Anyone racing/raced CRC Marathon - Builth Wells?

agg25

Heya,
Am tackling my first enduro this weekend at Builth Wells for the CRC Marathon, just wanted to see if anyone else on here was going or if anyone had done it before and could give me a few tips on what to expect.
I've only ever done 4 or 5 1.5-2 hr races before so bit apprehensive but excited about the challenge.

clanton

Well, its not really a race, more of an "event" similar to sportives in road racing. There will certainly be a few VERY fast boys there including the likes of Nick Craig and Jonathan Pugh but LOTS of mere mortals too having fun. If you intend to make a "race" of it make sure you line up very early, it will be a mass start of around 800-1000 riders which makes for great fun but lots of delays if you're further back - both at the start in in (potential) bottle necks on the course. That said at the spring Marathon in Builth they came up with a great course that saw no bottlenecks that I came across.

The route will be a mixture of a little tar (beginning and end), some jeep track, some "sheep" track ie single track across the moors and then a fair amount of just riding across grassy moor stuff - this is fine when its dry but saps the energy if its wet!

Otherwise expect good feed stations, lots of banter en route, a few muppets, a few super fit "roadie" types who can't descend for toffee, some guys on wholly inapropriate bikes, its got it all really!

amt27

well, it depends on what distance you are doing, also its not a race and you will not be able to find out where you came in relation to your category, as there are rules on the results they can produce because it is a marathon,

I did the 75km event last month and the night enduro the night before,

tips:
start off slow, drink lots and fuel up at the stops,
try and tag along with someone or group at your pace,
loads of people stop at the top of climbs, so stop and chat, enjoy the views,
make sure your bike is in good condition and will last the ride, it will be dry and dusty so tyres like Small Block 8s will be ideal,
carb load and don't bother warming up, the first few miles are slow and on the road, that will be your warm up,
if you get caught up in slow traffic, just conserve energy, the field will spread out later, then use your energy,

if you wanna go balls-out like Nick Craig, get on the start line a good hour before the start, i turned up wth 30 mins to go and was stuck right at the back, my gf said the leaders were 1/2 mile down the road before I had gone through the start banner,

agg25

Thanks for advice guys and don't worry, the only person I'll be racing will be myself, but really I'll feel happy just to finish.
Have the bike ready to go, with spare tubes, Camelbak, Alien tool.
Just bought some kneepads, do you think they'd be necessary? I'm thinking it wouldn't be too technical so would rather not wear them, but if there's plenty of rocky, rooty terrain then might be worth it considering my knee has recently taken a few direct hits.
What's the average amount of time it takes to finish? I usually finish mid pack in Open races but unsure about Enduros.
Geez amt27 you must be insane to do both rides one after the other, bet you were shattered afterwards eh?

amt27

Shouldn't bother with kneepads, most of the downhills are on moorland with a few rocks here and there, or on farm tracks, fireroads. There was only one wooded rooty section. Some off camber single track which people slipped up on.

I finished mid-field on the 75km in 5:40.

Legs were tired, but I drank loads of water with isostar tabs, to prevent cramp, and ate loads of bananas and cake at the stops, so felt okay-ish. Worst part was 5 hrs sleep in a wet tent.

You might want to consider sun cream as nearly all the ride is on exposed breezy hills.

JimmerG

Agg25,

How did you get on? I did the 50km route and by jingo that was enough for me! Don't think I've even been so hot in my life! Great laugh though - outstanding decents, and those climbs - lordy lord they were punishing, but the views.. some were reminscent of Lord of the rings type territory!

I managed to avoid heat exhustion, but did bruise a few ribs after a minor miscalculation at the end of the steep twisty wooded section - I fell into a hole!

Some poor chap got helicoptered off after a fall on the road section - hope you're ok if you're reading this.

How did everyone else get on? My time was pitifully slow - too much time drinking water, admiring views and discussing weather and tactics with other riders. Thought there was a really friendly ambience about the day.

Very well organised, although the second drinks stop seemed to take a long time to get to - I got through 3 litres of water between stops!

I'll definitely be doing it next year.

Broonster

JimmerG wrote:

How did everyone else get on? My time was pitifully slow - too much time drinking water, admiring views and discussing weather and tactics with other riders. Thought there was a really friendly ambience about the day.

And that there is the key mate - you enjoyed yourself. I don't think these things are designed to be a race - it's more the taking place that counts

That said, put more than 2 people together on bikes and it will inevitably end up as a race!

Sounds like a cracking day anyway. I've entered the Selkirk round of the CRC series and I can't wait for it. Hopefully it's be a bit cooler than it was at the weekend there though!

Cannon71

I did the 50km this weekend too - AWESOME fun!

My riding buddy and I rolled up to the start at about 9.50am so there were only about 20 riders behind us. Did a lot of overtaking which was good for the motivation (well, ours anyway!) but the bottleneck about 14km in was a bugger. So we walked round it. :oops:

Don't know where we finished. 3hrs35 though. We were well-happy with that, given the heat and the fact that it was our 1st 'personal challenge'...!

How hot though?! Good grief. But yes, what an excellently organised event. We'll definitely be back next year. 8)

agg25

Well I survived...just!
Bloody hot, being an Aussie was no advantage hehe.
Was going to do the 75 km course but the weather and hills conspired against me, that and got maybe 1 hr sleep in the tent, man it was a cold night!
Anyways enough excuses, had fun (except for a couple of climbs when I thought my heart might go) and did it in about 3hr 20min.
Thought the event was very well run, got my free (with donation) massage before and after and I tell you there's not that many better things than 2 young girls rubbing your legs after 50kms in the saddle.
Will be keen to do the next one if schedule permits.

GPS plot of course here - http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... 95758&z=11

Cannon71

DUDE!! (i.e. Agg25)

You were the one that helped me up after the fall! (I was the rider on the white/red/balck Ghost with the red jersey/orange camelbak.)

THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping out! That was really cool of you!

If you find yourself in Bath anytime, PM me and I'll buy you a pint or ten!

agg25

Haha yep thats me!
No worries mate, see your pm. and enjoy the photo, nothing like a pic of yourself stacking it down a hillside :-D

JDALY46

Rode with a mate whose fitness has plummeted this year and only wanted to do the 25km. Pretty frustrating day half pedalling waiting for him to catch up. Cheeky bastard then swerved across infront of a truck I was waiting for to get into the finish line and jumped a place in front of me !!! :evil:

The bottle necks at the 1/2 closed farm gates and the main water crossing were a bit of a pain but a pretty light hearted even and plenty of banter on the climbs from everyone. Wish I'd done the 50K - though riding the 50K at Margam this weekend ! Good fun though, wish I'd done the April one or the road ride the day before too.

JimmerG

We were treated to rather a spectacular display at the first water crossing - just after the first bit of downhill. A lovely looking lass hit an underwater obstacle and was dramatically ejected into the mud. Poor gal got properly covered, but there were plenty of helpers eager to dash to her aid.

Cannon71

Ha ha! Er, I mean aww...! :shock:

There were some very lovely views around Builth this weekend. Sometimes, I even looked at the hills... :P

agg25

Hehe, if only 2 had fallen in, then there could have been a show :-D
Results are up ->http://www.mtb-marathon.co.uk/results/results.php
I came 208/797 :-D

clanton

How did you work out your position? Did you go through all 800 results?

agg25

No hehe, if you highlight everything (except for the first 4 rows of header) then sort the columns by Time Finished it puts them in order.
Would've been nice to see the category for each person as well.

clanton

agg25 wrote:

No hehe, if you highlight everything (except for the first 4 rows of header) then sort the columns by Time Finished it puts them in order.
Would've been nice to see the category for each person as well.

the rider numbers give you a clue as to category (at least, the category they signed up for). Three digits or less is full distance, 1000 is 75k, 2000 50k, 3000 25k options.
As I',m an Excel numpty, can you work any wizardry with that?

agg25

Yeah I did look at that, but I think a fair few of us who were going to do the full marathon dropped back to the 50km after experiencing the heat, so I don't think that'd be too accurate.
Will have a go if I get time though.