Clydesdales/Athenas (200+ lb / 91+ kg) - Seattle Randonneurs 300k

Just a quick note before I go to sleep:

192 miles
~9000 climbing
04-04-09 7:00 start
04-05-09 00:03 finish

17h 03m total time
02h 57m left on the clock

Wow, that's quite the ride. Congrats!

Wow. What a day (and a half) of riding. The weather must be getting nice up there. Congrats! I bet you had a ball.

Congratulations!!!!!!

There is no way I could do that right now, but I would love to attempt it at some point. Does that mean it is a self supported ride. You have to come up with all of the drink and all of the food yourself and carry it with you or stop to buy it.

Wow. What a day (and a half) of riding. The weather must be getting nice up there. Congrats! I bet you had a ball.
The weather was great. 35F to start, so a little chilly, but clear. We had sun the entire day and it topped out at 57F. Not much wind to speak of, just some light breeze on the northbound section at the start.


Congratulations!!!!!!

There is no way I could do that right now, but I would love to attempt it at some point. Does that mean it is a self supported ride. You have to come up with all of the drink and all of the food yourself and carry it with you or stop to buy it.
Yep, randonneuring is 98% self-supported. (2% accounts for the fact that at the control points, some of the volunteers bring water and potato chips.) For the most part you bring/buy stuff. The controls are quickie-marts and grocery stores, so you can get most of what you need. Some people travel light and buy everything along the way, but I'm more particular about my foods. I started the day with 2 Clif Bars, 4 Accel Gels, 4 measured packets of Acclerade powder, and 3 salami/cheese/lettuce sandwiches with mustard (cut in half for quick eating.) I ate all the sandwiches, 1 Clif Bar, 2 gels, and used 2 powder mixes. I bought 2 bottles of orange Powerade and a bottle of some green funky tasting Gatorade "Focus". It's not good. :( Anyhow, I also took 3 Endurolytes every 75 to 90 minutes and a 200mg caffeine pill around 18:00 and 22:30 just to keep myself from zoning out. Riding on pitch black roads, alone, after 12-14h in the saddle can really get you into that hypnotized-by-the-white-line feeling.

If you're interested in it, check out your local rando club and do a 100k Permanent or a 200k brevet to get an idea of what it's like.

Glad you had a good ride bro! Just getting ready to suit up and head out here.

The weather was great. 35F to start, so a little chilly, but clear. We had sun the entire day and it topped out at 57F. Not much wind to speak of, just some light breeze on the northbound section at the start.


Yep, randonneuring is 98% self-supported. (2% accounts for the fact that at the control points, some of the volunteers bring water and potato chips.) For the most part you bring/buy stuff. The controls are quickie-marts and grocery stores, so you can get most of what you need. Some people travel light and buy everything along the way, but I'm more particular about my foods. I started the day with 2 Clif Bars, 4 Accel Gels, 4 measured packets of Acclerade powder, and 3 salami/cheese/lettuce sandwiches with mustard (cut in half for quick eating.) I ate all the sandwiches, 1 Clif Bar, 2 gels, and used 2 powder mixes. I bought 2 bottles of orange Powerade and a bottle of some green funky tasting Gatorade "Focus". It's not good. :( Anyhow, I also took 3 Endurolytes every 75 to 90 minutes and a 200mg caffeine pill around 18:00 and 22:30 just to keep myself from zoning out. Riding on pitch black roads, alone, after 12-14h in the saddle can really get you into that hypnotized-by-the-white-line feeling.

If you're interested in it, check out your local rando club and do a 100k Permanent or a 200k brevet to get an idea of what it's like.

A 100k unsupported, I have done, as I have a 100 miler. I don't know of any long distance things near me, but I am really trying to get in shape for some triathlons first.

I think it has to be harder when it is unsupported, so for that I really commend you!!!!

A 100k unsupported, I have done, as I have a 100 miler. I don't know of any long distance things near me, but I am really trying to get in shape for some triathlons first.

I think it has to be harder when it is unsupported, so for that I really commend you!!!!

The toughest part is navigating in an area you're not familiar with, especially in the dark when some of the navigation might take you (like last night) off the road, through a trailhead onto a MUP, and then back off the MUP 17 miles later (after an Information Control at 12 miles into the trail) onto a side street.

The most difficult was on the 100k Populaire, when the instructions included going part way through a 5 way intersection and turning off onto a footpath shortcut which led to an odd sidestreet.

That is the part I want to know more about. Do you have exact instructions on where you will turn and are they marked in any good way?

Clifton glad to hear you had a good time. I"ve been thinking about some of the rides you have coming up and don't think I would be brave enough to attempt them. I'm waiting to see what this year brings you for rides.

That is the part I want to know more about. Do you have exact instructions on where you will turn and are they marked in any good way?

You get a cue sheet. It's marked with turn direction, street name, and mileages. That's it.

There's no street markings, and depending on where you go, there's no road signs... Yeah, we've been on a couple rides where if you don't watch the mileage, you'll miss the turn because some local dillweed stole/shot down/ran over the street sign.

So my Forerunner 305 would be an OK thing to have on me for my mileage tracking. It doesn't do maps and such, but to know the miles would be good. I may look into this further for our area. I will email a bike shop owner to see if he knows of anything in our area. It is tough enough to get into a club ride. I am an hour from any club ride that I know of and I have not been invited into that ride yet.

Congrats on the ride that climbing looks pretty high. I think my 400k barely had more then that and it beat me down too much to do a longer ride anytime soon.

The biggest thing for those rando rides for me is riding alone hours on end which mostly is ok. There are some folks that will ride with me but I'm too slow so I sort of plan around those rides unless they are really flat and I'm feeling good because we are talking costing people hours not just a few minutes. I know most would laugh at our hills but they are pretty tough for me.

Here is my Saturday ride where I got horribly burned to a crisp by the sun. Who woulda thunk that gas stations/country stores wouldnt' carry sunscreen in TX! *sigh* It was fun going down that hill but the rest of the ride between the sun, the wind, the poor choice at one stope with a drink which stopped my stomach from working I was thinking about riding into a ditch and just laying there till the sun went down.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_GIFgiCQnK-8/SdkKPR-hNsI/AAAAAAAAAXE/6Mek7QZTE-g/s800/SpanishFortChart.jpg

ev,
We've got a 400k up here called the 3 Passes, and I think the climbing on that one is close to 13,000'. It's a total quadbuster. As its name implies, it crosses 3 mountain passes between 3300' and 4300' elevation.

Here's the route from the 300k (http://veloroutes.org/bikemaps/?route=28288) and below is the elevation profile.