Endurance on the Edge

Newbury Road Club’s Sam Krauze tackles the iconic Welsh 12-Hour TT, aiming to break a Club record.

Covering as many miles as possible in just 12 hours: that’s the brutal challenge of a 12-hour time trial. More than just a test of fitness, it demands grit, focus, and the ability to pace both body and mind over an entire day in the saddle.

This year, Newbury Road Club’s Sam Krauze set his sights on the Welsh 12-Hour Championship in Monmouthshire on Sunday, August 31, 2025. With a bold target of 265 miles—and the tantalising prospect of breaking a Club Record that has stood since 1977—Sam lined up on the infamous R12/16 course, braving fierce winds and relentless rain.

We caught up with Sam afterwards to hear how it all unfolded…

12 hours in Wales

I joined the road club in 2025 mainly to focus on short-distance time trials, the standard 10 and 25 milers. It turned out to be a brilliant first season - one of the best things about being new to time trialling is that every week feels like a win when you set a new PB!

As for long-distance TT training… well, that was a bit of a last-minute call. I decided pretty late on to ride a 12-hour after being convinced (or forced?) that it was a good idea at one of the weeknight club events. As I hadn’t been able to get any long-distance TT training in beforehand, I had to rely on past experience. Luckily, I’ve done my fair share of long rides over the years - bikepacking across the UK, Europe, and Australia. I try to do at least one ultra or big ride each year and after placing third in an ultra in Liège last summer, I was overdue for another challenge so I figured I ought to get something on the calendar for this year.

Thanks to the weekly TTs, chain gangs, and Sunday black rides, I was feeling in fairly good shape on the bike. So why not go for it?

So, a quick bit about the course. The 12-hour route was, unsurprisingly, on busy roads. It kicked off with a 100-mile stretch through Monmouth and up to Hereford, followed by five laps of a 40km midday circuit, and wrapped up with as many 25km finishing loops you can squeeze in before your clock stops. After this you keep going until you reach the next timekeeper, every 2km-ish at this point in the race.

The Rig

As this ride was a little longer than the usual 10-mile club TT, I had to make a few set up changes to the TT bike.

I stuck with the rear disc wheel and an 80mm on the front but switched to 25mm P-Zero race tyres with TPU tubes for a bit more comfort and puncture protection.

The aerobars were set up in the most comfortable position, if that even is possible, I increased the stack and set the arm rests to the widest positions.

My gearing was a single 58T oval chainring with a 11-26 cassette at the back. To be honest, I was a little concerned my gearing would be too aggressive for the 12-hours but had no other alternatives on the TT bike at short notice.

I had two water bottles mounted on the saddle and an aero bottle in the frame. The final bottle holder was used for the emergency kit, CO2 cannisters, spare inner tubes etc. The only storage I had for nutrition was on the top tube.

My top-tier bike hack? Taping a power bank to the aerobars so my Garmin wouldn’t die mid-ride. Because after all - if it’s not on Strava, did it even happen?

Nutrition

As the route went through a neutral feed stop on the midday circuit, the plan was to stop and swap my water bottles, refill up with food and then eat as many pork pies as possible each time.

My go-to strategy for any long ride always goes: start with real food, switch to fake food, then back to real food again. So for the 12-hour, I loaded up with the tastiest cereal bars I could find and alternated them with gels. Every bottle also had a carb mix ready to go.

Thankfully, my partner Ann was on support duty and was operating an excellent buffet service from the boot of her car every time I rolled past.

Race Day

It was a super early start, I was off the line at 06:08. No warm-up for me, just a gentle five-minute roll to the start from the HQ.

The first 100 miles felt like two completely different rides. Early on it was really blustery, but the tree lines seemed to do a decent job of shielding the worst of it and I was rolling along above my target pace. It included a stretch from Abergavenny to Hereford which was about 30 miles of slightly downhill road with a tailwind, an absolute dream. Of course, what goes down must come back up… and the return leg was uphill into a headwind. Classic.

By the time I had got to the half-way mark and was on the midday course I was still feeling quite comfortable and above my target pace, but at this point the weather had started to shift and the aches and pain began creeping in. Around hour 7 as the rain showers began I started to have some seriously uncomfortable hip pain, this is just the by-product of sitting in an aggressive TT position all that time.

At this point I was really thinking about scratching the ride, but I managed to keep telling myself that the good times will come (thanks to those Mark Beaumont books). I eventually settled for a 10-minute break with a bit of stretching and pork pies.

I didn’t plan on this stop, but it worked wonders, I felt a lot more comfortable, and my power output was back up, although the slow hour 7 and stop put me below my target pace and just as I was up for the challenge of bringing it back in, the wind and rain really picked up!

From hour 8 it was on/off rain and at hour 10 it was torrential, so much that it forced me to hide in a bus shelter along with two other riders for 20 minutes. Both of whom ended their rides in that bus stop due to the bad weather, but as the rain eased off slightly, I jumped back on the bike for the final push!

With just over an hour left and after the enforced stop I was feeling pretty fresh and managed to finish things on a high. With the finish line not too far ahead it’s amazing where you get some energy from, I managed to clock the last 10 miles in 24 minutes!

As soon as my 12 hours was up, I collapsed into the car and was driven back to the HQ for tea and cake.

Final thoughts

Final result was 237 miles, quite a way off my target of 265 miles, the 35 minutes off the bike and the torrential rain put it slightly out of touch. I still can’t believe how two riders managed over 300 miles in these conditions!

Even though I had ridden over 12 hour rides in the past, the TT position made it a different beast. Although now a few weeks have passed, the idea of doing it on the flatter English national course next year is playing on my mind… so if two more NRC riders want a day of pain we can be in the mix for the team trophy!

A final shoutout to Ann for her support and for choosing to spend her day watching lycra-clad cyclists on silly bikes.

So, same again next year?