Steven Ludford says:

The Muckers are like my puppeteers, they hold the strings and I dance to their tune. I was not going to do this ride but the team worked subtle magic on me until I ‘gave in’ and pressed ‘Register’. I really wanted to support the team achieving a sustainable pace to help get us to the end. We rode as a group of 7 for at least 40 miles, pace was good, I had promised to get off bike at 1pm (UK time) regardless of distance covered which required a 20mph average for over 5 hours, impossible, I thought. Our group split up towards the halfway point just before the long climb, I wanted to change into a dry kit but Myself and Andy_UP were just starting to gap a couple of riders and the gradient wasn’t steep enough to freewheel on my smart bike, so decision was taken away from me … keep going. A 60+mile 2-UP time trial followed where I tried to use my weight advantage on the flats and Andy paced me on the ascents. I think the profile was helpful on this distance and I coped reasonably well mentally concentrating on our teamwork, the last 10 miles were the hardest, I just wanted to get off and I had to keep stretching the legs. Well done to everyone that started this event, lots of encouragement and support in evidence today, it makes all the difference.
Race stats: Age : 56, Weight : 95kg, IF=0.729
Averages : 135bpm, 210w, 2.18w/kg.

Karel Sousek says:

Welcome to the sunny side of Hawaii and let’s start proper winter season with marathon race, thanks to the crazy Mucker’s race organizers. Early 8:30am start, Matthias with nice introduction as promised, then the leading group slowly formed despite moderate tempo. We waited for Simon / Luca with Nelson to make our group bigger. Since guys joined, drafting issues emerged big way. I could randomly draft only one or two riders. Our group was riding erratic as everyone was in search of drafting. Then we lost few riders and it improved a bit, but still not like it should be.
Had to pee in the middle, short gap, but Nelson, Simon and Kaihu did not attack. Once we reached uphill profile after 3h, i went to the front with Simon, which hurted as i could not get more than 10w draft even on flat. Simon reported cramps and since we lost Nelson and also Kaihu, i decided give it a try way ahead of finish. Riding solo for last hour and slowly, yet under control, increasing gap from 100m to 300, 500 and up to 1km. Simon and Kaihu did not give up, had to stay vigilant for every second. No signs of cramps on my end as i turned to high endurance mode which i can ride “infinitely long”. Very valuable win, especially with those drafting issues. Many thanks all who joined one of the highlights of 23/24 indoor season!

lrollin says:

I hadn’t planned to do this race at all, but a light rain before my Sunday outdoor ride made me change my plans. I started moderately, but seeing the lead group not far ahead, I decided to make an effort to join them. For the first 1.5 hours, the pace at the front was manageable, but Kaihu’s attack changed things. I pushed myself to keep up with Karel_Sousek, Simon_Hahnenbruch, NelsonSnyder, and Kaihu, putting myself in the red. Eventually, I dropped from the lead and was caught by M-forby, with whom we tried to stay together for about 15 minutes not far from the front.

From that point, it was just the two of us, taking turns consistently to motivate each other to stay in the race. At 10 km from the finish, we caught up with NelsonSnyder, who seemed to have eased off his effort. Three kilometers from the finish, I let M-forby roll ahead; I wanted to convey that, for me, the mission was accomplished, and I had no intention of a final sprint. I think he understood because I eased off in the last kilometer.

Feeling drained after the finish. As Grochang mentioned on Strava, it’s hard to imagine doing a marathon after such an effort. I did a lot of triathlons in my youth but never an Ironman. In real conditions, the course must be particularly challenging, given its exposure to the wind. I knew the record for the bike leg on the course was 4 hours and 5 minutes, but it didn’t mean much to me without experiencing the course. Now I know that Sam Laidlow’s time at over 44 km/h is absolutely incredible.

In any case, not sure if I’ll do such a distance indoors again. Too much water loss and too much neck tension.

HalAir says:

Wife was out of town and I had the morning to myself more or less, so took the opportunity to add some training volume. Prepared for a 2-3hrs ride and had a good night of sleep, got up at 7:45am, large bowl of porrigde and water plus coffee. All good.
Once the start line opened up I found myself standing idle by, no power data… Closed Rouvy, re-linked PC til my TV via Airplay and restarted Rouvy, connection OK and off I went, 3min delayed – but no worries.
After a little while I teamed up with prui07 and we stayed together for a long while, taking turns in front. We did catch up with the blue Muckers group but was in a good flow and continued on, and a couple other riders also joined in. This was porbably at around 2hrs into the ride and I didnt feel like leaving, so said to myself, lets do the ascent/descent atleast before quitting. (didnt start with the intention to do the whole loop)
Water bottles were empty, bananas eaten so I called my youngest son in the house to assist and he came back with more water, coffee and a couple more bananas, ergo I was all set up to complete this ride. prui07 had disconnected and I was alone but gained ground on MatthiasHeil and passed him on the main climb.
On the top of the climb “disaster struck” and my Airplay connection dropped out, leaving me “blind” to the race. Unable to reconnect without exiting the race, and with the computer behind me and a few meters away I switched to “blind mode”. For visual entertainment I resorted to Youtube and Ultra-docu’s for the remainer of the race. If I glanced on the computer I could tell I had company or not, but fruitless effort to remain immersed in the virtual world. MatthiasHeil passed me and Chad also held my wheel for a good while (I just occationally glimsed to the computer screen and saw his blue jersey)
Close towards the end my kid came back to the room, so I had him read me the remaining km’s for the race, “5km he said” so I just cruised across the finish line – chuffed to have persisted in the race and completed the Hawaii-triathlon route (my longest indoor session ever, and in distance my second longest ride ever. Longest ride in distance/duration for 2023)

Job well done all, while this was a “race” the effort lies in completion, not pace.
You “win” by simply deciding to turn up at the start line, most wouldnt!

Ambitious to place the this ride on the Muckers race calendar, but that is also probably what attracted such a awesome turnout. Thanks for the ride all!

Kai Hukkanen says:

A great race, I had slept well last night and I was full of energy. It started well, there were 8-10 of us in the group, I increased my speed a little and ride alone for some distance, but the main group quickly caught me. Then there was a group of four of us for a long time until Karel and Simon put on full power, me and Nelson couldn’t do anything. Anyway, I got myself started and I was doing well again but then the cramps started and got worse towards the end, I tried to take it easy and when I felt good I increased the speed but I couldn’t when the cramps came back but I was able to continue. At the finish line, Simon increased the power and I couldn’t go along anymore when my leg cramped really badly, but that’s normal for me on long rides. Congratulations to everyone, this was a real challenge but you need these sometimes.