24 hours cycling race in France

meganS

Anyone planning to go to Le Mans in August to do this 24 hours race on circuit..??? I do know the car race and im planning to go with 5 of my friends and race on the same circuit as the car champions 8) ! Anyone planning to go in solo or in a team??

inseine

My club are doing it. Not sure I'm around, but I'll say 'hi' if I go. What's your club?

meganS

i'm not in a club, just doing it for fun with some friends. What is your club?

inseine

US Flins, just west of Paris.

meganS

will you race with your club or not??
Anyone else planning to go... come on a bike radar team??
go and visit the website www.24heuresvelo.fr

Lycra Man

Hi MeganS,

I am planning on doing this. Like you I know the car race, and hope to do this in August. I am planning to ride solo.

Mad, or what?

Lycra Man

meganS

Hi lycra man...

We'll probably meet there then... honestly i could'nt do it in solo, i'm fine with 5 other firends, we are planning to go for 8 relays of half an hour each, means half an hour on bike for 2h30 of rest. To me it's pretty enough, hope the abilities of my friends will help for a good ranking.
To me it looks difficult to go for a solo race, but if they did open the race to solo it must probably work, you should contact the organizers and ask them how many solo are registered... and see how many team they have for the moment, let me know!

Lycra Man

Hi MeganS,

First I should explain I come from an Audax persuasion, so the mentality is of self-sufficiency and long duration to our rides. My previous longest ride was 300km, which took a (leisurely) 18.75 hours. Starting at 6.00am on a Saturday and ending at 12.45 on the Sunday morning just after midnight.

I have never ridden for 24 hours, and never ridden in a race. I am not looking to win, any more than I thought I would win the London marathon in 1991 when I did that.

My preparation is in two phases-
1,. Buy a racing bike, (because I can't use bar ends on my otherwise marvellous Ridgeback hybrid)
2. Enter the Mersey Roads 24 hour time trial in June, as a way of shocking my system into knowing what I have let myself in for.

And anyway I don't have any friends that I cycle with who are loony enough to contemplate this. Your approach of 30 minutes on and 2.5 hours rest sounds perfect for setting, and maintaining, a fast pace. See you in France!
Lycra Man

meganS

i'll have to prepare myself for intense relays.... have to get use to it, it won't be as usuall, a nice ride on my bike with my friend and long distance... Nevermind it's good to change, hope it will be fun. Lycra man, if you are going in solo it will probably hard to meet... are you planning to stop for a long time??

stage_fright

I was looking into this but am already working in Germany that weekend - at the Nurburgring (which also has a 24-Hour bike race at some point).

I'm pretty sure the Le Mans race is not on the same circuit as the 24-Hour car race but on the shorter 'Bugatti' circuit which is the permanent circuit there (the car 24-Hour circuit uses public roads for a large part of the lap). One thing to bear in mind for anyone looking at doing a long stint there is boredom - the Bugatti uses the pit straight of the full circuit, the climb(?) up to the Dunlop bridge and down the other side, then you go right into a series of constant radius corners with gravel traps the size of Brighton beach till you get back to the pit straight again.

The Nurburgring even uses the full 'old' circuit there, so much more interesting - but the web-site suggests a 24-hour running race going on the same time!

Lycra Man

MeganS,

Hi there. I was planning on stopping for 10-20 minutes every 50 miles, for food and drink. Depending on the weather, more frequent stops in daytime for water if it is hot. Not planning on sleeping. Ride through the night.

StageFright - yes it's the Bugatti circuit. Quite a good climb up past the pits to the Dunlop bridge then down to the Chapel curve, then flat for the rest of the lap back to the pits.

To avoid boredom I am going to be imagining I am Jacky Ickx in my GT40, if you know what I mean.

Much better than the Nurburgring. I've driven that and I would not want to cycle it, it's very much hillier, althought you won't get bored because it's about 11 miles round the old Nordschlief (spelling?).

Good luck!
Lycra Man

meganS

Didn't thought of the weather... might be pretty hot in august, we will have to think to bring a lot and lot of water, don't think we will have much shade on the circuit.... I'll have to get myself prepare to the heat!

Lycra Man

MeganS

In daylight there is no shade on the track at all, unless you count 20" of shadow under the Dunlop Bridge.

As the sun sets that changes, but once it comes back up on Sunday morning, pray for cloud.

I'm hoping there's a handy tap available. Do you think we get to use the pits like we were racing cars?

Lycra Man

Lycra Man

Sorry, that should be 20' of shadow under the Dunlop Bridge.....

Lycra Man

meganS

Hi Lycraman,

There are articles about the preparation of the race and also about strategy on the website. http://www.24heuresvelo.fr/en/PREPARATI ... CE-108.htm
It looks pretty good, what do you think??

Lycra Man

Hi Megan S,

I've looked at those pages, and get the strong feeling they don't really apply to me!!

I'm not a racing cyclist, and as I am thinking of entering as a solo, none of the team advice of dividing the race into 6 rides of 1 hour duration don't apply. They would to you and your friends/teammates.

For training advice, I am looking at 24 hour time trial best practice, and have found some information, but not very much.

If anyone can direct me to a training and riding schedule that would apply to 24 hour time trials, I would be grateful.

I suspect what I will do is climb on board, and pedal off, doing my best to keep moving over the 24 hours, with only limited stops for food and fluid.

By the way, whereabouts are you and your team located? I'm in Buckinghamshire.

Lycra Man

Chaz.Harding

Yup, pretty much,. Just pace yourself, don't shoot off, and don't 'go-for-it' untill maybe the last couple hours, even then if you can be arsed.... :twisted:

FOOD AND WATER is a must though - 24hrs solid is a lot of energy and fluids!!

Pie time... 8)

meganS

Food and Water... Of it is hot, we'll need a loooot of water, hydration is very important! About food, We'll try to have healthy food and probably eat a few energy bars!!!! Apparently the partner Shimano is giving some energy bars, hope they'll taste good

meganS

hey i have registered to the newsletter and i'v just receive it with news about registrations! Apparently more than 160 teams have registered (pretty good). But only 5% coming from foreign countries (actually my team and I haven't registered yet we are still waiting, Lycra man have you registered yet?)

Anyway here is the article:
The teams are divided up in the following way:

• Single: more than 30 racers

• Pair: around 20 teams

• 4 riders-team: around 60 teams

• 6 riders-team: around 30 teams

• 8 riders-team: around 20 teams

The current race entries from all over Europe show your interest in this brand new cyclo-sport:

• 15% of the teams registered are from the Sarthe Department

• 20% of the teams registered are from Paris area

• 60% of the teams registered are from the rest of France

• 5% of the teams registered are from foreign countries

Apparently Lycra man you are not going to be the only solo, it seems to be quite popular (more than I thought!)

Lycra Man

Hi MeganS,

Thanks for that update. I have not registered yet. I am waiting for some funds to arrive, then I am going to get a road bike. Currently interviewing candidates.....

Knowing there are more than 30 solo entries is great and gives me hope that I can complete the 24 hours with a chance of not being last!

Lycra Man

meganS

I hope you won't be last... but if there are already more than 30 solos, there will be probably be twice more at the end of July!

Probably the same with the 6 riders team! I hope england won't finish last in those categories!!!

meganS

hey go and have a look to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEfgYznr1hA
It shows the circuit from a cyclist point of view... it is great!

Lycra Man

Hi MeganS,

I had a look, and you are right, the circuit looks fab. So flat and smooth. I am familiar with the full circuit from in-car YouTube material.

Try [url=htttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7QCYe3xiqA]htttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7QCYe3xiqA[/url]

(It's the long circuit but only last year.)

My worry is that the money I was promised has not arrived, so the purchase of a road bike has been held up. Hopefully something will happen soon.

Lycra Man