Courtesy of Martin Arundel
Fancying a challenge and having 24 hours spare Martin Arundel rode round Brands Hatch 121 times (300 miles), climbed 7865 meters and ate about 12 energy bars, yet for some reason never got bored of powering down Brabham Straight!
I like a challenge so when Revolve24 offered a 24 hour race around Brands Hatch I thought it would be worth a go.
The rules were simple, ride as many laps as you could in 24 hours; Teams were only allowed one member on the track at a time. Most participants were teams, typically 4, 6 or 8, there were 15 ‘solo’ riders.
‘Installation’ laps started at 11am on the short ‘Indy’ circuit to help judge the start being down Paddocks Hill Bend (60 kph) followed by the Hailwoods Hill which is 9.4% at the steepest point to Druids (at my best 19 kph) and down to ‘Graham Hill Bend’, typically taken at 55 kph during the race but some teams took it at 80 kph. The full GP circuit was opened at 1pm to show you the delights of the long drag up ‘Hawthorn Hill’ hitting 8.1% at its steepest followed by the great (read mostly downhill) Stirlings through Clearways, Clark Curve and Brabham Straight.
We assembled in a line at 3pm for a ‘Le Mans’ start which was seeded to allow the faster teams to get away. As usual the red mist descended and my second lap averaged 37 kph, 34.5 kph for the first 10 laps! My first stint was 3.5 hours, averaging around 31 kph.
At my first stop I came in for isotonic refills and leg/arm warmers and restock of bars. I also put on my lights which was handy as just as I got back on the track they asked everyone to turn on their lights.
Two hours later I came in for my evening meal. Being unsupported I had to cycle up to the Kentagon, I think it was pasta, I do remember it was difficult to eat as it had been cut short so you couldn’t spin it round the fork!
In each stint I carried two 500ml bottles and tried to consume 3 ‘bars’, one protein and two carbohydrate types where possible.
Looking at the data I generally managed 2 hours before coming in for fluids/food. My really bad patch was at 2:30am. The slower solo and group teams I had been passing reasonably regularly seemed to have disappeared. I had been up since 8am, it was very dark and 10 degrees C. I felt I was beginning to fall asleep so decided to find my tent, set the alarm for one hour. When I awoke I just realised that I wasn’t mentally ready so went back to sleep. I woke up at 5:10am and had a stern word with myself, putting on cold wet kit in the world's smallest tent is something I won’t forget! Once on the track it was fine, still pitch black apart from the pit area but the sunrise was welcome as I only had 9 hours to go :-)
The first 128 miles had averaged around 28kph, after that it fell to 25kph, in part because I couldn’t take Graham Hill Bend at full whack as my lights didn’t extend to hit the apex at 50kph and in part I lacked the motivation. The teams could often get on trains of 3 and 4 but I rarely had the opportunity, too fast for the slower teams/solo, too slow for the fast teams to hold on to sensibly.
The rest of the ride was uneventful, I couldn’t catch the person in front and was easily clear of the person behind so there was no point in really pushing it. After a break at 2pm I went back on the track for the end. I floored it through the start/finish, hit 835 watts up Druids (pb up the climb), my 7th fastest lap at 33kph, crossing the line at 58 kph and realised I could fit in another lap only to unship my chain up Hawthorn Hill, quickly fixing it I finished the 121st lap with a minute or so to spare!
Some data:
Hours in the saddle 17:45, sleeping 2:45, refueling 2:30, average riding pace 26.7 kph, 16.6 mph, 7865 meters climbed. One last thing, the new Garmin 520 can be charged without ‘saving’ the current journey unlike the old 500.
