesn't mean you have to sprint everywhere, but aim to have worked up a sweat by the time you finish.

And get used to not stopping. Every 3 minutes you stop is another 1km you haven't done.......

[riderdown]

And get used to not stopping

So no training on the Mary Townley Loop

[Bearbonesnorm]

Yep, I think for you Shaf' not stopping is key. Maybe don't give yourself any excuse to stop - don't carry a camera, carry kit that means sleep won't be a comfortable proposition, etc.

I'd also say, don't give yourself options aside from carrying on. In those dark times, any thought of quitting can quickly escalate if you know there's a station close by, someone will come for you or you've worked out a quick road option back. When carrying on seems to be the only option, then that's most likely what you'll do.

[redefined_cycles]

Thanks for that training advise/input Steve/Bob. Yes, I do a lot of pootling and hate the 'hurty' type training. 5 days a week is a golden advice thanks.

Bob on your 5 points:

1. I've just about managed to sort a pressure sore I got from my 200 miler to London cos I'd not given it time to heal from previous ride.
2. I've setup my Wahoo already to show average total pace in the corner. That (almost) helped me to ensure I'm stopping less than 3 minutes every 10 miles - but that was a road ride and I'd put the actual stopping time as the display on that ride, which I think I'll do again.

Yes, faff time I've been working on for a while now and it's where I mess myself and my plan up. Bunching things up to do everything at once also managed to get that inspiration/advice from many on here previously and will keep working at it.

3. Energy efficiency - reminder to self, reminder to self - I'm thinking about using my HRM for this one which I usually leave behind on big pacing rides. That should help as it's really accurate and takes the guessing out of when you can't string together and 8 word sentence.

4. Yes, yes... I usually have the remainder distance of full loop displayed. Partly to work on my mental strength as I know it's a hard nut to crack (mental strength) but recently I've realised this is probably what's also doing me in and helping me get to that point of 'lemme just sit down' much earlier. I've just loaded the LEL route into my Wahoo for the next ride to London - Uigher demonstration to the Chinese govt stop abusing this minority ethnic group, trying to cleanse Islam out of them, hopefully others off here might attend and I'll try and put a thread out - and have noticed how it's all bitesized chunks. Looking forward to that and will take a lesson!!

5. Eating lots - this is where I really struggle as I reckon my mild lactose intolerance has been causing me lots of issues on long rides - need to figure this out quickly but have been working on it for the last 3 years

Right then... best had get out and do a ride

[redefined_cycles]

Oh... Yes, Stu. I forgot to mention the phone/camera. Yes, my training plan is already involving taking zero to 1 pics. It's probably my biggest loss of time, taking pics. Frigging gorgeous scenery, always gets in the way of a good time 'dun't it'...

[rollindoughnut]

I rode the YD300 last February with a mate over 3 days. I was really struggling mentally with the scale of it on the first day until at a lunch break he pulled out a printed map with elevation profile. From then on we chunked up the route; big climb then descent into village etc, and I started enjoying myself more. I think It'd be smart to laminate and stick a route profile to my handlebars.

[Karl]

To complete under 24 hours I think the following is really important:

Do not stop to sleep.

Do not take a stove and do any cooking/heating of water.

Do not overthink.

Keep moving forward however you can - walking is fine.

Training for the above is more about being efficient than physically fit.

[faustus]

I'll be keeping an eye/interest in this...it's my first BB event and I haven't got much in the way of goals besides enjoying riding, enjoying being back in Wales, and finishing. I'm pleased with the fact it's helped to focus my mind on some decent length local rides and booking things in which I keep putting off, having something to aim for. I need to ride more and improve fitness and stamina - but I know that'll come with riding more, and also making sure i'm not pootling too much, which I can deal with.

You've had a wealth of decent advise from the seasoned pro's already, but one other thing to think about is conditioning yourself to the type of ride/environmental conditions. For all of the training time you might do, it's worth trying to be in the hills and away from services more, riding an mtb with some gear on it (if not fully loaded). Otherwise I can foresee it being dispiriting to feel like a big chunk of training on road/elsewhere hasn't prepared your mind for slogging it over moorland and such like, with only the hope of some Spar burger bite crisps at the end of it!

Good luck!

[Dave Barter]

To complete under 24 hours I think the following is really important:

Do not stop to sleep.

Do not take a stove and do any cooking/heating of water.

Do not overthink.

Keep moving forward however you can - walking is fine.

Training for the above is more about being efficient than physically fit.

This is great advice. I'd add:-

Sort out your lighting, you will be in the dark a lot

Dial back your super hero riding. No point going for KoMs or shredding the gnar

[redefined_cycles]

Thanks Dave. Yes, sorted with lights (Exposure TORO upfront with a spare Nitecore type light with 1200 lumens to play with) and I'll have two for the back.

Super-hero riding Dave. What's that I have up on Strava times a while ago and now only concentrate really on a 70 mile segment I created to Derby

[Alpinum]

[...] I probably won't but I'll try.[...]

Change this to; I probably will.

With help of all the fantastic suggestions prior, there's nothing to stop you from doing what you dream of, except yourself. Make sure your heart and mind are in the right spot.

Believe in yourself Shaf.

[fatbikephil]

Do loads of really hard bike rides. To be more scientific about it, do loads of really hard bike rides in the 4-5hr range. Put yourself in tricky situations (boggy / tussocky / dark / raining) so you get used to them. A few longer rides to sort bike comfort out but over 200k that's less important as you have all of the next day to recover.

'Eating a lot' sounds easy - it's not. I still get surprised at how my appetite can disappear despite being out for hours. So my training tip is to train your self to eat lots of food whilst out on your bike.

The not stopping thing is good but sometimes putting in a good stop to eat proper food can do wonders for recovery and energy levels and within scope for a 200 in 24 hrs. I did this on the YD200 in 2017 after riding too fast and blowing up (again) and it worked wonders. My ideal 200k ITT was the YD200 in 2018 - Co-op for brunch, a large afternoon feed courtesy of the deli / shop in Clapham and then a Co-op high tea. All I needed to carry were snacks and the three stops were short but I ate a lot. If I have to carry all my food for a long day I always seem to end up chucking most of it as I can't eat it. Maybe my body just likes to stop and eat food that hasn't been pulverised in a bike bag.... Actually this is a good reason to pack a stove and a dried meal. The stopped time isn't that bad and you have a bit of pause and reflect followed by a hot meal - gold dust for recovery and well being.

On ride tips - aside from stopping for food, don't stop. I've seen a few vids of people going through a really tricky section on a route and it looks like they spend more time stopped than moving, stressing about the trail and wondering how to proceed, faffing with kit and generally trying to avoid doing what needs to be done. Just keep moving, no matter how slowly. Accept there will be a section of tussock and bog infested death march and when you get to it just bash on through - save the moaning until afterwards. The good thing about the BB200 is that the really horrible bits will be in thick cloud and rain so there won't be a view to distract you....
If you are feeling wrecked, push every hill - you are still moving but it's easier and you get bonus butt and hand recovery. Also good for easing sore knees. In fact ride singlespeed!
Have fun wherever you can - hooning a descent might seem a bit dodgy in terms of potentially smashing yourself or bike up but the resulting adrenaline kick really helps with recovery. Stu is bound to put a sickening amount of climbing into the route but remember this equals a huge amount of descending - let rip!

Final ride tip - don't try to keep up with Steve Large (or other faster person) as he's much faster than you and beating him at the YD300 was a fluke....

[lune ranger]

No super hero riding… Keep going forward, even if it’s walking - this is me. Two BB200 and two Black Badges and I walked up most steep hills from pretty early on for both.

I like the matches analogy for endurance events.
ie. You start the ride with your energy reserves represented by a box of matches - each time you go into the red zone you burn a match. The idea is to end the ride before you burn all your matches. In other worded try to stay within yourself.

Do you need a HRM for this? Probably not. You should know if you are pushing too hard without knowing your HR is 160 bpm or whatever the watch says it is.

[whitestone]

I wouldn’t bother with a HRM due to HR drift. The pace you need to ride at is the one that you can still hold a conversation. There maybe a few short climbs that catch you out but in general if you can talk (even to yourself ) then it’s right.

Maybe use a HRM to actually figure out what that pace is and what it feels like.

Go and do your North Peak 100 again, 9 hours or so on that is probably about right to be comfortably inside 24hrs on the BB200. I’d check with Karl though.

Not eating enough is likely down to not drinking enough as you need fluids to help digest things

[redefined_cycles]

[...] I probably won't but I'll try.[...]

Change this to; I probably will.

With help of all the fantastic suggestions prior, there's nothing to stop you from doing what you dream of, except yourself. Make sure your heart and mind are in the right spot.

Believe in yourself Shaf.

Yes. Sorry. That was me meaning (in my head) that I'm gonna aim to overachieve and that way I'll definitely not keep Stu and Dee waiting til the end, just scraping a green badge. Not too desperate for it to be fair but would be nice not being the last person on the field

But... but... since you've spoken from all the way in the high alps. I'm gonna change the mindset slightly and definitely aim for a 20h badge. I'm positive about being able to do it, just don't like the pain it takea to get me there...

Edited and changed

[Bearbonesnorm]

just don't like the pain it takea to get me there...

Don't fear the pain and discomfort Shaf. Embrace it, savour it and use it to your advantage.

[voodoo_simon]

Just looking back at a recent short ride to give some figures
Total time 1 hr 59 (18.5km/h)
Ride time 1 hr 49 (20.5km/hr)

So that cost ~2KM an hour if my basic maths aligns or roughly 48km in a 24 hour space*

*im sure someone will point out some flawed logic on the above but as a rough guide…

[redefined_cycles]

Anyway... On an aside note, I've ordered some Travis Prings in boost flavour. Should help me embrace the pain a little easier

[redefined_cycles]

2 - The self-weight management bit
Weighed myself after emptying myself at noon. Then attempted to pop the medium Endura Singetracks on which were somewhat tight. So popped the L versions on and after taking little un for some chocs I nicked of his yesterday I'll go out for a big ride.

Bike ready with cooking kit, sleeping kit, lights and lots of water on my back. Aiming a 35 miler-ish but to mainly make a loop that can be repeated weekly to see where progress is being made...

Weight:
5th July 85.4kg
6th July - after yesterdays full out effort on 25 miles - 84.5kg
7th July - after yesterdays eating lots - 85.2kg so hopefully still on a downward trend. Target tomorrow being sub 85kg
10th July - 84.7kg after being in the 'eid weekend'. Happy with that and InshaAllah a ride this eve towards Bronte country...
12th July - 85.7kg. Rode in a calorie deficit state yesterday but without being uncomfrtable and eating just about enough. It was fine as the ride was short enough, but... Ended up overdoing it towards the end of the ride, then the drive home with some cashews and also a full meal upon arrival home! Message to self

[Asposium]

My thoughts on a badge.
Some overkill, some not.

As mentioned, moving average speed
200km divided by 24hrs equals 8.33kph

I have used 10 in the past for a bit of safety margin.
On one’s GPS turn off auto pause
Start at 8am; makes the finish time easy to figure.

Have an idea where will get on-route food and water.
If one passes a tap fill up

Don’t take anything unnecessary.

This is personal to me….
Two GPS (I broke a GPS in 2018, carried on with the backup. Bertie’s GPS was playing silly sods as wet. Not sure his outcome)
Two main lights plus spare batteries (I use lupine lights which are very modular, can move parts around as needed)
So there is double redundancy.

Having a got a blue badge a few years back, let’s not mention that, tubeless tyres.
Add extra sealant.

Remove all opportunities to faff.

Don’t “stop” at shops or cafes.
Grab food / liquid and go.
Eat and drink on the move.

Check the weather forecast before and take clothes accordingly.

Have boots you can walk in; there will be hike a bike and wet feet.

Work on mental strength
Most people here can ride 200km
It is a challenge at 3am in the cold and rain.

If it helps take AirPods (or similar)

Phone in flight mode and put away, unless using for music.

As mentioned, take the essentials, that would make stopping unappealing; the minimum for the rules would not make for a pleasant nights sleep, so might as well keep going.

Don’t make excuses.
Mental attitude again.
Don’t overthink or over analyse.

Check and retrace the route.