Going Long and Hard.
- Thread starter Steve Vai
- Start date
Kaleidopete
Well-Known Member
That's the Longest Day ride? What time you starting Saturday?
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
My wife left her laptop today!! I haz computer.
The Longest Day
So this was thrown together pretty quickly as an afterthought and it definitely showed. I originally planned to take several weeks off before the 600k to be uber ready for that but I ended up doing TLD anyways. My logic was that sitting in a group of 3 vs. Solo would be an easier day and wouldn't effect my legs too much. Well, that didn't work out.
We left late in the morning figuring on a low time. It was cold and wet when we left Port Jervis which was primo for me. One of our team members was not as keen on the conditions and immediately starting complaining. This went into then complaining about how high of a wattage he was averaging. Then into how high his heartrate was. Then into just about anything else you can complain about. He didn't contribute to the effort a single pedal stroke while myself and the Captain flogged ourselves to stay on 10-hour pace. Trying to stay in a hard mental place while a guy who's done no work is complaining behind you is not easy.
We hit 6-Mile on pace at 20+ MPH average. Silas hit it HARD coming out through Canal Road in an attempt to re-motivate the group and get the pace back up. Complainer finally goes to the front and is pulling hard being he didn't do any work in the first 4 hours. My NP was just under 300 watts at that point so I knew I had to sit in and let that come down a bit. I can do that for a Century or maybe a 200K but not a double.
Complainer popped off the front again and decided to sit in, I would get no break, and could no longer ride at the same pace without seriously hurting myself. I decided at just over 100 miles, I would ride alone. I didn't want to turn myself inside out to give a 3rd guy a free ride to a course record. My hope was that by stopping and letting them go he would be forced to work. I stopped at all the rest areas and hung out after that. Chatted with volunteers. Hung out. Enjoyed the day.
Around 180 miles my Garmin died so I had to wing it into Cape May. Took the bike path instead of Rt47. Added some mileage but it's a nicer ride. Also stayed a little more inland via the Rando Route.
Hard day for sure mentally. I generally ride alone during this type of event because I've become very good at managing myself throughout a long, hard day. I know exactly what I need and when and can remotivate myself as I go. It's dialed, I'm in my wheelhouse. Adding other people to that complex structure is a very hard thing to do as everyone has their own issues and resolves. That's one reason why I still believe the course record will always be held by a Solo rider regardless of how strong a team shows up. Adding up all those extra little stops at different times and the overall time goes down, despite the average speed being higher. I even ran a slower average speed and moving time the year I set the record and yet my overall time was over an hour faster because I never stepped off the bike.
Lesson learned.
The Longest Day
So this was thrown together pretty quickly as an afterthought and it definitely showed. I originally planned to take several weeks off before the 600k to be uber ready for that but I ended up doing TLD anyways. My logic was that sitting in a group of 3 vs. Solo would be an easier day and wouldn't effect my legs too much. Well, that didn't work out.
We left late in the morning figuring on a low time. It was cold and wet when we left Port Jervis which was primo for me. One of our team members was not as keen on the conditions and immediately starting complaining. This went into then complaining about how high of a wattage he was averaging. Then into how high his heartrate was. Then into just about anything else you can complain about. He didn't contribute to the effort a single pedal stroke while myself and the Captain flogged ourselves to stay on 10-hour pace. Trying to stay in a hard mental place while a guy who's done no work is complaining behind you is not easy.
We hit 6-Mile on pace at 20+ MPH average. Silas hit it HARD coming out through Canal Road in an attempt to re-motivate the group and get the pace back up. Complainer finally goes to the front and is pulling hard being he didn't do any work in the first 4 hours. My NP was just under 300 watts at that point so I knew I had to sit in and let that come down a bit. I can do that for a Century or maybe a 200K but not a double.
Complainer popped off the front again and decided to sit in, I would get no break, and could no longer ride at the same pace without seriously hurting myself. I decided at just over 100 miles, I would ride alone. I didn't want to turn myself inside out to give a 3rd guy a free ride to a course record. My hope was that by stopping and letting them go he would be forced to work. I stopped at all the rest areas and hung out after that. Chatted with volunteers. Hung out. Enjoyed the day.
Around 180 miles my Garmin died so I had to wing it into Cape May. Took the bike path instead of Rt47. Added some mileage but it's a nicer ride. Also stayed a little more inland via the Rando Route.
Hard day for sure mentally. I generally ride alone during this type of event because I've become very good at managing myself throughout a long, hard day. I know exactly what I need and when and can remotivate myself as I go. It's dialed, I'm in my wheelhouse. Adding other people to that complex structure is a very hard thing to do as everyone has their own issues and resolves. That's one reason why I still believe the course record will always be held by a Solo rider regardless of how strong a team shows up. Adding up all those extra little stops at different times and the overall time goes down, despite the average speed being higher. I even ran a slower average speed and moving time the year I set the record and yet my overall time was over an hour faster because I never stepped off the bike.
Lesson learned.
Juggernaut
Master of the Metaphor
Great write up Jim! I could feel the frustration.
^ Don't forget to clear the browser history when you're done.
Kaleidopete
Well-Known Member
The scrolling Rolodex
jnos
Well-Known Member
Scrollodex
ktmrider
Well-Known Member
We used those for racing enduros
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
I wouldn't come back.
Steve Vai
Endurance Guy: Tolerates most of us.
Here's my set up for a sub 24-hour 600k attempt. Pretty minimal for a self-supported effort but I'm prepared to give up a good amount of creature comforts to make it happen. As a plus, I hit the oil pan on the GTI last night so I'll be testing this setup all week
Do you mean BSA is coming to ALL bikes? Woot.