jppe

Not like other doubles but it was an Organized event. 3 mile loop on City streets coned off just for cyclists. Started riding around 8 pm and rode through the night. Very humid even for the Carolina's. 1200 riders to start but thankfully numbers steadily dwindled after dark. No one was out on the streets riding after midnight. My legs felt tired from last week's 415 miles on Tour de Wyoming plus a hard 40 miler on Tuesday night----probably some dehydration as well. I seemed to hit my groove about 3 am and well after my first 100 miles and a couple Dr Peppers. I had also changed cycling clothes and gloves and that was a really nice lift---everything was just soaked with the humidity. Plus my first pair of shorts were annoyingly rubbing me in the crotch area the last hour or so.

I was solo, hardly anyone else out, evening noises from the crickets, etc. I got "bored" at about 150 miles, my typical mind games and other normal motivational incentives just didn't seem to be kicking in so stopped and took some time off the bike. Talked to some others were still up. Hit the food tent, etc. Eventually restarted.

At 186 miles my Garmin battery died. I had it such that the screen would light up when prompted so I'm sure that killed it earlier than normal. Less than a mile later my rear shifter cable broke.....so I had either a 50/12 or a 34/12 to ride with. There are a couple smaller hills on the loop (enough for 6900 ft of climbing over 200 miles) so just "stood and danced" through those for the last 5 laps as best I could.

Most of the mileage was solo although I was able to ride some wheels at times....maybe 10-15% of the time. I averaged around 19 mph so my riding time was a little over 10 1/2 hours. I was hoping to average around 20 mph but I just wasn't able to generate enough sustained speed the first 100 miles. I'm pretty sure I had to be the first person to hit 200 miles----no one was passing me for hours and hours. I had the legs to do more but with the shifter cable issue that sealed the deal for me.

I used a light & motion 550 for the first half of the ride and then a light & motion 700 for the remaining time. Everyone commented about how good those lights were if anyone is interested. They are lightweight, cigar shaped and do a nice job. Output is around 600-700 lumens. I'm a little concerned that the 550 didn't last longer but I might have had it on full brightness instead of a step or two lower.

I used my Pinarello Prince and it sure was a terrific ride for the 200 miles. No complaints what so ever When I got back on it after doing the 400+ miles in Wyoming it just felt like the perfect fit and ride. By the way, my Cervelo arrived back within 4 business days as Fed Ex had promised. It's all cleaned up and put back together and ready for the next hilly ride. I even put a new chain on it. The old chain measured fine but after 5000+ miles I figured I'd give a new one a go. My wife had received several breakable gifts so I put them in the bike box along with my bike and other stuff I didn't want to put on the plane. One was a bottle of home made pickles which managed to leak on the return trip. Now my box has a nice vinegar smell to it, which offset the smelly clothing I'd shipped back!!!

When I got back to my car to head home the car battery was dead. Gee whiz.......After about an hour of talking to organizers, maintenance personnel, etc. a fellow rider taking time from riding got me jumped started and I was able to get back home.

dave5339

Nice write up!

Congrats on the double, a double has been on my bucket list for a long time, I'm currently targeting next spring.

Aside for the Dr. Peppers what did you use for calorie replacement?

Semper Fi

Biker395 

Wow. So you did 200 miles around a 3 mile loop?

A friend of mine likes to organize long distance rides around the PV peninsula (21) miles. He organized one that involved 19 loops for 400 miles. I managed 11 loops or something like that. It think it was the toughest double century I've ever done. Something about doing the same loop ... over and over.

Congrats to you!

jppe

This is probably the humorous part as this was an atypical bike event. Normally I don't eat that much while riding but I took time to socialize and ate a LOT of stuff I normally would not attempt to eat while riding. When I weighed this morning I was 3 pounds heavier......I suspect some of it is the Mexican food I enjoyed last night though.

Here is what I remember getting while at the food tent:

Hamburger meat without bun with pasta salad, tomato and a cookie.

3 slices of Pizza-In the dark I had mistakenly gotten two vegetarian pieces thinking they were meat. The pepperoni's turned out to be tomatoes, the onions were green peppers and the hamburger meat was mushrooms!!! I can not eat green peppers without severe reflux so had to pick those off!

Blueberry muffin

Eggs, sausage, bacon and honey dew

However the best thing I had was at the one rest stop on the loop. They had freshly sliced and peeled oranges on ice. I ate two whole ones around 3 am and they were just incredible. Sweet, juicy cold etc. I think I also had a bag of potato chips at the rest stop very late in the ride.

streetstomper

This writeup reminds me of the old Pepsi Challenge that used to be run in Central Park in NYC in the 1970s and early 1980s. I wish I had done that just once.

WHITE IS BICYCLE WINNER AGAIN - NYTimes.com

volosong

You did a double century on a three-mile city loop?!!?? That just nuts! I'm surprised you lasted 150 miles before you got bored. You're a better man than me.

John E

He's a better man than I am, as well -- my one and only double was the Los Angeles Wheelmen Grand Tour in 1972. A 3-mile loop might indeed get monotonous, but the 20-mile loop mentioned in this thread might be a good way to go.

dicktill

Congratulations!