Wildman, Iceman, Mudman - Offroad Duathlons

big_southern_jesse

I've just signed up to a series of 3 offroad duathlons through the winter, one in November, then February and March. All around the M3, A3, M25 area, on MOD land.

Link: http://humanrace.co.uk/events/off-road

Anyone else doing them, or have done them before?

I've done a couple of simple bike race before on the South Downs at Goodwood, and one triathlon, but these will be something different. Longer distances, and I think much more hill climbing and mud. Any advice for training or racing would be fab. The first event is 10km, 18km, 5km, and there's a cutoff time of 3 hours to complete the first run and the cycle, so the target is to complete the first event, and then maybe try to race a bit harder when I know what to expect for the next two.

Anyway, be interested if anyone has any thoughts?

P.S. Considered putting this in the "tri" section of the road forum, but felt the offroad was more relevant than the multi-discipine!

alansd1980

I have signed up to do the event in March, also got a friend signed up for this.

A bit worried about the running as I have never done much but think the riding will be easier than other events I have done in the past (brass monkeys, spring series and the Gorrick 100)

Quite pricey for what you get but thought doing something different might be interesting over the winter.

big_southern_jesse

Well, we can let you know what the riding is like after the weekend! I think you're right, it won't be too technical, as it's seems to be quite a mixed field of running mountain bikers, but also roadie triathletes who might not be used to drop offs or rock gardens etc.

In total it's 15k of running and only 18k of biking, so it' salways going to favour the runners I guess, but I'm not stressing too much about that. I did a practice last weekend, doing 10,22,4 as the three segments and it felt okay, but I need to get some good drink, gels or food down my throat at the first transition. The run took a lot of the hill climbing power out of my legs, I could spin along the flat okay, but had to climb quite carefully not to burn out.

As for the cost, well yes, it is a bit pricey, but not too bad for a 3 hr long event. Make sure you sign up to he HR club. If you have entered races that year, you get offers and discounts on stuff leading up to it. So I've got a £5 bag of coffee in the post, and 3 boxes of power bars to collect at the first race, as well as a goodie bag with a tech top etc. For me, that' sail ready offset half the cost.

Judging by the trails this weekend, it's going to be an absolute mud fest; which is all good, except I'm going straight from the race to my Mother in Law's 70th birthday lunch. Hmmm...

big_southern_jesse

alansd1980 wrote:

I have signed up to do the event in March, also got a friend signed up for this.

A bit worried about the running as I have never done much but think the riding will be easier than other events I have done in the past (brass monkeys, spring series and the Gorrick 100)

Quite pricey for what you get but thought doing something different might be interesting over the winter.

Okay, took me a while to come back to this...

So I did the Wildman race a few weeks ago at Ash Vale...

It was well set up, loads of parking, even if some of it was a bit far away from the start. Great organisation, checking in on the day was easy, lots of people around to help.

There was a 9k loop that was used for one lap as the first run, and then two laps for the cycle. This was good as you got to scope out the bike route before you rode it. I'm not sure the other events are like this though.

Route wise, about 20% singletrack at most, and you could usually dive past someone relatively easily. Most of it was dubletrack/fireroad etc. There were two seriously steep but short climbs, only saw one or two people make it up those, and one loooong climb. There were a few ice looping downhills, and a couple of sharper ones, which a few people walked down. I'm a pretty mediocre/average rider, but overtook quite a few people on the ride. Possible because I'm a slower runner, but also because a lot clearly weren't used to tackling offroad stuff, being quite slow downhill, or not climbing so well. I normally ride the South Downs around Kingley Vale, and it was pretty similar conditions really.

I found some of the climbs quite hard, having taken some of the burst energy and power out of my legs on the run, and the final 5k was hard.

There was a cut off time to start the final run at 2hours 45, and I made that with about 10 minutes to spare, which was pretty much the plan. I had also stopped to help two people fix chains, and lent them a chain tool, and taught them how to use it, which took 5 minutes of my time, but also gave me a nice rest! Make sure you have some basic tools and skills with you to make sure you get round!

About 15% of the starters were DNF, some retired, most didn't make the cut off time. I finished 176th out of about 300 or so starters. It was a really mixed field though. I took 3hours and 7mins, the guy who won was done in 2hrs 1 min! So a real variety. I also parked between two chaps just unloading their bikes. On one side, a few grands worth of carbon BMC 29er shinyness, on the other side, a £99 Apollo... I felt fairly at home in the middle!

Generally it was a great day, and a good challenge for me. Probably the hardest thing like that I've done. My sprint for the finish line started only 150yrds out, and barely lifted my pace, I didn't have a lot left! If you are worried about the running, I'd make sure you get some hill training in, not just for the fitness, but for the way it works the muscles differently to running on the flat. It's good to practice downs as well as ups. Aim for a comfortable cross country 10k in 60-75 mins, and you should be fine for making the cut off time.

As for the cost of the event, well, I paid my money, and thought, yes, bit pricey. But I have also signed up for the Human Races Club and the benefits. That has got me 36 Powerbar gels for free, plus cheap coffee and a few other bits. The race pack gets you quite a nice tech top, as well a few other bits, so pretty sure I have had my entry money for the first race back already.

Looking forward to the next one, although a little concerned. I was feeling absolutely exhausted at the end of Wildman, and chatting to two guys next to me who were cheerfully saying how much they'd enjoyed it in comparison to the Iceman in Feb, which had been really bad! So lots more training needed for that then!

Jess.