2018 Strathpuffer 24 hour Mountain Bike Race.

Pic courtesy of - Rachel Sokal

Above, lining up for Tom's fourth solo Strathpuffer.

We love this race. It may be billed as one of the toughest 24 hour races, though Tom has only done one other to compare it with. So as far as he is concerned Strathpuffer is the standard.

The weather is always a major factor at this event. Happening in winter, it is always going to be some degree of cold, though in our experience in previous editions, at least for some of the race the temperature is above freezing. This year though things would be different.

The weather the week before had left a layer of ice on most of the route, which had since been covered by a fresh fall of snow. It was below freezing when we arrived on Friday, and that is how it stayed for the weekend.

Pic courtesy of Keith Bremner

Sunshine greeted the 10 am start. We rode initially on the Sonder Transmitters with 27.5+ tyres. History says that ice spike tyres are not needed for more than the odd lap at this event. But having the choice, after 5 or so laps we switched over to our Sonder Frontiers with Spikes, and for us the extra control was immediately noticeable.

Pic courtesy of Keith Bremner

There were approximately 3 water splashes unlike the usual mud, so for the most part we stayed clean.

Pic courtesy of Norman Agnew

On most parts of the course eventually a rideable line appeared. Though there was some pushing for most people at least a couple of times a lap. One slip, and you were off.

Blue sky in a winter wonderland. Yes, and then around 6 hours after the start it was dark.

If you like night riding, you'll love the Strathpuffer, as there are 17 hours of darkness.

With our Exposure Toro lights fired up, we keep on rolling. The plan for this 24 hour race unlike any that Tom has done before was to not stop. Sure we'd pause between laps for food and drink, but this time we planned on no sleep.

"No sleep 'til Sunday"

As the night progressed it got colder. Our Rapha merino layers were now up to three topped with a hard shell to keep the freezing air at bay.

Every lap we'd stop for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. Then back up the snow covered fire road where we'd shiver for a few minutes before we warmed up again.

Tom's sleep monsters arrived about 10pm. We'd learned that chatting about something interesting would keep him awake. So for the next few hours we chatted about all sorts. I was really interested to hear that he'd been reading Whymper's account of climbing the Matterhorn. By contrast he was also explaining to me about what to look for when buying a second hand Datsun 240Z drift car.

Over night our lap times dropped off a bit for various reasons including that we we were both unsurprisingly tired.

We tried putting our usual pick up Coca Cola in a water bottle to drink on the way round. Even though it was in my pocket it froze near solid.

Just after 5:30am we decided there would be time for another leisurely two laps if we were going to keep riding until 10am.

Not long after this, unusually for me, the sleepmonsters came. Tom returned the favour of geeing me up, and soon the near overwhelming desire to sleep passed.

Photo courtesy of Gary Williamson

At almost exactly 10am we rolled over the finish line. Tom's total was 13 laps. We'd ridden a smidge under 100 miles together. Finishing 40th of 103 riders.

He was happiest though, that he'd managed to keep riding for the whole of the 24 hours without stopping to sleep.

A true 24 hour soloist.

Below, two very happy, but tired boys (and Dave).

Thanks to Ann for feeding us and staying up all night to help with all the other things that we needed. Hmm, and apologies to Ann, Cat, Dean and anyone else who had the misfortune to assist in the saga that was "just swap these tyres over please"

Alpkit's Sonder bikes didn't miss a beat. Thanks to Karl for bringing them North. Use-Exposure Toro lights as always were just the job for the long hours of darkness.

To the marshalls with their fires jelly babies and garibaldi biscuits, thanks.

Finally thanks to the organisers of the 'puffer. It was great this year to see so many more youngsters taking part, boys and girls. The youngest soloist was 10. This can only be a good thing for endurance cycling in the future.

Look out for the BBC Adventure Show program in March.

Pic Courtesy of Keith Bremner