Planning for the 2013 season - Keider 100, Three Peaks and C2C

My original plans of doing the UK 24hr solo championships were sadly put to a halt this year when I discovered that the venue had been moved from its usual hilly all weather surface to something quite the oposite.  It had been moved I think to make it more accessable for a larger number of riders and so increase the entries but sadly it is now a 7 hour trip and one I'm not willing to make.

So I've had to do a bit of head scratching.  It seems that endurance races in my part of the country are getting rarer.  I thought therefore that I would have to spend my season just doing short xc races instead.  No bad thing but anything over an hour and I struggle to make any impact no matter how much training I fit in.  I have however found something!  The Kielder 100 is a race I dismissed as being beyond my capabilities, but then I thought the same of a 24hr race so after a bit of reading I decided that it would be my main target for the year.  As a bonus it is held in September so my training for it wouldn't start till late winter (I hate training through the winter!)  This means I can still do bits of xc racing to keep up my speed and motivation.

The Kielder 100 is one tough race. The 100 stands for its distance in MILES, with about 14,000ft of climbing.  As its a race there are check points along the massive one lap course with cut off times.  If you don't make it in time your race is over.  Basically, it works out you have to keep over an 8mph average!  I'll be doing it on my rigid singlespeed........just because I can and they a proper SS category.

Anyway here is a video from the winners point of view during last years race.

There is also another race I am interested in doing and that is the Three Peaks Cyclo Cross race which is 38miles with 5,000ft of climbing and labelled as the worlds toughest CX race.  It is about two weeks after the Kielder 100 so I'm still not sure and places are limited so it may have to be a target for another year. That and I need a CX bike!  It looks hard, grim, challenging and fantastic all rolled into one.  Perfect.  Couples of videos below to whet the appetite.

 

 

 

Hopefully in preparation for these events I will also be finally getting my act together and doing the Coast to Coast which isn't a race but more a challenge.  Its a 150 mile ride taking in some tough road climbs of the lake district and pennines.  Some people take about 3 - 5 days to do it but it is possible to do it in one day and that will be my target.

 

 

So there we go.  I'll get some prep training in January started which will include some good cross training like trail running and weights, then time on the bike from February.  It's going to be a fab year if all goes to plan!

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