Matt Page Blog : UK 24hr Solo Championships

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UK 24hr Solo Championships

In previous years there have been a number of 24hr events in the UK MTB calender, all of them different and each one stakes a claim of being the best, hardest, biggest or most important. This year there was a new event on the calender; one which looking to finally answer the question of who is the best solo racer in the country, the inaugural UK 24hr Solo Championship. The date was set and the venue of Newcastleton in the Scottish Borders picked and every big name in the sport had entered and was ready to do battle.

My preparation for the event stretches back to November and I have made a number of changes to my training to try and get myself to a new level of fitness. One of the biggest changes has been switching to the use of a Cyclops Powertap in training and linking that to a Garmin 500. I also made a conscious decision to loose weight as the course at Newcastleton would include a huge amount of climbing. I managed to loose 5kg of body weight in the build up to the event, which when you weigh 60kg is considerable.

There is a saying: “Perfect Planning Prevents Poor Performance” and this is a motto I stick to. So with this in mind I had a week off work to prepare for the event and we travelled up to Newcastleton on the Thursday to give ourselves plenty of time before the event. After the 7hr drive we took the time to relax and went to the event site on Friday. The weather for the weekend was going to be dry and very hot, so I made the decision to do a practice lap during the hottest part of the day to give myself some idea of what it was going to be like when racing as I have not ridden in weather like it for almost a year! Although based around a forest many sections were in the open with no chance to hide from the sun. The heat would certainly play a part in the race and I completely change any thoughts I had on tactics and strategy. The course was certainly worthy of the championship; it was going to be tough and with plenty of climbs (550m per lap!) and technical descents, which were loose in places. The lap was longer than other 24hr events at 11.5 miles, with a good lap time being around the hour mark. I decided to run Schwalbe Racing Ralph tyres as they are a fantastic all round tyre for dry weather and are robust enough to be used on rocky courses.

After the practice lap I had a nice leg massage and my body checked over by Sabreen Hitchens, from Active Physio Clinics who was on site all weekend, then feeling very refreshed we took ourselves away from the site, staying at a Guest House a few miles away rather than camp on-site to keep my mind off the race and try to relax as much as possible. I managed to get a good nights sleep and we arrived back on site with a few hours before the midday race start. The team (Ben Jeffery, Nia & my Mum) made all the final checks to the pit area and Focus First Extremes before heading down to the village of Newcastleton where there was a ceremonial start. The race had a controlled start through the village before heading up the hill to the arena and starting for real.

With all the big names here to compete everyone was understandably cagey at the start and a big group soon formed and the pace was relatively slow. Everyone was watching one another, no one person wanting to take up the pacing. Towards the end of the first lap Josh Ibbett moved off the front with a group of 7 of us behind. No one seemed concerned that he had gone, myself included. It was scorching hot and there was no way I wanted to push too hard in the heat and risk dehydrating.

The pace settled and in the opening few laps the chasing group dwindled from 7 down to 4 with Josh a couple of minutes ahead. At this stage there was myself, Anthony White, James Lister and Rich Rothwell and we stayed fairly close until about 5-6 hours in when Ant upped the pace and Rich went with him. It was still very hot so I decided not to follow them, instead I stuck to my own pace. Rich stayed with Ant for a while before dropping back to me and we then lapped together for several hours. It was nice to have someone of similar speed to ride with, especially on the downhill sections where I was quite happy following his wheel knowing that he is a great descender picking the good lines. My friend Arfon joined the pit crew on Saturday evening to help out wherever possible and he proved to be a fantastic motivator to me each and every time I passed through the pit.

Everything was going smoothly and the Focus First Extremes were faultless and I didn’t change or adjust anything. At 8pm lights became mandatory, so I rather than stop I just swapped bikes which already had an Exposure Maxx-D fitted. This gave Ben a chance to check everything over and keep the drivetrain lubricated on the other bike, which had been ridden for 8hrs. The next lap I added an Exposure Diablo, the Cable Free Design means that it can be handed across easily while riding through. The super bright combination of Exposure lights allows me to ride exactly as I would in the day, without needing to slow down at all on the downhills. When the sun started to go down Josh was leading by about 10 minutes, Ant was in 2nd a few minutes behind and myself and Rich had a comfortable gap on riders behind. It was now that I started to make a move, upping the pace and caught Ant.

As darkness fell I put in 2 faster laps in an attempt to catch Josh, but I only managed to close the gap to 8 minutes. I was convinced that he would have slowed by now, but he was holding strong and I started to wonder if you would be able to hold out until the finish.

I ran into problems around 1am because I had increased the pace but neglected to increase the amount of calories I was taking on board. I hit the wall and “bonked”; my pace dropped off considerably. I also started to feel tired, faint and my vision was going leading to me making a number of mistakes on the singletrack. Ant passed me as if I was stood still but there was nothing I was able to do. As I came around to the pit I stepped off the bike and legs gave way. Nia and Ben helped me up off the floor and I managed to compose myself and take on board plenty of energy and also took on board some caffeine. At this point I thought the win was out of the question, but I still had a chance of a podium position. I got myself back onto the bike, still feeling pretty bad but kept moving. Things didn’t improve until halfway around the next lap when all of a sudden it was as if someone flicked a switch and I was back up to speed, much to the surprise of the team in the pit when I came around on the next lap.

By this point Ant was 4 minutes ahead and Josh had a commanding lead of just over 40 minutes. I caught Ant on the next lap; he obviously thought I was down and out and commented as I passed. There was no time to chat, I was on a mission! It was starting to get light again which seemed to spur me on. I was slowly chipping away at Josh’s lead. I worked out that I probably had 7 laps remaining, so if I could take out 5 minutes per lap I just might have a chance, all be it a slim one! I came around into the pit next lap to find that I had taken over 10 minutes out of Josh’s lead. I really started to believe that I might be able to catch him and kept pushing on.

The sun started to rise at 6am and at this point I was still in 2nd but had a comfortable gap back to Ant in 3rd. The gap to the lead kept coming down and sure enough at around 7am I caught Josh coming into the arena. Part of me wanted to go straight through the pit and get a gap, but I knew how important it was to take on board energy and fluids with the sun out and the temperatures rising once again. We both left the arena at the same time and hit the first singletrack section together. At first I kept it steady, not pushing too hard as I wanted to see what Josh had left in the tank. I was pulling a gap straight away so guessed that he was tiring, so just rode away at my own tempo.

It was now an agonising countdown to the finish. I was pulling out a good lead and the lap times were both quick and consistent, not far off the pace at the start of the race over 18 hours before. The final few laps seemed to take forever, every sound the bike made and every stone that hit the frame or pinged off the tyres I feared the worst but everything went like clockwork. I knew going into my final lap that I had probably won it, but to make 100% sure I had to finish my 22nd lap. I was hoping to finish on a high and tried to put in quick sub hour lap. Things were looking good, but I realised halfway round that it was perhaps a little foolish and settled for just finishing.

As I crossed the line emotion took over as my pit crew greeted me. I had put every ounce of energy into the final stages of the race and it was certainly showing as I was struggling to even stand up. I have so many people to thank for getting me here, but none more so than my pit team. Several people at the race commented on how professional and well drilled we are when it comes to the big races. Solo races are as much about the team as any other event, but we are certainly raising the bar and showing others what is possible.

A few stats from the race:
I completed 22 laps, which adds up to over 250 miles and over 12,000m vertical ascent.
I consumed about 40 Torq gels and 10 packs of Clif Shot blocks. I kept to drinking 500ml of High5 Energy Source 4:1 each lap, switching to High5 Extreme in the final 4 laps to give me an extra kick.

From here I have a few weeks to relax and recover, before then starting to rebuild my fitness in an attempt to take on the best in the World at the World Championships being held in Canberra, Australia in October.