Emma completed the event in 66 hours and 48 minutes, roughly two hours ahead of second place and a further 19 hours faster than third, averaging an incredible 259km per day over the three days.
This is how she did it.
Q: What made you want to participate in this to begin with?
I had done a few shorter ultras, such as Istra Land (400km) last year, and the Great British Escapade (480km) in May this year, which I really enjoyed. I knew I wanted to try something longer.
Also, I have always wanted to go to Austria in the summer, so this felt like an obvious choice!
I like the feeling of switching off to everything when doing long ultras – by just riding, eating and sleeping!
Q: How did the ride itself compare to what you imagined during your training, and were there any surprises that shifted your strategy?
I did not spend a long time imagining what it was going to be like, nor did I do a huge amount of specific training for it.
I just tried to make sure I was fitting in some longer rides around London Dynamo’s High Intensity Training Ride (HITR), the Wednesday Night Ride (WNR), and club racing, which seems to have worked pretty well.
But I did find eating throughout the race a lot harder than I expected, so I probably spent more time working out what I could make myself eat and stopping to ensure that I was eating as planned.
My rear derailleur cable also snapped, so a visit to the bike shop was necessary, although fortunately not too much of a detour.
Q: What was your setup for the ride. Is there anything you would change in hindsight?
I rode my 2022 Liv Devote Advanced with 45mm Pirelli Cinturato Gravel M TLR tyres, with a 2×11 speed GRX – a mix of different specs. Other than having a larger cassette, I wouldn’t change anything.
I carried a full sleep system, complete with a bivvy, a sleeping bag and a mat, but I ended up sleeping inside so that was a bit of an unnecessary weight. I also wore a hydration vest, which is easier to drink from than bottles off-road. It’s also great for carrying snacks!
Q: What was your approach to managing the effort over 700km and that much climbing? Like planned food stops and sleeping.
My plan was simple: keep pedalling, keep eating, sleep a little more than the last ultra I did, and make sure to enjoy the epic route. I didn’t analyse the route too much, so I couldn’t worry about any particular part. I knew that I wanted to get to checkpoint one on the first night before reaching Karwendel – about 368-423km in – by 8pm on the second day, as there was a night prohibition on that section.
I also looked up where I could resupply, and roughly when shops closed, but otherwise I just focused on getting into my rhythm and enjoying it all. Beyond all that, I didn’t plan too much. I had the route downloaded in seven separate parts. That meant I could focus on each of those rather than thinking about the whole ride at once.
Q: What was your biggest success – and biggest challenge – during the ride itself?
Mentally, I was really solid. Even when things were going wrong, or really hard, there was never a moment when I doubted whether I wanted to be there. I genuinely had a really great time!
This was helped by how social the ride was, as seeing people and riding with them for a bit could definitely get you out of a slump. There were knödel, which are boiled dumplings of potato, bread, or curd-based dough, at every checkpoint, so everyone would take time to stop and eat. The people were possibly my favourite part of the ride!
Having said that, I really wasn’t ready for how hard I was going to find eating. For all of the second and third day, the thing I was looking forward to most about finishing was being able to stop eating. There were quite a few times when I was definitely underfuelled. Having my first experience of properly bonking, being on top of a mountain at 5 degrees Celsius, when I had to descend in the rain, definitely wasn’t on my tick list for the ride.
Q: Are you eyeing any more ultras in the future?
I will definitely do more ultras in the future but I’m undecided on which ones!
I want to do the Great British Escapade again because it’s really easy to get to and the organiser is really nice, and hopefully another longer one – maybe closer to 1,000km?! But I also want to try and fit them in with more road races next year as well!
