Geoff’s ride report: Norfolk 360
Norfolk 360 - 13/04/2024 - Geoff Frost
So much of these endurance events is about fueling and the mental game. The Norfolk 360 would test us on these over four loops around Norfolk, returning to Claxton village hall at the end of each loop to have our brevet cards stamped and resupply, rest, or both, ready to go again.
Leaving the HQ behind
It was a calm and sun soaked morning as riders set off at minute intervals from Claxton village hall.
With fresh legs and head the first, North loop passed by relatively quickly and easily. Adam, who'd started eight minutes ahead of me, came into view within forty miles or so which came as a bit of a surprise. Was I overcooking it already despite trying to start out steadily and ride within myself? I found myself trading places with Adam and lead woman, Fiona, a few times through the rest of the North loop; Riding away from the Obelisk at Holkham along the South Drive and catching up with Fiona again, we found Adam at the gate confused how to exit the estate as the main gate was closed. We left the estate through the not obvious pedestrian gate to the side together. Nobody who'd started behind me came past, and I passed a few of the earlier starters through the first half of North loop but soon we were so spread out that encounters with other riders on the event were rare and I had no idea how I was doing. The wind had increased through the loop and as we headed away from the coast we turned generally south east to pick up a fairly helpful tailwind back to the HQ.
Riding away from the Obelisk at Holkham
All smiles at the end of what was a long drag out of Holkham away from the coastline.
A quick turnaround and I hit the road again for the second, South loop and headed out into what was by now a stiff headwind. Strava Flyby reveals that I was ahead of Adam and Fiona at this point but the event was starting to bite. Progress down to Diss was becoming slower and my appetite was dropping off. It was becoming harder to force down sufficient food and drink to keep the body well fuelled and so the mind was starting to struggle to stay positive. Diss became the next target to aim for and find some sort of meal to lift the mood with. I passed rider 27, Rory, a few miles before Diss. Riding through Diss in early evening on Saturday, many of the shops and food outlets were closed already. I thought there was a chippy along the High Street somewhere. Hopefully that at least would still be open. I found the chippy and there sat Rory outside tucking into a portion of chips with a can of Coke. How'd he managed to beat me to it? A battered sausage and portion of chips was ordered but when handed over it suddenly seemed daunting. I may have over-ordered here. Thankfully after a few mouthfuls the appetite returned and I worked my way through most of it. Adam passed by while I was munching away, almost stopped as sight of my supper drew him in, but he pushed on. Clearly the thought of chips had turned out too much to resist in the end as I later passed him outside the next chippy along the route on the outskirts of Diss. Fiona had resisted and was ahead of us both once we were heading on towards Thetford.
And then we hit the sand. I'd encountered Thetford sand on Further East a couple of years back and it had been my downfall there, caused me to scratch as it cracked me mentally. This time I was better prepared with wider tyres and the experience from East to pull on. It still dragged me down to hike-a-biking the deeper sections but progress was made. Fiona looked to be on narrower, more road-biased tyres and was soon reduced to walking more of it. Adam made light work of it and skimmed past both of us and off into the distance little troubled by the slippery, sapping terrain and the split was made. Flyby reveals that at around mile 153 of the event the three of us were close together entering the sand; By the time I'd made it out of the trails through the sandpit, restocked at Saino's Thetford petrol station, faffed again later in Thetford to don layers as the temperature dropped into the night, and made it to mile 170, Fiona was around ten miles back still battling with sand while Adam had skipped off into the distance and was nearly ten miles ahead. How quickly things can change.
It was going to be a long night. My plan going into the event was to tackle the first two laps and make it back to the HQ early Saturday night for some rest. The going had been slower than hoped however. At least we'd picked up the tailwind again but that was dropping off. Although the sausage and chips had seen me good through the sandpit, fueling was becoming an issue again in the dark of night and the mood was dropping. Just turn those pedals. Back to the HQ for gone 1am Sunday morning I was met with Adam recently layered up and about to head out onto the third, West loop, keen to steal a march on the earlier leaders who had taken to their beds for a while. That would include me too as I had dug myself into a bit of a hole at the end of the South loop. Heading to my car I quickly drifted off to sleep for a few hours recovery.
Around four hours later as dawn was starting to break I rose and managed to down one portion of instant porridge although the appetite was still absent. I should have forced down one or two more. Heading onto the West loop, the golden arches of the 24/7 Swaffham McDonald's was the next target and mental lifeline to grab onto. As I set off, Adam was already there and enjoying a dirty McD breakfast treat. Fiona had leapfrogged me through the night too with a shorter break at the HQ and was now an hour or so ahead on the road. The sleep had helped my head but the legs were still AWOL and the headwind started to rise again as the sun came up. Progress was very slow crawling West through the morning. A bench in the sun and out of the wind was too good to resist in Great Ellingham. I raided my stores for a second breakfast of half a packet of leftover crisps, a flapjack and a good slug of energy drink. On my way again with spirits raised, I was heading onto more familiar territory from years of racing and training in this area ... and having reccied this part of the West loop the previous weekend on a final shakedown ride before the event. The Peddars Way appeared and I headed north to place my order for as many calories as I could muster at Rotten Ronny's for lunch.
Mental maths time. Was I going to make it back to the HQ before the cut-off time for taking on the fourth, East loop at 30 hours? Yet also, did I want to...? This deep into the event the battle with the head chatter was constant and other parts were starting to complain more vociferously too. The lower back was complaining. The arms were complaining. Hands were feeling battered. Spending this long simply sat on a bike takes its toll on more parts of the body than just the legs in the end. Time looked tight at the slow rate of progress from the morning but re-fueled once more and picking up a tailwind again there was a chance. With lunch taking effect, some life started to return to the legs and the head chatter subsided a bit. The sun also appeared to warm things up more than originally forecast and some layers were shed. Heading up to Castle Acre then cross country to Dereham and Elsing, we picked up the Marriot's way again at Lenwade and the miles steadily flowed past.
Stopping briefly for a comfort break just past Whitlingham Broad I checked the tracking website out of curiosity to see where everybody else was, not having seen anyone from the event since early Sunday morning. I'd also resisted checking the the tracker throughoutthe event to this point. Riders were all over the place, nobody nearby apart from Fiona who looked to be just up the road. Just under thirty hours into the event and we completed the third loop only a couple of minutes apart. Adam had not long made it back to the HQ too, but in his case from completing the last, East loop and the full distance for a fine third place overall. That made my mind up; I was only twenty minutes or so inside the time-cut for starting the last loop, top three were already home, and I was cream-crackered already so I called it there. Four riders made it around all four loops. Four more of us made it to the end of the third loop inside the time-cut but decided against taking on the final loop. It had been a grand weekend out in the Norfolk lanes and byways with yet more lessons learned for next time...
