Preparing for your first bikepacking race

Grace Pyne works at Laka, a company that provides collective bicycle insurance especially for cyclists. Earlier this year, the opportunity arose to take part in her first bikepacking race, the Utrecht Ultra, a 1000km long race starting and finishing in Utrecht, The Netherlands with a time limit of 100 hours. We caught up with Grace after her experience to hear how she found the experience of training and racing.

I've been at Laka a little over two years, a long-term customer and lover of all things bikes. I run the commercial function - think sales, marketing and partnerships. I'm passionate about getting and keeping women in the cycling industry and I’m a mentor of Uplift. I have always loved riding bikes, constantly outside, but I am the master of a 30-60km ride and never prioritise riding for longer periods of time whilst also being sure I would love it. I'm normally a road rider but I love getting off road with my gravel bike and riding the mtb trails in Bristol.

What's your background in cycling?

I started cycling as a kid, riding with my dad but nothing that serious, I just always enjoyed being outside. When I moved to London I started riding at the track, which I absolutely loved, the community and the vibe at Herne Hill is the best and always out at weekends. When I moved to Bristol two years ago, I found this great group of women coupled with some great colleagues who I ride with all the time. I spend more time on my bike than ever before, making time to catch up with my team in the countryside. Long distance cycling though, is totally new to me only pushing the distance in the last year. On May 2nd 2024 I rode my first 200 km in one go (in recent memory) and I’ve not looked back.

What led to you deciding to ride the Utrecht Ultra?

I’m not sure I decided, but Joost (Laka colleague and friend) encouraged me to and I was open to being persuaded. Given any opportunity to ride a bike, I’ll take it but this was more than that. My partner said to me “Grace just say yes and we sort the rest later” that nudge was all I needed. I knew I was keen to test myself, focus outside of work and spend the summer outdoors. In short I was intrigued enough to say yes, what's the worst that could happen? But I am pretty sure without this opportunity I would probably have ever found myself on a startline.

What were you excited about when training for the race?

Any opportunity to get outside, on the bike, decompress from the day and spend time with friends. On the training front specifically I only had seven weeks, so I chose to maximise getting comfortable with everything around an ultra rather than prioritising my legs. Joost and I did a 400km adventure after Eurobike a month before the race and that gave me the confidence to get to the start line. I was so excited to find my limit, how far, how fast and how remote. As a parent much of your life runs by a schedule but riding your first ultra is all you.

What were your biggest challenges in the build up?

Going into the race, I thought my biggest challenge would be confidence, how do you turn an everyday rider to an ultra rider in such a short space of time - but I had one person in my corner at Laka, Joost. So find yourself a race doula. Use the community around you and ask as many questions as you can. If you can prepare to be unprepared that's half of the mental battle.

For me of course, I’m small and I’m not the strongest rider out there but I had some belief that if i kept my pedals turning I’d get there. I’d set myself a goal of 100km a week minimum for 2024 and that quickly became 200km - I had a good base.

Let's also not forget about being scared, scared of being alone, scared of sleeping out, scared of what might happen - turns out scary is good.

What ended up being one of the biggest challenges was the setup, my bike is really small, I'm only just over 5ft and I needed to carry kit. Not too much, but enough. I also could not for the life of me get my tires off my current wheels and I knew going into the ride I needed to feel comfortable that I could get them off.

Plus a pretty old bike kept on having issues, this was the biggest challenge getting it all sorted in time - it was close.

As Head of Commercial at Laka, and a parent, training time must be limited. How was it finding the time to train?

I lead a busy life, but this gave me a reason to do the one thing I love the most, ride a bike. It's a huge privilege to be outside 24 hours a day because you choose to. You definitely can’t have it all but far too often parents don’t find time for the things they love. Of course, 6am rides, or riding after putting my daughter Dorothy to bed was a challenge but I was making it happen and I’m proud of that. One particularly rough time was coming home after my first solo bivi test and having to parent a grumpy three year old with 250 overnight kilometres in my legs and only two hours sleep. Parents often talk about how ‘it takes a village’ to raise a family. Turns out it takes a village to ride an ultra and I’m so happy I’ve found mine. As for work, Laka was supportive of getting me to the start both by sponsoring the event and personally. I looked at a day as 24 hours rather than day and night. Early morning work, late night rides. I think balancing so much helped me prepare. I just had to keep going.

How was the race?

It was amazing, more than just riding a bike for a very long time (which I knew I loved) I was also very intrigued with the mental/emotional aspect and the places it takes you. It's a place I’ve dubbed the vortex. If anything, I experienced it as an alternate reality where time stops and speeds up in equal measures. It’s a place where days melt into one, where you lose grip on (or stop caring about) daily routines, time or basically anything else. A life starts to exist solely of riding, sleeping and eating. Simple, but oh so beautiful. Seeing the sunrise and the sunset every day was amazing - I’d probably pass on the (forced) all-nighter next time but it was all part of it.

I absolutely loved the adventure, although it was tough - I met great people and had fun. My confidence grew and I found out how much I love climbing and riding a bike in general.

Before the race I have created multiple time sheets and schedules for myself, mainly to reassure myself I could and would make it within the timeline set by the organisers. Some were faster, some slower but in reality I didn’t know what to expect. I finished it about 15 hours faster than I had expected.

3 days 1 hour 42 mins (73 hours 42 mins) 5th woman, 59th Rider.

What did your kit consist of when you set off?

Not very much, being about 50kg I had two major issues, 5kg makes a huge difference in terms of my % body weight and I had almost no space on my bike. With not that much time to prepare, I couldn’t fit a frame bag. My saddle bag drags on my back wheel… so i needed it to be light. I took my kit, packed the cargo vest with food and just a silk liner, mat and bivvy to sleep. The Visibility Cargo Vest was perfect, everyone was jealous - it was always packed with food. I also rode in the ABR1 Pocket Bib Shorts, essential for carrying coke and food too. Despite having a Laka x Albion Jersey, the heat meant most of the ride I ended up in just a mesh base layer - so breezy. The only issue with having layers and food in the hi-viz was that I couldn't just pour water down my back - but it was all okay!

Did you pack any luxury items?

No luxury items, I didn't know I needed any. It hadn’t occurred to me really although my initial packing list was rather long. I was desperate to take two pairs of socks but if I'm honest I never even took off my shoes the entire race. I think next time, although not a luxury item, I will pack hand sanitiser. I’d also consider taking a non inflatable mat. Anything to save time but I really do need sleep. But overall I was happy to have less. I also brushed my teeth and washed my face at every checkpoint - a little ritual to keep me human.

What was the sleep situation like during the race?

I had intended to sleep around six hours, thinking that was about right but I survived on a lot lot less. On the first night torrential rain caused me to stop when I found shelter at about 2am and was wide awake again just before 5. On the second I kept riding again until about two getting ahead of about 20 people asleep in a small town and leaving at 5. The sunrise was amazing and I felt comfort in being on the move before the world woke up - one of my favourite times in real life too. On the final night at about midnight, just when I was getting really excited to crawl into my bivi I noticed my bag had fallen out of my saddle pack - with all my sleeping stuff and my down jacket. Initially convinced it couldn’t be far back, I turned around painstakingly shining my light in the dark desperate to find my bag. But it wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Probably still on the roadside in the Ardennes.

For someone thinking about taking the leap to ride their first ultra distance race or go on a bikepacking trip, what advice would you give them?

Before racing the first time I found I learned loads on a long weekend ride (500km). It taught me (a bit of) how to deal with the unknown - letting go of planning in terms of sleeping, weather etc. Just riding on feel and adapting to the cards dealt is a very useful skill for racing.

Getting familiar with the vortex will also help heaps - all low moments will end and eventually go up! The more you experience it the better you will get at dealing with it. The community is here for you too - just ask! Any advice on gear, routes or doing these things in general. People will love you trying it out too and will always try to help you out.

Last but not least: just GO! You can keep overthinking things quite easily, just make yourself a nice weekend route. As soon as you’ve clipped in, all worries will disappear and you’ll just be riding a bike. The most lovely feeling out there?!

Having ridden your first ultra, what's next?

More riding, more races, but most importantly more adventures. The realisation, which sounds quite obvious, is the massive chasm between 100km on a Saturday morning and a 1000km ultra is something I want to explore. How can I have more micro adventures, cycle into the night - the quietness feeling like a blanket of calm? How can I just take a day or two off work and explore. As part of my training Joost and I went and did a big ride south of Frankfurt - really my only other experience of adventure on the bike but that didn't destroy me for a few weeks but was just as perfect. This special place we call the vortex, somewhere that's an alternative reality - familiar but new. Obviously, I'm already scouting a few races next year too.Potentially Kromvojoj, maybe Bright Midnight, and I wouldn’t say no to going back to do Utrecht Ultra as a pair.

Who would you recommend the experience to?

Just because you aren’t the strongest rider, most powerful or training the most doesn’t mean you can't try. It's a huge challenge, it's no joke and it needs to be respected but if you are open to it, it's definitely possible. I did much better than I expected not because of my average speed but because simply, I just love riding a bike. A desperate need to keep pedalling and a total surprise that I found the climbs easier than most of the field. So, I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone, but if you want to, are excited or interested you should try. I think getting comfortable with being alone is the hard bit. You are quite alone, quite exposed but if you can find the love and fun there, you will likely find out it's the perfect thing for you. I also made friends, the community is the best.