Riding solo laps, for 24 hours, is unlikely to be an appealing proposition for most people. Riding a 24-hour time trial on a folding bike takes the feat to another level.
However, this is exactly what Nick Clarke of Arctic Aircon RC did last weekend, riding the RTTC 24-hour Time Trial Championships in the UK, finishing 25th overall. Clarke rode 367.69 miles across the 24 hours, and also managed to clinch the men’s team prize in the process.
What makes the undertaking even more remarkable, however, is that Clarke competed just nine months after he was hit by a car driver whilst riding his Brompton folding bike, leaving him scared to ride on open roads.
“In October last year, I got hit by a car from behind, [I was] waiting to turn right into a lay-by where my car was parked,” he told Cycling Weekly. “I got hit about 50 miles an hour, I broke my arm in five places, my leg, ribs and bits and pieces. I was smashed up and it wasn’t until January that I could walk again.”
The Brompton Clarke already owned, of course, was written off. So, he purchased a new 12-speed model, with grand plans for the future.
“I assumed [after spending time in hospital that] I’d just be psyched I could cycle,” he says, but, it wasn’t the case. “When I got back on my bike I was terrified. Every time a car came past me, it made me scared. I’ve got quite a strong constitution. It surprised me how much it freaked me out. I can’t live like this, where I couldn’t do something that I could do before because of someone else’s actions.
“I knew I had to ride a bike more to build up exposure, get my confidence back. I decided to ride my Brompton in the 24hr time trial, because it forced me to train. If I can do that, it would fix my problem. That was my thought process.”
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While the individual victor, Adam Wild, raced on a finely tuned time trial bike setup, and broke the UK record with a distance of 546.36 miles, Clarke – who has ridden previous events on a dedicated TT bike – was just happy to be racing at all.
“The only bike I owned [at the time of the crash] was a Brompton, and it was the one I’d be run over on,” he said. “I arrogantly thought, because I’ve ridden a 24-hour before, that it would be fine. It’s hard, no matter how good you are, no matter how fit you are. Doing it on the ‘wrong’ bike does make it a degree harder.”
“The new 12-speed Brompton is a really good bit of kit,” he argued, however. “The gear spacing is so good that it doesn’t feel like you’re on a small bike, you’re not lacking in gears. I didn’t spin out. It almost harks back to a time when my time trial bike was 1×11. The only issue is that it’s quite compact from seat post to handlebars, so you can’t stretch out on it. That’s why it became uncomfortable. For a Guinness World Record application [which he was considering going in for], you’ve got to keep it completely standard, so I didn’t put clips on it. If I was to do it again, I’d definitely get clip-ins on it and TT bars. Then I think it wouldn’t feel that much different.”
367 miles, and a lot of training, later, and Clarke’s goals were complete – he has now regained his confidence.
“The whole purpose of it was achieved,” he concluded. “I feel satisfaction. About 3am, a lorry came past me, it was a close pass, and I just went ‘idiot’. I had gone from being terrified of a legitimate pass to shrugging off someone cutting me up. I wouldn’t recommend everyone exposing themselves like this, but I definitely achieved my aim.”
Nick Clarke raised, and is still raising money for Flint House and the South Central Ambulance Charity via JustGiving.
