Watch the film.
It’s been on my bucket list for years and is dubbed one of the hardest MTB races in the world, because it’s usually freezing cold, or soaking wet, or both. When I bought my place in the 2024 race I had loads of time to train for it. Excitedly I got my MTB out the garage, pumped up the tyres and then. . . proceeded to leave it there right up until I left for the highlands of Scotland on the Friday before the race. Yes, I didn’t do one MTB ride. The main reason was I genuinely just didn’t have the time. With Caroline and I working full time, a 2 year old only doing half days at nursery, and the 496 challenge, MTB training took a back seat. Arrogantly I thought, well, my legs and lungs are pretty good, so that should at least put me in a good place. How wrong I was. Oh, and to make it harder, I was completely self supported. I had no crew.
I left home on the Friday at 5am and by 3pm I’d arrived and set up my base at the end of a plethora of other Puffers camped up along the forestry road. I found a nice place to set up my bell tent for the night and then needed to run 12km for the day. It was a long day and I was knackered already but I got an early sleep and woke up at 5.30am to run the 13km before the race started at 10am. All was going well I thought.
At 9.55am the piper pipped all the riders round the woods and on the stroke of 10am we all ran up the fire track to where we’d left our bikes, all 500 of us. It was chaos. You’d have thought this was a 10km time trial. The first few miles were up a long grinding hill before you left the road and went straight into some knobbly technical bits through the woods. It was at this point that I knew I’d bitten off more than I could chew. I have zero experience mountain biking, literally zero. My wrists were struggling, my forearms burned and I was literally terrified of the downhill sections, constantly having to move aside for real mountain bikers who zoomed past me at lighting pace, dancing over the rocks. It was incredible to see.
Nevertheless I managed lap 1 in 1 hour 3 minutes. Not bad I thought. Lap 2 I did a few minutes quicker now that the field had spread out a bit. Lap 3 a bit slower but I was still plodding on. After 9 laps I was getting very sleepy, the 9 hour drive, two runs and early wake up catching up either me. I rested up and then at 2.30am I swapped my cycling shoes for running shoes to run the 14km I needed to run on the Sunday as part of the 496 challenge. It ruined me. My legs were knackered. It took me 2.5 hours to plod the 14km and then a quick turnaround and back on the bike for the last few laps.
By this time my legs felt OK but the rest of my body felt like it’d been hit from all angles by Mike Tyson with a baseball bat. Arms, shoulders, triceps, wrists, neck, ribs, they screamed at me. My last few laps were nearly 20 minutes slower than my fastest.
Eventually after competing 12 laps and in 26th place out of 63 I came in just after 10am.
The Strathpuffer is a great event. The atmosphere, the people and the course all make for a very rewarding experience. I’m glad I did it but truthfully, I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to do the full 24 hours on the bike due to the 496 challenge. I was planning on doing the 14km after the 24 hours but after looking at the timings to get back home in time for work on Monday, that just wouldn’t have been possible.
So I need to go back. Next time with more experience in the bag (I might actually do some MTB training)
It’s worth noting that had I carried on I may have done 16 laps which would have put me in 6th place. That would have been nice.
Anyway, we are always learning and next time I’ll be more prepared.
What could I have done better?
Not had the 496 to do. I ran a marathon while I was up there.
I should have driven up on the Thursday to give me the Friday off to relax
Having a support crew would undoubtably be a bit easier but not massively. I would take the family next time though.
Jet wash. The bike got really clogged up each lap. Many other riders had battery powered jet wash and used the readily available water from the little stream that runs down the side of the road we camped on. That would have helped.
Done some MTB training. I really needed to get more confident on the downhills. My Strava segments put me in 1000 position for the downhills. That’s where I lost a lot of time.
What did I do right?
Nutrition. I ate and drank pretty well. Possibly a warm meal might have helped but otherwise I nailed that.
I chose good weather. It was one of the mildest years. It didn’t rain much and wasn’t that cold so I got lucky there.
I left home on the Friday at 5am and by 3pm I’d arrived and set up my base at the end of a plethora of other Puffers camped up along the forestry road. I found a nice place to set up my bell tent for the night and then needed to run 12km for the day. It was a long day and I was knackered already but I got an early sleep and woke up at 5.30am to run the 13km before the race started at 10am. All was going well I thought.
At 9.55am the piper pipped all the riders round the woods and on the stroke of 10am we all ran up the fire track to where we’d left our bikes, all 500 of us. It was chaos. You’d have thought this was a 10km time trial. The first few miles were up a long grinding hill before you left the road and went straight into some knobbly technical bits through the woods. It was at this point that I knew I’d bitten off more than I could chew. I have zero experience mountain biking, literally zero. My wrists were struggling, my forearms burned and I was literally terrified of the downhill sections, constantly having to move aside for real mountain bikers who zoomed past me at lighting pace, dancing over the rocks. It was incredible to see.
Nevertheless I managed lap 1 in 1 hour 3 minutes. Not bad I thought. Lap 2 I did a few minutes quicker now that the field had spread out a bit. Lap 3 a bit slower but I was still plodding on. After 9 laps I was getting very sleepy, the 9 hour drive, two runs and early wake up catching up either me. I rested up and then at 2.30am I swapped my cycling shoes for running shoes to run the 14km I needed to run on the Sunday as part of the 496 challenge. It ruined me. My legs were knackered. It took me 2.5 hours to plod the 14km and then a quick turnaround and back on the bike for the last few laps.
By this time my legs felt OK but the rest of my body felt like it’d been hit from all angles by Mike Tyson with a baseball bat. Arms, shoulders, triceps, wrists, neck, ribs, they screamed at me. My last few laps were nearly 20 minutes slower than my fastest.
Eventually after competing 12 laps and in 26th place out of 63 I came in just after 10am.
The Strathpuffer is a great event. The atmosphere, the people and the course all make for a very rewarding experience. I’m glad I did it but truthfully, I’m disappointed that I didn’t get to do the full 24 hours on the bike due to the 496 challenge. I was planning on doing the 14km after the 24 hours but after looking at the timings to get back home in time for work on Monday, that just wouldn’t have been possible.
So I need to go back. Next time with more experience in the bag (I might actually do some MTB training)
It’s worth noting that had I carried on I may have done 16 laps which would have put me in 6th place. That would have been nice.
Anyway, we are always learning and next time I’ll be more prepared.
What could I have done better?
Not had the 496 to do. I ran a marathon while I was up there.
I should have driven up on the Thursday to give me the Friday off to relax
Having a support crew would undoubtably be a bit easier but not massively. I would take the family next time though.
Jet wash. The bike got really clogged up each lap. Many other riders had battery powered jet wash and used the readily available water from the little stream that runs down the side of the road we camped on. That would have helped.
Done some MTB training. I really needed to get more confident on the downhills. My Strava segments put me in 1000 position for the downhills. That’s where I lost a lot of time.
What did I do right?
Nutrition. I ate and drank pretty well. Possibly a warm meal might have helped but otherwise I nailed that.
I chose good weather. It was one of the mildest years. It didn’t rain much and wasn’t that cold so I got lucky there.
