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Welcome to episode 20 of Dotcoms, the audio home of
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ultra-distant cycling coverage in partnership with Dotwatcher. I'm Samuel Thompson,
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your host, and coming up today we've got reviews of
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recent events, dots to watch for October races, and some
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news items in the Digest. We've also got Neil Copeland
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dropping in to provide a review of Alps Divide. And
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Connor McKenzie will be telling us about what we can
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expect from the hotly anticipated inaugural edition of the Taurus
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Mountain Race. So joining me for all of this is
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Dot Watcher's Amanda Wishart, who returns with a new job title. Yes, hi.
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What am I now? The managing editor.
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So there's been some slight changes at Dot Watcher recently.
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So you are taking the lead now then? Yes. We're
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also going to change things up slightly with the schedule for.
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coms over the next few months. We're going to be
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splitting up the episodes into race-related news ones and having
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the roundtables as separate episodes. This should give us a
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bit more space to cover the news and events. and
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a bit more detail in the round tables as well.
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So that's going to be coming up over the next
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couple of months. There won't be a round table this month,
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but the next one will return next month. And we're
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also keen if any of you have ideas of what
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you'd like to see in round tables in terms of topics,
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we're always open to suggestions and guest nominations as well.
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So please do get in touch. Start off our recap.
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I was recently joined by Neil Copeland to talk about
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Alps Divide, so let's hear all about that. Joining me
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to speak about Alps Divide, which recently took place starting
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on the 5th of September, we have Neil Copeland. Thanks
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for joining, Neil.
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Pleasure, Sam.
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How are you? Great, thank you. And you were on
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the ground at Alps Divide, well, you've been there three
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years in a row now, I believe. You took part
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in the first year and then have been... doing some
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of the race media for the last two years. So
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what was your general impressions about this edition?
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Ah, so I think, and this is not just my opinion.
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I've been chatting with Katie, Jane and Lee post the
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event as well. I think this was the year where
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it all really came together. We had very good weather.
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The riders now in the third year of doing it
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really understand what they're about to face and So people
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were better prepared. There was a very high finish rate,
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which was good to see. And yeah, generally everybody seemed
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to be really having a great time. The feedback that
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we saw at the finish line was, yeah, really, really amazing.
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So yeah, I think it went really, really well.
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That's great too. That was something which I picked out
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as well, that high finisher rate out of 89 starters,
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64 finishers and 62 within the cutoff, which is just
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over 70%, which is on the higher end we see
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especially for a route that's as demanding as this because
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over a thousand and fifty kilometers there's over 32 000
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meters of climbing yeah and that's.
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Don't let that finisher percentage lull people into a false
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sense of security it is a very very hard route
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and whilst the riders did enjoy it there was this
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sense of my goodness that was hard and it's that's
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hard mentally as well because you never really get a
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respite you're either going up or you're going down.
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What would you put the high finish rate down to then?
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Do you think it's the sort of event which attracts
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people who are taking their preparation seriously for this and
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know what they're getting themselves into?
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I think it was a combination of things this year.
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I think, yes, people are going in very well prepared.
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There's a lot of information from the previous two years
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and riders are arriving very well set for these kinds
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of races. I think also the weather played its part here.
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It's not that there wasn't bad weather. There were some
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considerable storms that came through in the second half of
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the event, which certainly had a bearing on the outcome.
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But overall, the weather was pretty benign. Conditions were fast
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and that enabled riders to make good progress.
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I'll just run through the first finishers. So first overall,
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we had Donny Campbell finished in four days and 11 hours.
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Second was Anton Regniar. who finished in four days, 17 hours.
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So around six hours behind Donny there. And third was
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David Sanchez in just over five days, five days and
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51 minutes. And then our first woman was Sami Sari,
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who finished in five days and 16 hours. And rapidly
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approaching behind was Hannah Simon, a second female in five
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days and 20 hours, who was 16th overall. And that was,
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it was a closer finish than, potentially we expected even
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the day before between Sammy and Hannah. Hannah seemed to
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put on a real push towards the end there.
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Yeah, really, really interesting. I spent quite a bit of
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time talking to Hannah before the event and to Sammy.
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And I have a really good interview that I did
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with Hannah at the end where she talks through her
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approach to the race, which I've yet to share, but
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I will do because I think it really plays to
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exactly what happened there towards the end. Sammy, I would say,
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did this in a very traditional mid-distance ultra race style.
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She went fairly short on sleep. I think in the
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last 48 hours, she had something like two hours of sleep.
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So she was pushing things quite to the limit. Hannah
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had a very deliberate approach of wanting to get six
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hours a night. She said, I'm fed up of going
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into these things and for sleep deprivation to be a thing.
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So I really want to see how I respond to
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getting that sleep. And obviously what we saw through the
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first three days is Sammy got quite a large lead.
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But that set Hannah up to be really, really strong
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towards the second half of the event. And definitely set
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her up very, very well for the last night. She
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then went straight through the last night and really rapidly
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closed Sammy down. It would have been interesting to see
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how this would have played out if it were a
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couple of days longer.
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And... For the overall, Donny and Anton were quite close
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towards the end. Where was the decisive move made?
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So for me, the decisive move was coming out of CP2.
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They both got to CP2, which is a very high
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remote refuge, the opposite side of the valley from some
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of the big French ski resorts of the area, which
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I'm sure a lot of people will know. And the
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weather forecast was not good. They knew weather was coming in.
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I think both of them thought they could get quite
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a bit down the way from CP2 to the next
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major town, which is Le Contamine. That's actually quite a
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tough section of the route. It's high, it's remote. There's
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some hiker bike sections. There are no... There's not even
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much in the way of refuges between CP2 and Le Contamine.
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And I think they both set out with the intention
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of trying to get as far as they could. Antoine...
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stopped about 45 minutes after leaving or an hour after
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leaving the refuge and decided that he would wait out
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the storm. Whereas Donny pushed through all the way to
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Le Contamine getting there, I think around one, two o'clock
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in the morning. And, you know, I think he said
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during his post-race analysis, whether that was the most sensible
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of moves, he doesn't know. It was quite severe thunderstorms, lightning,
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but he, that's the weather he was wishing for. You know,
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he said earlier in the event that, I wish it
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would get miserable. I want it to be more like Scotland.
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And it did. That's what happened. And he managed to
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get through. And that for me was the decisive moment.
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And from the rest of the field, are there any
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particular stories, highlights that really stand out to you?
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I think, you know, obviously I got to spend a
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lot of time chatting to a lot of people. And
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it's always nice to see some of those stories from
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further back in the field. I remember chatting to a
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French guy, Nicola, and I'd heard the story of him
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coming down the descent towards CP1, which is probably the
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most demanding descent of the race route. And towards the end,
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it now has to cross five landslides. And he was
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coming through at night. He got lost. He ended up
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falling down the ravine and having to hike two hours
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through a riverbed, at times up to his thighs in water.
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to escape and I'd been told this about by Katie
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Jane and she said you need to have a chat
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with him I didn't speak to him until he was
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going over the hiker bike after Navash and he'd already
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forgotten all about the adventures going down the ravine because
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so much else had happened in that time period I
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think the other one a lot of people were interested
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in was Hannah Klesdottir and her quest for pizza over
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the first two and a half days I've spoken to
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Hannah since it finished and She just had a string
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of bad luck hitting points of resupply and was getting
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quite desperate by the time she reached CP1 in Barcelonet.
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And she said my only goal was to make the
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Lidl before it closed, and she did. And so she said,
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I could happily end my race here.
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And this was the third and final, at least for now,
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edition of Alps Divide. Do you know, or have you
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got any insight of whether... this could be put on
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as an event again. And what would you say to
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people who are interested in the route itself?
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So yes, Katie and Lee were always very, very clear
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that they were only going to do this for three
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editions there are complexities in running these kinds of events
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when you are in in france so and it would
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take time away from katie's main job which is summer
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guiding walkers through the alps uh The or first of all,
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the route, the route absolutely continues to exist. It is
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published on Ride with GPS. Katie, Jane and Lee will
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be organising the rally next summer. So they've done three
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editions of the of the Grand Depart. They are going
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to do three editions of the rally. So that opportunity
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will be open to people who want to go in
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a group and ride this route. But the route is
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there available for anyone to go and find and ride.
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all I can do is strongly encourage people to check
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it out. It's, it's incredible. It's, it's an absolutely spectacular
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route taking you through some of the most beautiful parts
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of the French and Italian Alps, some amazing high mountain trails.
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It is incredible.
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As for the event moving forwards, I did have a
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chat with Katie Jane yesterday. They are in advanced discussions and,
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with somebody who may be interested in taking this over
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and at the moment it looks likely that it could
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well exist in a very similar format this time next
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year although i will say first of all it's not me.
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Yeah okay you've heard okay so right when no no
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promises then but that would yeah that'd be interesting if
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it can continue in a similar vein then it seems
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yeah It seems like from what you said, from the
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feedback from the riders, it's a really popular event. Well,
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thank you very much for coming on, all your insight, Neil.
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And just before you go, you're doing an event yourself
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coming up shortly. How's preparation going?
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Yeah, I am off to Turkey. I'll be flying a
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week on Friday to do the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race.
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Preparation has, let's say, not been ideal. There's been A
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lot of time away from the bike and the odd
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injury to contend with here and there, but hopefully things
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are looking a bit more positive now. I'm in the
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usual last-minute panic buying of things that you always seem
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to need before one of these events.
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Yeah, and with not knowing exactly what you're going to
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be coming up against as well, that's another unknown thrown
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into the mix.
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Yeah, I think this is quite interesting. I think there'll
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be a lot of work being done on the Monday
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and Tuesday when we get the route. People will still
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be doing all the planning that we would normally do
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for an event like this. I think it's really interesting
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the way that Nelson has basically stopped those riders who
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are time and cash privileged from going out and pre-recceing
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the route. And I think that does level the playing
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field in a way that can only be done in
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the first edition of the race.
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Well, it's going to be a really interesting one to follow.
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So thanks again, Neil. Really great to have you on
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and all the best at Taurus. Cheers. Thank you very much.
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Another race, which is ongoing as we speak, that started
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on the 25th of September is the Lost Dots Trans
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Pyrenees race. This year, the event started in Girona and
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was a mix of mandatory parkour and free routing. to
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the other side of the Pyrenees and back again over
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the famous raid parkour with the route around 1700, 1800
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kilometers with a lot of climbing in there as well.
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Although as we speak, there's still a few days for
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riders to finish. We do have almost a top 20
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in the moment. So first overall was Nicola Chatterley who
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finished in four days and four hours. And it's been
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a bit of a journey for Nikola over the past
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couple of years and lost at events. He didn't have
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the best of times at the transcontinental race last year.
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He showed that he was a really strong rider leading
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for large portions, but made a few mistakes that he
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seems to have really learned from this year as he
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came in second at the transcontinental race and is now
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in quite dominant fashion. won the Trans-Pyrenees race because he
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was five hours ahead of second place Bruno Wicht and
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in third place was Anatole Naimi who came another four
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hours behind Bruno. For me it was quite interesting seeing
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the different route choices that the lead riders took. Nikola
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actually rode more than 100 kilometers more than Bruno. I
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think he generally preferred to stick to the road where
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possible as There were choices to be made in terms
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of the position of the parkour control points and whether
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to take gravel shortcuts or whether to ride longer on
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the road. And seeing how Nicola's average speed is quite
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a bit higher than the rest, he seemed to have
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made up for the additional distance.
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His average speed is five kilometres an hour faster than Amatol's.
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I hadn't looked at that.
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Hmm. I believe there may have been a slight bit
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missed off from Manitou's route on the tracker, but I
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don't think we're far off there. And yeah, it just
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shows how, I mean, there were some quite significant shortcuts
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to be made by taking, well, we say gravel shortcuts,
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but I think in places they were a bit more
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than that. But it's one of the interesting things about
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this event, how it can reward the adventurous in some ways.
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But then again, it's about playing to your own strengths
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and preferences too. And Nicola seems to have shown that
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00:15:51.639 --> 00:15:56.700
well here. The top three Flinter riders with Trans Pyrenees
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now also having a separate Flinter category. Seventh overall was
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00:16:00.389 --> 00:16:03.830
Anna Richter in four days, 22 hours, following up their
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victory at Lost. 101 earlier in the year. And ninth overall,
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second Flinter rider was Jana Kessenheimer, five days and seven hours.
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And there's a really impressive ride for the third Flinter rider,
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Katarina Wirth, who was 16th overall, one of the bursary
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00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:25.649
riders as well. It's always entertaining to follow Robert Muller
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at any event. And he won the second edition of
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Trans-Pyrenees race on a borrowed bike as his didn't arrive
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before the start. This time round, he turned up at
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00:16:37.320 --> 00:16:40.519
the start, not only not without a bike, but without
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00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:46.740
all his kit. But Robert did manage to source replacement bike,
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00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:52.620
replacement kit, and... He ended up riding with mismatching shoes,
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00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:56.980
apparently they were the same size but different styles and
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still managed to finish 10th overall.
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00:16:59.700 --> 00:17:03.220
That sounds like fun hurdles to deal with just to
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00:17:03.259 --> 00:17:06.460
make it even more interesting every race. Like what's going
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to go wrong this time?
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Not that it's easy enough to start with. There was
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00:17:12.029 --> 00:17:16.569
also an unfortunate incident for Omar De Felice. He was
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00:17:16.609 --> 00:17:19.630
only 20km from the finish but had quite a bad
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00:17:19.710 --> 00:17:26.519
crash and Marion Descent Expiry was fortunately just a few
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00:17:26.539 --> 00:17:29.319
hundred meters behind him at the time and he eventually
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00:17:29.380 --> 00:17:32.299
stayed with Omar for around an hour to make sure
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he was safe and for the ambulance to arrive. Omar
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00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:40.000
did go to hospital. Doesn't seem to be serious damage
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00:17:40.059 --> 00:17:43.519
but he looks quite banged up and Yeah, it's never
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00:17:43.680 --> 00:17:46.720
nice to hear of these incidents, especially so close to
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the finish as well. So we hope Homer is doing okay.
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Now some dots to watch. We've got Connor joining us
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00:17:58.799 --> 00:18:01.880
a bit later to talk about the Taurus mountain race.
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00:18:01.940 --> 00:18:05.230
But before we get to that, well... There's one in
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00:18:05.269 --> 00:18:08.410
particular which I'm quite interested in, mostly because I'm going
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00:18:08.450 --> 00:18:11.049
out there to do it myself, which is the Peninsular
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00:18:11.069 --> 00:18:15.170
Divide in Malaysia, which runs from the southern end of
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mainland Malaysia to the northern end, over 1,500 kilometres and 20,000
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metres of climbing. It starts on the 18th of October.
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00:18:25.650 --> 00:18:31.359
The route is potentially a mix of a mix of
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00:18:31.390 --> 00:18:35.460
a few things it's mostly roads but expect around 10
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to be unpaved and difficult to know exactly what that's
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going to entail but i i think for me it's
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going to be a a very new experience how the
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00:18:49.880 --> 00:18:54.039
event both is is run out there and the different
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culture and climate.
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To come across I was going to ask what sort
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of weather are you expecting for that?
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Hot and humid. I think the amount of precipitation varies
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00:19:07.099 --> 00:19:09.920
a bit throughout the year but otherwise it's pretty much
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00:19:10.039 --> 00:19:12.720
one season in terms of the temperatures are going to
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be hot and there's not likely to be much respite.
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00:19:19.210 --> 00:19:22.809
The route does go up to an elevation around 1500
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metres at one point but even there I believe the
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lowest recorded temperature up there was nearly eight degrees. So
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00:19:31.440 --> 00:19:34.720
when you hear people say cold, I think it's all relative.
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00:19:36.099 --> 00:19:38.240
What is cold for someone coming from the West isn't
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00:19:38.289 --> 00:19:44.049
going to be the same there. So weather, like kit
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choices as well, how much is needed. But yeah, I've
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00:19:48.549 --> 00:19:50.619
got to be prepared for a lot of wet conditions.
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00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:56.059
But then is full on winter clothing going to be
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necessary as well? I don't think so. I think the
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00:20:00.109 --> 00:20:03.650
culture as well, going about resupply, what to expect in
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00:20:03.670 --> 00:20:05.890
terms of opening hours and how much information you can
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00:20:05.950 --> 00:20:09.809
find out about this on maps and so on. The
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00:20:09.849 --> 00:20:13.309
event has run for two editions already, and there is
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00:20:13.369 --> 00:20:17.589
some information out there. But even still, it's going to
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00:20:17.630 --> 00:20:21.089
be quite a different experience to some of the events
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00:20:22.710 --> 00:20:25.240
that potentially a lot of us are more familiar to
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00:20:25.539 --> 00:20:30.759
in Europe and North America. One more is the Arizona
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00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:34.200
Trail Race, which starts the day that we record, actually,
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00:20:34.220 --> 00:20:38.329
on the 1st of October. There are two distances on
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00:20:38.390 --> 00:20:42.309
offer here. There's the 800 mile or the 300 mile.
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00:20:42.910 --> 00:20:46.279
They have split up the start dates for the 800
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00:20:46.279 --> 00:20:51.359
and 300 this year. This was originally done because the
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00:20:51.400 --> 00:20:55.490
route was intended to finish at State Line Campground at
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the northern border of Arizona. Because last year they had
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00:21:02.509 --> 00:21:06.130
to reroute because the northern side of the Grand Canyon
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was closed. So the plan was to return to the
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00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:14.960
original finish. But unfortunately there was some quite extreme flooding
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00:21:15.140 --> 00:21:16.900
on that north side of the Grand Canyon at the
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end of August. Which means that this part is closed.
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00:21:21.980 --> 00:21:24.890
So the route again, the same as last year, is
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00:21:25.390 --> 00:21:27.809
going to go as far as the Grand Canyon. The
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00:21:27.849 --> 00:21:30.490
riders are still going to have to do the infamous...
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00:21:31.579 --> 00:21:35.910
hike down and back up again but then turn back
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00:21:36.029 --> 00:21:39.990
and finish at Flagstaff a bit further south and the
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00:21:40.549 --> 00:21:46.849
Grand Canyon Portage is one of the highlights of this
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00:21:47.049 --> 00:21:52.109
race there's some quite strict rules around what access to
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00:21:52.329 --> 00:21:55.650
it what you can take there and the rules basically
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00:21:55.690 --> 00:21:58.730
dictate that you have to dismantle your bike and carry
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00:21:58.799 --> 00:22:02.119
it and the wheels can't touch the ground So basically,
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00:22:02.660 --> 00:22:04.640
riders will have to come up with a solution to
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carry their bike dismantled on their back. It's renowned as
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00:22:08.680 --> 00:22:13.619
a technical route as well. 90% off-road. And then, as
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00:22:13.700 --> 00:22:15.529
in this challenge as well, there's quite a bit of
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walking in this one.
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00:22:17.950 --> 00:22:20.710
I'm wondering how, if I needed a wee, what I
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would do with my bike in that situation.
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Well, as long as your wheels don't touch the ground,
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you can still put your rucksack on the ground. A
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00:22:29.319 --> 00:22:35.210
couple of riders... to watch would be Xavier Chiriboga, who
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00:22:35.329 --> 00:22:39.539
is doing the US Triple Crown Challenge this year, coming
376
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:42.839
off his second place at the Colorado Trail Race recently.
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00:22:42.859 --> 00:22:45.700
I think he's the one that really stands out to me.
378
00:22:46.279 --> 00:22:50.150
Although we have got returning winner from last year and
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00:22:50.250 --> 00:22:56.450
also 2023 winner Alex Schultz coming back. And Karen Pocock
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00:22:56.829 --> 00:22:59.799
is there as well. which is a familiar face across
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00:22:59.839 --> 00:23:07.599
all the US events. A couple of items to mention
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00:23:07.720 --> 00:23:13.660
in the digest. Firstly, on 15th September, we learnt of
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00:23:13.700 --> 00:23:17.140
the tragic news that Max Ries died during a training
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00:23:17.160 --> 00:23:20.309
ride close to his home in Salzburg in Austria. Reports
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00:23:20.329 --> 00:23:23.990
suggest that he collided with a deer at speed whilst descending.
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Max was a more than accomplished ultra-distance racer, as well
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00:23:28.269 --> 00:23:31.230
as the founder of gravel and ultra riding community Grav Grav.
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00:23:31.930 --> 00:23:34.430
Max's vision through Grav Grav was to build a European
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00:23:34.690 --> 00:23:38.599
cycling community focused around environmental protection and bikepacking as a
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00:23:38.640 --> 00:23:42.779
sustainable form of travel. Max started out as an aspiring
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00:23:42.819 --> 00:23:46.220
professional road racer before transitioning to the self-supported scene away
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00:23:46.259 --> 00:23:49.720
from the tarmac. Over several years, he built an extensive
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00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:52.599
list of achievements, ever more frequently finding himself at the
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00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:54.829
front end of some of the world's most demanding off-road
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00:23:54.869 --> 00:23:58.680
bikepacking events. Last year, he placed fourth in the Tour Divide,
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00:23:59.059 --> 00:24:01.119
and this year he won the Hellenic Mountain Race in
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00:24:01.180 --> 00:24:03.710
May and was second in the Silk Road Mountain Race
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00:24:03.750 --> 00:24:06.569
in August. He also set a record for a triple
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00:24:06.630 --> 00:24:10.130
Everest in 2025, which he completed near his Salzburg home.
400
00:24:11.190 --> 00:24:14.150
The news has been covered widely by mainstream cycling media,
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00:24:14.529 --> 00:24:17.569
illustrating the influence Max held and the respect in which
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00:24:17.609 --> 00:24:20.940
he was held throughout the scene. Comments have been effusive
403
00:24:21.000 --> 00:24:23.480
about Max as a person and the positive impact he
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00:24:23.539 --> 00:24:26.700
has had on other people's lives. All of us at
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00:24:26.799 --> 00:24:30.579
Dotcoms and Dotwatcher would like to express our deepest condolences
406
00:24:30.619 --> 00:24:36.420
to Max's family, friends and loved ones. In the past
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00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:40.779
couple of weeks, we've also had the official final results
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00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:44.450
of the 12th edition of the Transcontinental Race being released.
409
00:24:45.210 --> 00:24:48.690
So the headline stats show that of the 397 riders
410
00:24:48.710 --> 00:24:51.769
that set off from Trondheim, 55% of them reached Kalamata.
411
00:24:55.240 --> 00:25:00.579
So 162 were within the general classification and 26 finished
412
00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:06.029
outside of GC, which meant 188 official finishes. So this
413
00:25:06.150 --> 00:25:12.490
was a 47% finish rate, but only 40% in GC,
414
00:25:12.589 --> 00:25:17.210
which even by TCR standards is quite on the low
415
00:25:17.250 --> 00:25:23.220
side this year. Quite notable in terms of the changes
416
00:25:23.299 --> 00:25:26.829
in results from the provisional results on the finish line
417
00:25:26.890 --> 00:25:30.990
to what was given in the official results is number
418
00:25:31.289 --> 00:25:34.930
of riders that were disqualified. There were 31 who were
419
00:25:34.950 --> 00:25:39.430
disqualified for riding on banned roads. And there were a
420
00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:43.319
couple of notable changes within the top 10. Martin Moritz,
421
00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:46.059
who was the fifth finisher, was disqualified for this reason.
422
00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.519
And Nicolas Châtelet, who we talked about earlier winning the
423
00:25:50.539 --> 00:25:55.289
Trans-Pyrenees race, he made a border crossing requiring a permit
424
00:25:55.349 --> 00:25:58.690
which he didn't have, and he got a 300-minute or
425
00:25:58.849 --> 00:26:02.789
six-hour penalty. He originally finished second, and he just hung
426
00:26:02.849 --> 00:26:05.349
on to this place by one hour in the end.
427
00:26:05.910 --> 00:26:08.710
We also had Thomas Borey, who finished eighth but moved
428
00:26:08.730 --> 00:26:13.539
down to ninth after receiving a 271-minute penalty. There's been
429
00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:18.680
a fair bit of reaction around how this decision between
430
00:26:18.740 --> 00:26:24.710
whether to give a penalty or disqualifying riders was... calculated
431
00:26:24.769 --> 00:26:28.710
and the process that Lost Dot goes about to determine
432
00:26:28.750 --> 00:26:33.609
this because I've been given some information around the amount
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00:26:33.930 --> 00:26:37.700
of kilometers that riders have ridden on on banned roads
434
00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:42.660
just give a bit background Lost Dot provides both a
435
00:26:42.980 --> 00:26:47.180
resource map which shows where banned roads are in certain
436
00:26:47.220 --> 00:26:52.029
countries and also a list of both specific roads and
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00:26:52.190 --> 00:26:54.990
in certain countries there's all categories of roads that are
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00:26:55.029 --> 00:26:59.990
banned especially in poland and slovakia and those areas there
439
00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:07.640
is instances of riders some riding less distance on roads
440
00:27:08.700 --> 00:27:11.559
and get disqualified than others who rode more distance and
441
00:27:11.579 --> 00:27:14.720
getting a time penalty one of the riders who has
442
00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:18.619
commented on this is a previous guest on the podcast
443
00:27:19.180 --> 00:27:23.960
ellen from and t who was disqualified herself after riding
444
00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:28.859
50 kilometers on a banned road, I believe in Slovakia.
445
00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:34.380
She was quite magnanimous in her Instagram post saying that
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00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:37.960
she does take safety seriously and accepts that it was
447
00:27:38.019 --> 00:27:41.769
her mistake that she made. But she does call for
448
00:27:41.789 --> 00:27:46.269
some more transparency and clarity on how these sanctions are
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00:27:46.309 --> 00:27:49.230
calculated because she has asked Lost Dot about this and
450
00:27:50.140 --> 00:27:54.059
They say it's not a simple system and it's not
451
00:27:54.079 --> 00:27:57.559
something that they make public, how they make these calculations.
452
00:27:58.200 --> 00:28:02.359
I think in general, it's a good thing that Lost.gov
453
00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:07.039
to such lengths to verify the results and ensure that
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00:28:07.599 --> 00:28:11.559
what we're seeing is that people are following the rules.
455
00:28:11.900 --> 00:28:15.519
And I mean, these roads are banned for a reason
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00:28:15.539 --> 00:28:19.569
because they're deemed dangerous. But then again, there has been...
457
00:28:20.309 --> 00:28:24.509
There has been some frustration expressed about how they are
458
00:28:25.009 --> 00:28:28.349
determining this. Amanda, can you understand why they wouldn't want
459
00:28:28.410 --> 00:28:31.210
to set precedents, like saying, for example, if you ride
460
00:28:31.309 --> 00:28:33.799
X number of kilometres, you're disqualified, if less, you get
461
00:28:33.819 --> 00:28:34.400
a time limit?
462
00:28:35.140 --> 00:28:37.839
I mean, I could speculate on it.
463
00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:41.640
They might worry that people will break the rules just
464
00:28:41.700 --> 00:28:45.839
enough that it's only a penalty, which I doubt. Do
465
00:28:45.880 --> 00:28:50.490
they actually have some special complicated formula to work it
466
00:28:50.619 --> 00:28:55.619
out or you know they can say they don't want
467
00:28:55.660 --> 00:28:59.319
to share it but like Garmin doesn't want to share
468
00:28:59.380 --> 00:29:01.599
the algorithm for how it works certain things out and
469
00:29:01.640 --> 00:29:03.559
I just think you probably don't have a very good.
470
00:29:03.480 --> 00:29:08.750
One that's one way of looking at it I think
471
00:29:08.769 --> 00:29:14.259
like you said if they start given precedence they give
472
00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:18.599
themselves less wiggle room for specific circumstances and there could
473
00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.940
well be other considerations beyond just pure distance and duration
474
00:29:24.339 --> 00:29:29.509
but yeah I was reviewing the resource map and the
475
00:29:29.769 --> 00:29:34.250
manual as well and one of the issues which Hélène
476
00:29:34.509 --> 00:29:39.950
highlighted was that there are roads that are marked on
477
00:29:39.980 --> 00:29:43.200
the resource map but then the resource map doesn't highlight
478
00:29:43.380 --> 00:29:48.059
every categorised road which is disallowed within there so there's
479
00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:50.240
some stretches of a certain road which are highlighted in
480
00:29:50.259 --> 00:29:54.160
the map which imply that it is not allowed whereas
481
00:29:54.279 --> 00:29:57.019
there's other parts of the same road which aren't highlighted
482
00:29:57.079 --> 00:29:59.250
but which are still banned So it can be a
483
00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:04.680
bit confusing in that sense. And again, planning your route,
484
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:08.400
ensuring that you're not going on banned roads is all
485
00:30:08.420 --> 00:30:11.119
part of the challenge of these sort of events. But
486
00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:15.410
you can see how it can be confusing. It's a
487
00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:18.690
shame to see riders who've finished, who've completed the routes,
488
00:30:18.869 --> 00:30:19.910
being disqualified.
489
00:30:20.789 --> 00:30:25.309
I do think, ultimately, it's no secret that Lost Dot
490
00:30:25.369 --> 00:30:28.970
are quite strict with the rules and if you don't
491
00:30:29.170 --> 00:30:33.289
think you would appreciate that at the end of a race,
492
00:30:33.450 --> 00:30:35.779
you just don't enter their races. I mean, it really
493
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.220
suits some people. Keep it really fair and, you know, it's,
494
00:30:39.700 --> 00:30:41.480
I guess, part of the challenge to make.
495
00:30:41.339 --> 00:30:42.559
Sure you don't break any rules.
496
00:30:43.339 --> 00:30:46.359
I think, yeah, we've got choices of which events we
497
00:30:46.440 --> 00:30:50.220
enter and, yeah, I think there are positive sides to
498
00:30:50.269 --> 00:30:51.930
it as well in terms of they're doing what they
499
00:30:51.970 --> 00:30:54.630
can to ensure that it's a level playing field and
500
00:30:54.750 --> 00:30:59.450
that it's as fair as possible for all riders who
501
00:30:59.470 --> 00:31:05.529
take part. Joining us now to take a look at
502
00:31:05.549 --> 00:31:10.650
the upcoming Taurus Mountain Race, we have Dot Watcher's Substack Editor.
503
00:31:11.069 --> 00:31:13.630
Rejoining us is Connor McKenzie. Hi, Connor. How's it going?
504
00:31:14.650 --> 00:31:15.190
Yeah, good.
505
00:31:15.410 --> 00:31:17.650
Good to be back. Not at all scared about Taurus
506
00:31:17.690 --> 00:31:19.529
coming up in, what, two weeks' time?
507
00:31:20.549 --> 00:31:24.490
Actually, Connor, while you're here, we did miss out one thing.
508
00:31:25.140 --> 00:31:29.400
recent event, which is the North Race, which ReStrap put
509
00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:33.619
on from their headquarters in the north of England. You
510
00:31:33.660 --> 00:31:36.660
took part in this, Connor, and I think it's probably
511
00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:39.369
quite relevant to talk through it with you here as
512
00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:41.630
you came out as the winner. Just before I get
513
00:31:41.650 --> 00:31:44.450
your reflection on it, just explain what the format was,
514
00:31:44.470 --> 00:31:47.089
because it was a really interesting one, really innovative one.
515
00:31:47.589 --> 00:31:52.930
It was decided by distance as much as time. Basically,
516
00:31:53.269 --> 00:31:57.539
the riders set off at midday from the restart factory
517
00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:01.700
and they had 24 hours to ride as far geographically
518
00:32:01.779 --> 00:32:06.119
north as possible and get back to the headquarters within
519
00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:10.089
that 24 hours so if you were even one second
520
00:32:10.349 --> 00:32:14.710
late in 24 hours you weren't classified on the results
521
00:32:15.529 --> 00:32:21.569
so the distance north was calculated in terms of latitude
522
00:32:22.309 --> 00:32:25.339
so it wasn't a case of how many miles you
523
00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:27.640
covered it was how far north you went in a
524
00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:30.220
in a straight line so there's quite a few tactical
525
00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:35.000
decisions to be made here connor you managed to time
526
00:32:35.539 --> 00:32:40.349
your return uh quite precisely finishing 12 minutes before before
527
00:32:40.380 --> 00:32:41.529
the finish so what.
528
00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:42.769
14 yeah well.
529
00:32:45.299 --> 00:32:49.680
It makes a huge difference. You managed to get 251
530
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:52.789
and a half kilometres north, but you actually rode 684
531
00:32:52.789 --> 00:32:56.529
kilometres in that time. So what was, in terms of
532
00:32:56.750 --> 00:33:00.349
planning the route for that, how did you go about this?
533
00:33:00.369 --> 00:33:04.549
Because I saw there was this North Berwick question with
534
00:33:04.569 --> 00:33:05.589
how you navigated that.
535
00:33:07.670 --> 00:33:10.019
Honestly, I wish I was a lot more precise or
536
00:33:10.220 --> 00:33:13.660
could tell you there was some, you know, amazing strategy
537
00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:16.529
but there wasn't really um i think a lot of
538
00:33:16.619 --> 00:33:19.750
us probably looked at north berwick and went ah well
539
00:33:19.769 --> 00:33:21.710
you know that's on the coast and it's going to
540
00:33:21.730 --> 00:33:24.569
be hard to get much more north than that um
541
00:33:25.130 --> 00:33:27.769
but yeah so that was my strategy going with but
542
00:33:28.369 --> 00:33:30.750
the the key thing i think i did that no
543
00:33:30.809 --> 00:33:32.930
one else did which i thought everyone would do um
544
00:33:33.569 --> 00:33:35.750
but i also thought it was a bit crazy was
545
00:33:35.970 --> 00:33:39.250
um to ride on the a1 um which uh it
546
00:33:39.289 --> 00:33:41.710
sounds a lot worse than than it actually was um
547
00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:45.440
i actually love uh that i did that because i
548
00:33:45.460 --> 00:33:48.000
was riding on these little backcountry lanes which were windy
549
00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:50.900
and hilly and um you know the speed limits are
550
00:33:50.920 --> 00:33:54.500
basically the same but uh the opportunity to see you
551
00:33:54.579 --> 00:33:57.349
is a lot lower uh whereas on the a1 it's
552
00:33:57.400 --> 00:34:00.880
long straight flat um there's up two lanes a lot
553
00:34:00.900 --> 00:34:03.849
of it and most of the drivers were uh were
554
00:34:03.869 --> 00:34:06.089
very courteous and would go into the far lane and
555
00:34:06.109 --> 00:34:06.789
it was quite an.
556
00:34:06.789 --> 00:34:10.489
Imp the a1 is legal to ride on but then
557
00:34:10.510 --> 00:34:13.170
it turns into a motorway it some part further south,
558
00:34:13.190 --> 00:34:16.550
which Victor, who managed to get equally as far north
559
00:34:16.590 --> 00:34:20.570
as you, got caught out by. So, yeah, knowing which
560
00:34:20.630 --> 00:34:23.530
roads you can and can't ride on seemed important.
561
00:34:23.969 --> 00:34:27.630
I think in Victor's case, he had his way there
562
00:34:27.690 --> 00:34:29.849
and his way back, and he didn't like his way there.
563
00:34:29.969 --> 00:34:32.889
So rather than following his way there back, he decided
564
00:34:32.969 --> 00:34:34.820
to mix it up and change his route to make
565
00:34:34.860 --> 00:34:39.559
it a little bit easier. And because he didn't have
566
00:34:39.780 --> 00:34:43.340
a proper route back, he started to make some kind
567
00:34:43.380 --> 00:34:45.239
of wrong turns. So I kept seeing him on the
568
00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:47.679
way back, even though he was riding faster than I was.
569
00:34:48.539 --> 00:34:50.039
And then one of his wrong turns turned out to
570
00:34:50.099 --> 00:34:52.920
be a pretty bad wrong turn. So I met the
571
00:34:52.940 --> 00:34:55.869
police on the A1M. So, yeah.
572
00:34:56.010 --> 00:35:01.750
How did you pace it then? Because it seemed like
573
00:35:01.769 --> 00:35:04.210
it took you quite a bit longer on the way
574
00:35:04.269 --> 00:35:06.550
back than the way there. And I suppose you've also
575
00:35:06.570 --> 00:35:10.190
got the weather conditions, especially the winds to factor in there. So...
576
00:35:10.929 --> 00:35:12.880
How much did you think about this beforehand? What was
577
00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:13.599
your plan around this?
578
00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:16.079
So my plan was to ride for 10 hours to
579
00:35:16.119 --> 00:35:18.280
get to North Berwick or as far north as I
580
00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:20.880
could in that time. I got to 10pm and I
581
00:35:20.900 --> 00:35:24.800
was like, oh, North Berwick's just there. Victor's just getting there.
582
00:35:26.179 --> 00:35:28.829
If I turn around now, I'm definitely going to lose
583
00:35:29.730 --> 00:35:31.889
if he makes it back on time. And I was
584
00:35:31.909 --> 00:35:33.849
just like, I'm just going to give myself every chance.
585
00:35:34.329 --> 00:35:37.219
If I finish outside of the cutoff, you know, I'm
586
00:35:37.409 --> 00:35:39.289
maybe not going to get second, but the way this
587
00:35:39.429 --> 00:35:41.630
race was kind of structured, it was pretty much winner
588
00:35:41.670 --> 00:35:45.110
takes all. And there was actually a cash prize for
589
00:35:45.130 --> 00:35:49.130
this race, which is very unusual for any ultra. So
590
00:35:49.250 --> 00:35:51.050
I wasn't really that motivated by it, but at the
591
00:35:51.090 --> 00:35:53.130
same time, it's winner takes all. So I was kind
592
00:35:53.150 --> 00:35:55.550
of like, I'd rather come back and have given it
593
00:35:55.610 --> 00:35:59.530
my best rather than admitted defeat early, even if that
594
00:35:59.550 --> 00:36:04.650
means I get a DNF for it. But yeah, so
595
00:36:04.869 --> 00:36:07.150
I got to 10 p.m. and I was like, I'm
596
00:36:07.170 --> 00:36:09.030
going to go further. So I got to 10 45,
597
00:36:09.030 --> 00:36:12.929
which was the absolute latest. I wanted to, um, uh,
598
00:36:12.969 --> 00:36:15.809
turn around and I luckily made it to North Berwick
599
00:36:15.849 --> 00:36:18.670
on time for 10 45, turn around, went to a
600
00:36:18.670 --> 00:36:22.269
McDonald's kind of took my time to just make sure
601
00:36:22.329 --> 00:36:25.550
I was refueled for the way back and just hoped that, um,
602
00:36:26.250 --> 00:36:31.690
that was that 13 hours and 15 minutes was enough to, uh,
603
00:36:31.730 --> 00:36:33.690
to do it. So the return leg had to be
604
00:36:33.750 --> 00:36:37.170
one hour, 15 or less longer. Uh, it turned out
605
00:36:37.190 --> 00:36:38.289
to be one hour longer.
606
00:36:38.309 --> 00:36:40.610
Um, no, sorry.
607
00:36:40.889 --> 00:36:43.750
My math is terrible there. It turned out to be
608
00:36:43.769 --> 00:36:46.989
two hours and 15 minutes longer on the way back. And, um,
609
00:36:47.110 --> 00:36:49.619
that was kind of built in on the basis that
610
00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:52.199
there would be fatigue there. There was a lot of
611
00:36:52.340 --> 00:36:55.380
it by the end and, um, that the wind was
612
00:36:55.420 --> 00:36:57.820
gonna play a factor. So I was aware that it
613
00:36:57.860 --> 00:37:00.230
was a tail wind out and a headwind home. So
614
00:37:00.269 --> 00:37:02.670
I think my way out was about 32 kilometers an
615
00:37:02.690 --> 00:37:07.690
hour average. And my way back was something like 27, 28.
616
00:37:07.690 --> 00:37:12.650
But really, when I realized that, especially that Victor had
617
00:37:12.690 --> 00:37:15.550
gone on the A1M, he passed me and told me
618
00:37:15.590 --> 00:37:20.179
that he'd done that. And I was just like, OK, well,
619
00:37:20.219 --> 00:37:25.039
that's probably a DNF for him or a DQ for him.
620
00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:27.719
I just realized that I just needed to make sure
621
00:37:27.860 --> 00:37:30.889
I got back in every little tiny detail. climb felt
622
00:37:30.949 --> 00:37:33.670
like it was doing an Everest basically and I think
623
00:37:33.730 --> 00:37:35.989
for me I'm used to doing a lot of elevation
624
00:37:36.469 --> 00:37:39.349
where I live I basically do hilly rides every single
625
00:37:39.369 --> 00:37:42.670
day um so doing a flat ride where I don't
626
00:37:42.710 --> 00:37:45.190
get any respite I'm just on the pedals constantly was
627
00:37:45.630 --> 00:37:46.690
was difficult for me.
628
00:37:48.570 --> 00:37:50.389
And you you didn't have any aero bars as well
629
00:37:50.889 --> 00:37:52.840
as from what you were saying earlier I suppose that
630
00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:56.820
wasn't a tactical decision I was just making making good
631
00:37:56.840 --> 00:37:59.449
of what you had but you did have some nice
632
00:37:59.489 --> 00:38:01.010
long aero socks on those.
633
00:38:00.750 --> 00:38:02.750
So that probably makes up for that yes that was
634
00:38:02.789 --> 00:38:05.489
my one aero feature other than maybe my helmet and
635
00:38:05.590 --> 00:38:08.230
my uh hydration vest if you want to include the
636
00:38:08.250 --> 00:38:11.369
hydration vest in that kind of setup but uh my
637
00:38:11.389 --> 00:38:13.659
bike doesn't fit aero bars and i've never run aero
638
00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:17.019
bars in a race before so um it's just not
639
00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:17.500
something i.
640
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:21.539
Do And just before we move on, just to recognise
641
00:38:21.820 --> 00:38:24.920
the second and third finishers were actually our first and
642
00:38:24.980 --> 00:38:28.659
second female finishers, who have both previously been on the podcast.
643
00:38:28.699 --> 00:38:33.449
That's Jamie Wilson, did 238 kilometres north. I think she
644
00:38:33.619 --> 00:38:38.110
got just beyond Berwick-upon-Tweed. And third overall was Esther Lloyd,
645
00:38:38.170 --> 00:38:42.769
who did 236.3 kilometres going north. So all of you
646
00:38:42.809 --> 00:38:46.769
in the top three managed over 600 kilometres in total, so... Yeah,
647
00:38:46.789 --> 00:38:50.329
I thought it was a really, really innovative format and
648
00:38:50.349 --> 00:38:55.150
an interesting one to follow as well. So let's move
649
00:38:55.210 --> 00:38:59.210
on to the inaugural edition of the Taurus Mountain Race,
650
00:38:59.710 --> 00:39:02.510
which there's a lot of unknownness here. So it's going
651
00:39:02.530 --> 00:39:05.380
to be quite a bit of speculation, which we'll come
652
00:39:05.420 --> 00:39:09.239
on to in the various elements. It starts on Wednesday,
653
00:39:09.260 --> 00:39:13.940
the 14th of October from Antalya in Turkey. A couple
654
00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:18.739
of things we do know. about the route is that
655
00:39:19.050 --> 00:39:23.590
it's 1,460 kilometers in distance, around 36,000 meters of elevation gain.
656
00:39:23.610 --> 00:39:27.550
There's around 85% of it's going to be unpaved and
657
00:39:27.570 --> 00:39:30.840
riders can expect to go up to 3,000 3,200 metres
658
00:39:31.179 --> 00:39:37.929
in altitude. So let's start with speaking about the route.
659
00:39:38.320 --> 00:39:42.750
It's only going to be revealed two days before the start. Connor,
660
00:39:43.250 --> 00:39:47.639
I've seen on your recent Substack article that You've been
661
00:39:47.659 --> 00:39:52.480
given some information about the different segments of the route,
662
00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:56.719
but beyond that, it's just going to be two days before.
663
00:39:57.079 --> 00:39:58.599
Here it is. Make your plans there.
664
00:39:58.940 --> 00:40:02.590
Pretty much, yeah. So the sub stack that I wrote
665
00:40:02.820 --> 00:40:05.630
is based on a lot of it's what's in the manual,
666
00:40:06.030 --> 00:40:09.829
which is, it's not, I mean, compared to a lot
667
00:40:09.849 --> 00:40:11.570
of manuals you get for a race, it's quite generous
668
00:40:11.630 --> 00:40:13.849
because Nelson's always very good at telling you where the
669
00:40:13.889 --> 00:40:16.309
resupplies are. So that can give you a good hint
670
00:40:16.429 --> 00:40:19.670
of where, the route broadly goes but there's a lot
671
00:40:19.690 --> 00:40:21.989
of unknown within that and particularly some of the more
672
00:40:22.050 --> 00:40:25.670
remote kind of off-grid sections um so i've tried to
673
00:40:25.710 --> 00:40:28.380
plot out the route for example and uh there is
674
00:40:28.389 --> 00:40:31.039
just a lot of off-grid uh you can't create routes
675
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:33.000
to some of the points that i do have so
676
00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:37.219
um yeah there's there's a lot of unknown within the
677
00:40:37.260 --> 00:40:39.019
little we do know and then the other thing that
678
00:40:39.079 --> 00:40:41.639
i know is um from just talking to people who
679
00:40:41.679 --> 00:40:44.239
have talked to him so he's told me bits and
680
00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:47.119
then other people he's told other bits too and together
681
00:40:47.159 --> 00:40:48.789
I've kind of been able to piece together what the
682
00:40:48.829 --> 00:40:52.090
race might look like a bit more than anything the
683
00:40:52.110 --> 00:40:52.630
manual says.
684
00:40:53.369 --> 00:40:56.789
So you've got a location of three or four checkpoints
685
00:40:56.869 --> 00:41:00.090
is that right and the distances and elevation between those?
686
00:41:00.510 --> 00:41:03.420
Exactly yeah and then just some of the key resupply
687
00:41:03.440 --> 00:41:06.119
points so you know where the big like kind of
688
00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:09.400
black spot is. So between checkpoint two and resupply 13,
689
00:41:09.400 --> 00:41:17.929
for example, there's 187 kilometers of distance that, yeah, we
690
00:41:17.969 --> 00:41:21.289
don't know the exact elevation for that, but looking on
691
00:41:21.389 --> 00:41:24.050
commute and trying to kind of create a route for
692
00:41:24.090 --> 00:41:28.230
that purely for, I suppose, journalistic purposes, not actually trying
693
00:41:28.250 --> 00:41:30.300
to get too much of a headstart on the road.
694
00:41:30.659 --> 00:41:35.449
And in general, on the terrain, on the, technical nature
695
00:41:35.769 --> 00:41:41.849
of the riding you expecting it to be comparable with
696
00:41:42.289 --> 00:41:44.630
nelson's other mountain series races.
697
00:41:44.699 --> 00:41:48.059
Yeah so um two bits of information i guess and
698
00:41:48.079 --> 00:41:50.400
what he's well one he told me which is that
699
00:41:50.460 --> 00:41:52.639
it's going to be as hard as silk road and
700
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:54.840
one bit that he told someone else which is that
701
00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:57.739
it's going to be i believe 80 or 85 percent
702
00:41:58.099 --> 00:42:03.269
um off-road so um For like context, if you look
703
00:42:03.309 --> 00:42:06.840
at Hellenic, which is probably underrated in terms of how
704
00:42:06.909 --> 00:42:09.900
difficult it is, it's a huge elevation race with a
705
00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:14.320
massive amount of hiking. That actually has quite a lot
706
00:42:14.380 --> 00:42:18.340
of paved roads. So I think it's 55%, 45%, but
707
00:42:18.360 --> 00:42:20.219
it's still one of the hardest races out there. This
708
00:42:20.300 --> 00:42:23.500
is going to be 80 to 85% off-road. Some of
709
00:42:23.539 --> 00:42:26.320
it will be gravel, but given this is a kind
710
00:42:26.340 --> 00:42:27.969
of a mountain range that isn't one of the most
711
00:42:28.730 --> 00:42:31.920
kind of, well-travelled, I suppose. It's not going to be
712
00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:35.760
like Girona gravel, for example. It's going to be chunky
713
00:42:35.780 --> 00:42:38.980
stuff that's, you know, it gets some Land Rovers going
714
00:42:39.260 --> 00:42:42.309
up and down it very, very occasionally. So it's not
715
00:42:42.329 --> 00:42:45.050
going to be, you know, well-packed stuff.
716
00:42:46.030 --> 00:42:47.210
What tyres are you running?
717
00:42:50.210 --> 00:42:54.409
What a good question. I ran for Hellenic. I ran
718
00:42:54.860 --> 00:42:59.110
Dove Natal trail casing back and front, so that's like
719
00:42:59.340 --> 00:43:03.269
similar to the Mezcal for Vittoria or yeah, it's a
720
00:43:03.349 --> 00:43:05.590
kind of a hard pack kind of a tire, but
721
00:43:05.670 --> 00:43:08.010
for this one, I'm going to run, um, a double
722
00:43:08.050 --> 00:43:10.650
toll in the rear, uh, trail casing still, and I'm
723
00:43:10.670 --> 00:43:13.010
going to run a Trinitol upfront, which is just a
724
00:43:13.030 --> 00:43:14.750
bit of a beefier one. So it's like a Barzo
725
00:43:14.809 --> 00:43:19.489
if people know, uh, Vittoria tires. Um, my thinking for
726
00:43:19.530 --> 00:43:23.239
that is purely personal, which is that I can't always
727
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:24.940
get a lot of weight on my front wheel because
728
00:43:24.980 --> 00:43:30.409
I'm quite lightweight. So I risk just sliding out a
729
00:43:30.409 --> 00:43:33.349
little bit more than maybe some riders do. So that's
730
00:43:33.409 --> 00:43:35.469
the main reason I'm going to run it. I would
731
00:43:35.900 --> 00:43:39.420
basically just recommend for whoever's doing this that wider is
732
00:43:39.440 --> 00:43:42.119
probably better. So 2.4s is what I'm running front and rear.
733
00:43:43.719 --> 00:43:46.739
I know someone who's running 2.6s. I think that is
734
00:43:46.780 --> 00:43:50.690
a good choice for some. And I think trail casing
735
00:43:50.730 --> 00:43:53.010
is an absolute must because if you get stuck in
736
00:43:53.050 --> 00:43:56.550
the middle of... one of those long sections with no resupply,
737
00:43:56.630 --> 00:44:00.619
you could be walking for two days to get to somewhere. Um,
738
00:44:00.780 --> 00:44:02.360
so maybe just don't do that.
739
00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:04.920
They sound a great choice.
740
00:44:06.039 --> 00:44:08.360
Just wish that Natal would name them better.
741
00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:09.679
Yes.
742
00:44:10.170 --> 00:44:13.130
Yeah. I also mentioned in the post about, um, what
743
00:44:13.150 --> 00:44:17.230
Justina says about in terms of, um, comfort is speed. Um,
744
00:44:17.409 --> 00:44:19.650
so that's, that stuck with me and he obviously has
745
00:44:19.769 --> 00:44:22.219
won Silk Road and he's won Atlas Mountain Race. So,
746
00:44:22.929 --> 00:44:26.210
The man knows what he's talking about for sure. I
747
00:44:26.250 --> 00:44:29.309
don't think when you're going to be traveling, I think
748
00:44:29.309 --> 00:44:35.369
10 kilometers an hour, probably average speed over this race.
749
00:44:36.210 --> 00:44:40.800
I don't think the kind of rolling resistance is what's
750
00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:43.340
going to make the difference here. I think how much
751
00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:46.599
you're able to keep moving and do it intact is
752
00:44:46.639 --> 00:44:48.000
probably going to be way more important.
753
00:44:48.550 --> 00:44:51.329
And I think there's a clue in how long the
754
00:44:51.389 --> 00:44:55.179
cutoff is for this in terms of the speeds we're
755
00:44:55.260 --> 00:44:58.059
expecting people to be moving at, how much distance they're
756
00:44:58.139 --> 00:45:00.579
going to be covering each day, because it's 11 days
757
00:45:00.679 --> 00:45:05.199
to do the 1,460 kilometers. So to make the cutoff
758
00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:08.360
is it, I mean, it doesn't sound like much, just
759
00:45:08.539 --> 00:45:11.550
a bit over a hundred K a day, but like you,
760
00:45:11.610 --> 00:45:14.510
like you've mentioned in terms of how long it could
761
00:45:14.550 --> 00:45:17.989
be between resupplies. that could take a very long time
762
00:45:18.030 --> 00:45:21.329
to be covering covering that sort of distance.
763
00:45:21.889 --> 00:45:25.869
Yes yeah for sure for sure um i think on
764
00:45:25.909 --> 00:45:29.449
that topic i suppose um i think one of the
765
00:45:29.489 --> 00:45:31.309
key things that people will and i'm not sure i
766
00:45:31.309 --> 00:45:35.360
actually mentioned this in the article but um carrying capacity
767
00:45:35.420 --> 00:45:37.719
is probably one of the questions so um i've talked
768
00:45:37.739 --> 00:45:39.000
to quite a lot of people who are doing the
769
00:45:39.039 --> 00:45:42.989
race and i think uh usually you know what tires
770
00:45:43.010 --> 00:45:45.809
you running uh that kind of stuff is actually one
771
00:45:45.849 --> 00:45:48.449
of the key questions you'd get for any ultra for
772
00:45:48.469 --> 00:45:51.860
this one how much water capacity are you bringing is
773
00:45:52.179 --> 00:45:54.619
uh it's probably one of the key ones that's come
774
00:45:54.659 --> 00:46:00.099
up um so for me uh it's gonna be so
775
00:46:00.139 --> 00:46:02.119
difficult until we know the route so i'm gonna bring
776
00:46:02.159 --> 00:46:06.039
capacity to carry basically six liters which uh Feels like
777
00:46:06.099 --> 00:46:09.260
too much. And if I carrying six kilograms worth of water,
778
00:46:09.420 --> 00:46:11.780
I think I'm going to be going very slow. Bringing
779
00:46:11.820 --> 00:46:13.860
a filter is going to be necessary. I don't think
780
00:46:13.900 --> 00:46:16.179
it's mentioned in the manual as one of the necessities.
781
00:46:16.619 --> 00:46:21.639
Bringing purification tablets is, but I think realistically you'll probably
782
00:46:21.679 --> 00:46:25.519
want both. And yeah, everyone's going to be drinking out
783
00:46:25.920 --> 00:46:28.059
of some questionable river at some point in this race,
784
00:46:28.139 --> 00:46:28.460
I'm sure.
785
00:46:30.179 --> 00:46:30.420
Yeah.
786
00:46:31.239 --> 00:46:34.050
And then your hydration requirements are going to depend on
787
00:46:34.409 --> 00:46:38.530
weather conditions. which is again one of the well potentially
788
00:46:38.550 --> 00:46:40.690
this is one where we should have a bit more
789
00:46:40.710 --> 00:46:42.889
information about because we know the area we know what
790
00:46:42.989 --> 00:46:48.030
the typical climate conditions are but still it seems like
791
00:46:48.050 --> 00:46:52.099
there's gonna be a big range there from especially if
792
00:46:52.539 --> 00:46:57.039
you've been advised or mandated to bring a sleeping system
793
00:46:57.059 --> 00:46:59.800
capable of keeping you warm at down to minus five
794
00:46:59.820 --> 00:47:02.980
so especially high rsgs you could be expecting that and
795
00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:06.159
then we've seen over 30 degrees mentioned as well.
796
00:47:06.820 --> 00:47:10.530
Yeah um so i've looked at this um for october
797
00:47:10.650 --> 00:47:13.070
six days on average in the month is um is
798
00:47:13.090 --> 00:47:16.889
going to rain um the predictions i've seen so far
799
00:47:16.969 --> 00:47:20.369
is that it's higher than usual um level of rainfall
800
00:47:20.730 --> 00:47:24.099
um predicted so um I think we're going to see
801
00:47:24.119 --> 00:47:27.099
a very wet race basically and it's very likely we're
802
00:47:27.119 --> 00:47:29.039
going to see rain in the kind of two weeks
803
00:47:29.340 --> 00:47:32.070
leading up which we're now in that window so uh
804
00:47:32.159 --> 00:47:34.670
even if there isn't too much rain during the race
805
00:47:34.690 --> 00:47:37.469
um we can expect the tracks to be all quite
806
00:47:38.489 --> 00:47:41.690
like muddy and quite difficult so that will lower the
807
00:47:41.730 --> 00:47:45.269
average speeds and back to the tyre conversation as well
808
00:47:45.730 --> 00:47:49.099
um having something a little bit grippier and capable of
809
00:47:49.139 --> 00:47:52.300
shedding mud up front is probably more useful. Hence why,
810
00:47:52.780 --> 00:47:55.630
that's kind of why I'm opting for something grippier there.
811
00:47:56.369 --> 00:48:00.070
And another point on, I suppose this relates to how
812
00:48:00.090 --> 00:48:03.889
you're going to be comfortable in terms of sleeping in
813
00:48:03.949 --> 00:48:08.900
all sorts of conditions. I've seen in the manual, they're recommending,
814
00:48:09.880 --> 00:48:14.019
actively recommending a tent over a bivy. And it seems
815
00:48:14.059 --> 00:48:18.199
like especially some of these riders who've got familiar with
816
00:48:19.260 --> 00:48:22.460
finding a way to sleep indoors they may not have
817
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:25.219
that opportunity this time so that could be another another
818
00:48:25.260 --> 00:48:27.699
leveler yeah.
819
00:48:27.550 --> 00:48:31.329
For sure um i won't be bringing a tent um
820
00:48:31.909 --> 00:48:37.150
that i just it's not my mentality to do that
821
00:48:37.469 --> 00:48:40.449
um i can see the benefit in doing it um
822
00:48:40.730 --> 00:48:44.210
i'll be bringing a bivy it's waterproof but to any
823
00:48:44.250 --> 00:48:48.380
degree as you would expect, um, with most bivvies. Um, so, uh,
824
00:48:49.260 --> 00:48:50.920
my aim will be not to sleep up high and
825
00:48:50.940 --> 00:48:52.940
to try and find some form of shelter whenever I
826
00:48:52.980 --> 00:48:56.679
have to sleep, um, outdoors. Um, but yeah, you're right. There's,
827
00:48:56.739 --> 00:49:00.659
there's not going to be many, um, indoor sleeping options. Um,
828
00:49:00.860 --> 00:49:04.090
I think you can do it at all of the CPs. Um, again,
829
00:49:04.159 --> 00:49:07.190
the mountain races are usually very good for, uh, having
830
00:49:07.250 --> 00:49:10.369
food in 24 hours and being able to sleep 24
831
00:49:10.369 --> 00:49:14.210
hours at those locations. So I think everyone will probably
832
00:49:14.250 --> 00:49:15.730
be taking those chances when they can.
833
00:49:16.170 --> 00:49:22.099
I also think that this whole sleep situation could be
834
00:49:22.159 --> 00:49:24.340
one of the biggest levelers in this event. There'd be
835
00:49:24.460 --> 00:49:27.780
a lot of conversation around not knowing the route and
836
00:49:27.820 --> 00:49:30.960
so on and being able to scout it and that
837
00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:35.389
side of things. But if people greater means can't just
838
00:49:35.619 --> 00:49:38.210
chuck money at accommodation, then, I mean.
839
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:45.519
I mean, having greater means for better sleeping set up
840
00:49:46.079 --> 00:49:49.760
can take you so far. But then, yeah, if there's
841
00:49:49.780 --> 00:49:54.320
no accommodation, everyone's having to, well, in a lot of cases,
842
00:49:54.389 --> 00:49:57.849
having to make do outdoors, then it takes away that
843
00:49:57.909 --> 00:50:01.289
part of if there's one or two hotels and it
844
00:50:01.349 --> 00:50:02.329
costs a huge amount.
845
00:50:02.449 --> 00:50:02.590
Yeah.
846
00:50:02.969 --> 00:50:05.570
Some people are more willing to pay for that than others.
847
00:50:05.730 --> 00:50:09.050
Yeah, I think because this is a less established event
848
00:50:09.650 --> 00:50:15.050
and because Turkey is a relatively lower cost country, I
849
00:50:15.090 --> 00:50:18.829
don't think the money, no objects kind of hotel stays
850
00:50:18.869 --> 00:50:21.429
are going to be quite as bad. I was literally
851
00:50:21.449 --> 00:50:24.619
just talking to someone earlier about how in Greece, Greece
852
00:50:24.679 --> 00:50:28.050
obviously being a bit more of an expensive country. Um,
853
00:50:28.309 --> 00:50:30.429
there were some hotels that are used to the race
854
00:50:30.469 --> 00:50:33.630
coming through. So had hiked up the room prices and
855
00:50:34.090 --> 00:50:37.389
they were selling food at just ridiculous cost. And, uh,
856
00:50:37.429 --> 00:50:39.409
they were even turning the rooms over multiple times in
857
00:50:39.429 --> 00:50:41.050
the night, knowing that people weren't going to stay a
858
00:50:41.070 --> 00:50:43.329
full night. So they'd sell the same room two or
859
00:50:43.369 --> 00:50:46.989
three times. Um, this isn't going to be the case, uh,
860
00:50:47.090 --> 00:50:49.190
here quite so much, uh, maybe in a few years,
861
00:50:49.269 --> 00:50:51.469
it might become that way more so, uh, as they
862
00:50:51.489 --> 00:50:54.730
get used to it. But, um, yeah, I think it
863
00:50:54.789 --> 00:50:58.699
is a leveler, um, People not having the same ability
864
00:50:58.719 --> 00:51:01.920
to plan in advance or maybe even stay inside at all.
865
00:51:02.360 --> 00:51:05.139
And with this potentially being the best part of a week,
866
00:51:05.420 --> 00:51:11.409
that balance is going to be crucial. So it has
867
00:51:11.570 --> 00:51:16.809
been said that this is the unofficial world championships of
868
00:51:16.909 --> 00:51:21.809
off-road ultra racing. And for good reason, looking at our
869
00:51:22.030 --> 00:51:25.010
start list. I'm not really sure where to start because
870
00:51:25.110 --> 00:51:27.210
there's a lot of people with a lot of experience
871
00:51:27.269 --> 00:51:33.139
and really great results in the off-road scene. How about Amanda?
872
00:51:34.619 --> 00:51:37.719
Which names would you pick out from our list to
873
00:51:37.760 --> 00:51:38.159
start with?
874
00:51:38.920 --> 00:51:43.820
I think Simon for me. Having recently met her and
875
00:51:43.860 --> 00:51:48.110
seen just how strong she is mentally and physically.
876
00:51:49.090 --> 00:51:52.849
I think a lot of stuff could happen to her
877
00:51:53.550 --> 00:51:56.030
and she would ride away from it you know the
878
00:51:56.210 --> 00:51:59.469
type of things that had meantfully pulled someone down um
879
00:51:59.809 --> 00:52:00.449
i just don't.
880
00:52:00.289 --> 00:52:02.789
Think they faze her she came up really strong at
881
00:52:02.809 --> 00:52:05.150
the end of alp's divide as well as she seemed
882
00:52:05.170 --> 00:52:09.150
to have that strategy of treating her sleep seriously and
883
00:52:09.170 --> 00:52:11.690
it really paid off in the second half of the
884
00:52:11.710 --> 00:52:14.070
race so with this one being a bit longer maybe
885
00:52:14.110 --> 00:52:14.869
it would suit her a bit.
886
00:52:14.809 --> 00:52:18.110
More yeah i mean i have heard from it's actually
887
00:52:18.130 --> 00:52:22.179
the Two of the commentators that will be commentating Taurus
888
00:52:22.199 --> 00:52:23.130
were riding.
889
00:52:22.820 --> 00:52:25.289
With her or near her on the Alps Divide and
890
00:52:25.329 --> 00:52:26.789
said she wasn't really racing.
891
00:52:26.809 --> 00:52:30.690
She was just going at her pace. I think she
892
00:52:30.730 --> 00:52:34.670
could have put a dig in and actually closed that gap.
893
00:52:35.250 --> 00:52:41.059
Let's stick with some of the females to watch then.
894
00:52:41.099 --> 00:52:44.739
We've got Megan Hacken in there, who I believe this
895
00:52:45.460 --> 00:52:49.289
is the first Mountain Series event ever. this year but
896
00:52:49.329 --> 00:52:52.150
she has experience in the other the other mountain mountain
897
00:52:52.190 --> 00:52:57.260
series races and coming off her female fkt at tour
898
00:52:57.280 --> 00:53:00.300
divide earlier in the year as well yeah so.
899
00:53:01.960 --> 00:53:04.360
Megan i think is an interesting one as well um
900
00:53:04.699 --> 00:53:06.909
one thing i would say about her is that uh
901
00:53:07.170 --> 00:53:09.889
as the terrain gets more technical she has herself said
902
00:53:10.010 --> 00:53:13.369
that she is less comfortable so she is more of
903
00:53:13.429 --> 00:53:18.409
a gravel rider than a mountain biker so for example
904
00:53:18.469 --> 00:53:21.090
she did do tour divide and she did an incredibly
905
00:53:21.130 --> 00:53:24.030
impressive result there um but in terms of the triple
906
00:53:24.050 --> 00:53:28.320
crown in the u.s she wasn't interested in doing colorado
907
00:53:28.340 --> 00:53:31.199
um she said it was way too technical for her
908
00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:35.280
um and um in terms of arizona trail as well
909
00:53:35.320 --> 00:53:38.619
like um i don't think she was so hyped by
910
00:53:38.659 --> 00:53:40.579
the amount of hiking that was involved in that so
911
00:53:41.139 --> 00:53:43.900
um that's not to put her down at all because, um,
912
00:53:44.139 --> 00:53:47.579
she has won Silk Road. She has won Atlas. She's won, um,
913
00:53:48.480 --> 00:53:51.929
Hellenic last year. So she's very well acquainted with the, uh,
914
00:53:51.989 --> 00:53:54.710
mountain race series. So I think she'll be incredibly strong
915
00:53:54.750 --> 00:53:58.489
in Taurus, but, um, if it does get incredibly technical, uh,
916
00:53:58.550 --> 00:54:02.130
that might be one area where, um, she, you know,
917
00:54:02.389 --> 00:54:04.570
maybe performs a little less than, than some of the
918
00:54:04.590 --> 00:54:08.090
other riders, but the endurance base there of, uh, that
919
00:54:08.219 --> 00:54:10.480
length of time i don't think is gonna cause her
920
00:54:10.539 --> 00:54:11.039
any problem.
921
00:54:10.920 --> 00:54:14.039
Someone else very familiar with the mountain series races is
922
00:54:14.320 --> 00:54:19.280
cynthia carson who well she she would have started each
923
00:54:19.320 --> 00:54:22.039
of the races this year she she unfortunately had to
924
00:54:22.059 --> 00:54:24.880
pull out of silk road mountain race i believe she
925
00:54:25.119 --> 00:54:28.539
she got ill during that but she was first female
926
00:54:28.699 --> 00:54:31.510
atlas earlier on the year has a really strong palmaris
927
00:54:31.550 --> 00:54:35.750
and potentially the more technical stuff could suit.
928
00:54:35.530 --> 00:54:39.480
Her hmm I think she'll be coming into this hoping
929
00:54:39.559 --> 00:54:41.179
for a win, as she does with every race that
930
00:54:41.199 --> 00:54:43.840
she does. So I would also say this is probably
931
00:54:43.889 --> 00:54:47.769
the hardest race that she's faced this year, both in
932
00:54:47.809 --> 00:54:50.710
terms of what we're likely to expect and in terms
933
00:54:50.809 --> 00:54:54.130
of the terrain as well. One other name that I
934
00:54:54.150 --> 00:54:56.329
was thinking of as well here that I only found
935
00:54:56.429 --> 00:55:00.130
out in the past couple of days is Marij Moldenhaar.
936
00:55:00.630 --> 00:55:04.760
And she hasn't had lots of races this season. She
937
00:55:04.800 --> 00:55:09.929
won Atlas last year. And then I believe, uh, she
938
00:55:10.250 --> 00:55:13.670
had some issues with her knee, um, quite serious ones
939
00:55:13.730 --> 00:55:16.909
where she was basically rehabbing it for most of last year. Um,
940
00:55:17.070 --> 00:55:21.530
she came into tracker five 60 this year. Um, everyone
941
00:55:21.570 --> 00:55:24.090
not knowing really what to expect from, from her. And
942
00:55:24.130 --> 00:55:26.710
I think honestly, probably not knowing what to expect from
943
00:55:26.750 --> 00:55:31.199
herself as well. Um, she had a pretty nasty accident
944
00:55:31.219 --> 00:55:33.659
during the race. People might remember some of the photos
945
00:55:33.699 --> 00:55:36.489
of her with a big open wind. Uh, that she'd
946
00:55:36.530 --> 00:55:40.449
kind of nussed, uh, herself during the race, but, um,
947
00:55:41.269 --> 00:55:44.250
that definitely held her back and she only, um, she
948
00:55:44.269 --> 00:55:47.389
only came second by half an hour. So, uh, it's
949
00:55:47.429 --> 00:55:50.849
hard to see that that incident didn't cause her to
950
00:55:50.929 --> 00:55:53.750
potentially lose the race. So, uh, basically a very strong
951
00:55:53.769 --> 00:55:56.900
performance and tracker. Then she went on to do grouts, uh,
952
00:55:56.949 --> 00:55:59.030
earlier this year, which is a new race with a
953
00:55:59.050 --> 00:56:01.750
lot of elevation. She won that. Um, and now she's
954
00:56:01.789 --> 00:56:05.389
coming into Taurus. Um, so. She's an interesting one because
955
00:56:05.409 --> 00:56:09.849
she's on the Canyon kind of pro ultra kind of
956
00:56:09.869 --> 00:56:14.449
gravel team. And she's not had very many race days,
957
00:56:14.550 --> 00:56:17.079
which I would say she's had enough to probably have
958
00:56:17.119 --> 00:56:19.960
some good form and not too many that she's got
959
00:56:20.219 --> 00:56:22.260
carrying too much fatigue. So I think she'll be a
960
00:56:22.280 --> 00:56:27.079
really interesting one to look at. In my mind, she's
961
00:56:27.199 --> 00:56:30.300
potentially the favorite, if not one of the favorites, but
962
00:56:30.559 --> 00:56:33.139
not to pile too much pressure on her. Another name
963
00:56:33.199 --> 00:56:36.300
is Fenja Wetz as well, who I've not seen on
964
00:56:36.320 --> 00:56:39.559
the mountain bike so much, but I know that she's
965
00:56:39.599 --> 00:56:43.769
won Badlands, she's won Tracker, she's won Unbound, some of
966
00:56:43.789 --> 00:56:45.849
the shorter course stuff, and it'll be really interesting to
967
00:56:45.889 --> 00:56:47.809
see how she does over this because she's an immensely
968
00:56:47.829 --> 00:56:48.670
strong rider as well.
969
00:56:50.250 --> 00:56:53.429
Yeah, it's that step up from those events where you
970
00:56:53.449 --> 00:56:56.530
don't really have to consider your sleep strategy, whereas this one,
971
00:56:56.929 --> 00:57:00.719
when you're getting up to a week, she's obviously... physically
972
00:57:00.820 --> 00:57:04.090
massively strong, but then it's putting together over multiple days,
973
00:57:04.130 --> 00:57:08.170
which would be interesting, especially on her side. For the men,
974
00:57:09.210 --> 00:57:12.070
the names that we're expecting to be at the front,
975
00:57:13.320 --> 00:57:18.400
Victor Bassoni, Justina Slavica, I think they're the two that
976
00:57:18.619 --> 00:57:21.119
really stand out for me. Is there anyone else you
977
00:57:21.139 --> 00:57:22.760
think could be challenging them?
978
00:57:23.239 --> 00:57:26.199
Yeah, I've got one more, which is Ole. I can't
979
00:57:26.300 --> 00:57:27.389
remember his surname, I'm sorry.
980
00:57:27.800 --> 00:57:30.420
Beyond smith yo okay yes um.
981
00:57:30.679 --> 00:57:35.000
Yeah he's he's incredibly strong um he um i think
982
00:57:35.039 --> 00:57:38.590
he came second in atlas and he came third in
983
00:57:38.619 --> 00:57:43.409
tracker he's basically been up there giving uh victor hell
984
00:57:43.550 --> 00:57:46.289
a little bit uh in some of these races and
985
00:57:47.010 --> 00:57:49.369
uh he's not cobbled together the win in those races
986
00:57:49.409 --> 00:57:52.150
yet um he also did unbound and did very well
987
00:57:52.170 --> 00:57:56.460
there as well um but I think he's getting more
988
00:57:56.519 --> 00:58:01.239
experienced and better by the race he does. I wouldn't
989
00:58:01.260 --> 00:58:03.860
be surprised if we see a good result from him,
990
00:58:03.920 --> 00:58:08.260
especially if things get very tricky and any of the
991
00:58:08.300 --> 00:58:10.010
others run into problems as well.
992
00:58:10.650 --> 00:58:14.909
It'll be interesting to see Benedikt Borsos because he's had
993
00:58:14.989 --> 00:58:21.489
some really mildly impressive results. His performance at Race for
994
00:58:21.550 --> 00:58:25.500
Rwanda was pretty spectacular. And then I believe you pushed
995
00:58:25.539 --> 00:58:29.559
Justyna fairly close at Transbalkan Race last year as well.
996
00:58:30.030 --> 00:58:36.190
Yeah, I think he's a former Hungarian mountain bike marathon champion,
997
00:58:36.929 --> 00:58:41.269
has done very well in the national gravel races for
998
00:58:41.289 --> 00:58:44.710
the country as well. And I think basically when things
999
00:58:44.730 --> 00:58:48.289
get very technical, he is one of the strongest performers
1000
00:58:48.389 --> 00:58:49.150
on a mountain bike.
1001
00:58:49.710 --> 00:58:53.730
Amanda, any more people that you think we should be highlighting?
1002
00:58:54.489 --> 00:58:57.949
There's Angus Young, he's on your list as well. He's
1003
00:58:57.969 --> 00:59:01.519
won the Dale, he's come third at Toddowide.
1004
00:59:02.280 --> 00:59:04.500
He has done Silk Road a few times as well
1005
00:59:05.170 --> 00:59:09.960
um and set the set the fkt for both the
1006
00:59:10.460 --> 00:59:14.739
eastern divide trail in the u.s and the oh you
1007
00:59:14.780 --> 00:59:16.699
may need to help out the name the the trail
1008
00:59:16.739 --> 00:59:19.420
which runs from north and north to south through europe
1009
00:59:19.500 --> 00:59:22.250
as well maybe it's just europe european.
1010
00:59:21.929 --> 00:59:24.070
Divide yeah it's the european divide yeah.
1011
00:59:24.889 --> 00:59:28.550
So yeah, obviously it's attracted a lot of people to
1012
00:59:28.590 --> 00:59:32.389
this event and just finally, what do we think it
1013
00:59:32.489 --> 00:59:36.769
is that has really built up the anticipation about this one?
1014
00:59:36.849 --> 00:59:40.050
Is it that element of the unknown? Is it just
1015
00:59:40.119 --> 00:59:44.659
because it's a new Nelson race? And are we making
1016
00:59:44.800 --> 00:59:47.519
quite a big deal out of something which isn't that
1017
00:59:47.679 --> 00:59:51.809
uncommon as well because I was thinking there's other events
1018
00:59:51.909 --> 00:59:55.699
where you don't know the route until fairly soon beforehand.
1019
00:59:56.380 --> 01:00:00.900
Is there something about this one which makes it a
1020
01:00:00.940 --> 01:00:02.340
bit more intriguing in that sense?
1021
01:00:02.360 --> 01:00:05.579
I think the location has an impact on that because
1022
01:00:05.639 --> 01:00:07.579
if I didn't know the route for something I was
1023
01:00:07.599 --> 01:00:12.820
doing somewhere like the Yorkshire Dales, I wouldn't see it
1024
01:00:12.880 --> 01:00:15.159
as big of a deal to not know as I
1025
01:00:15.179 --> 01:00:15.960
would for this one.
1026
01:00:16.179 --> 01:00:16.300
Yeah.
1027
01:00:17.269 --> 01:00:19.989
I think some of it is the reputation as well. So, um,
1028
01:00:20.179 --> 01:00:22.300
for sure, like the race does come with some kind
1029
01:00:22.320 --> 01:00:26.860
of prestige, uh, which is, um, to an, uh, to
1030
01:00:26.900 --> 01:00:29.619
an extent, like, yeah, you're right. There's, there are other
1031
01:00:29.659 --> 01:00:31.300
races that have done this and maybe they don't come
1032
01:00:31.340 --> 01:00:34.139
with the prestige and they are just the same. But
1033
01:00:34.579 --> 01:00:36.480
I think part of what comes with that prestige is
1034
01:00:36.559 --> 01:00:41.909
that everyone knows that Nelson makes quite impressive, not easy races.
1035
01:00:42.230 --> 01:00:44.269
So when you know that this is going to be
1036
01:00:44.289 --> 01:00:46.630
a Nelson race and you know, you've got almost no
1037
01:00:46.690 --> 01:00:49.750
information on it, you know, it's going to be tough. Um,
1038
01:00:50.070 --> 01:00:52.670
and no one wants Nelson's races to be any more
1039
01:00:52.710 --> 01:00:56.269
tough than they already are. So, um, yeah, I think that's,
1040
01:00:56.570 --> 01:00:58.789
that's what sets this one apart from many others.
1041
01:00:58.809 --> 01:01:02.090
I think it's going to be a interesting race from
1042
01:01:02.130 --> 01:01:06.190
all aspects. So thanks for dropping by to speak through
1043
01:01:06.210 --> 01:01:09.610
this Connor and, Would there be another preview article on
1044
01:01:09.869 --> 01:01:11.269
Substack before you start?
1045
01:01:11.570 --> 01:01:11.889
Yeah.
1046
01:01:11.989 --> 01:01:15.710
So my plan is to take my laptop out to Turkey.
1047
01:01:15.949 --> 01:01:19.989
And as soon as the route comes out, do all
1048
01:01:20.010 --> 01:01:22.489
the research I need to do and put that into
1049
01:01:22.690 --> 01:01:25.909
a Substack article, which will also include some of the
1050
01:01:25.949 --> 01:01:28.179
favorites for the race. So covering some of the names
1051
01:01:28.199 --> 01:01:30.880
we've mentioned now and going a bit further with that, too.
1052
01:01:31.250 --> 01:01:32.949
Then you'd be very busy in those couple of days
1053
01:01:32.969 --> 01:01:33.690
before the event then?
1054
01:01:33.869 --> 01:01:36.969
Yeah, I will be. And, um, during the race as well, um,
1055
01:01:36.989 --> 01:01:39.289
we're going to have, um, some regular coverage on the
1056
01:01:39.329 --> 01:01:42.750
substack and on the commentary page as well. So, uh,
1057
01:01:42.769 --> 01:01:45.619
people will get the normal, um, stuff that they're used
1058
01:01:45.639 --> 01:01:48.940
to in terms of, um, some in-depth, uh, substack articles
1059
01:01:49.159 --> 01:01:52.300
probably every other day and, um, some, some posts on
1060
01:01:52.340 --> 01:01:55.820
the commentary page, um, as and when, um, as well.
1061
01:01:56.039 --> 01:01:59.030
So I won't be doing the commentary, just to be clear,
1062
01:01:59.550 --> 01:02:01.750
for this race. I'll be a bit busy, I think.
1063
01:02:02.449 --> 01:02:04.949
Yeah, well, wish you all the best. Hope you have
1064
01:02:04.969 --> 01:02:07.610
a great ride and a great time. And yeah, hopefully
1065
01:02:08.190 --> 01:02:09.730
you drop by afterwards to tell us how it went.
1066
01:02:10.050 --> 01:02:12.130
Yeah, very happy to. It's always good to be on.
1067
01:02:13.210 --> 01:02:20.440
Good luck. Thank you. Thanks, Scott. I'll need it. Now,
1068
01:02:20.539 --> 01:02:26.360
back by popular demand, we have our ultra cycling training
1069
01:02:26.420 --> 01:02:31.199
and performance question section which is brought to you by
1070
01:02:31.360 --> 01:02:37.539
ASIA which is my ultra cycling coaching service you can
1071
01:02:37.760 --> 01:02:40.889
go to asia.cc to find out more from what I
1072
01:02:40.929 --> 01:02:45.650
do there or check out my Instagram and on my
1073
01:02:45.690 --> 01:02:49.429
Instagram I recently put up a piece around heart rate
1074
01:02:49.449 --> 01:02:54.260
specifically in relation to ultra cycling and One of the
1075
01:02:54.280 --> 01:02:58.519
bits in there was inspired through questions I often get
1076
01:02:58.840 --> 01:03:03.760
around people observing that after very long efforts, they find
1077
01:03:03.920 --> 01:03:07.920
their heart rate is suppressed and their maximum heart rate
1078
01:03:08.039 --> 01:03:11.800
is blunted. I often get asked whether this is a
1079
01:03:12.159 --> 01:03:14.469
normal thing, whether there's anything you can do about it.
1080
01:03:15.550 --> 01:03:19.030
The answer to that I'll come to, but firstly, just
1081
01:03:19.070 --> 01:03:22.690
a bit of background on how heart rate works itself.
1082
01:03:23.289 --> 01:03:27.289
It's regulated by the autonomic nervous system, which manages the
1083
01:03:27.329 --> 01:03:31.050
body's involuntary functions via two branches. The first is the
1084
01:03:31.090 --> 01:03:34.940
parasympathetic nervous system, which is essentially the body's brake pedal
1085
01:03:35.440 --> 01:03:38.679
and it's most active during rest and sleep. On the
1086
01:03:38.719 --> 01:03:42.760
opposite side, there's the sympathetic nervous system, which is basically
1087
01:03:42.780 --> 01:03:46.119
your fight or flight system, which is activated during stress
1088
01:03:46.179 --> 01:03:49.909
or exertion. And this acts to accelerate heart rate, increase
1089
01:03:49.949 --> 01:03:52.519
blood pressure and prepare the body for action. So when
1090
01:03:52.579 --> 01:03:56.260
it's functioning correctly, these opposing branches work together to maintain
1091
01:03:56.360 --> 01:04:01.679
balance for the cardiovascular system and support demands through exercise.
1092
01:04:02.719 --> 01:04:05.730
But after many hours of exertion, such as in an
1093
01:04:05.829 --> 01:04:10.750
ultra cycling event, there's a huge amount of deep central fatigue,
1094
01:04:10.829 --> 01:04:13.949
which suppresses the heart rate and blunts the maximum heart rate.
1095
01:04:15.110 --> 01:04:19.210
The body is essentially limiting sympathetic output to protect the
1096
01:04:19.250 --> 01:04:22.150
heart and organs from damage. This is also known as
1097
01:04:22.210 --> 01:04:28.409
parasympathetic hyperactivity as the parasympathetic system takes a greater role.
1098
01:04:29.210 --> 01:04:34.880
This is also potentially driven by metabolic depletion. So if
1099
01:04:34.920 --> 01:04:39.760
you've severely depleted your glycogen stores, muscle breakdown signals the
1100
01:04:39.780 --> 01:04:44.530
body to reduce the overall energy expenditure. There's also downregulation
1101
01:04:44.849 --> 01:04:48.389
of the receptions that respond to adrenaline. So that is
1102
01:04:48.429 --> 01:04:52.710
also not having as much of an effect. So all
1103
01:04:52.730 --> 01:04:55.670
of this is to say that this is a very
1104
01:04:55.809 --> 01:04:59.889
natural thing to happen. And it's important to stress that
1105
01:04:59.929 --> 01:05:05.190
this isn't a sign of fitness in itself and that
1106
01:05:06.369 --> 01:05:10.639
it's not something essentially that can be trained. after so
1107
01:05:10.679 --> 01:05:13.280
much effort, so much central fatigue, it's going to happen.
1108
01:05:13.460 --> 01:05:17.739
So in terms of managing it, firstly, my advice would
1109
01:05:17.760 --> 01:05:21.090
be to not try to force it up. Trying to
1110
01:05:21.969 --> 01:05:24.269
raise your heart rate to what you see when you're
1111
01:05:24.309 --> 01:05:27.570
fresh is only going to cook you further. What you
1112
01:05:27.590 --> 01:05:30.309
need to do is recalibrate your interpretation of heart rate
1113
01:05:30.789 --> 01:05:34.670
and accept that numbers you're seeing are lower than what
1114
01:05:34.710 --> 01:05:38.429
you'd see when you're fresh. And also, if you're used
1115
01:05:38.449 --> 01:05:42.889
to using heart rate as a measure when you're in
1116
01:05:42.929 --> 01:05:46.389
your regular training, it's going to be less important once
1117
01:05:46.409 --> 01:05:48.320
you're in the middle of an ultra event. So I
1118
01:05:48.360 --> 01:05:51.900
would say pay greater attention to your rate of perceived exertion.
1119
01:05:52.639 --> 01:05:54.679
Power can still be used, but again, that's going to
1120
01:05:54.699 --> 01:05:57.980
be down-regulated through fatigue, so it's a case of recalibrating that.
1121
01:05:58.940 --> 01:06:01.639
And then the only way your nervous system is really
1122
01:06:01.659 --> 01:06:04.900
going to reset is via rest and proper nutrition. And
1123
01:06:05.019 --> 01:06:07.489
in the middle of an event... this isn't going to
1124
01:06:07.510 --> 01:06:14.170
be fully achieved but also taking your fueling seriously and
1125
01:06:14.269 --> 01:06:17.230
getting as much rest as possible can help to mitigate
1126
01:06:17.289 --> 01:06:19.610
some of the some of the effects which have driven
1127
01:06:19.739 --> 01:06:27.300
this cardiovascular response although these are quite acute impacts at
1128
01:06:27.340 --> 01:06:30.599
the time they reflect functional cardiac fatigue rather than permanent
1129
01:06:30.619 --> 01:06:36.210
damage so after usually 24 to 48 hours or maybe
1130
01:06:36.230 --> 01:06:38.070
a bit longer depending on how long the event was
1131
01:06:39.030 --> 01:06:42.860
you should be back to normal cardiovascular parameters and your
1132
01:06:42.880 --> 01:06:46.820
heart rate responsiveness should be closer to normal after you've
1133
01:06:46.840 --> 01:06:50.800
had that time to recover so in all this is
1134
01:06:51.059 --> 01:06:55.840
something which It's a case of managing it through doing
1135
01:06:55.900 --> 01:06:59.719
sensible things in terms of pacing yourself and good nutrition
1136
01:07:00.059 --> 01:07:02.539
and adequate sleep during the event in the first place.
1137
01:07:03.050 --> 01:07:06.630
But seeing your heart rate being suppressed and the maximum
1138
01:07:06.769 --> 01:07:10.170
blunted during events isn't something to be stressed about, isn't
1139
01:07:10.230 --> 01:07:13.329
something that you need to make huge action to try
1140
01:07:13.349 --> 01:07:16.949
and change during events. This is one where it's a
1141
01:07:16.969 --> 01:07:22.210
case of recalibrating. It's a case of adapting your pacing
1142
01:07:22.250 --> 01:07:31.920
strategy and not to be too concerned about. Now we
1143
01:07:31.940 --> 01:07:34.159
have a best of bikes off because every good audio
1144
01:07:34.179 --> 01:07:37.760
podcast needs a visual edge feature. So each month the
1145
01:07:37.800 --> 01:07:41.519
co-host chooses a bike and set up from the recent
1146
01:07:41.579 --> 01:07:44.699
bikes of article. Amanda, have you picked out something for
1147
01:07:44.800 --> 01:07:45.699
us this time?
1148
01:07:45.719 --> 01:07:50.389
I have, it's from the Alps divide, which is obviously finished, but, um,
1149
01:07:52.050 --> 01:07:56.469
It's too interesting to pass up, I think. Gustav van
1150
01:07:56.530 --> 01:08:01.550
Mol has got an open cycle wide 2.0, which is
1151
01:08:01.590 --> 01:08:05.420
a gravel bike. As we know, the Alps divide is
1152
01:08:05.679 --> 01:08:09.820
off-road and quite a challenging route to do on a
1153
01:08:09.840 --> 01:08:10.519
gravel bike.
1154
01:08:12.099 --> 01:08:13.530
But he does have....
1155
01:08:14.780 --> 01:08:16.380
I can't see what tyres he's got.
1156
01:08:17.979 --> 01:08:22.960
Yeah, it says 61mm with 66mm of tyre clearance. But
1157
01:08:22.979 --> 01:08:24.859
I thought when you get that big, you start talking
1158
01:08:24.899 --> 01:08:25.340
in inches.
1159
01:08:27.340 --> 01:08:28.340
Yeah, good point.
1160
01:08:29.020 --> 01:08:29.520
There we go.
1161
01:08:30.100 --> 01:08:32.539
He's got dub knit holes front and back. And in
1162
01:08:32.600 --> 01:08:35.239
his case, he's got, you spotted the spokes.
1163
01:08:36.140 --> 01:08:36.859
Which are.
1164
01:08:37.520 --> 01:08:39.859
Bird spokes, B-E-R-D.
1165
01:08:40.500 --> 01:08:42.720
The world's lightest spokes.
1166
01:08:44.100 --> 01:08:46.800
Yeah, they caught my eye because they match the colour
1167
01:08:46.840 --> 01:08:48.720
of the frame. And looking into it a bit more,
1168
01:08:48.739 --> 01:08:54.729
they made a polyester fibre. They claim to be lightweight,
1169
01:08:55.170 --> 01:08:59.029
more comfortable, more compliant. But then they're not cheap either.
1170
01:08:59.050 --> 01:09:02.779
You're paying... the best part of € 10 per spoke. So
1171
01:09:02.800 --> 01:09:06.399
if you've got, I'm not going to count every single spoke,
1172
01:09:06.439 --> 01:09:10.989
but say 28 spokes on each wheel, that's € 500, € 600
1173
01:09:10.270 --> 01:09:11.029
just for the spokes.
1174
01:09:11.489 --> 01:09:13.829
Well, they're easy to carry spares, I guess, if they're
1175
01:09:13.850 --> 01:09:15.289
just like a shoelace.
1176
01:09:16.369 --> 01:09:16.609
Yeah.
1177
01:09:17.090 --> 01:09:18.649
Not that I would ever think to carry a spare spoke.
1178
01:09:19.430 --> 01:09:22.170
But I did look, having seen his bike and thinking
1179
01:09:22.489 --> 01:09:24.409
I would not like to do the Elks Divide on
1180
01:09:24.430 --> 01:09:27.029
a gravel bike, I have looked on the tracker and
1181
01:09:27.069 --> 01:09:30.909
he finished 10th overall. So he was not held back
1182
01:09:31.029 --> 01:09:33.159
by the rigid fork and the drop bars.
1183
01:09:33.979 --> 01:09:36.720
We could finally convert you to gravel bikes, Amanda.
1184
01:09:37.180 --> 01:09:40.420
Hey, I did 100km of gravel on a gravel bike
1185
01:09:40.439 --> 01:09:41.420
this weekend, just gone.
1186
01:09:42.979 --> 01:09:50.500
And did you enjoy it? Um... No. Okay, so, well,
1187
01:09:50.680 --> 01:09:56.100
maybe Neeson more convincing. I'm trying, though. Well, you can
1188
01:09:56.119 --> 01:09:59.020
also check out the Bike Store feature on the DotWatch
1189
01:09:59.260 --> 01:10:04.840
website for this one and for many more. And that
1190
01:10:04.899 --> 01:10:07.619
is all we have this time. If you've got any submissions,
1191
01:10:07.659 --> 01:10:10.220
then you can get in touch via our Instagram, which
1192
01:10:10.279 --> 01:10:15.439
is at dotcomspod or dotcomspod at gmail dot com. And
1193
01:10:15.640 --> 01:10:17.770
if you're If you'd like to leave us a review
1194
01:10:17.949 --> 01:10:20.970
or rating on your podcast platform of choice, that really
1195
01:10:21.010 --> 01:10:24.510
helps as well. And all of your interactions are really
1196
01:10:24.649 --> 01:10:29.659
appreciated too. So remember to check out the ongoing commentaries
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and those coming up on the DotWatch website alongside their
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regular features and some of the stuff articles. It sounds
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like there's going to be quite a bit coming up,
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especially around Taurus over the coming weeks. So thank you
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very much for joining me today, Amanda.
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Thanks for having me.
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And we will speak to you all soon.
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Goodbye.
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Welcome to episode 20 of Dotcoms, the audio home of
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ultra-distant cycling coverage in partnership with Dotwatcher. I'm Samuel Thompson,
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your host, and coming up today we've got reviews of
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recent events, dots to watch for October races, and some
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news items in the Digest. We've also got Neil Copeland
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dropping in to provide a review of Alps Divide. And
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Connor McKenzie will be telling us about what we can
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expect from the hotly anticipated inaugural edition of the Taurus
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Mountain Race. So joining me for all of this is
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Dot Watcher's Amanda Wishart, who returns with a new job title. Yes, hi.
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What am I now? The managing editor.
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So there's been some slight changes at Dot Watcher recently.
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So you are taking the lead now then? Yes. We're
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also going to change things up slightly with the schedule for.
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coms over the next few months. We're going to be
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splitting up the episodes into race-related news ones and having
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the roundtables as separate episodes. This should give us a
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bit more space to cover the news and events. and
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a bit more detail in the round tables as well.
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So that's going to be coming up over the next
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couple of months. There won't be a round table this month,
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but the next one will return next month. And we're
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also keen if any of you have ideas of what
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you'd like to see in round tables in terms of topics,
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we're always open to suggestions and guest nominations as well.
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So please do get in touch. Start off our recap.
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I was recently joined by Neil Copeland to talk about
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Alps Divide, so let's hear all about that. Joining me
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to speak about Alps Divide, which recently took place starting
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on the 5th of September, we have Neil Copeland. Thanks
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for joining, Neil.
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Pleasure, Sam.
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How are you? Great, thank you. And you were on
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the ground at Alps Divide, well, you've been there three
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years in a row now, I believe. You took part
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in the first year and then have been... doing some
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of the race media for the last two years. So
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what was your general impressions about this edition?
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Ah, so I think, and this is not just my opinion.
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I've been chatting with Katie, Jane and Lee post the
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event as well. I think this was the year where
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it all really came together. We had very good weather.
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The riders now in the third year of doing it
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really understand what they're about to face and So people
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were better prepared. There was a very high finish rate,
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which was good to see. And yeah, generally everybody seemed
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to be really having a great time. The feedback that
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we saw at the finish line was, yeah, really, really amazing.
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So yeah, I think it went really, really well.
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That's great too. That was something which I picked out
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as well, that high finisher rate out of 89 starters,
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64 finishers and 62 within the cutoff, which is just
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over 70%, which is on the higher end we see
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especially for a route that's as demanding as this because
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over a thousand and fifty kilometers there's over 32 000
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meters of climbing yeah and that's.
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Don't let that finisher percentage lull people into a false
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sense of security it is a very very hard route
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and whilst the riders did enjoy it there was this
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sense of my goodness that was hard and it's that's
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hard mentally as well because you never really get a
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respite you're either going up or you're going down.
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What would you put the high finish rate down to then?
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Do you think it's the sort of event which attracts
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people who are taking their preparation seriously for this and
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know what they're getting themselves into?
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I think it was a combination of things this year.
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I think, yes, people are going in very well prepared.
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There's a lot of information from the previous two years
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and riders are arriving very well set for these kinds
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of races. I think also the weather played its part here.
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It's not that there wasn't bad weather. There were some
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considerable storms that came through in the second half of
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the event, which certainly had a bearing on the outcome.
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But overall, the weather was pretty benign. Conditions were fast
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and that enabled riders to make good progress.
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I'll just run through the first finishers. So first overall,
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we had Donny Campbell finished in four days and 11 hours.
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Second was Anton Regniar. who finished in four days, 17 hours.
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So around six hours behind Donny there. And third was
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David Sanchez in just over five days, five days and
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51 minutes. And then our first woman was Sami Sari,
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who finished in five days and 16 hours. And rapidly
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approaching behind was Hannah Simon, a second female in five
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days and 20 hours, who was 16th overall. And that was,
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it was a closer finish than, potentially we expected even
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the day before between Sammy and Hannah. Hannah seemed to
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put on a real push towards the end there.
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Yeah, really, really interesting. I spent quite a bit of
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time talking to Hannah before the event and to Sammy.
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And I have a really good interview that I did
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with Hannah at the end where she talks through her
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approach to the race, which I've yet to share, but
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I will do because I think it really plays to
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exactly what happened there towards the end. Sammy, I would say,
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did this in a very traditional mid-distance ultra race style.
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She went fairly short on sleep. I think in the
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last 48 hours, she had something like two hours of sleep.
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So she was pushing things quite to the limit. Hannah
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had a very deliberate approach of wanting to get six
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hours a night. She said, I'm fed up of going
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into these things and for sleep deprivation to be a thing.
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So I really want to see how I respond to
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getting that sleep. And obviously what we saw through the
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first three days is Sammy got quite a large lead.
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But that set Hannah up to be really, really strong
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towards the second half of the event. And definitely set
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her up very, very well for the last night. She
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then went straight through the last night and really rapidly
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closed Sammy down. It would have been interesting to see
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how this would have played out if it were a
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couple of days longer.
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And... For the overall, Donny and Anton were quite close
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towards the end. Where was the decisive move made?
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So for me, the decisive move was coming out of CP2.
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They both got to CP2, which is a very high
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remote refuge, the opposite side of the valley from some
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of the big French ski resorts of the area, which
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I'm sure a lot of people will know. And the
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weather forecast was not good. They knew weather was coming in.
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I think both of them thought they could get quite
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a bit down the way from CP2 to the next
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major town, which is Le Contamine. That's actually quite a
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tough section of the route. It's high, it's remote. There's
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some hiker bike sections. There are no... There's not even
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much in the way of refuges between CP2 and Le Contamine.
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And I think they both set out with the intention
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of trying to get as far as they could. Antoine...
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stopped about 45 minutes after leaving or an hour after
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leaving the refuge and decided that he would wait out
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the storm. Whereas Donny pushed through all the way to
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Le Contamine getting there, I think around one, two o'clock
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in the morning. And, you know, I think he said
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during his post-race analysis, whether that was the most sensible
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of moves, he doesn't know. It was quite severe thunderstorms, lightning,
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but he, that's the weather he was wishing for. You know,
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he said earlier in the event that, I wish it
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would get miserable. I want it to be more like Scotland.
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And it did. That's what happened. And he managed to
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get through. And that for me was the decisive moment.
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And from the rest of the field, are there any
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particular stories, highlights that really stand out to you?
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I think, you know, obviously I got to spend a
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lot of time chatting to a lot of people. And
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it's always nice to see some of those stories from
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further back in the field. I remember chatting to a
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French guy, Nicola, and I'd heard the story of him
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coming down the descent towards CP1, which is probably the
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most demanding descent of the race route. And towards the end,
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it now has to cross five landslides. And he was
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coming through at night. He got lost. He ended up
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falling down the ravine and having to hike two hours
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through a riverbed, at times up to his thighs in water.
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to escape and I'd been told this about by Katie
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Jane and she said you need to have a chat
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with him I didn't speak to him until he was
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going over the hiker bike after Navash and he'd already
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forgotten all about the adventures going down the ravine because
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so much else had happened in that time period I
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think the other one a lot of people were interested
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in was Hannah Klesdottir and her quest for pizza over
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the first two and a half days I've spoken to
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Hannah since it finished and She just had a string
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of bad luck hitting points of resupply and was getting
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quite desperate by the time she reached CP1 in Barcelonet.
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And she said my only goal was to make the
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Lidl before it closed, and she did. And so she said,
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I could happily end my race here.
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And this was the third and final, at least for now,
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edition of Alps Divide. Do you know, or have you
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got any insight of whether... this could be put on
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as an event again. And what would you say to
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people who are interested in the route itself?
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So yes, Katie and Lee were always very, very clear
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that they were only going to do this for three
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editions there are complexities in running these kinds of events
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when you are in in france so and it would
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take time away from katie's main job which is summer
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guiding walkers through the alps uh The or first of all,
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the route, the route absolutely continues to exist. It is
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published on Ride with GPS. Katie, Jane and Lee will
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be organising the rally next summer. So they've done three
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editions of the of the Grand Depart. They are going
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to do three editions of the rally. So that opportunity
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will be open to people who want to go in
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a group and ride this route. But the route is
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there available for anyone to go and find and ride.
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all I can do is strongly encourage people to check
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it out. It's, it's incredible. It's, it's an absolutely spectacular
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route taking you through some of the most beautiful parts
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of the French and Italian Alps, some amazing high mountain trails.
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It is incredible.
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As for the event moving forwards, I did have a
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chat with Katie Jane yesterday. They are in advanced discussions and,
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with somebody who may be interested in taking this over
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and at the moment it looks likely that it could
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well exist in a very similar format this time next
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year although i will say first of all it's not me.
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Yeah okay you've heard okay so right when no no
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promises then but that would yeah that'd be interesting if
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it can continue in a similar vein then it seems
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yeah It seems like from what you said, from the
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feedback from the riders, it's a really popular event. Well,
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thank you very much for coming on, all your insight, Neil.
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And just before you go, you're doing an event yourself
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coming up shortly. How's preparation going?
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Yeah, I am off to Turkey. I'll be flying a
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week on Friday to do the inaugural Taurus Mountain Race.
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Preparation has, let's say, not been ideal. There's been A
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lot of time away from the bike and the odd
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injury to contend with here and there, but hopefully things
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are looking a bit more positive now. I'm in the
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usual last-minute panic buying of things that you always seem
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to need before one of these events.
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Yeah, and with not knowing exactly what you're going to
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be coming up against as well, that's another unknown thrown
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into the mix.
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Yeah, I think this is quite interesting. I think there'll
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be a lot of work being done on the Monday
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and Tuesday when we get the route. People will still
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be doing all the planning that we would normally do
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for an event like this. I think it's really interesting
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the way that Nelson has basically stopped those riders who
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are time and cash privileged from going out and pre-recceing
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the route. And I think that does level the playing
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field in a way that can only be done in
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the first edition of the race.
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Well, it's going to be a really interesting one to follow.
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So thanks again, Neil. Really great to have you on
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and all the best at Taurus. Cheers. Thank you very much.
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Another race, which is ongoing as we speak, that started
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on the 25th of September is the Lost Dots Trans
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Pyrenees race. This year, the event started in Girona and
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was a mix of mandatory parkour and free routing. to
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the other side of the Pyrenees and back again over
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the famous raid parkour with the route around 1700, 1800
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kilometers with a lot of climbing in there as well.
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Although as we speak, there's still a few days for
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riders to finish. We do have almost a top 20
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in the moment. So first overall was Nicola Chatterley who
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finished in four days and four hours. And it's been
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a bit of a journey for Nikola over the past
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couple of years and lost at events. He didn't have
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the best of times at the transcontinental race last year.
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He showed that he was a really strong rider leading
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for large portions, but made a few mistakes that he
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seems to have really learned from this year as he
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came in second at the transcontinental race and is now
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in quite dominant fashion. won the Trans-Pyrenees race because he
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was five hours ahead of second place Bruno Wicht and
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in third place was Anatole Naimi who came another four
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hours behind Bruno. For me it was quite interesting seeing
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the different route choices that the lead riders took. Nikola
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actually rode more than 100 kilometers more than Bruno. I
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think he generally preferred to stick to the road where
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possible as There were choices to be made in terms
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of the position of the parkour control points and whether
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to take gravel shortcuts or whether to ride longer on
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the road. And seeing how Nicola's average speed is quite
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a bit higher than the rest, he seemed to have
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made up for the additional distance.
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His average speed is five kilometres an hour faster than Amatol's.
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I hadn't looked at that.
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Hmm. I believe there may have been a slight bit
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missed off from Manitou's route on the tracker, but I
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don't think we're far off there. And yeah, it just
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shows how, I mean, there were some quite significant shortcuts
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to be made by taking, well, we say gravel shortcuts,
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but I think in places they were a bit more
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than that. But it's one of the interesting things about
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this event, how it can reward the adventurous in some ways.
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But then again, it's about playing to your own strengths
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and preferences too. And Nicola seems to have shown that
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well here. The top three Flinter riders with Trans Pyrenees
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now also having a separate Flinter category. Seventh overall was
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Anna Richter in four days, 22 hours, following up their
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victory at Lost. 101 earlier in the year. And ninth overall,
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second Flinter rider was Jana Kessenheimer, five days and seven hours.
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And there's a really impressive ride for the third Flinter rider,
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Katarina Wirth, who was 16th overall, one of the bursary
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riders as well. It's always entertaining to follow Robert Muller
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at any event. And he won the second edition of
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Trans-Pyrenees race on a borrowed bike as his didn't arrive
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before the start. This time round, he turned up at
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the start, not only not without a bike, but without
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all his kit. But Robert did manage to source replacement bike,
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replacement kit, and... He ended up riding with mismatching shoes,
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apparently they were the same size but different styles and
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still managed to finish 10th overall.
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That sounds like fun hurdles to deal with just to
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make it even more interesting every race. Like what's going
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to go wrong this time?
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Not that it's easy enough to start with. There was
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also an unfortunate incident for Omar De Felice. He was
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only 20km from the finish but had quite a bad
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crash and Marion Descent Expiry was fortunately just a few
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hundred meters behind him at the time and he eventually
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stayed with Omar for around an hour to make sure
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he was safe and for the ambulance to arrive. Omar
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did go to hospital. Doesn't seem to be serious damage
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but he looks quite banged up and Yeah, it's never
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nice to hear of these incidents, especially so close to
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the finish as well. So we hope Homer is doing okay.
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Now some dots to watch. We've got Connor joining us
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a bit later to talk about the Taurus mountain race.
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But before we get to that, well... There's one in
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particular which I'm quite interested in, mostly because I'm going
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out there to do it myself, which is the Peninsular
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Divide in Malaysia, which runs from the southern end of
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mainland Malaysia to the northern end, over 1,500 kilometres and 20,000
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metres of climbing. It starts on the 18th of October.
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The route is potentially a mix of a mix of
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a few things it's mostly roads but expect around 10
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to be unpaved and difficult to know exactly what that's
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going to entail but i i think for me it's
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going to be a a very new experience how the
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event both is is run out there and the different
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culture and climate.
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To come across I was going to ask what sort
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of weather are you expecting for that?
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Hot and humid. I think the amount of precipitation varies
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a bit throughout the year but otherwise it's pretty much
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one season in terms of the temperatures are going to
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be hot and there's not likely to be much respite.
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The route does go up to an elevation around 1500
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metres at one point but even there I believe the
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lowest recorded temperature up there was nearly eight degrees. So
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when you hear people say cold, I think it's all relative.
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What is cold for someone coming from the West isn't
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going to be the same there. So weather, like kit
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choices as well, how much is needed. But yeah, I've
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got to be prepared for a lot of wet conditions.
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But then is full on winter clothing going to be
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necessary as well? I don't think so. I think the
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culture as well, going about resupply, what to expect in
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terms of opening hours and how much information you can
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find out about this on maps and so on. The
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event has run for two editions already, and there is
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some information out there. But even still, it's going to
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be quite a different experience to some of the events
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that potentially a lot of us are more familiar to
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in Europe and North America. One more is the Arizona
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Trail Race, which starts the day that we record, actually,
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on the 1st of October. There are two distances on
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offer here. There's the 800 mile or the 300 mile.
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They have split up the start dates for the 800
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and 300 this year. This was originally done because the
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route was intended to finish at State Line Campground at
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the northern border of Arizona. Because last year they had
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to reroute because the northern side of the Grand Canyon
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was closed. So the plan was to return to the
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original finish. But unfortunately there was some quite extreme flooding
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on that north side of the Grand Canyon at the
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end of August. Which means that this part is closed.
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So the route again, the same as last year, is
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going to go as far as the Grand Canyon. The
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riders are still going to have to do the infamous...
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hike down and back up again but then turn back
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and finish at Flagstaff a bit further south and the
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Grand Canyon Portage is one of the highlights of this
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race there's some quite strict rules around what access to
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it what you can take there and the rules basically
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dictate that you have to dismantle your bike and carry
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it and the wheels can't touch the ground So basically,
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riders will have to come up with a solution to
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carry their bike dismantled on their back. It's renowned as
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a technical route as well. 90% off-road. And then, as
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in this challenge as well, there's quite a bit of
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walking in this one.
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I'm wondering how, if I needed a wee, what I
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would do with my bike in that situation.
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Well, as long as your wheels don't touch the ground,
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you can still put your rucksack on the ground. A
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couple of riders... to watch would be Xavier Chiriboga, who
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is doing the US Triple Crown Challenge this year, coming
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off his second place at the Colorado Trail Race recently.
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I think he's the one that really stands out to me.
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Although we have got returning winner from last year and
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also 2023 winner Alex Schultz coming back. And Karen Pocock
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is there as well. which is a familiar face across
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all the US events. A couple of items to mention
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in the digest. Firstly, on 15th September, we learnt of
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the tragic news that Max Ries died during a training
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ride close to his home in Salzburg in Austria. Reports
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suggest that he collided with a deer at speed whilst descending.
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Max was a more than accomplished ultra-distance racer, as well
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as the founder of gravel and ultra riding community Grav Grav.
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Max's vision through Grav Grav was to build a European
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cycling community focused around environmental protection and bikepacking as a
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sustainable form of travel. Max started out as an aspiring
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professional road racer before transitioning to the self-supported scene away
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from the tarmac. Over several years, he built an extensive
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list of achievements, ever more frequently finding himself at the
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front end of some of the world's most demanding off-road
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bikepacking events. Last year, he placed fourth in the Tour Divide,
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and this year he won the Hellenic Mountain Race in
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May and was second in the Silk Road Mountain Race
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in August. He also set a record for a triple
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Everest in 2025, which he completed near his Salzburg home.
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The news has been covered widely by mainstream cycling media,
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illustrating the influence Max held and the respect in which
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he was held throughout the scene. Comments have been effusive
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about Max as a person and the positive impact he
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has had on other people's lives. All of us at
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Dotcoms and Dotwatcher would like to express our deepest condolences
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to Max's family, friends and loved ones. In the past
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couple of weeks, we've also had the official final results
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of the 12th edition of the Transcontinental Race being released.
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00:24:45.210 --> 00:24:48.690
So the headline stats show that of the 397 riders
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that set off from Trondheim, 55% of them reached Kalamata.
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So 162 were within the general classification and 26 finished
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00:25:00.700 --> 00:25:06.029
outside of GC, which meant 188 official finishes. So this
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00:25:06.150 --> 00:25:12.490
was a 47% finish rate, but only 40% in GC,
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which even by TCR standards is quite on the low
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00:25:17.250 --> 00:25:23.220
side this year. Quite notable in terms of the changes
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in results from the provisional results on the finish line
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00:25:26.890 --> 00:25:30.990
to what was given in the official results is number
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00:25:31.289 --> 00:25:34.930
of riders that were disqualified. There were 31 who were
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00:25:34.950 --> 00:25:39.430
disqualified for riding on banned roads. And there were a
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00:25:40.119 --> 00:25:43.319
couple of notable changes within the top 10. Martin Moritz,
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00:25:43.359 --> 00:25:46.059
who was the fifth finisher, was disqualified for this reason.
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00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.519
And Nicolas Châtelet, who we talked about earlier winning the
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00:25:50.539 --> 00:25:55.289
Trans-Pyrenees race, he made a border crossing requiring a permit
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00:25:55.349 --> 00:25:58.690
which he didn't have, and he got a 300-minute or
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00:25:58.849 --> 00:26:02.789
six-hour penalty. He originally finished second, and he just hung
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00:26:02.849 --> 00:26:05.349
on to this place by one hour in the end.
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00:26:05.910 --> 00:26:08.710
We also had Thomas Borey, who finished eighth but moved
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00:26:08.730 --> 00:26:13.539
down to ninth after receiving a 271-minute penalty. There's been
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00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:18.680
a fair bit of reaction around how this decision between
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00:26:18.740 --> 00:26:24.710
whether to give a penalty or disqualifying riders was... calculated
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00:26:24.769 --> 00:26:28.710
and the process that Lost Dot goes about to determine
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00:26:28.750 --> 00:26:33.609
this because I've been given some information around the amount
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00:26:33.930 --> 00:26:37.700
of kilometers that riders have ridden on on banned roads
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00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:42.660
just give a bit background Lost Dot provides both a
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00:26:42.980 --> 00:26:47.180
resource map which shows where banned roads are in certain
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00:26:47.220 --> 00:26:52.029
countries and also a list of both specific roads and
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00:26:52.190 --> 00:26:54.990
in certain countries there's all categories of roads that are
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banned especially in poland and slovakia and those areas there
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00:27:00.039 --> 00:27:07.640
is instances of riders some riding less distance on roads
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00:27:08.700 --> 00:27:11.559
and get disqualified than others who rode more distance and
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00:27:11.579 --> 00:27:14.720
getting a time penalty one of the riders who has
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00:27:14.839 --> 00:27:18.619
commented on this is a previous guest on the podcast
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00:27:19.180 --> 00:27:23.960
ellen from and t who was disqualified herself after riding
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00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:28.859
50 kilometers on a banned road, I believe in Slovakia.
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00:27:30.680 --> 00:27:34.380
She was quite magnanimous in her Instagram post saying that
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00:27:34.460 --> 00:27:37.960
she does take safety seriously and accepts that it was
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00:27:38.019 --> 00:27:41.769
her mistake that she made. But she does call for
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some more transparency and clarity on how these sanctions are
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calculated because she has asked Lost Dot about this and
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00:27:50.140 --> 00:27:54.059
They say it's not a simple system and it's not
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something that they make public, how they make these calculations.
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00:27:58.200 --> 00:28:02.359
I think in general, it's a good thing that Lost.gov
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00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:07.039
to such lengths to verify the results and ensure that
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what we're seeing is that people are following the rules.
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And I mean, these roads are banned for a reason
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because they're deemed dangerous. But then again, there has been...
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00:28:20.309 --> 00:28:24.509
There has been some frustration expressed about how they are
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determining this. Amanda, can you understand why they wouldn't want
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00:28:28.410 --> 00:28:31.210
to set precedents, like saying, for example, if you ride
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00:28:31.309 --> 00:28:33.799
X number of kilometres, you're disqualified, if less, you get
461
00:28:33.819 --> 00:28:34.400
a time limit?
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I mean, I could speculate on it.
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00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:41.640
They might worry that people will break the rules just
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enough that it's only a penalty, which I doubt. Do
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they actually have some special complicated formula to work it
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00:28:50.619 --> 00:28:55.619
out or you know they can say they don't want
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to share it but like Garmin doesn't want to share
468
00:28:59.380 --> 00:29:01.599
the algorithm for how it works certain things out and
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I just think you probably don't have a very good.
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One that's one way of looking at it I think
471
00:29:08.769 --> 00:29:14.259
like you said if they start given precedence they give
472
00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:18.599
themselves less wiggle room for specific circumstances and there could
473
00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:22.940
well be other considerations beyond just pure distance and duration
474
00:29:24.339 --> 00:29:29.509
but yeah I was reviewing the resource map and the
475
00:29:29.769 --> 00:29:34.250
manual as well and one of the issues which Hélène
476
00:29:34.509 --> 00:29:39.950
highlighted was that there are roads that are marked on
477
00:29:39.980 --> 00:29:43.200
the resource map but then the resource map doesn't highlight
478
00:29:43.380 --> 00:29:48.059
every categorised road which is disallowed within there so there's
479
00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:50.240
some stretches of a certain road which are highlighted in
480
00:29:50.259 --> 00:29:54.160
the map which imply that it is not allowed whereas
481
00:29:54.279 --> 00:29:57.019
there's other parts of the same road which aren't highlighted
482
00:29:57.079 --> 00:29:59.250
but which are still banned So it can be a
483
00:29:59.279 --> 00:30:04.680
bit confusing in that sense. And again, planning your route,
484
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:08.400
ensuring that you're not going on banned roads is all
485
00:30:08.420 --> 00:30:11.119
part of the challenge of these sort of events. But
486
00:30:11.240 --> 00:30:15.410
you can see how it can be confusing. It's a
487
00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:18.690
shame to see riders who've finished, who've completed the routes,
488
00:30:18.869 --> 00:30:19.910
being disqualified.
489
00:30:20.789 --> 00:30:25.309
I do think, ultimately, it's no secret that Lost Dot
490
00:30:25.369 --> 00:30:28.970
are quite strict with the rules and if you don't
491
00:30:29.170 --> 00:30:33.289
think you would appreciate that at the end of a race,
492
00:30:33.450 --> 00:30:35.779
you just don't enter their races. I mean, it really
493
00:30:35.839 --> 00:30:39.220
suits some people. Keep it really fair and, you know, it's,
494
00:30:39.700 --> 00:30:41.480
I guess, part of the challenge to make.
495
00:30:41.339 --> 00:30:42.559
Sure you don't break any rules.
496
00:30:43.339 --> 00:30:46.359
I think, yeah, we've got choices of which events we
497
00:30:46.440 --> 00:30:50.220
enter and, yeah, I think there are positive sides to
498
00:30:50.269 --> 00:30:51.930
it as well in terms of they're doing what they
499
00:30:51.970 --> 00:30:54.630
can to ensure that it's a level playing field and
500
00:30:54.750 --> 00:30:59.450
that it's as fair as possible for all riders who
501
00:30:59.470 --> 00:31:05.529
take part. Joining us now to take a look at
502
00:31:05.549 --> 00:31:10.650
the upcoming Taurus Mountain Race, we have Dot Watcher's Substack Editor.
503
00:31:11.069 --> 00:31:13.630
Rejoining us is Connor McKenzie. Hi, Connor. How's it going?
504
00:31:14.650 --> 00:31:15.190
Yeah, good.
505
00:31:15.410 --> 00:31:17.650
Good to be back. Not at all scared about Taurus
506
00:31:17.690 --> 00:31:19.529
coming up in, what, two weeks' time?
507
00:31:20.549 --> 00:31:24.490
Actually, Connor, while you're here, we did miss out one thing.
508
00:31:25.140 --> 00:31:29.400
recent event, which is the North Race, which ReStrap put
509
00:31:29.519 --> 00:31:33.619
on from their headquarters in the north of England. You
510
00:31:33.660 --> 00:31:36.660
took part in this, Connor, and I think it's probably
511
00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:39.369
quite relevant to talk through it with you here as
512
00:31:39.440 --> 00:31:41.630
you came out as the winner. Just before I get
513
00:31:41.650 --> 00:31:44.450
your reflection on it, just explain what the format was,
514
00:31:44.470 --> 00:31:47.089
because it was a really interesting one, really innovative one.
515
00:31:47.589 --> 00:31:52.930
It was decided by distance as much as time. Basically,
516
00:31:53.269 --> 00:31:57.539
the riders set off at midday from the restart factory
517
00:31:58.119 --> 00:32:01.700
and they had 24 hours to ride as far geographically
518
00:32:01.779 --> 00:32:06.119
north as possible and get back to the headquarters within
519
00:32:06.160 --> 00:32:10.089
that 24 hours so if you were even one second
520
00:32:10.349 --> 00:32:14.710
late in 24 hours you weren't classified on the results
521
00:32:15.529 --> 00:32:21.569
so the distance north was calculated in terms of latitude
522
00:32:22.309 --> 00:32:25.339
so it wasn't a case of how many miles you
523
00:32:25.359 --> 00:32:27.640
covered it was how far north you went in a
524
00:32:27.880 --> 00:32:30.220
in a straight line so there's quite a few tactical
525
00:32:30.299 --> 00:32:35.000
decisions to be made here connor you managed to time
526
00:32:35.539 --> 00:32:40.349
your return uh quite precisely finishing 12 minutes before before
527
00:32:40.380 --> 00:32:41.529
the finish so what.
528
00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:42.769
14 yeah well.
529
00:32:45.299 --> 00:32:49.680
It makes a huge difference. You managed to get 251
530
00:32:49.680 --> 00:32:52.789
and a half kilometres north, but you actually rode 684
531
00:32:52.789 --> 00:32:56.529
kilometres in that time. So what was, in terms of
532
00:32:56.750 --> 00:33:00.349
planning the route for that, how did you go about this?
533
00:33:00.369 --> 00:33:04.549
Because I saw there was this North Berwick question with
534
00:33:04.569 --> 00:33:05.589
how you navigated that.
535
00:33:07.670 --> 00:33:10.019
Honestly, I wish I was a lot more precise or
536
00:33:10.220 --> 00:33:13.660
could tell you there was some, you know, amazing strategy
537
00:33:13.680 --> 00:33:16.529
but there wasn't really um i think a lot of
538
00:33:16.619 --> 00:33:19.750
us probably looked at north berwick and went ah well
539
00:33:19.769 --> 00:33:21.710
you know that's on the coast and it's going to
540
00:33:21.730 --> 00:33:24.569
be hard to get much more north than that um
541
00:33:25.130 --> 00:33:27.769
but yeah so that was my strategy going with but
542
00:33:28.369 --> 00:33:30.750
the the key thing i think i did that no
543
00:33:30.809 --> 00:33:32.930
one else did which i thought everyone would do um
544
00:33:33.569 --> 00:33:35.750
but i also thought it was a bit crazy was
545
00:33:35.970 --> 00:33:39.250
um to ride on the a1 um which uh it
546
00:33:39.289 --> 00:33:41.710
sounds a lot worse than than it actually was um
547
00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:45.440
i actually love uh that i did that because i
548
00:33:45.460 --> 00:33:48.000
was riding on these little backcountry lanes which were windy
549
00:33:48.039 --> 00:33:50.900
and hilly and um you know the speed limits are
550
00:33:50.920 --> 00:33:54.500
basically the same but uh the opportunity to see you
551
00:33:54.579 --> 00:33:57.349
is a lot lower uh whereas on the a1 it's
552
00:33:57.400 --> 00:34:00.880
long straight flat um there's up two lanes a lot
553
00:34:00.900 --> 00:34:03.849
of it and most of the drivers were uh were
554
00:34:03.869 --> 00:34:06.089
very courteous and would go into the far lane and
555
00:34:06.109 --> 00:34:06.789
it was quite an.
556
00:34:06.789 --> 00:34:10.489
Imp the a1 is legal to ride on but then
557
00:34:10.510 --> 00:34:13.170
it turns into a motorway it some part further south,
558
00:34:13.190 --> 00:34:16.550
which Victor, who managed to get equally as far north
559
00:34:16.590 --> 00:34:20.570
as you, got caught out by. So, yeah, knowing which
560
00:34:20.630 --> 00:34:23.530
roads you can and can't ride on seemed important.
561
00:34:23.969 --> 00:34:27.630
I think in Victor's case, he had his way there
562
00:34:27.690 --> 00:34:29.849
and his way back, and he didn't like his way there.
563
00:34:29.969 --> 00:34:32.889
So rather than following his way there back, he decided
564
00:34:32.969 --> 00:34:34.820
to mix it up and change his route to make
565
00:34:34.860 --> 00:34:39.559
it a little bit easier. And because he didn't have
566
00:34:39.780 --> 00:34:43.340
a proper route back, he started to make some kind
567
00:34:43.380 --> 00:34:45.239
of wrong turns. So I kept seeing him on the
568
00:34:45.280 --> 00:34:47.679
way back, even though he was riding faster than I was.
569
00:34:48.539 --> 00:34:50.039
And then one of his wrong turns turned out to
570
00:34:50.099 --> 00:34:52.920
be a pretty bad wrong turn. So I met the
571
00:34:52.940 --> 00:34:55.869
police on the A1M. So, yeah.
572
00:34:56.010 --> 00:35:01.750
How did you pace it then? Because it seemed like
573
00:35:01.769 --> 00:35:04.210
it took you quite a bit longer on the way
574
00:35:04.269 --> 00:35:06.550
back than the way there. And I suppose you've also
575
00:35:06.570 --> 00:35:10.190
got the weather conditions, especially the winds to factor in there. So...
576
00:35:10.929 --> 00:35:12.880
How much did you think about this beforehand? What was
577
00:35:12.900 --> 00:35:13.599
your plan around this?
578
00:35:13.920 --> 00:35:16.079
So my plan was to ride for 10 hours to
579
00:35:16.119 --> 00:35:18.280
get to North Berwick or as far north as I
580
00:35:18.320 --> 00:35:20.880
could in that time. I got to 10pm and I
581
00:35:20.900 --> 00:35:24.800
was like, oh, North Berwick's just there. Victor's just getting there.
582
00:35:26.179 --> 00:35:28.829
If I turn around now, I'm definitely going to lose
583
00:35:29.730 --> 00:35:31.889
if he makes it back on time. And I was
584
00:35:31.909 --> 00:35:33.849
just like, I'm just going to give myself every chance.
585
00:35:34.329 --> 00:35:37.219
If I finish outside of the cutoff, you know, I'm
586
00:35:37.409 --> 00:35:39.289
maybe not going to get second, but the way this
587
00:35:39.429 --> 00:35:41.630
race was kind of structured, it was pretty much winner
588
00:35:41.670 --> 00:35:45.110
takes all. And there was actually a cash prize for
589
00:35:45.130 --> 00:35:49.130
this race, which is very unusual for any ultra. So
590
00:35:49.250 --> 00:35:51.050
I wasn't really that motivated by it, but at the
591
00:35:51.090 --> 00:35:53.130
same time, it's winner takes all. So I was kind
592
00:35:53.150 --> 00:35:55.550
of like, I'd rather come back and have given it
593
00:35:55.610 --> 00:35:59.530
my best rather than admitted defeat early, even if that
594
00:35:59.550 --> 00:36:04.650
means I get a DNF for it. But yeah, so
595
00:36:04.869 --> 00:36:07.150
I got to 10 p.m. and I was like, I'm
596
00:36:07.170 --> 00:36:09.030
going to go further. So I got to 10 45,
597
00:36:09.030 --> 00:36:12.929
which was the absolute latest. I wanted to, um, uh,
598
00:36:12.969 --> 00:36:15.809
turn around and I luckily made it to North Berwick
599
00:36:15.849 --> 00:36:18.670
on time for 10 45, turn around, went to a
600
00:36:18.670 --> 00:36:22.269
McDonald's kind of took my time to just make sure
601
00:36:22.329 --> 00:36:25.550
I was refueled for the way back and just hoped that, um,
602
00:36:26.250 --> 00:36:31.690
that was that 13 hours and 15 minutes was enough to, uh,
603
00:36:31.730 --> 00:36:33.690
to do it. So the return leg had to be
604
00:36:33.750 --> 00:36:37.170
one hour, 15 or less longer. Uh, it turned out
605
00:36:37.190 --> 00:36:38.289
to be one hour longer.
606
00:36:38.309 --> 00:36:40.610
Um, no, sorry.
607
00:36:40.889 --> 00:36:43.750
My math is terrible there. It turned out to be
608
00:36:43.769 --> 00:36:46.989
two hours and 15 minutes longer on the way back. And, um,
609
00:36:47.110 --> 00:36:49.619
that was kind of built in on the basis that
610
00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:52.199
there would be fatigue there. There was a lot of
611
00:36:52.340 --> 00:36:55.380
it by the end and, um, that the wind was
612
00:36:55.420 --> 00:36:57.820
gonna play a factor. So I was aware that it
613
00:36:57.860 --> 00:37:00.230
was a tail wind out and a headwind home. So
614
00:37:00.269 --> 00:37:02.670
I think my way out was about 32 kilometers an
615
00:37:02.690 --> 00:37:07.690
hour average. And my way back was something like 27, 28.
616
00:37:07.690 --> 00:37:12.650
But really, when I realized that, especially that Victor had
617
00:37:12.690 --> 00:37:15.550
gone on the A1M, he passed me and told me
618
00:37:15.590 --> 00:37:20.179
that he'd done that. And I was just like, OK, well,
619
00:37:20.219 --> 00:37:25.039
that's probably a DNF for him or a DQ for him.
620
00:37:25.239 --> 00:37:27.719
I just realized that I just needed to make sure
621
00:37:27.860 --> 00:37:30.889
I got back in every little tiny detail. climb felt
622
00:37:30.949 --> 00:37:33.670
like it was doing an Everest basically and I think
623
00:37:33.730 --> 00:37:35.989
for me I'm used to doing a lot of elevation
624
00:37:36.469 --> 00:37:39.349
where I live I basically do hilly rides every single
625
00:37:39.369 --> 00:37:42.670
day um so doing a flat ride where I don't
626
00:37:42.710 --> 00:37:45.190
get any respite I'm just on the pedals constantly was
627
00:37:45.630 --> 00:37:46.690
was difficult for me.
628
00:37:48.570 --> 00:37:50.389
And you you didn't have any aero bars as well
629
00:37:50.889 --> 00:37:52.840
as from what you were saying earlier I suppose that
630
00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:56.820
wasn't a tactical decision I was just making making good
631
00:37:56.840 --> 00:37:59.449
of what you had but you did have some nice
632
00:37:59.489 --> 00:38:01.010
long aero socks on those.
633
00:38:00.750 --> 00:38:02.750
So that probably makes up for that yes that was
634
00:38:02.789 --> 00:38:05.489
my one aero feature other than maybe my helmet and
635
00:38:05.590 --> 00:38:08.230
my uh hydration vest if you want to include the
636
00:38:08.250 --> 00:38:11.369
hydration vest in that kind of setup but uh my
637
00:38:11.389 --> 00:38:13.659
bike doesn't fit aero bars and i've never run aero
638
00:38:13.679 --> 00:38:17.019
bars in a race before so um it's just not
639
00:38:17.039 --> 00:38:17.500
something i.
640
00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:21.539
Do And just before we move on, just to recognise
641
00:38:21.820 --> 00:38:24.920
the second and third finishers were actually our first and
642
00:38:24.980 --> 00:38:28.659
second female finishers, who have both previously been on the podcast.
643
00:38:28.699 --> 00:38:33.449
That's Jamie Wilson, did 238 kilometres north. I think she
644
00:38:33.619 --> 00:38:38.110
got just beyond Berwick-upon-Tweed. And third overall was Esther Lloyd,
645
00:38:38.170 --> 00:38:42.769
who did 236.3 kilometres going north. So all of you
646
00:38:42.809 --> 00:38:46.769
in the top three managed over 600 kilometres in total, so... Yeah,
647
00:38:46.789 --> 00:38:50.329
I thought it was a really, really innovative format and
648
00:38:50.349 --> 00:38:55.150
an interesting one to follow as well. So let's move
649
00:38:55.210 --> 00:38:59.210
on to the inaugural edition of the Taurus Mountain Race,
650
00:38:59.710 --> 00:39:02.510
which there's a lot of unknownness here. So it's going
651
00:39:02.530 --> 00:39:05.380
to be quite a bit of speculation, which we'll come
652
00:39:05.420 --> 00:39:09.239
on to in the various elements. It starts on Wednesday,
653
00:39:09.260 --> 00:39:13.940
the 14th of October from Antalya in Turkey. A couple
654
00:39:13.960 --> 00:39:18.739
of things we do know. about the route is that
655
00:39:19.050 --> 00:39:23.590
it's 1,460 kilometers in distance, around 36,000 meters of elevation gain.
656
00:39:23.610 --> 00:39:27.550
There's around 85% of it's going to be unpaved and
657
00:39:27.570 --> 00:39:30.840
riders can expect to go up to 3,000 3,200 metres
658
00:39:31.179 --> 00:39:37.929
in altitude. So let's start with speaking about the route.
659
00:39:38.320 --> 00:39:42.750
It's only going to be revealed two days before the start. Connor,
660
00:39:43.250 --> 00:39:47.639
I've seen on your recent Substack article that You've been
661
00:39:47.659 --> 00:39:52.480
given some information about the different segments of the route,
662
00:39:53.280 --> 00:39:56.719
but beyond that, it's just going to be two days before.
663
00:39:57.079 --> 00:39:58.599
Here it is. Make your plans there.
664
00:39:58.940 --> 00:40:02.590
Pretty much, yeah. So the sub stack that I wrote
665
00:40:02.820 --> 00:40:05.630
is based on a lot of it's what's in the manual,
666
00:40:06.030 --> 00:40:09.829
which is, it's not, I mean, compared to a lot
667
00:40:09.849 --> 00:40:11.570
of manuals you get for a race, it's quite generous
668
00:40:11.630 --> 00:40:13.849
because Nelson's always very good at telling you where the
669
00:40:13.889 --> 00:40:16.309
resupplies are. So that can give you a good hint
670
00:40:16.429 --> 00:40:19.670
of where, the route broadly goes but there's a lot
671
00:40:19.690 --> 00:40:21.989
of unknown within that and particularly some of the more
672
00:40:22.050 --> 00:40:25.670
remote kind of off-grid sections um so i've tried to
673
00:40:25.710 --> 00:40:28.380
plot out the route for example and uh there is
674
00:40:28.389 --> 00:40:31.039
just a lot of off-grid uh you can't create routes
675
00:40:31.119 --> 00:40:33.000
to some of the points that i do have so
676
00:40:33.840 --> 00:40:37.219
um yeah there's there's a lot of unknown within the
677
00:40:37.260 --> 00:40:39.019
little we do know and then the other thing that
678
00:40:39.079 --> 00:40:41.639
i know is um from just talking to people who
679
00:40:41.679 --> 00:40:44.239
have talked to him so he's told me bits and
680
00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:47.119
then other people he's told other bits too and together
681
00:40:47.159 --> 00:40:48.789
I've kind of been able to piece together what the
682
00:40:48.829 --> 00:40:52.090
race might look like a bit more than anything the
683
00:40:52.110 --> 00:40:52.630
manual says.
684
00:40:53.369 --> 00:40:56.789
So you've got a location of three or four checkpoints
685
00:40:56.869 --> 00:41:00.090
is that right and the distances and elevation between those?
686
00:41:00.510 --> 00:41:03.420
Exactly yeah and then just some of the key resupply
687
00:41:03.440 --> 00:41:06.119
points so you know where the big like kind of
688
00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:09.400
black spot is. So between checkpoint two and resupply 13,
689
00:41:09.400 --> 00:41:17.929
for example, there's 187 kilometers of distance that, yeah, we
690
00:41:17.969 --> 00:41:21.289
don't know the exact elevation for that, but looking on
691
00:41:21.389 --> 00:41:24.050
commute and trying to kind of create a route for
692
00:41:24.090 --> 00:41:28.230
that purely for, I suppose, journalistic purposes, not actually trying
693
00:41:28.250 --> 00:41:30.300
to get too much of a headstart on the road.
694
00:41:30.659 --> 00:41:35.449
And in general, on the terrain, on the, technical nature
695
00:41:35.769 --> 00:41:41.849
of the riding you expecting it to be comparable with
696
00:41:42.289 --> 00:41:44.630
nelson's other mountain series races.
697
00:41:44.699 --> 00:41:48.059
Yeah so um two bits of information i guess and
698
00:41:48.079 --> 00:41:50.400
what he's well one he told me which is that
699
00:41:50.460 --> 00:41:52.639
it's going to be as hard as silk road and
700
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:54.840
one bit that he told someone else which is that
701
00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:57.739
it's going to be i believe 80 or 85 percent
702
00:41:58.099 --> 00:42:03.269
um off-road so um For like context, if you look
703
00:42:03.309 --> 00:42:06.840
at Hellenic, which is probably underrated in terms of how
704
00:42:06.909 --> 00:42:09.900
difficult it is, it's a huge elevation race with a
705
00:42:10.239 --> 00:42:14.320
massive amount of hiking. That actually has quite a lot
706
00:42:14.380 --> 00:42:18.340
of paved roads. So I think it's 55%, 45%, but
707
00:42:18.360 --> 00:42:20.219
it's still one of the hardest races out there. This
708
00:42:20.300 --> 00:42:23.500
is going to be 80 to 85% off-road. Some of
709
00:42:23.539 --> 00:42:26.320
it will be gravel, but given this is a kind
710
00:42:26.340 --> 00:42:27.969
of a mountain range that isn't one of the most
711
00:42:28.730 --> 00:42:31.920
kind of, well-travelled, I suppose. It's not going to be
712
00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:35.760
like Girona gravel, for example. It's going to be chunky
713
00:42:35.780 --> 00:42:38.980
stuff that's, you know, it gets some Land Rovers going
714
00:42:39.260 --> 00:42:42.309
up and down it very, very occasionally. So it's not
715
00:42:42.329 --> 00:42:45.050
going to be, you know, well-packed stuff.
716
00:42:46.030 --> 00:42:47.210
What tyres are you running?
717
00:42:50.210 --> 00:42:54.409
What a good question. I ran for Hellenic. I ran
718
00:42:54.860 --> 00:42:59.110
Dove Natal trail casing back and front, so that's like
719
00:42:59.340 --> 00:43:03.269
similar to the Mezcal for Vittoria or yeah, it's a
720
00:43:03.349 --> 00:43:05.590
kind of a hard pack kind of a tire, but
721
00:43:05.670 --> 00:43:08.010
for this one, I'm going to run, um, a double
722
00:43:08.050 --> 00:43:10.650
toll in the rear, uh, trail casing still, and I'm
723
00:43:10.670 --> 00:43:13.010
going to run a Trinitol upfront, which is just a
724
00:43:13.030 --> 00:43:14.750
bit of a beefier one. So it's like a Barzo
725
00:43:14.809 --> 00:43:19.489
if people know, uh, Vittoria tires. Um, my thinking for
726
00:43:19.530 --> 00:43:23.239
that is purely personal, which is that I can't always
727
00:43:23.280 --> 00:43:24.940
get a lot of weight on my front wheel because
728
00:43:24.980 --> 00:43:30.409
I'm quite lightweight. So I risk just sliding out a
729
00:43:30.409 --> 00:43:33.349
little bit more than maybe some riders do. So that's
730
00:43:33.409 --> 00:43:35.469
the main reason I'm going to run it. I would
731
00:43:35.900 --> 00:43:39.420
basically just recommend for whoever's doing this that wider is
732
00:43:39.440 --> 00:43:42.119
probably better. So 2.4s is what I'm running front and rear.
733
00:43:43.719 --> 00:43:46.739
I know someone who's running 2.6s. I think that is
734
00:43:46.780 --> 00:43:50.690
a good choice for some. And I think trail casing
735
00:43:50.730 --> 00:43:53.010
is an absolute must because if you get stuck in
736
00:43:53.050 --> 00:43:56.550
the middle of... one of those long sections with no resupply,
737
00:43:56.630 --> 00:44:00.619
you could be walking for two days to get to somewhere. Um,
738
00:44:00.780 --> 00:44:02.360
so maybe just don't do that.
739
00:44:03.840 --> 00:44:04.920
They sound a great choice.
740
00:44:06.039 --> 00:44:08.360
Just wish that Natal would name them better.
741
00:44:09.360 --> 00:44:09.679
Yes.
742
00:44:10.170 --> 00:44:13.130
Yeah. I also mentioned in the post about, um, what
743
00:44:13.150 --> 00:44:17.230
Justina says about in terms of, um, comfort is speed. Um,
744
00:44:17.409 --> 00:44:19.650
so that's, that stuck with me and he obviously has
745
00:44:19.769 --> 00:44:22.219
won Silk Road and he's won Atlas Mountain Race. So,
746
00:44:22.929 --> 00:44:26.210
The man knows what he's talking about for sure. I
747
00:44:26.250 --> 00:44:29.309
don't think when you're going to be traveling, I think
748
00:44:29.309 --> 00:44:35.369
10 kilometers an hour, probably average speed over this race.
749
00:44:36.210 --> 00:44:40.800
I don't think the kind of rolling resistance is what's
750
00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:43.340
going to make the difference here. I think how much
751
00:44:43.360 --> 00:44:46.599
you're able to keep moving and do it intact is
752
00:44:46.639 --> 00:44:48.000
probably going to be way more important.
753
00:44:48.550 --> 00:44:51.329
And I think there's a clue in how long the
754
00:44:51.389 --> 00:44:55.179
cutoff is for this in terms of the speeds we're
755
00:44:55.260 --> 00:44:58.059
expecting people to be moving at, how much distance they're
756
00:44:58.139 --> 00:45:00.579
going to be covering each day, because it's 11 days
757
00:45:00.679 --> 00:45:05.199
to do the 1,460 kilometers. So to make the cutoff
758
00:45:05.280 --> 00:45:08.360
is it, I mean, it doesn't sound like much, just
759
00:45:08.539 --> 00:45:11.550
a bit over a hundred K a day, but like you,
760
00:45:11.610 --> 00:45:14.510
like you've mentioned in terms of how long it could
761
00:45:14.550 --> 00:45:17.989
be between resupplies. that could take a very long time
762
00:45:18.030 --> 00:45:21.329
to be covering covering that sort of distance.
763
00:45:21.889 --> 00:45:25.869
Yes yeah for sure for sure um i think on
764
00:45:25.909 --> 00:45:29.449
that topic i suppose um i think one of the
765
00:45:29.489 --> 00:45:31.309
key things that people will and i'm not sure i
766
00:45:31.309 --> 00:45:35.360
actually mentioned this in the article but um carrying capacity
767
00:45:35.420 --> 00:45:37.719
is probably one of the questions so um i've talked
768
00:45:37.739 --> 00:45:39.000
to quite a lot of people who are doing the
769
00:45:39.039 --> 00:45:42.989
race and i think uh usually you know what tires
770
00:45:43.010 --> 00:45:45.809
you running uh that kind of stuff is actually one
771
00:45:45.849 --> 00:45:48.449
of the key questions you'd get for any ultra for
772
00:45:48.469 --> 00:45:51.860
this one how much water capacity are you bringing is
773
00:45:52.179 --> 00:45:54.619
uh it's probably one of the key ones that's come
774
00:45:54.659 --> 00:46:00.099
up um so for me uh it's gonna be so
775
00:46:00.139 --> 00:46:02.119
difficult until we know the route so i'm gonna bring
776
00:46:02.159 --> 00:46:06.039
capacity to carry basically six liters which uh Feels like
777
00:46:06.099 --> 00:46:09.260
too much. And if I carrying six kilograms worth of water,
778
00:46:09.420 --> 00:46:11.780
I think I'm going to be going very slow. Bringing
779
00:46:11.820 --> 00:46:13.860
a filter is going to be necessary. I don't think
780
00:46:13.900 --> 00:46:16.179
it's mentioned in the manual as one of the necessities.
781
00:46:16.619 --> 00:46:21.639
Bringing purification tablets is, but I think realistically you'll probably
782
00:46:21.679 --> 00:46:25.519
want both. And yeah, everyone's going to be drinking out
783
00:46:25.920 --> 00:46:28.059
of some questionable river at some point in this race,
784
00:46:28.139 --> 00:46:28.460
I'm sure.
785
00:46:30.179 --> 00:46:30.420
Yeah.
786
00:46:31.239 --> 00:46:34.050
And then your hydration requirements are going to depend on
787
00:46:34.409 --> 00:46:38.530
weather conditions. which is again one of the well potentially
788
00:46:38.550 --> 00:46:40.690
this is one where we should have a bit more
789
00:46:40.710 --> 00:46:42.889
information about because we know the area we know what
790
00:46:42.989 --> 00:46:48.030
the typical climate conditions are but still it seems like
791
00:46:48.050 --> 00:46:52.099
there's gonna be a big range there from especially if
792
00:46:52.539 --> 00:46:57.039
you've been advised or mandated to bring a sleeping system
793
00:46:57.059 --> 00:46:59.800
capable of keeping you warm at down to minus five
794
00:46:59.820 --> 00:47:02.980
so especially high rsgs you could be expecting that and
795
00:47:03.000 --> 00:47:06.159
then we've seen over 30 degrees mentioned as well.
796
00:47:06.820 --> 00:47:10.530
Yeah um so i've looked at this um for october
797
00:47:10.650 --> 00:47:13.070
six days on average in the month is um is
798
00:47:13.090 --> 00:47:16.889
going to rain um the predictions i've seen so far
799
00:47:16.969 --> 00:47:20.369
is that it's higher than usual um level of rainfall
800
00:47:20.730 --> 00:47:24.099
um predicted so um I think we're going to see
801
00:47:24.119 --> 00:47:27.099
a very wet race basically and it's very likely we're
802
00:47:27.119 --> 00:47:29.039
going to see rain in the kind of two weeks
803
00:47:29.340 --> 00:47:32.070
leading up which we're now in that window so uh
804
00:47:32.159 --> 00:47:34.670
even if there isn't too much rain during the race
805
00:47:34.690 --> 00:47:37.469
um we can expect the tracks to be all quite
806
00:47:38.489 --> 00:47:41.690
like muddy and quite difficult so that will lower the
807
00:47:41.730 --> 00:47:45.269
average speeds and back to the tyre conversation as well
808
00:47:45.730 --> 00:47:49.099
um having something a little bit grippier and capable of
809
00:47:49.139 --> 00:47:52.300
shedding mud up front is probably more useful. Hence why,
810
00:47:52.780 --> 00:47:55.630
that's kind of why I'm opting for something grippier there.
811
00:47:56.369 --> 00:48:00.070
And another point on, I suppose this relates to how
812
00:48:00.090 --> 00:48:03.889
you're going to be comfortable in terms of sleeping in
813
00:48:03.949 --> 00:48:08.900
all sorts of conditions. I've seen in the manual, they're recommending,
814
00:48:09.880 --> 00:48:14.019
actively recommending a tent over a bivy. And it seems
815
00:48:14.059 --> 00:48:18.199
like especially some of these riders who've got familiar with
816
00:48:19.260 --> 00:48:22.460
finding a way to sleep indoors they may not have
817
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:25.219
that opportunity this time so that could be another another
818
00:48:25.260 --> 00:48:27.699
leveler yeah.
819
00:48:27.550 --> 00:48:31.329
For sure um i won't be bringing a tent um
820
00:48:31.909 --> 00:48:37.150
that i just it's not my mentality to do that
821
00:48:37.469 --> 00:48:40.449
um i can see the benefit in doing it um
822
00:48:40.730 --> 00:48:44.210
i'll be bringing a bivy it's waterproof but to any
823
00:48:44.250 --> 00:48:48.380
degree as you would expect, um, with most bivvies. Um, so, uh,
824
00:48:49.260 --> 00:48:50.920
my aim will be not to sleep up high and
825
00:48:50.940 --> 00:48:52.940
to try and find some form of shelter whenever I
826
00:48:52.980 --> 00:48:56.679
have to sleep, um, outdoors. Um, but yeah, you're right. There's,
827
00:48:56.739 --> 00:49:00.659
there's not going to be many, um, indoor sleeping options. Um,
828
00:49:00.860 --> 00:49:04.090
I think you can do it at all of the CPs. Um, again,
829
00:49:04.159 --> 00:49:07.190
the mountain races are usually very good for, uh, having
830
00:49:07.250 --> 00:49:10.369
food in 24 hours and being able to sleep 24
831
00:49:10.369 --> 00:49:14.210
hours at those locations. So I think everyone will probably
832
00:49:14.250 --> 00:49:15.730
be taking those chances when they can.
833
00:49:16.170 --> 00:49:22.099
I also think that this whole sleep situation could be
834
00:49:22.159 --> 00:49:24.340
one of the biggest levelers in this event. There'd be
835
00:49:24.460 --> 00:49:27.780
a lot of conversation around not knowing the route and
836
00:49:27.820 --> 00:49:30.960
so on and being able to scout it and that
837
00:49:31.000 --> 00:49:35.389
side of things. But if people greater means can't just
838
00:49:35.619 --> 00:49:38.210
chuck money at accommodation, then, I mean.
839
00:49:41.119 --> 00:49:45.519
I mean, having greater means for better sleeping set up
840
00:49:46.079 --> 00:49:49.760
can take you so far. But then, yeah, if there's
841
00:49:49.780 --> 00:49:54.320
no accommodation, everyone's having to, well, in a lot of cases,
842
00:49:54.389 --> 00:49:57.849
having to make do outdoors, then it takes away that
843
00:49:57.909 --> 00:50:01.289
part of if there's one or two hotels and it
844
00:50:01.349 --> 00:50:02.329
costs a huge amount.
845
00:50:02.449 --> 00:50:02.590
Yeah.
846
00:50:02.969 --> 00:50:05.570
Some people are more willing to pay for that than others.
847
00:50:05.730 --> 00:50:09.050
Yeah, I think because this is a less established event
848
00:50:09.650 --> 00:50:15.050
and because Turkey is a relatively lower cost country, I
849
00:50:15.090 --> 00:50:18.829
don't think the money, no objects kind of hotel stays
850
00:50:18.869 --> 00:50:21.429
are going to be quite as bad. I was literally
851
00:50:21.449 --> 00:50:24.619
just talking to someone earlier about how in Greece, Greece
852
00:50:24.679 --> 00:50:28.050
obviously being a bit more of an expensive country. Um,
853
00:50:28.309 --> 00:50:30.429
there were some hotels that are used to the race
854
00:50:30.469 --> 00:50:33.630
coming through. So had hiked up the room prices and
855
00:50:34.090 --> 00:50:37.389
they were selling food at just ridiculous cost. And, uh,
856
00:50:37.429 --> 00:50:39.409
they were even turning the rooms over multiple times in
857
00:50:39.429 --> 00:50:41.050
the night, knowing that people weren't going to stay a
858
00:50:41.070 --> 00:50:43.329
full night. So they'd sell the same room two or
859
00:50:43.369 --> 00:50:46.989
three times. Um, this isn't going to be the case, uh,
860
00:50:47.090 --> 00:50:49.190
here quite so much, uh, maybe in a few years,
861
00:50:49.269 --> 00:50:51.469
it might become that way more so, uh, as they
862
00:50:51.489 --> 00:50:54.730
get used to it. But, um, yeah, I think it
863
00:50:54.789 --> 00:50:58.699
is a leveler, um, People not having the same ability
864
00:50:58.719 --> 00:51:01.920
to plan in advance or maybe even stay inside at all.
865
00:51:02.360 --> 00:51:05.139
And with this potentially being the best part of a week,
866
00:51:05.420 --> 00:51:11.409
that balance is going to be crucial. So it has
867
00:51:11.570 --> 00:51:16.809
been said that this is the unofficial world championships of
868
00:51:16.909 --> 00:51:21.809
off-road ultra racing. And for good reason, looking at our
869
00:51:22.030 --> 00:51:25.010
start list. I'm not really sure where to start because
870
00:51:25.110 --> 00:51:27.210
there's a lot of people with a lot of experience
871
00:51:27.269 --> 00:51:33.139
and really great results in the off-road scene. How about Amanda?
872
00:51:34.619 --> 00:51:37.719
Which names would you pick out from our list to
873
00:51:37.760 --> 00:51:38.159
start with?
874
00:51:38.920 --> 00:51:43.820
I think Simon for me. Having recently met her and
875
00:51:43.860 --> 00:51:48.110
seen just how strong she is mentally and physically.
876
00:51:49.090 --> 00:51:52.849
I think a lot of stuff could happen to her
877
00:51:53.550 --> 00:51:56.030
and she would ride away from it you know the
878
00:51:56.210 --> 00:51:59.469
type of things that had meantfully pulled someone down um
879
00:51:59.809 --> 00:52:00.449
i just don't.
880
00:52:00.289 --> 00:52:02.789
Think they faze her she came up really strong at
881
00:52:02.809 --> 00:52:05.150
the end of alp's divide as well as she seemed
882
00:52:05.170 --> 00:52:09.150
to have that strategy of treating her sleep seriously and
883
00:52:09.170 --> 00:52:11.690
it really paid off in the second half of the
884
00:52:11.710 --> 00:52:14.070
race so with this one being a bit longer maybe
885
00:52:14.110 --> 00:52:14.869
it would suit her a bit.
886
00:52:14.809 --> 00:52:18.110
More yeah i mean i have heard from it's actually
887
00:52:18.130 --> 00:52:22.179
the Two of the commentators that will be commentating Taurus
888
00:52:22.199 --> 00:52:23.130
were riding.
889
00:52:22.820 --> 00:52:25.289
With her or near her on the Alps Divide and
890
00:52:25.329 --> 00:52:26.789
said she wasn't really racing.
891
00:52:26.809 --> 00:52:30.690
She was just going at her pace. I think she
892
00:52:30.730 --> 00:52:34.670
could have put a dig in and actually closed that gap.
893
00:52:35.250 --> 00:52:41.059
Let's stick with some of the females to watch then.
894
00:52:41.099 --> 00:52:44.739
We've got Megan Hacken in there, who I believe this
895
00:52:45.460 --> 00:52:49.289
is the first Mountain Series event ever. this year but
896
00:52:49.329 --> 00:52:52.150
she has experience in the other the other mountain mountain
897
00:52:52.190 --> 00:52:57.260
series races and coming off her female fkt at tour
898
00:52:57.280 --> 00:53:00.300
divide earlier in the year as well yeah so.
899
00:53:01.960 --> 00:53:04.360
Megan i think is an interesting one as well um
900
00:53:04.699 --> 00:53:06.909
one thing i would say about her is that uh
901
00:53:07.170 --> 00:53:09.889
as the terrain gets more technical she has herself said
902
00:53:10.010 --> 00:53:13.369
that she is less comfortable so she is more of
903
00:53:13.429 --> 00:53:18.409
a gravel rider than a mountain biker so for example
904
00:53:18.469 --> 00:53:21.090
she did do tour divide and she did an incredibly
905
00:53:21.130 --> 00:53:24.030
impressive result there um but in terms of the triple
906
00:53:24.050 --> 00:53:28.320
crown in the u.s she wasn't interested in doing colorado
907
00:53:28.340 --> 00:53:31.199
um she said it was way too technical for her
908
00:53:31.920 --> 00:53:35.280
um and um in terms of arizona trail as well
909
00:53:35.320 --> 00:53:38.619
like um i don't think she was so hyped by
910
00:53:38.659 --> 00:53:40.579
the amount of hiking that was involved in that so
911
00:53:41.139 --> 00:53:43.900
um that's not to put her down at all because, um,
912
00:53:44.139 --> 00:53:47.579
she has won Silk Road. She has won Atlas. She's won, um,
913
00:53:48.480 --> 00:53:51.929
Hellenic last year. So she's very well acquainted with the, uh,
914
00:53:51.989 --> 00:53:54.710
mountain race series. So I think she'll be incredibly strong
915
00:53:54.750 --> 00:53:58.489
in Taurus, but, um, if it does get incredibly technical, uh,
916
00:53:58.550 --> 00:54:02.130
that might be one area where, um, she, you know,
917
00:54:02.389 --> 00:54:04.570
maybe performs a little less than, than some of the
918
00:54:04.590 --> 00:54:08.090
other riders, but the endurance base there of, uh, that
919
00:54:08.219 --> 00:54:10.480
length of time i don't think is gonna cause her
920
00:54:10.539 --> 00:54:11.039
any problem.
921
00:54:10.920 --> 00:54:14.039
Someone else very familiar with the mountain series races is
922
00:54:14.320 --> 00:54:19.280
cynthia carson who well she she would have started each
923
00:54:19.320 --> 00:54:22.039
of the races this year she she unfortunately had to
924
00:54:22.059 --> 00:54:24.880
pull out of silk road mountain race i believe she
925
00:54:25.119 --> 00:54:28.539
she got ill during that but she was first female
926
00:54:28.699 --> 00:54:31.510
atlas earlier on the year has a really strong palmaris
927
00:54:31.550 --> 00:54:35.750
and potentially the more technical stuff could suit.
928
00:54:35.530 --> 00:54:39.480
Her hmm I think she'll be coming into this hoping
929
00:54:39.559 --> 00:54:41.179
for a win, as she does with every race that
930
00:54:41.199 --> 00:54:43.840
she does. So I would also say this is probably
931
00:54:43.889 --> 00:54:47.769
the hardest race that she's faced this year, both in
932
00:54:47.809 --> 00:54:50.710
terms of what we're likely to expect and in terms
933
00:54:50.809 --> 00:54:54.130
of the terrain as well. One other name that I
934
00:54:54.150 --> 00:54:56.329
was thinking of as well here that I only found
935
00:54:56.429 --> 00:55:00.130
out in the past couple of days is Marij Moldenhaar.
936
00:55:00.630 --> 00:55:04.760
And she hasn't had lots of races this season. She
937
00:55:04.800 --> 00:55:09.929
won Atlas last year. And then I believe, uh, she
938
00:55:10.250 --> 00:55:13.670
had some issues with her knee, um, quite serious ones
939
00:55:13.730 --> 00:55:16.909
where she was basically rehabbing it for most of last year. Um,
940
00:55:17.070 --> 00:55:21.530
she came into tracker five 60 this year. Um, everyone
941
00:55:21.570 --> 00:55:24.090
not knowing really what to expect from, from her. And
942
00:55:24.130 --> 00:55:26.710
I think honestly, probably not knowing what to expect from
943
00:55:26.750 --> 00:55:31.199
herself as well. Um, she had a pretty nasty accident
944
00:55:31.219 --> 00:55:33.659
during the race. People might remember some of the photos
945
00:55:33.699 --> 00:55:36.489
of her with a big open wind. Uh, that she'd
946
00:55:36.530 --> 00:55:40.449
kind of nussed, uh, herself during the race, but, um,
947
00:55:41.269 --> 00:55:44.250
that definitely held her back and she only, um, she
948
00:55:44.269 --> 00:55:47.389
only came second by half an hour. So, uh, it's
949
00:55:47.429 --> 00:55:50.849
hard to see that that incident didn't cause her to
950
00:55:50.929 --> 00:55:53.750
potentially lose the race. So, uh, basically a very strong
951
00:55:53.769 --> 00:55:56.900
performance and tracker. Then she went on to do grouts, uh,
952
00:55:56.949 --> 00:55:59.030
earlier this year, which is a new race with a
953
00:55:59.050 --> 00:56:01.750
lot of elevation. She won that. Um, and now she's
954
00:56:01.789 --> 00:56:05.389
coming into Taurus. Um, so. She's an interesting one because
955
00:56:05.409 --> 00:56:09.849
she's on the Canyon kind of pro ultra kind of
956
00:56:09.869 --> 00:56:14.449
gravel team. And she's not had very many race days,
957
00:56:14.550 --> 00:56:17.079
which I would say she's had enough to probably have
958
00:56:17.119 --> 00:56:19.960
some good form and not too many that she's got
959
00:56:20.219 --> 00:56:22.260
carrying too much fatigue. So I think she'll be a
960
00:56:22.280 --> 00:56:27.079
really interesting one to look at. In my mind, she's
961
00:56:27.199 --> 00:56:30.300
potentially the favorite, if not one of the favorites, but
962
00:56:30.559 --> 00:56:33.139
not to pile too much pressure on her. Another name
963
00:56:33.199 --> 00:56:36.300
is Fenja Wetz as well, who I've not seen on
964
00:56:36.320 --> 00:56:39.559
the mountain bike so much, but I know that she's
965
00:56:39.599 --> 00:56:43.769
won Badlands, she's won Tracker, she's won Unbound, some of
966
00:56:43.789 --> 00:56:45.849
the shorter course stuff, and it'll be really interesting to
967
00:56:45.889 --> 00:56:47.809
see how she does over this because she's an immensely
968
00:56:47.829 --> 00:56:48.670
strong rider as well.
969
00:56:50.250 --> 00:56:53.429
Yeah, it's that step up from those events where you
970
00:56:53.449 --> 00:56:56.530
don't really have to consider your sleep strategy, whereas this one,
971
00:56:56.929 --> 00:57:00.719
when you're getting up to a week, she's obviously... physically
972
00:57:00.820 --> 00:57:04.090
massively strong, but then it's putting together over multiple days,
973
00:57:04.130 --> 00:57:08.170
which would be interesting, especially on her side. For the men,
974
00:57:09.210 --> 00:57:12.070
the names that we're expecting to be at the front,
975
00:57:13.320 --> 00:57:18.400
Victor Bassoni, Justina Slavica, I think they're the two that
976
00:57:18.619 --> 00:57:21.119
really stand out for me. Is there anyone else you
977
00:57:21.139 --> 00:57:22.760
think could be challenging them?
978
00:57:23.239 --> 00:57:26.199
Yeah, I've got one more, which is Ole. I can't
979
00:57:26.300 --> 00:57:27.389
remember his surname, I'm sorry.
980
00:57:27.800 --> 00:57:30.420
Beyond smith yo okay yes um.
981
00:57:30.679 --> 00:57:35.000
Yeah he's he's incredibly strong um he um i think
982
00:57:35.039 --> 00:57:38.590
he came second in atlas and he came third in
983
00:57:38.619 --> 00:57:43.409
tracker he's basically been up there giving uh victor hell
984
00:57:43.550 --> 00:57:46.289
a little bit uh in some of these races and
985
00:57:47.010 --> 00:57:49.369
uh he's not cobbled together the win in those races
986
00:57:49.409 --> 00:57:52.150
yet um he also did unbound and did very well
987
00:57:52.170 --> 00:57:56.460
there as well um but I think he's getting more
988
00:57:56.519 --> 00:58:01.239
experienced and better by the race he does. I wouldn't
989
00:58:01.260 --> 00:58:03.860
be surprised if we see a good result from him,
990
00:58:03.920 --> 00:58:08.260
especially if things get very tricky and any of the
991
00:58:08.300 --> 00:58:10.010
others run into problems as well.
992
00:58:10.650 --> 00:58:14.909
It'll be interesting to see Benedikt Borsos because he's had
993
00:58:14.989 --> 00:58:21.489
some really mildly impressive results. His performance at Race for
994
00:58:21.550 --> 00:58:25.500
Rwanda was pretty spectacular. And then I believe you pushed
995
00:58:25.539 --> 00:58:29.559
Justyna fairly close at Transbalkan Race last year as well.
996
00:58:30.030 --> 00:58:36.190
Yeah, I think he's a former Hungarian mountain bike marathon champion,
997
00:58:36.929 --> 00:58:41.269
has done very well in the national gravel races for
998
00:58:41.289 --> 00:58:44.710
the country as well. And I think basically when things
999
00:58:44.730 --> 00:58:48.289
get very technical, he is one of the strongest performers
1000
00:58:48.389 --> 00:58:49.150
on a mountain bike.
1001
00:58:49.710 --> 00:58:53.730
Amanda, any more people that you think we should be highlighting?
1002
00:58:54.489 --> 00:58:57.949
There's Angus Young, he's on your list as well. He's
1003
00:58:57.969 --> 00:59:01.519
won the Dale, he's come third at Toddowide.
1004
00:59:02.280 --> 00:59:04.500
He has done Silk Road a few times as well
1005
00:59:05.170 --> 00:59:09.960
um and set the set the fkt for both the
1006
00:59:10.460 --> 00:59:14.739
eastern divide trail in the u.s and the oh you
1007
00:59:14.780 --> 00:59:16.699
may need to help out the name the the trail
1008
00:59:16.739 --> 00:59:19.420
which runs from north and north to south through europe
1009
00:59:19.500 --> 00:59:22.250
as well maybe it's just europe european.
1010
00:59:21.929 --> 00:59:24.070
Divide yeah it's the european divide yeah.
1011
00:59:24.889 --> 00:59:28.550
So yeah, obviously it's attracted a lot of people to
1012
00:59:28.590 --> 00:59:32.389
this event and just finally, what do we think it
1013
00:59:32.489 --> 00:59:36.769
is that has really built up the anticipation about this one?
1014
00:59:36.849 --> 00:59:40.050
Is it that element of the unknown? Is it just
1015
00:59:40.119 --> 00:59:44.659
because it's a new Nelson race? And are we making
1016
00:59:44.800 --> 00:59:47.519
quite a big deal out of something which isn't that
1017
00:59:47.679 --> 00:59:51.809
uncommon as well because I was thinking there's other events
1018
00:59:51.909 --> 00:59:55.699
where you don't know the route until fairly soon beforehand.
1019
00:59:56.380 --> 01:00:00.900
Is there something about this one which makes it a
1020
01:00:00.940 --> 01:00:02.340
bit more intriguing in that sense?
1021
01:00:02.360 --> 01:00:05.579
I think the location has an impact on that because
1022
01:00:05.639 --> 01:00:07.579
if I didn't know the route for something I was
1023
01:00:07.599 --> 01:00:12.820
doing somewhere like the Yorkshire Dales, I wouldn't see it
1024
01:00:12.880 --> 01:00:15.159
as big of a deal to not know as I
1025
01:00:15.179 --> 01:00:15.960
would for this one.
1026
01:00:16.179 --> 01:00:16.300
Yeah.
1027
01:00:17.269 --> 01:00:19.989
I think some of it is the reputation as well. So, um,
1028
01:00:20.179 --> 01:00:22.300
for sure, like the race does come with some kind
1029
01:00:22.320 --> 01:00:26.860
of prestige, uh, which is, um, to an, uh, to
1030
01:00:26.900 --> 01:00:29.619
an extent, like, yeah, you're right. There's, there are other
1031
01:00:29.659 --> 01:00:31.300
races that have done this and maybe they don't come
1032
01:00:31.340 --> 01:00:34.139
with the prestige and they are just the same. But
1033
01:00:34.579 --> 01:00:36.480
I think part of what comes with that prestige is
1034
01:00:36.559 --> 01:00:41.909
that everyone knows that Nelson makes quite impressive, not easy races.
1035
01:00:42.230 --> 01:00:44.269
So when you know that this is going to be
1036
01:00:44.289 --> 01:00:46.630
a Nelson race and you know, you've got almost no
1037
01:00:46.690 --> 01:00:49.750
information on it, you know, it's going to be tough. Um,
1038
01:00:50.070 --> 01:00:52.670
and no one wants Nelson's races to be any more
1039
01:00:52.710 --> 01:00:56.269
tough than they already are. So, um, yeah, I think that's,
1040
01:00:56.570 --> 01:00:58.789
that's what sets this one apart from many others.
1041
01:00:58.809 --> 01:01:02.090
I think it's going to be a interesting race from
1042
01:01:02.130 --> 01:01:06.190
all aspects. So thanks for dropping by to speak through
1043
01:01:06.210 --> 01:01:09.610
this Connor and, Would there be another preview article on
1044
01:01:09.869 --> 01:01:11.269
Substack before you start?
1045
01:01:11.570 --> 01:01:11.889
Yeah.
1046
01:01:11.989 --> 01:01:15.710
So my plan is to take my laptop out to Turkey.
1047
01:01:15.949 --> 01:01:19.989
And as soon as the route comes out, do all
1048
01:01:20.010 --> 01:01:22.489
the research I need to do and put that into
1049
01:01:22.690 --> 01:01:25.909
a Substack article, which will also include some of the
1050
01:01:25.949 --> 01:01:28.179
favorites for the race. So covering some of the names
1051
01:01:28.199 --> 01:01:30.880
we've mentioned now and going a bit further with that, too.
1052
01:01:31.250 --> 01:01:32.949
Then you'd be very busy in those couple of days
1053
01:01:32.969 --> 01:01:33.690
before the event then?
1054
01:01:33.869 --> 01:01:36.969
Yeah, I will be. And, um, during the race as well, um,
1055
01:01:36.989 --> 01:01:39.289
we're going to have, um, some regular coverage on the
1056
01:01:39.329 --> 01:01:42.750
substack and on the commentary page as well. So, uh,
1057
01:01:42.769 --> 01:01:45.619
people will get the normal, um, stuff that they're used
1058
01:01:45.639 --> 01:01:48.940
to in terms of, um, some in-depth, uh, substack articles
1059
01:01:49.159 --> 01:01:52.300
probably every other day and, um, some, some posts on
1060
01:01:52.340 --> 01:01:55.820
the commentary page, um, as and when, um, as well.
1061
01:01:56.039 --> 01:01:59.030
So I won't be doing the commentary, just to be clear,
1062
01:01:59.550 --> 01:02:01.750
for this race. I'll be a bit busy, I think.
1063
01:02:02.449 --> 01:02:04.949
Yeah, well, wish you all the best. Hope you have
1064
01:02:04.969 --> 01:02:07.610
a great ride and a great time. And yeah, hopefully
1065
01:02:08.190 --> 01:02:09.730
you drop by afterwards to tell us how it went.
1066
01:02:10.050 --> 01:02:12.130
Yeah, very happy to. It's always good to be on.
1067
01:02:13.210 --> 01:02:20.440
Good luck. Thank you. Thanks, Scott. I'll need it. Now,
1068
01:02:20.539 --> 01:02:26.360
back by popular demand, we have our ultra cycling training
1069
01:02:26.420 --> 01:02:31.199
and performance question section which is brought to you by
1070
01:02:31.360 --> 01:02:37.539
ASIA which is my ultra cycling coaching service you can
1071
01:02:37.760 --> 01:02:40.889
go to asia.cc to find out more from what I
1072
01:02:40.929 --> 01:02:45.650
do there or check out my Instagram and on my
1073
01:02:45.690 --> 01:02:49.429
Instagram I recently put up a piece around heart rate
1074
01:02:49.449 --> 01:02:54.260
specifically in relation to ultra cycling and One of the
1075
01:02:54.280 --> 01:02:58.519
bits in there was inspired through questions I often get
1076
01:02:58.840 --> 01:03:03.760
around people observing that after very long efforts, they find
1077
01:03:03.920 --> 01:03:07.920
their heart rate is suppressed and their maximum heart rate
1078
01:03:08.039 --> 01:03:11.800
is blunted. I often get asked whether this is a
1079
01:03:12.159 --> 01:03:14.469
normal thing, whether there's anything you can do about it.
1080
01:03:15.550 --> 01:03:19.030
The answer to that I'll come to, but firstly, just
1081
01:03:19.070 --> 01:03:22.690
a bit of background on how heart rate works itself.
1082
01:03:23.289 --> 01:03:27.289
It's regulated by the autonomic nervous system, which manages the
1083
01:03:27.329 --> 01:03:31.050
body's involuntary functions via two branches. The first is the
1084
01:03:31.090 --> 01:03:34.940
parasympathetic nervous system, which is essentially the body's brake pedal
1085
01:03:35.440 --> 01:03:38.679
and it's most active during rest and sleep. On the
1086
01:03:38.719 --> 01:03:42.760
opposite side, there's the sympathetic nervous system, which is basically
1087
01:03:42.780 --> 01:03:46.119
your fight or flight system, which is activated during stress
1088
01:03:46.179 --> 01:03:49.909
or exertion. And this acts to accelerate heart rate, increase
1089
01:03:49.949 --> 01:03:52.519
blood pressure and prepare the body for action. So when
1090
01:03:52.579 --> 01:03:56.260
it's functioning correctly, these opposing branches work together to maintain
1091
01:03:56.360 --> 01:04:01.679
balance for the cardiovascular system and support demands through exercise.
1092
01:04:02.719 --> 01:04:05.730
But after many hours of exertion, such as in an
1093
01:04:05.829 --> 01:04:10.750
ultra cycling event, there's a huge amount of deep central fatigue,
1094
01:04:10.829 --> 01:04:13.949
which suppresses the heart rate and blunts the maximum heart rate.
1095
01:04:15.110 --> 01:04:19.210
The body is essentially limiting sympathetic output to protect the
1096
01:04:19.250 --> 01:04:22.150
heart and organs from damage. This is also known as
1097
01:04:22.210 --> 01:04:28.409
parasympathetic hyperactivity as the parasympathetic system takes a greater role.
1098
01:04:29.210 --> 01:04:34.880
This is also potentially driven by metabolic depletion. So if
1099
01:04:34.920 --> 01:04:39.760
you've severely depleted your glycogen stores, muscle breakdown signals the
1100
01:04:39.780 --> 01:04:44.530
body to reduce the overall energy expenditure. There's also downregulation
1101
01:04:44.849 --> 01:04:48.389
of the receptions that respond to adrenaline. So that is
1102
01:04:48.429 --> 01:04:52.710
also not having as much of an effect. So all
1103
01:04:52.730 --> 01:04:55.670
of this is to say that this is a very
1104
01:04:55.809 --> 01:04:59.889
natural thing to happen. And it's important to stress that
1105
01:04:59.929 --> 01:05:05.190
this isn't a sign of fitness in itself and that
1106
01:05:06.369 --> 01:05:10.639
it's not something essentially that can be trained. after so
1107
01:05:10.679 --> 01:05:13.280
much effort, so much central fatigue, it's going to happen.
1108
01:05:13.460 --> 01:05:17.739
So in terms of managing it, firstly, my advice would
1109
01:05:17.760 --> 01:05:21.090
be to not try to force it up. Trying to
1110
01:05:21.969 --> 01:05:24.269
raise your heart rate to what you see when you're
1111
01:05:24.309 --> 01:05:27.570
fresh is only going to cook you further. What you
1112
01:05:27.590 --> 01:05:30.309
need to do is recalibrate your interpretation of heart rate
1113
01:05:30.789 --> 01:05:34.670
and accept that numbers you're seeing are lower than what
1114
01:05:34.710 --> 01:05:38.429
you'd see when you're fresh. And also, if you're used
1115
01:05:38.449 --> 01:05:42.889
to using heart rate as a measure when you're in
1116
01:05:42.929 --> 01:05:46.389
your regular training, it's going to be less important once
1117
01:05:46.409 --> 01:05:48.320
you're in the middle of an ultra event. So I
1118
01:05:48.360 --> 01:05:51.900
would say pay greater attention to your rate of perceived exertion.
1119
01:05:52.639 --> 01:05:54.679
Power can still be used, but again, that's going to
1120
01:05:54.699 --> 01:05:57.980
be down-regulated through fatigue, so it's a case of recalibrating that.
1121
01:05:58.940 --> 01:06:01.639
And then the only way your nervous system is really
1122
01:06:01.659 --> 01:06:04.900
going to reset is via rest and proper nutrition. And
1123
01:06:05.019 --> 01:06:07.489
in the middle of an event... this isn't going to
1124
01:06:07.510 --> 01:06:14.170
be fully achieved but also taking your fueling seriously and
1125
01:06:14.269 --> 01:06:17.230
getting as much rest as possible can help to mitigate
1126
01:06:17.289 --> 01:06:19.610
some of the some of the effects which have driven
1127
01:06:19.739 --> 01:06:27.300
this cardiovascular response although these are quite acute impacts at
1128
01:06:27.340 --> 01:06:30.599
the time they reflect functional cardiac fatigue rather than permanent
1129
01:06:30.619 --> 01:06:36.210
damage so after usually 24 to 48 hours or maybe
1130
01:06:36.230 --> 01:06:38.070
a bit longer depending on how long the event was
1131
01:06:39.030 --> 01:06:42.860
you should be back to normal cardiovascular parameters and your
1132
01:06:42.880 --> 01:06:46.820
heart rate responsiveness should be closer to normal after you've
1133
01:06:46.840 --> 01:06:50.800
had that time to recover so in all this is
1134
01:06:51.059 --> 01:06:55.840
something which It's a case of managing it through doing
1135
01:06:55.900 --> 01:06:59.719
sensible things in terms of pacing yourself and good nutrition
1136
01:07:00.059 --> 01:07:02.539
and adequate sleep during the event in the first place.
1137
01:07:03.050 --> 01:07:06.630
But seeing your heart rate being suppressed and the maximum
1138
01:07:06.769 --> 01:07:10.170
blunted during events isn't something to be stressed about, isn't
1139
01:07:10.230 --> 01:07:13.329
something that you need to make huge action to try
1140
01:07:13.349 --> 01:07:16.949
and change during events. This is one where it's a
1141
01:07:16.969 --> 01:07:22.210
case of recalibrating. It's a case of adapting your pacing
1142
01:07:22.250 --> 01:07:31.920
strategy and not to be too concerned about. Now we
1143
01:07:31.940 --> 01:07:34.159
have a best of bikes off because every good audio
1144
01:07:34.179 --> 01:07:37.760
podcast needs a visual edge feature. So each month the
1145
01:07:37.800 --> 01:07:41.519
co-host chooses a bike and set up from the recent
1146
01:07:41.579 --> 01:07:44.699
bikes of article. Amanda, have you picked out something for
1147
01:07:44.800 --> 01:07:45.699
us this time?
1148
01:07:45.719 --> 01:07:50.389
I have, it's from the Alps divide, which is obviously finished, but, um,
1149
01:07:52.050 --> 01:07:56.469
It's too interesting to pass up, I think. Gustav van
1150
01:07:56.530 --> 01:08:01.550
Mol has got an open cycle wide 2.0, which is
1151
01:08:01.590 --> 01:08:05.420
a gravel bike. As we know, the Alps divide is
1152
01:08:05.679 --> 01:08:09.820
off-road and quite a challenging route to do on a
1153
01:08:09.840 --> 01:08:10.519
gravel bike.
1154
01:08:12.099 --> 01:08:13.530
But he does have....
1155
01:08:14.780 --> 01:08:16.380
I can't see what tyres he's got.
1156
01:08:17.979 --> 01:08:22.960
Yeah, it says 61mm with 66mm of tyre clearance. But
1157
01:08:22.979 --> 01:08:24.859
I thought when you get that big, you start talking
1158
01:08:24.899 --> 01:08:25.340
in inches.
1159
01:08:27.340 --> 01:08:28.340
Yeah, good point.
1160
01:08:29.020 --> 01:08:29.520
There we go.
1161
01:08:30.100 --> 01:08:32.539
He's got dub knit holes front and back. And in
1162
01:08:32.600 --> 01:08:35.239
his case, he's got, you spotted the spokes.
1163
01:08:36.140 --> 01:08:36.859
Which are.
1164
01:08:37.520 --> 01:08:39.859
Bird spokes, B-E-R-D.
1165
01:08:40.500 --> 01:08:42.720
The world's lightest spokes.
1166
01:08:44.100 --> 01:08:46.800
Yeah, they caught my eye because they match the colour
1167
01:08:46.840 --> 01:08:48.720
of the frame. And looking into it a bit more,
1168
01:08:48.739 --> 01:08:54.729
they made a polyester fibre. They claim to be lightweight,
1169
01:08:55.170 --> 01:08:59.029
more comfortable, more compliant. But then they're not cheap either.
1170
01:08:59.050 --> 01:09:02.779
You're paying... the best part of € 10 per spoke. So
1171
01:09:02.800 --> 01:09:06.399
if you've got, I'm not going to count every single spoke,
1172
01:09:06.439 --> 01:09:10.989
but say 28 spokes on each wheel, that's € 500, € 600
1173
01:09:10.270 --> 01:09:11.029
just for the spokes.
1174
01:09:11.489 --> 01:09:13.829
Well, they're easy to carry spares, I guess, if they're
1175
01:09:13.850 --> 01:09:15.289
just like a shoelace.
1176
01:09:16.369 --> 01:09:16.609
Yeah.
1177
01:09:17.090 --> 01:09:18.649
Not that I would ever think to carry a spare spoke.
1178
01:09:19.430 --> 01:09:22.170
But I did look, having seen his bike and thinking
1179
01:09:22.489 --> 01:09:24.409
I would not like to do the Elks Divide on
1180
01:09:24.430 --> 01:09:27.029
a gravel bike, I have looked on the tracker and
1181
01:09:27.069 --> 01:09:30.909
he finished 10th overall. So he was not held back
1182
01:09:31.029 --> 01:09:33.159
by the rigid fork and the drop bars.
1183
01:09:33.979 --> 01:09:36.720
We could finally convert you to gravel bikes, Amanda.
1184
01:09:37.180 --> 01:09:40.420
Hey, I did 100km of gravel on a gravel bike
1185
01:09:40.439 --> 01:09:41.420
this weekend, just gone.
1186
01:09:42.979 --> 01:09:50.500
And did you enjoy it? Um... No. Okay, so, well,
1187
01:09:50.680 --> 01:09:56.100
maybe Neeson more convincing. I'm trying, though. Well, you can
1188
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also check out the Bike Store feature on the DotWatch
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01:09:59.260 --> 01:10:04.840
website for this one and for many more. And that
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01:10:04.899 --> 01:10:07.619
is all we have this time. If you've got any submissions,
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01:10:07.659 --> 01:10:10.220
then you can get in touch via our Instagram, which
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01:10:10.279 --> 01:10:15.439
is at dotcomspod or dotcomspod at gmail dot com. And
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if you're If you'd like to leave us a review
1194
01:10:17.949 --> 01:10:20.970
or rating on your podcast platform of choice, that really
1195
01:10:21.010 --> 01:10:24.510
helps as well. And all of your interactions are really
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01:10:24.649 --> 01:10:29.659
appreciated too. So remember to check out the ongoing commentaries
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and those coming up on the DotWatch website alongside their
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01:10:32.539 --> 01:10:36.479
regular features and some of the stuff articles. It sounds
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like there's going to be quite a bit coming up,
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especially around Taurus over the coming weeks. So thank you
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very much for joining me today, Amanda.
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Thanks for having me.
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01:10:47.239 --> 01:10:49.239
And we will speak to you all soon.
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Goodbye.
