24Hr racing advice

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
My wife is doing her first 24hr in 3 weeks. I'm her pit crew. Anyone advice for me as her pitcrew from burners that have been support crew for any 24hr riders? I'm thinking that don't take anything she says to me after 14hrs personally could be one......
 

Ackland

chats d'élevage
Random advice
Train with some of the foods you'll fuel with. Don't "try" something on race day!!!!

The "Race" doesn't start until daylight returns.
#1 Goal is to finish in one piece. If you feel good with 6hrs to go then you can give it a crack!

The week leading up, drink water. Drink more water, then drink more water.
Eat a lot in the 2-3 days leading up.
After the event starts...
The first 12hrs are important for eating/drinking.
Make her eat twice what she thinks she wants and then also make her eat more than that.
After 12ish hrs it's hard to take food in.
Try to use solid "real" food as much as you can but I also supplement with a race food in my bottles (Hammer Perpetuem)
Try not to add in caffeine until midnight-2am but once you start caffeine, keep topping up.
The witching hrs ~3am-5am are the hardest
Sunrise is the most amazing thing in the world.

As a crew member, understanding what she'll need, before she needs it is GOLDEN!
Keep note of the temperature. Know if she runs hot/cold and force her to wear appropriate clothing.
Have food ready.
Keep track of lap times and where other riders are that she might want to keep track of.
Know what her bike needs and when (lube, stanchions wiped etc nobody wants a siezed fork!).
Make sure that the bike is 100% on race day but don't run a brand new chain/cassette/cables that hasn't been "run in".
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
Random advice
Train with some of the foods you'll fuel with. Don't "try" something on race day!!!!

The "Race" doesn't start until daylight returns.
#1 Goal is to finish in one piece. If you feel good with 6hrs to go then you can give it a crack!

The week leading up, drink water. Drink more water, then drink more water.
Eat a lot in the 2-3 days leading up.
After the event starts...
The first 12hrs are important for eating/drinking.
Make her eat twice what she thinks she wants and then also make her eat more than that.
After 12ish hrs it's hard to take food in.
Try to use solid "real" food as much as you can but I also supplement with a race food in my bottles (Hammer Perpetuem)
Try not to add in caffeine until midnight-2am but once you start caffeine, keep topping up.
The witching hrs ~3am-5am are the hardest
Sunrise is the most amazing thing in the world.

As a crew member, understanding what she'll need, before she needs it is GOLDEN!
Keep note of the temperature. Know if she runs hot/cold and force her to wear appropriate clothing.
Have food ready.
Keep track of lap times and where other riders are that she might want to keep track of.
Know what her bike needs and when (lube, stanchions wiped etc nobody wants a siezed fork!).
Make sure that the bike is 100% on race day but don't run a brand new chain/cassette/cables that hasn't been "run in".
Many thanks mate. All excellent advice which tops up my preparation so far and what her coach and dietitian have been telling her too. For me I'm thinking lots of coffee!!
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
Sounds amazing, @Ackland's post is super informative and should serve you well.
My advice would be to watch her times and keep an eye on her wellbeing above all else. Stay positive and keep things easy for her and you'll probably really enjoy it too.
Good for you two!
 

slider_phil

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Ackland pretty much hit the nail on the head. Worth jumping over to mtbr and having a look through the endurance xc forums. But again, don't go implementing anything crazy too close to the race.
 

nexusfish

El Mariachi
Have a list of questions to ask her every lap. Are you hot or cold, does your stomach hurt, is there any pain ect. Ive done a couple and i always forgot to ask for stuff that i though of on track. I froze my ass off for 4 hrs because id try rush out of the pits to get moving again and didn't get another jersey on.
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
Ackland pretty much hit the nail on the head. Worth jumping over to mtbr and having a look through the endurance xc forums. But again, don't go implementing anything crazy too close to the race.
At the end of the day it's her first and I'm a novice pitcrew member so we'll play it as we go as well. But as long as I've got a lot of the bases covered, which I do reading what Ackland wrote, then it will just be a big adventure. Full of pain.....
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
Have a list of questions to ask her every lap. Are you hot or cold, does your stomach hurt, is there any pain ect. Ive done a couple and i always forgot to ask for stuff that i though of on track. I froze my ass off for 4 hrs because id try rush out of the pits to get moving again and didn't get another jersey on.
So are you saying asking things like
"Can you make me a coffee before you head out hon?" is a no go?
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
That's probably a good test. If she doesn't slap you then she is likely deep in the hurt locker.
Upon reflection I might pass. The last thing I need is an uppercut once she starts reminiscing
 

notime

Likes Dirt
Everything Acko said, in particular the food intake.

Maybe another thing to add is contact points. Chamois cream applications before anything bites, dry gloves and socks and no compromises with shoe fitting. I find chamois cream across the hands also stops blisters.
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
Everything Acko said, in particular the food intake.

Maybe another thing to add is contact points. Chamois cream applications before anything bites, dry gloves and socks and no compromises with shoe fitting. I find chamois cream across the hands also stops blisters.
Yes chamois cream is a must but I like the idea of it across the hands. I hadn't thought of blisters. Thanks
 

John U

MTB Precision
Get her to carry a phone and use find my friends to keep track of her. It’ll allow you to know where sh is on the track, if she’s stopped moving, and when she’s coming back into the pits. All this info is valuable for you and her.
DFL beats DNF, every day of the week.
If she’s put in the training, using the food she’s going to use in the race, and including some long rides, all else should be ok. The food/training info should track amounts of food required to stay comfortable? Not sure how to explain this last bit, but as a type 1 diabetic I had to nail this element. I monitored my blood glucose while training to work out how much food I needed to maintain my BG level. 1 Gu every 1.5 hours, 2 scoops of Tailwind per hour, for me.

Relax. Enjoy the challenge.
 

John U

MTB Precision
Oh yeah, dropper post was good for me. It allowed me slightly alter my position at times which gave some parts/muscles a bit of a rest.
 

mtb101

Likes Bikes and Dirt
you'd want to keep a log probably a whiteboard of total food (calories per hour) and fluids.

at this stage you should know the course and have a target pace in mind that she can sustain. again I'd be logging/documenting this so she can set realistic goals - pace wise.
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
Get her to carry a phone and use find my friends to keep track of her. It’ll allow you to know where sh is on the track, if she’s stopped moving, and when she’s coming back into the pits. All this info is valuable for you and her.
DFL beats DNF, every day of the week.
If she’s put in the training, using the food she’s going to use in the race, and including some long rides, all else should be ok. The food/training info should track amounts of food required to stay comfortable? Not sure how to explain this last bit, but as a type 1 diabetic I had to nail this element. I monitored my blood glucose while training to work out how much food I needed to maintain my BG level. 1 Gu every 1.5 hours, 2 scoops of Tailwind per hour, for me.

Relax. Enjoy the challenge.
Unfortunately there's no service otherwise that would be good.
 

DMan

shawly the least hangeriest guy on rotorburn
you'd want to keep a log probably a whiteboard of total food (calories per hour) and fluids.

at this stage you should know the course and have a target pace in mind that she can sustain. again I'd be logging/documenting this so she can set realistic goals - pace wise.
A great idea
 
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