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When cyclists reveal their passion to friends they are often greeted with cries of ‘I could never ride ten miles, let alone that fast!’, so imagine the response they get when they reveal they’re planning to tackle a 24-hour event!

For most people the thought of tackling a day-long epic is only trumped by the fact that many people taking part are often older than the average.

The National 24-Hour Championships takes place later this month, and has attracted a wide range of ages with the youngest being 20 and the oldest being an impressive 86.

Almost three-quarters of the field are veterans, and 43 per cent are over the age of 50.

Mersey Roads Club are once again organising the National Championship near Farndon in Cheshire on July 27-28, and among the riders taking part is 86-year-old Brian Hygate, a Royal Navy veteran from Gosport in Hampshire.

“My preparations are going very badly as usual!” said Hygate, who proved he will tackle any distance on a bike when he became the oldest finisher of the Monsal Hill-Climb in Derbyshire last year.

“My training regime is simply riding my bike as much as I like. I like to average about 150 miles a week.”

Hygate has plenty of experience of this sort of event, having placed third in the National 24-Hour Championships in 1970 and ridden over a dozen of them in his younger years.

“I entered last year’s event and succumbed to the rain and the cold, and only did about 85 miles which was disappointing,” he added. “I made a promise to myself that if I didn’t ride a 24 when I was 85 years old I wouldn’t do one again.

“Years ago the weather wouldn’t have mattered to me, but at the age of 86 I’m a bit more fragile than I used to be.

“I want to get one more in before I pack up. I’ve got one artificial hip, a duff eye and sciatica so I need to do it now otherwise I won’t do another!

The race also includes the Veterans TTA National Championships, with riders receiving an age related allowance.

Hygate added: “My veterans’ allowance is 200 miles, and my personal best from years ago is 454 miles, so that’s what I want to beat. I would like to get as close to 300 miles as I can and total around 500, so that I’m in with a chance of a VTTA national title.

“I’m not confident but I’m very hopeful, and if the weather is half reasonable it should be OK.”

The National 24-Hour Championship is something of a landmark event, a target that many riders would aspire to ride once in their life perhaps to mark a major event.

One such rider is Kathryn Smith from Sleaford in Lincolnshire, who is marking her 70th year by taking part in her first 24-hour event for 20 years.

She tackled a 12-hour event earlier this season with the aim of going on to do a 24, where she was the VTTA national champion and broke the national age record by more than five miles.

“My first 24 probably about 1995, then again about 20 years ago. I’m doing a third because I’m 70 years old, I always wanted to do another one and being 70 seemed as good a reason as any.

“There’s no secret to my training, I just ride my bike and I always have. My parents were both cyclists, it’s in my blood.

“I average about 200 miles a week, I don’t have any coach – except my husband telling me I can’t sleep in the middle of a 24!

“I don’t have any special nutrition plan, I just tend to ride through with a carbohydrate drink which you can rely on these days, and maybe a few bananas, protein snacks and apricots. I do tend to stop to refuel at night time because if you’re throwing bottles and wrappers around they get lost in the dark.

“I don’t like it too hot or too hilly. As you get older I don’t have the strength for hills. I’ve never been any good with hills or sprinting, I’m an endurance rider. It seems that I’ve always been able to sit and ride and keep going far longer than anyone else.”

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