What are people's plans for the BB200 this weekend?
Ride through or stop and sleep? Slow and steady or going for a record time?
I'm trying to decide how to ride it so thought I'd see what the general consensus is. (That and we obviously don't have enough bb200 threads already )

Survive.

Still recovering from a really nasty crash at Bikepark Wales so I really just want to finish. I wont be stopping though... have next to no chance of sleeping even if I do.

So yeah, finish in one shot, or don't finish at all for me.

Strategy?

Right now I'll be happy to make it to the start line and if a manage that then I can start worrying about the whole finishing part.

Last Saturday I pulled a muscle in my neck. No worries, plenty of time to recover and so I took some insane painkillers I had left over from a wisdom tooth incident and rested.

The neck is now all better but I've got (almost every) side-effects from the medication.

I've not 'passed stool' for 3 days, I get dizzy standing up, I'm constantly tired, no appetite and I've got a headache and nausea - WIN!!!

On the plus side I've lost some weight so there will be less of me to drag around Wales.

I've got 48 hours to feel normal so that i can convince Mrs Gairy that participating in this isn't the world's dumbest idea so, with a little luck, I'll see you Saturday morning.....

I am currently torn between bashing the whole thing out in one go and getting another black badge, or taking my time and taking lots of photos and coming in between 28 and 32 hours to get a green, thus creating a full set of badges.

Oh, there's a green badge? 32 hours might be my new target then. Otherwise, I've paid for 36 and want value for money....

Getting round. Hopefully without stopping as it will be a miserable cold night without decent comfort kit.

All of the following would be fine with me (in descending order of likelihood):
Finish.
Finish in one.
Get a blue badge.

My strategy will be to push a pace I'm comfortable with and avoid any lung- or muscle-busting effort as far as possible. It looks like this is going to be all about the second half.

I'm not great at doing without sleep. What stimulants will everyone be using in the small hours?

Badges!? Do we get to sew them on our bags like real bikepackers

I know roughly how long I can go before the sleepmonsters get hold of me so I'll see where I am then. If I'm reasonably close to the end then I'll push on otherwise there'll be some form of sleep attempted.

I'm not overly familiar with the area we'll be riding through: there's the bit between Llangurig and Staylittle that we did when getting to Bearstock and a couple of small bits around Bwlch y Sarnau and Trefwglwys that I did on the winter event and that's it so I don't have that solid an idea of how quickly or otherwise I'll be moving apart from the info that the outward bit as far as Knighton is quicker.

Whether you finish or not can be decided before you ever set off ... 'Overthinking' it might not be a good thing.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Whether you finish or not can be decided before you ever set off ... 'Overthinking' it might not be a good thing.

Agree Stuart. As Greg very wisely pointed out to me when I was overthinking stuff before the HT550 - It's easy to forget that its just riding bikes. nothing more.

My strategy will be the same as always. Set off and ride at an effort that feels like it will be sustainable for the duration of the ride and continue until the end, stopping briefly as needed! No intention to sound flippant there, but that's my approach.

My strategy will be the same as always. Set off and ride at an effort that feels like it will be sustainable for the duration of the ride and continue until the end, stopping briefly as needed! No intention to sound flippant there, but that's my approach.

In my opinion, a very wise one. Too much planning only adds additional stress which will eat away at you should something not go as expected / hoped.

Bearbonesnorm wrote:Whether you finish or not can be decided before you ever set off ... 'Overthinking' it might not be a good thing.

I'd echo that.

Plans are great when they work, but when things happen that you dont expect (and they will) things can start to fall apart. Best just to wing it with a bit of preparation


One thing I would say, is that its a fairly bold decision to set off carrying minimal equipment planning to go straight through.
I'd ask myself if its worth taking marginal kit in order to save 4-500 grams vs having a more comfortable night if I have to stop due to sleep/mechanical?

It may seem like a good idea now sat in front of the fire with a mug of tea, but it may be a different experience at 4am, crossing boggy moorland when temps are hovering above zero

ianfitz wrote: Agree Stuart. As Greg very wisely pointed out to me when I was overthinking stuff before the HT550 - It's easy to forget that its just riding bikes. nothing more. .

Words of wisdom them.

Oh, I'm definitely taking enough kit to be comfortable

As Ian says I'll be riding along at my own pace, whether that's quicker or slower than others who set off around the same time as myself is immaterial, I know what effort I can maintain over a long period of time. If I go quicker than that "trying to keep up with someone" then sooner or later the elastic snaps. There will be a stop or two along the way, these may or may not coincide with purveyors of food.

My strategy is to get to the start on time, the rest will be downhill from there

Apart from that i'd be happy to complete the course within 36hrs, although a blue badge would be nice to add to my green..

GregMay wrote:

ianfitz wrote: Agree Stuart. As Greg very wisely pointed out to me when I was overthinking stuff before the HT550 - It's easy to forget that its just riding bikes. nothing more. .

Words of wisdom them.

Well I did say

I am taking the stuff necessary to stop(a), and the stuff necessary to ride straight-through(b)

what I do on the day will depend what I can be arsed doing

have a few ideas for possible camp locations.

hoping to find a Chinese take-away.


---
(a) a sleeping bag suited to the conditions rather than the summer "box ticker", sleeping mat etc
(b) spare battery for the helmet light

If people are planning to cycle through the night, please learn from my experience last year and take a backup light. Cycling the last 60km with an iPhone sellotaped to my bars illuminating the way was NOT fun!

I carry three lights. feck messing around running out of light.

rich.mike wrote:If people are planning to cycle through the night, please learn from my experience last year and take a backup light. Cycling the last 60km with an iPhone sellotaped to my bars illuminating the way was NOT fun!

That is both amusing and impressive! How on earth did your battery last that long? And why were you carrying sellotape?

rich.mike wrote:If people are planning to cycle through the night, please learn from my experience last year and take a backup light. Cycling the last 60km with an iPhone sellotaped to my bars illuminating the way was NOT fun!

Got the spare lights:

benp1 wrote:

rich.mike wrote:If people are planning to cycle through the night, please learn from my experience last year and take a backup light. Cycling the last 60km with an iPhone sellotaped to my bars illuminating the way was NOT fun!

That is both amusing and impressive! How on earth did your battery last that long? And why were you carrying sellotape?

The light barely used any power, dropping about 5% an hour or so. Always keep tape wrapped around my pump, it comes in handy during cycle tours and times like this!

Yeah back up lights are critical.Front and rear!

I'll have the other half's hope R8 plus a 600 lumen helmet light for night riding with two spare 18650 batteries. If the hope fails I should still be able to fumble through with the helmet light and vice versa. Two rear red lights too.

Theres a lot of weight in batteries but, for me, it's necessary safety kit.

rich.mike wrote:

benp1 wrote:

rich.mike wrote:If people are planning to cycle through the night, please learn from my experience last year and take a backup light. Cycling the last 60km with an iPhone sellotaped to my bars illuminating the way was NOT fun!

That is both amusing and impressive! How on earth did your battery last that long? And why were you carrying sellotape?

The light barely used any power, dropping about 5% an hour or so. Always keep tape wrapped around my pump, it comes in handy during cycle tours and times like this!

I run 2 lights (and usually have a headtorch separately) so I'd like to think I'd be fine, but I'm very impressed it used so little power. Phone LEDs are pretty strong (if very floody with no real throw)

I carry duct tape but would be upset if I have to tape it to my bars, good thinking though

A Revo on a dynamo, a Diablo to supplement that on off road climbs where needed (it will last for 24 hours).

It's worth taking some duct tape wrapped round it's self as you never know when you might need it.