Well, I think I've given it enough time to comment without getting emotional! I enjoyed the route for most of it. I was finding it far too enjoyable, and was getting increasingly fearful of the end. The first two ups and downs after Dylife were OK, good, lets do some trudging, but thanks to a bit of a mis-estimating of the distance remaining I got really rather grumpy in the remaining bit of 'field time'. I didn't quite go full Barter but I'd like to apologise to Emily, AK and Phil for the swearing.

Very happy with my black badge, although up until about this morning I would gladly have swapped it for taking the road from the finish.....

Huge thanks to our hosts for the organisation, the tea and bacon and 96.1% of the route!

Re: BB200 Route.
Unread postby stucowp » Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:21 pm
"I just filled my dry bag with paper to make it look full! "

That's funny

notinabox wrote:Re: BB200 Route.
Unread postby stucowp » Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:21 pm
"I just filled my dry bag with paper to make it look full! "

That's funny

It is funny but actually Cuban fibre equipment and lightweight kit is probably lighter than balled up paper

ianfitz wrote:

notinabox wrote:Re: BB200 Route.
Unread postby stucowp » Mon Oct 10, 2016 7:21 pm
"I just filled my dry bag with paper to make it look full! "

That's funny

It is funny but actually Cuban fibre equipment and lightweight kit is probably lighter than balled up paper

In fact very true. Wood is heavy, usually.

Still funny though

Richard G wrote:I forgot to say, because I was so close to the end, I thought "balls to it" and went through the river at Hafren rather than over the bridge.

I went over the bridge not realising there was a river crossing. When I got round to the crossing about 40m later I thought "ah, looks nice, I'll just have a roll through and back in the spirit of things."

Didn't notice the ridged bare rock under the water. That did NOT mix well with CX tyres. Fell off going in both directions. Absolutely drenched.

In Reverse wrote:

Richard G wrote:I forgot to say, because I was so close to the end, I thought "balls to it" and went through the river at Hafren rather than over the bridge.

I went over the bridge not realising there was a river crossing. When I got round to the crossing about 40m later I thought "ah, looks nice, I'll just have a roll through and back in the spirit of things."

Didn't notice the ridged bare rock under the water. That did NOT mix well with CX tyres. Fell off going in both directions. Absolutely drenched.

Sorry shouldn't laugh!!! But, in both directions you fell off? Now that's true BB spirit riding! I salute you!

^^

Yes, I had a wobble going through the river, momentum saved me from an early bath.

stucowp wrote:Only joking I had a blizzard bag and rab vapour rise alpine jacket in the wildcat saddle bag, arm warmers, knee warmers, silk gloves, buff and Crikey, how much's insulated brevet gilet in the backpack and rear jersey pockets. Just enough to survive an overnighter outdoors if needed.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:

I know this has been asked before, but what does a SOL emergency bivi thing count as? Can it be a bivi, a sleeping bag, neither or both?

Counts as a bivvy as it has contains no insulation.

Mandatory Kit:
Each rider is required to carry the following items - anyone not doing so, will be sent to sit on the naughty step for a very long time.
• Sleeping bag.
• Shelter - this could be a bivvy bag or a tarp or a tent.
• Front and rear lights - it really is in your interest to make sure they’re up to the task.
• Mobile phone.
• A sense of humour and perspective. They don’t weigh much and will be particularly useful if you want to stay below the type 2 / type 3 fun threshold.

Are we going to have to refer this one to the umpire?

ScotRoutes wrote:

stucowp wrote:Only joking I had a blizzard bag and rab vapour rise alpine jacket in the wildcat saddle bag, arm warmers, knee warmers, silk gloves, buff and Crikey, how much's insulated brevet gilet in the backpack and rear jersey pockets. Just enough to survive an overnighter outdoors if needed.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:

I know this has been asked before, but what does a SOL emergency bivi thing count as? Can it be a bivi, a sleeping bag, neither or both?

Counts as a bivvy as it has contains no insulation.

Mandatory Kit:
Each rider is required to carry the following items - anyone not doing so, will be sent to sit on the naughty step for a very long time.
• Sleeping bag.
• Shelter - this could be a bivvy bag or a tarp or a tent.
• Front and rear lights - it really is in your interest to make sure they’re up to the task.
• Mobile phone.
• A sense of humour and perspective. They don’t weigh much and will be particularly useful if you want to stay below the type 2 / type 3 fun threshold.

Are we going to have to refer this one to the umpire?

Ooh see ya thinking, I think?

Blizzard bag and SOL bag are different things though I would like to see him pack an "opened" Blizzard bag into the dry bag he had.

whitestone wrote:Blizzard bag and SOL bag are different things though I would like to see him pack an "opened" Blizzard bag into the dry bag he had.

No handy portable vacuum cleaner then?

ScotRoutes wrote:

whitestone wrote:Blizzard bag and SOL bag are different things though I would like to see him pack an "opened" Blizzard bag into the dry bag he had.

No handy portable vacuum cleaner then?

I explained recently to a young fell runner what they were and that blizzard bags are the same size as a video cassette. A what? Says he. Doesn't seem that long ago either...

ianfitz wrote:

ScotRoutes wrote:

whitestone wrote:Blizzard bag and SOL bag are different things though I would like to see him pack an "opened" Blizzard bag into the dry bag he had.

No handy portable vacuum cleaner then?

I explained recently to a young fell runner what they were and that blizzard bags are the same size as a video cassette. A what? Says he. Doesn't seem that long ago either...

Slightly OT. I had a customer in with a mini disc plated in his car! !!! With a collection of MDiscs !!

notinabox wrote:

ianfitz wrote:

ScotRoutes wrote:

whitestone wrote:Blizzard bag and SOL bag are different things though I would like to see him pack an "opened" Blizzard bag into the dry bag he had.

No handy portable vacuum cleaner then?

I explained recently to a young fell runner what they were and that blizzard bags are the same size as a video cassette. A what? Says he. Doesn't seem that long ago either...

Slightly OT. I had a customer in with a mini disc plated in his car! !!! With a collection of MDiscs !!

A very under rated format

Yes disqualify him and upgrade my badge to black, as I deserve it for not speaking Russian.

ScotRoutes wrote:

stucowp wrote:Only joking I had a blizzard bag and rab vapour rise alpine jacket in the wildcat saddle bag, arm warmers, knee warmers, silk gloves, buff and Crikey, how much's insulated brevet gilet in the backpack and rear jersey pockets. Just enough to survive an overnighter outdoors if needed.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:

I know this has been asked before, but what does a SOL emergency bivi thing count as? Can it be a bivi, a sleeping bag, neither or both?

Counts as a bivvy as it has contains no insulation.

Mandatory Kit:
Each rider is required to carry the following items - anyone not doing so, will be sent to sit on the naughty step for a very long time.
• Sleeping bag.
• Shelter - this could be a bivvy bag or a tarp or a tent.
• Front and rear lights - it really is in your interest to make sure they’re up to the task.
• Mobile phone.
• A sense of humour and perspective. They don’t weigh much and will be particularly useful if you want to stay below the type 2 / type 3 fun threshold.

Are we going to have to refer this one to the umpire?

What's the slowest possible full completion?

I didn't do it but fancy doing it one day. Problem is I like the bivying/camping as much as the riding

What's the slowest possible full completion?

36 hours BUT it's not really about that, it's about completing it in the fastest possible time ... however, no reason why you couldn't get your head down for 6 hours or so and complete it well below that. I really don't encourage anyone to take as long as possible over it.

Ben, I stopped for around 5 hours and could have stopped earlier too. In some respects I wish I had as there would have been more opportunity to see an area of the world I'm not familiar with.

You'd easily be fit enough to get around in plenty of time Ben, even with a nice relaxed stop.

+1 to what Richard says. I was riding with him for quite a bit of Saturday at a pace where we could chat and we were both well under 20hrs. He left the cafe at Bwlch y Sarnau about 10mins before me but I did a bit of extra riding/pushing on the last bit so he finished about an hour ahead.

I've never ridden that far in one go, nor have I tested myself with riding in that style (I like stops!)

You guys have pretty much convinced me though, plus the fact that I really feel I'm missing out with all the BB200 discussion

Wouldn't have gone down well this year as I'm away a couple of times at the moment, but I think I'll throw my hat in the ring next year. Thanks

It's all about smart pacing really. If you go out for the first 5 hours at 90% max heart rate or something then you're going to blow yourself to pieces and make the rest of your ride very miserable. As Bob says, we were able to chat on most of the bits we were together which meant we were both working at a very sustainable pace.

That said, working at less than your max on some of the hills can suck (because at times it means pushing terrain that you know you could normally ride)... but that's all part of the game. Also, if you need little breaks here and there then you just accept that's how you ride and build it in. I'm sure it gives you something to look forward to if nothing else. :)

benp1 wrote:I've never ridden that far in one go, nor have I tested myself with riding in that style (I like stops!)

You guys have pretty much convinced me though, plus the fact that I really feel I'm missing out with all the BB200 discussion

Wouldn't have gone down well this year as I'm away a couple of times at the moment, but I think I'll throw my hat in the ring next year. Thanks

The idea is to test yourself so there's always the possibility of being out of your comfort zone but preferably not in type 3 territory I don't know how many rode through in one but there were a lot of sub 24hr finishers, bivvying and getting under 24hrs is definitely good going.

Edit: I think the "start when you want between 8 & 10" is good as you don't fall in to the trap of thinking you've got to keep up with the fast crowd, you can set off at your own pace and settle into things. The first steep hill this year was an effort but it was short and you knew from the profile that you'd then got 20Km or so of easy going, even so I wouldn't have wanted to be in a group on it.

Think of it as a personal reliability trial

whitestone wrote:Blizzard bag and SOL bag are different things though I would like to see him pack an "opened" Blizzard bag into the dry bag he had.

The blizzard bag is opened Bob I used it on the htr ,one of my fundamental errors as I used as a bivvy bag with the cumulus 150 this year. It's now strapped shut and is bloody huge also very warm I've slept in it on the fells with nothing else so know what it can handle, plus I had a foil blanket as well ,bloody hell how hot do you want to be! ;-)

So I have itchy legs from a Gorse bush incident.

Do not Google "Gorse bush rash"