Planning, Planning, Planning........24 hours Solo!

I have 24 hour race fever.  I am sick.  I can't think about anything else right now.  Am I ill or just mad?  I had planned on doing the Nutcracker race series this year and although I've not written this off, I have now decided to complete my ambition of riding a 24 hour race solo.  The most I've ever ridden is six hours so the prospect of being in my saddle for the majority of a full day and night is somewhat daunting.

I'm not sure whats come over me but now my ever waking thought and day dream is about doing a race solo.  So I've started researching.  The first thing was looking for a race venue.  I wanted something near by so the drive wouldn't be too long (I'm hoping my wife will drop me off and pick me up!)  This left the Nutctacker 24 in July which would give me plenty of time to train most of the hard work being put in the long light hours of June.  Perfect.  But no, not perfect because I just realised the event is not going to happen.  That only leaves the 24 hours of Exposure which is the country's only Solo race.  It looks amazing, and held in the area of Newcastleton which is a great riding area.  They have great support there aiming at those who don't have the support already, lights to hire, energy drinks, and even a jersey competition for rookie entries.  Perfect. No again.  It on April 7th.  Bugger. 

I am now going to have to get some serious training underway and that means the prospect of riding through the winter which is hard at the best of times.  Is it enough time? 4 months?!?  Who knows, and this is the main reason I'm still not 100% committed.  The training is more a concern than the race itself.

Do I, Don't I?????  I had thought that if I did it I may even raise money for charity to not only feel I've done something for myself but others and give me the extra boost on those cold winter mornings.

This just leaves so many questions.  I think I've an idea on the training side, but its things like what do I eat during the race, how many calories should I be consuming.  What drinks, what energy products.  Will my arse cope with my current saddle and what do you do with chamois cream anyway?  Is my hardtail bike going to cripple me and will I ever be the same again?  Do I just go at a plodding pace and play the turtle and catch the hares later? Am I just mad?

You know there really isn't that much information out there for this kind of event unless anyone can point me in the right direction, it would save my brain going into over load.  Should I just go for it?

Help!

Posted in: 24 hour racing