# 24 hour road cycle events



## rich87 (10 Mar 2011)

Hi All,

I'm preparing for completing a 50-60 hour JOGLE ride at the end of May.

I'd like to complete a couple of 24 hour rides before then - does anyone know of any organised 24 hour road cycle events that take place?

I live down in Kent, so it would preferrably be in that area as budget is limited for travelling. I've heard of a 24 hour race doing laps of Brands Hatch, but really would prefer to avoid this as I don't think doing repetitive laps of only a few miles will add much value.

Any others that anyone knows of?

Cheers,

Rich


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## ColinJ (10 Mar 2011)

This one?


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## Big T (10 Mar 2011)

rich87 said:


> Hi All,
> 
> I'm preparing for completing a 50-60 hour JOGLE ride at the end of May.
> 
> ...



24 hour time trials tend to take place later in the year - around June/July time, so won't be of any use to you. 

You could try doing a 400km or 600km audax ride. These take place on the roads and you ride a set route within a certain time limit. Check out www.audax.uk.net and look at the Calendar. Look for the longest events. You won't find many longer than 200km yet, but there'll be more longer rides over the next couple of months, as people need to qualify for Paris-Brest-Paris. You should find some fairly local to you.


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## zigzag (10 Mar 2011)

organised 24-hr tt rides will be too late in the year for you. i could advise you to do as many hilly and long audaxes as you can and you should aim to "win" them as well. try to join one of easter arrow teams for a ride to york (~400km). do lots of interval training and eat appropriate food.


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## frank9755 (10 Mar 2011)

Good advice from others ^

There are two 24-hour TTs - the Sussex one in late June and a Mersey one at the end of July - so no good to you. 

The first 600km audax in the calendar is the middle weekend in May - the Bryan Chapman. That would be a great training ride (two lengths of Wales in a weekend) and might just work as it would give you two weeks' recovery time afterwards. However, it's in Wales and entry may be closed - check on the AUK site. There are a few 400km ones on the last couple of weekends of April. Otherwise, you could pick some shorter events and ride out to them to get the time / distance up. 

It's definitely worth having some night rides under your belt so (if you are not already) you feel more used to what is, to begin with, quite a strange thing to do.


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## frank9755 (10 Mar 2011)

rich87 said:


> ... budget is limited for travelling....



There's one way to get round that!


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## ColinJ (10 Mar 2011)

Plot yourself 5 nice 72 mile loops from home and ride them in all in a single day? 

You could organise 5 CycleChat forum rides back-to-back; that would be a first! Forum members could choose to join you for 1, 2, 3, 4 or all 5 of them. Make sure you mention that you will be aiming to average 15 mph though!


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## rich87 (10 Mar 2011)

i like the idea of the five 72 mile loops. had a look through the audax website and slightly tempted by the man of kent 200km ride at the end of the month. The only thing with these though, is that i have a terrible sense of direction and would probably end up lost (luckily i won't have to think about directions too for the JOGLE with the support crew on navigation duty).

The audax's on offer with no marshalls or route markers just make me think i may as well just do my own route when i want without having to pay the entry fee.

Are there many of the CycleChat folk down in Kent/ around the Tonbridge area? Would be cool to organise the 5 loop challenge if there is some interest....

I have a 20.65 mile high intensity training loop which i use for weekday evening rides which could be used for one of the loops in more of a time trial format. Brought my pb down twice this week for this loop (the old pb has stood since last summer) so i challenge anyone to be me on it if you're available one evening....?!

Rich


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## ColinJ (10 Mar 2011)

rich87 said:


> i like the idea of the five 72 mile loops. had a look through the audax website and slightly tempted by the man of kent 200km ride at the end of the month. The only thing with these though, is that *i have a terrible sense of direction and would probably end up lost* (luckily i won't have to think about directions too for the JOGLE with the support crew on navigation duty).


GPS is your friend!

Join the ever-growing list of CycleChat riders who have bought one after reading my posts on the subject (do an advanced forum search, author: ColinJ, word: Garmin AND Etrex, display results as posts).


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## Brahan (10 Mar 2011)

http://sussexca.org.uk/index.php?op...id=256f87780c7f41cbc4501ff26238fedc&Itemid=64


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## rich87 (10 Mar 2011)

Brahan said:


> http://sussexca.org....8fedc&Itemid=64



The JOGLE ride is due to take place on the weekend of 28th May - I don't anticipate cycling for a good few weeks after this so that 24hr ride is going to come a bit too late I'm afraid!

Re. the gps systems - way out of my budget unfortunately, unless anyone knows of potential sponsors who might want to get involved in my JOGLE ride? had very little success on this front so far!


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## ColinJ (10 Mar 2011)

rich87 said:


> Re. the gps systems - way out of my budget unfortunately, unless anyone knows of potential sponsors who might want to get involved in my JOGLE ride? had very little success on this front so far!


It could be cheaper than you think. if you shop around, you can get a Garmin Etrex H, the bar mount. and interface cable for under £100. You'd need batteries too. 2 high capacity AA NiMH rechargeables would last about 24 hours. You can plot the routes free online somewhere like Bikely and upload the routes using free software.


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## frank9755 (10 Mar 2011)

rich87 said:


> The audax's on offer with no marshalls or route markers just make me think i may as well just do my own route when i want without having to pay the entry fee.
> Rich



The benefit is having others to ride with - and help to navigate. Doing very long rides on your own the whole way can be tough mentally. On most audaxes you will find a few fast and experienced long-distance riders who will set a pace that is more in line with what you seem to be aiming for than you'd get on, say, a CC forum ride. Other long distance cyclists who have done the sort of mileages that you are aiming for in fast times are also the best sources of advice. 


Route sheets are pretty good so people don't tend to get lost!


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## rich87 (14 Mar 2011)

Go on then, you twisted my arm - have entered the Man of Kent 200 on the 27th, let's see how this goes!

Got the Burgess Hill Spring-time classic this sunday as well.


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## ian_oli (15 Mar 2011)

There are a bunch of 300 - 400K Audax events coming up, starting weekend after next. 


The 300K event I'm running is on the 2nd April from just west of London to the New Forest and back. Take a look at http://www.aukweb.ne.../detail/11-417/ . There is sleeping room the night before, still.

Several of the entrants are amongst the fastest audaxers in the UK, who have done events of comparable distance to LEJOG, so a good chance for a long ride at the sort of speed you'll need for the big ride.


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## steve52 (15 Mar 2011)

why not cycle in one direction for 12 hours, then (this is the tricky bit!) turn 180 degrees and repeat the process!! tra laaaaaa!!!


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## ColinJ (15 Mar 2011)

steve52 said:


> why not cycle in one direction for 12 hours, then (this is the tricky bit!) turn 180 degrees and repeat the process!! tra laaaaaa!!!


If you have a GPS on your bike you could easily do that, providing you didn't go down one-way streets on the way out. Just follow your _trackback_ all the way home!


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