None of the members in my club are pros and only a few are, or have been "racers" . We are the third fastest group for this distance in the club. (13.32, 15.18 and our time of 16.52. We had two more groups coming in at nearly 18 hours and a bit over 21). Total climbing is 3350 meters and the highest point is 1040m which in Norway is treeless mountain terrain. We had a nasty cold headwind and rain up there.
We have trained together three times a week since april and quite a few are veterans with a lot of knowledge about how to ride this event well.