I am somewhat reassessing my plan for the 8 day ride.
Initially, my goal was to circle the whole state, less "Downstate". My estimation was 1200 miles. I came to the conclusion that I should break it down to an 800 mile ride. I prefer slightly unreasonable goals to totally unreasonable. I figured that that 800 miles would cover the majority of what I wanted to cover anyway.
Now that I am into detail planning, I am finding my "800 mile" route is in actuality 988 miles, so my initial 1200 estimate for the whole state is way short. So I am now wrestling with the "is 988 too much?", as it is 8 back to back 120 mile days. Should I just plan 7 centuries, and give myself cushion? I think 7 centuries on the single speed may be sufficiently undoable to meet my needs.
With hiking and cycling, I like to set unreasonable goals that I am not guaranteed to meet. I hit 85-90% of them, but push hard to do. So if something is too easy, I don't do it, but unreachably hard I give up on. So I have to find that balance.
Thoughts, oh mighty Addiction thinkers?