In September, there were Taihu Lake 240km and Huangshan Shanghai 400km races, I was very tempted but somehow I found excuses not to do it and I regretted when I saw performances and pictures of the guys, it looked just awesome. So when Factory 5 Challenge came up, I registered instantly and we did in team with Marcin who happened to be the best partner ever, I would still be on the road crawling and looking for my way without him…
The Challenge: More a challenge than a race. Starting Friday 16th of October at midnight, you have 24 hours to ride from Factory 5 to the top of the Moganshan Peak and ride back. Depending on the way you choose, that is roughly 410 kilometers. It is a non-supported event so you have to carry your own supply or buy on the way. You can register solo or in team of two riders. Drafting isn’t allowed for solo but is allowed within the team.
The Cyclists: We are 17 riders, three pairs and the rest solo. Mostly riders from Factory 5, Marcin and me, most with gears bike and some fixies. Except the organizer, Nelson Trees, who attempted the Transcontinental this year, that will be everyone longest ride.
Weather conditions: 20-21 degrees at midnight / 16-17 degrees reaching MGS at 5-6am / 24-25degrees and sunny at day time. No rain whatsoever, lucky we!
The Course: All cyclists choose the same route. All the way west on Huqingping Highway till Huzhou then south towards Moganshan and back the same way. It is almost only flat a part from the steep climb to the Moganshan Peak summit which is really a beast.
The Gear:
Bag: For long trips, I always heard the bike needs to carry everything, not the cyclist. So I get a seat-post trail to put my bag on and I stuff it with loads of things I don’t need… Result, my bike is heavy like a piece of stone. I take food, spare batteries, two lamps, portable charger, one 1,5L bottle water (we assume no stores would be opened from midnight till 6-7am), levers, 3 tubes, patches and a multifunction tool.
Clothes: I decide to ride with sleeveless jersey, short bibs and a light windbreaker that I put in my bag. Windbreaker I considered not to take before starting, but I’m happy I kept it, indeed it was cold.
Light: I have two little Cateye lamps for the front and one simple rear light. Actually, most of the route was lighted so we didn’t use lamps as we much as we expected. But when we did, Marcin big lamp was enough to light up the whole way. There are some construction roads where you really need to ride carefully as you don’t know what is on the road.
The Nutrition: I take some 8 gels, 3 energy bars, 8 cereal bars. At some point, energy and sugar stuff would not be enough and I will need consistent food. I read different options, pasta, rice cakes or even burgers. Eventually, I choose to take 4 burgers, without salad and without sauce, 3 rice triangles and some bars from Watzz… too much.
The Trip:
Friday after office I eat some pasta and plan to eat some more around 11pm. I try to sleep from 8pm to 11pm but that’s impossible, never mind, I am ready! I arrive F5 at 11.30pm for a short briefing. I look at other bikes, I’m the only one with a seat-post bag, everyone travels light…
We decide to alternate the lead every 2km, Marcin has the GPS so he shouts “change” to announce the swich, we keep this ways for the first 200km. Later, it comes more naturally on the way back, and Marcin does not have to shout 200 times…
0-100km, Pushing hard on Huqingping: Starting from Factory 5, we choose a bit longer way to reach Yanan Road so we only catch up other riders before Hongqiao Airport, too bad. We continue to hold a pace of 33kph, too fast but we feel good, especially on Huqingping which we ride almost every Saturday. Though my bike is heavy like crazy and I can feel it, I still keep up. We overtake finally the first rider, Nelson, after 40km. Then 90km hammering on HQP exhausts me, my two bottles are almost over but I know we will make a break at the 100th km. I feel tired, good we stop. We think we are the first ones so no pressure and our 5 minutes break turns to a 15 minutes break. I regain energy after eating banana and energy bars. I get rid of this 1,5L bottle out of my bag, what a change, it feels like flying.
100-200km, Cold arriving in stunning mountains: Taking some smaller roads, we lower the pace, it’s getting cold and we put our light windbreaker on. It’s already more than 3am and we start to be a bit sleepy as that is not a usual time for cycling, difficult time… After 60km, we can see mountains shapes as the dark night is slowly going away. We are surrounded by nature, almost no cars, no trucks, it is clearly cold but it is worthy riding 160km for this nature. Another 15min break at petrol station. We still think that we are first ones.
20km to go to reach the summit and the GPS send us to a dead end, we lose almost 15 min the time to charge devices and look for our way. We expect others overtaking us, we lost too much time. One of the cyclists says in the wechat group that he is already in Moganshan and we still have 15km to go plus the 5km climb.
We reach the bottom of the Moganshan peak and start to climb, it is super hard, especially with 195km in the legs. But somehow I enjoy, that is the most beautiful part of the whole ride, and I also focus on the burger we gonna have at the top. The climb is almost over and we cross Nelson going down, what a surprise. When did he pass us? He actually took a little detour but then got ahead of us, he stopped only few minutes since F5 and he kept a steady pace. Funny, he also thought we are far ahead in front of him. Anyway, this guy is a machine!
Finally, we arrive at the top and we need a much longer break, we eat two burgers, stretch and prepare to ride back, only half way done. The idea to catch up Nelson crosses our mind, but he is already one hour ahead, that is impossible. The other riders haven’t reached the top yet, we don’t know where they are but we gotta hurry.
200-300km, Crawling and second breath: On the way down, we cross all other riders climbing, they are really not far behind and they do really great, I am impressed to see what we all can do. Arriving at the bottom, I suddenly have no energy left and can’t hold any pace. For 20km, I am only able to survive at 23kph roughly, I try to draft Marcin but it is impossible for me. So not only I am very disappointed about my performance at this time but I am also very concerned on how I can go back, it will take ages to do 190km. We decide to rest at a petrol station, I get rid of two bottles of electrolyte water which I couldn’t drink and replace them with normal water, I drink some cold tea and find my favorite Oreo cookies. I regain energy and after 10 km, I’m fresh again. But now, that is Marcin who gets weak because of his knee, so we takes turns, we make more breaks, and finally we manage to pull ourselves to Huqingping.
300km-400km, long Huqingping: We are tired, traffic starts to get denser, we keep going, we still have some periods of pushing. We know Huqingping by heart but it has never been that long compared to today. Eventually, we reach Factory 5 around 6.30pm at the second place. Nelson arrived 2 hours before us; he could even arrive earlier if he hadn’t stopped for a 1h puncture. Other riders are far behind, I can’t imagine how the return should be tough for them, so massive kudos for solo guys! The last guy came almost before the 24 hours.
What to change next time:
– Switch the seat post trail/bag with a frame bag, definitely more convenient and light;
– Drink and eat things that I am used to, these electrolytes killed me
– Study the course instead of being Garmin blind;
– Less pushing at the beginning, shorter breaks and pace ourselves.
Flybys: A replay of the whole challenge on map, very cool for this kind of event to see where/when people overtook you, got lost, struggled, took breaks,…
http://labs.strava.com/flyby/viewer/#414578499,o1y7GA==
Thanks to my partner Marcin, organizer Nelson and all participants. Fun event!
Strava activity: http://www.strava.com/activities/414578499
Marcin article: https://www.shanghaicycling.org/randonnee-sh-mgs-sh/
Factory 5 report : http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA5NjMzMDEwNQ==&mid=400057973&idx=1&sn=5b1d3a3c9761c01d156b73f4c94ddd5c&scene=0#rd
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