I have had a reminder that never reminded me. Sitting on the waiting list now 
Ah that’s gutting sorry to hear that. Hoping that as you’re on early you’ll get something.
That’s really interesting in terms of the development of this niche of the sport. I’m sure there have been times in previous years where I found the opposite - places available on the shorter distances long after the 200 was full. All kinds of inferences to be made based on that…
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Was looking for an event after focusing on a multistage MTB race this year and this fits the bill nicely.
Got a 300k road ride in mid summer so this should keep me going through the winter.
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Only one more week to go. Who’s excited!?
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Pretty sure I’m going to end up dropping out. Day 5 with covid and still in bed today. Feeling better and confident I’ll be riding by next weekend but not sure I want to take the risk of what a 9hr effort might do to me so early in the recovery process. Shame as my training was on track to have a good run at my 2021 PR of 8:34 too!
I’m gutted but would rather miss this one than the whole rest of the season…
Aww man I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you’re back riding soon.
Papped my entry months ago. Could see the writing on the wall dealing with constant toddler illness and fitness going backwards.
Have strong hopes this will be a fixture on the UK circuit for years and can come back in the future but the thought of riding for 4 hours let alone 10 makes my blood run cold 
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I’m ready
Just hit 4wkg and did 3h:45m ride last Saturday with an IF of 0.96
Throwing on some new tyres tomorrow, final test spin on Tuesday. Aiming for 8 hours.
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Nice, great work 
I’m at about 3.8 at the moment and am shooting for sub-9.
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That sucks alex rest up and ease back into training.
ill be missing it due to being offshore.
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Does anyone if the gravel is “thin” enough to use mudguards on the day? There’s a decent chance it rains, although riding in wet gravel is probably not as “splashy” as on wet road.
I don’t recall any surfaces that would really get muddy enough to clog mudguards, but I’ve also never seen Kielder in the wet. I’m just basing that on the fact it’s the same as pretty much all the forestry tracks we have in central Scotland and I’ve ridden mudguards on loads of those without issue. It’s all pretty well built tracks that do a good job of draining.
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Do they actually check you for a whistle, space blanket, and various kit, if you’re doing the 130?
I’ve ridden 200 twice and never been checked or heard of anyone getting checked. But they could change that at any time of course…
Did you have front and rear lights? I’ve got a whistle, but I’d rather not lug my lights and the blanket.
And do folks who want to mix it up at the front start as early as possible or is it just one big wave?
I mean I definitely shouldn’t advise anyone to not follow the rules, especially in a public forum where my real name is my handle.
But hypothetically, I’d say I tend to pack for events with the understanding that I need to be just as self sufficient as I would be if I were riding the same route in the same conditions by myself on a different day. Sure there’s always the chance of catastrophic unexpected incidents, but short of the kind of thing that would involve mountain rescue anyway I always make sure I’ve got at least one or two layers of redundancy beyond what it would take to deal with what I’d deem ‘any likely mishap.’
To put that in terms of lights, I’d probably be willing to go out on an 8-9hr ride without lights knowing that a 9hr finish still gives me 3.5hrs til sunset and probably 4 til ‘dark’. But I’d know how, when, and where my bail out points would be to divert back early via the road if something went really wrong and it looked like I wasn’t going to make it in daylight. And I’d be willing to accept not finishing all of my planned ride in order to stay safe if it came to that. But if my goal was to finish at all costs or I didn’t know with reasonable certainty that I was capable of finishing with loads of time to spare even if things go fairly badly, then I’d probably choose to bring lights just in case.
Sorry if that sounds really pedantic!
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If you’re planning to ride in the front group then they start queing up 15-30 minutes before the official start, and there is a mass start. It’s a big enough field that you do need to start out near (but not at) the front if you want to be able to stay with them. It’s also still fairly friendly so not too difficult to edge your way into the ‘start pen’ in pretty much whatever place you feel you should be.
The route from the last three years started out uphill and it was like 4.5-5w/kg even in the neutralised section, so that front group would sort itself out before the lead car even really pulled off. This time it’s starting out downhill from the castle and then straight away into some narrow footpaths including a fairly tight bottleneck and hairpin turn to get onto the bridge. I expect that’s going to change the start significantly tomorrow morning and I wouldn’t be surprised to find folk getting stuck behind slower riders through there. Definitely worth pre-riding the start this evening if you’ve got designs on the front group.
Sounds brutal. Do the fronts of the 130 and 200 stay together, or do the fastest in the 130 go even faster, knowing they’ve got a relatively shorter run?
