The Ulster Way versus the Transalp Challenge

In July 2006, we completed the Transalp Challenge, hailed as the world's toughest mountainbike race, and we trained our socks off for it for 6 months, albeit we did not really know what we were at. A couple of days ago, we completed the new Ulster Way, devoid of adequate training, having only been out on only one 4+ hour ride in 2008, round Lough Neagh the week before we departed.

We thought it would be interesting to do a comparison of the two challenges, in terms of times, distances, and vertical climbing, just to see how it all stacks up. The results are interesting (if you find this sort of guff fascinating, that is!)

Basically, it's no wonder the Ulster Way nearly killed us!

	Transalp Challenge	The New Ulster Way
Total distance (km)	600	937
Total climbing (m)	22,000	15,744
Number of days	8	6
Total time we took (hrs)	56	84
Average climbing / day (m)	2,750	2,624
Average distance / day (km)	75	156
Average stage time / day (hrs)	7	14