Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - Phil Keoghan-Riding across america

Any thoughts about Phil Keoghan-from the amazing race, going across the US riding about 100 miles each day? I have been following him for the past few weeks on his daily blog and I find it quite interesting/amazing that he can continue to centuries day after day with only a couple of breaks going across the country. I am hoping to do one century this summer and he is doing back, to back to back...all the way across the country. I do realise he gets more support than any of us would ever receive, even on a fully supported ride...

Try 300+ miles/day:

http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/home.php?N_webcat_id=1

I guess it takes much more than a century per day to impress some. As someone who looks forward to his first century ride I guess I am much more intrigued than most.
Best of luck if you are going to particpate in that event and have the ability to ride repeat 300 mile days.

what about your standard brevet. distances start at 200km and go up from there.
imho raam is a bit of a freak show, with support.

check out unsupported rando riding - doing a 1200k, or doing a permanent that is 1850 miles long... (http://www.stjoenews.net/sports/tourofmissouri/related-news/klaassen-blog/)

to be honest, some tv host with a bunch of support and gimmicks doesn't impress me much. dozens, hundreds of folks tour across the states each year. some of them traveling much faster and with less gear than the tv personality...

but, good on him to raise awareness for ms. its just not really something i think most folks in the LD forum will find that interesting.

Who?

Who?

Cares.

(wanted to finish your thought...)

Wow guys... feeling a little cynical here in long distance land tonight are we? C'mon... let's make folks feel a little welcome here instead of bashing the OP's question.

Jayd... I agree with you that it is amazing that Keoghan is doing this ride... I realize that many people do longer rides. Many folks in this forum consider 100 miles to be the entry point for long distance cycling, so we tend to be less than impressed with your average century ride.

But that said... I don't care who you are or how much support you have... doing centuries back to back to back all the way across the continent is quite an accomplishment. And I'm a little jealous because I've dreamed all of my life about doing two things... hiking the entire Appalachian Trail and riding across the United States. Maybe I'll get to do at least one before I get too old! :thumb:

Wow guys... feeling a little cynical here in long distance land tonight are we? C'mon... let's make folks feel a little welcome here instead of bashing the OP's question.

Jayd... I agree with you that it is amazing that Keoghan is doing this ride... I realize that many people do longer rides. Many folks in this forum consider 100 miles to be the entry point for long distance cycling, so we tend to be less than impressed with your average century ride.

But that said... I don't care who you are or how much support you have... doing centuries back to back to back all the way across the continent is quite an accomplishment. And I'm a little jealous because I've dreamed all of my life about doing two things... hiking the entire Appalachian Trail and riding across the United States. Maybe I'll get to do at least one before I get too old! :thumb:

i guess the point is spme of us don't need a tv personality to inspire us. (been tv free for 10 years now, so i had to google the guy)
go check out the touring forum, or crazy guy on a bike, or check in with your local rando crowd.
plenty of folks doing this type of thing... plenty of 'normal' folks doing great, long distance, challenging and rewarding things.

i'd prefer that the OP just post back here about his or her first century. and let us know what worked, what was inspiring, what was challenging. that would be more interesting, imho.

Its a good effort, but the amazing thing is hes doing it on OSMs.
http://www.nowosm.com/home.html
Yuck.
These are strictly emergency rations for me, did save me on one ride in fiji though.

Hydrated- Thanks for the message. To me its not only the point he is going across america doing repeat centuries but that he is doing it for a cause....He is raising $$$ for MS in case you did not realise that.

Enjoy your next long ride.

For the who cares thoughts- I guess anyone who knows someone with MS cares. Phil finished his in NY yesterday and raised $400,000 for the fight against MS. I know many/most of you arn't impressed with the effort and could probably do this on your own, but one thing I know is, NONE of us have ever raised $400,000 to support a cause we care about.

For the who cares thoughts- I guess anyone who knows someone with MS cares. Phil finished his in NY yesterday and raised $400,000 for the fight against MS. I know many/most of you arn't impressed with the effort and could probably do this on your own, but one thing I know is, NONE of us have ever raised $400,000 to support a cause we care about.

i give $$ to friends every year who do charity MS rides.
good on him for raising $400,000 for MS.

but again, i'd rather give my $$ and my praise to my friends or plenty of folks on the BF who do this kind of riding without a media circus following them around.

If I made the same as Phil did and had such a big buck support group...I'd do the same too- even on the return trip!

Its a good effort, but the amazing thing is hes doing it on OSMs.
http://www.nowosm.com/home.html
Yuck.
These are strictly emergency rations for me, did save me on one ride in fiji though.

Aside from a hefty endorsement cheque for his face being on the wrapper, I can't imagine why he's living on those things when he has a full support team.

Good on him for raising a few hundred G's for his cause, though. I'm happy when I can raise a few hundred for the Tour de Cure each year.

You can ride with him.


http://www.philridesacrossamerica.com/register.html

how fast is this guy doing his centuries? I doubt he's riding 5hr centuries every day as one ride. riding a while, stopping for a while...basically, you could spread 5 hrs of riding over the course of the day and make your quota. that's not hard at all. or you could go really slow for more hours a day, which to me would be more taxing.

this isn't to ignore his charitable aims, just to say that his centuries and our centuries are probably very different.

... or you could go really slow for more hours a day ... our centuries are probably very different.

Speak for yourself!:D

...his centuries and our centuries are probably very different.

Whoa! Don't include me in the 5-hour group of "our centuries"! :eek:

I'm a back o' the pack, 10h 40m leisurely 200k guy. I'm usually finishing with a 7h 30m to 8h century time on supported/organized rides.

I showed up to one of his stops and rode with him. Very nice guy and took time to visit with everybody for a little while then about 15 miles in raised the pace to about 28 mph and dropped 95% of the group. He actually rides a lot and is in excellent shape and riding for a good cause so I don't see any problems with that. His dad was along and he drove a big RV behind him.

what about your standard brevet. distances start at 200km and go up from there.
imho raam is a bit of a freak show, with support.

check out unsupported rando riding - doing a 1200k, or doing a permanent that is 1850 miles long... (http://www.stjoenews.net/sports/tourofmissouri/related-news/klaassen-blog/)...


So do you consider rando riding a bit of a freak show too, without the crowds...? ;) With all the support you get on a modern 1200k there isn't a whole lot of difference(multiple drop bags, food stops every 50ish miles...).

He actually rides a lot and is in excellent shape and riding for a good cause so I don't see any problems with that.


+1

I can't believe the way people are piling on the guy. In a day when most celebrities get their names in the paper accompanied by their latest mug shot, I think it's fantastic that Phil is out there supporting his cause doing something he (and we) loves to do.

Many of you are commical at best. As the last person said, why pile on someone who is actually doing something good unlike so many other "stars."