skiffrun

The Tidewater 200 will be pretty flat, even though the Bent Brigade and everyone else, including RBA Keith, will think there's some climbing. Your heavy LHT should not be a problem.

Your RBA used to ride a LHT when he did brevets. Back in the day (~ 3 years ago and prior), he would come down to Raleigh to do RBA Alan's brevets and ride his red LHT; Alan's brevets are much hillier than Keith's, a result of the available geographic features.

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Take the cue sheet with you and be prepared to use it!

Twice last year, once on a 600 and once on a 1200, I had to go searching for the lantern rouge. Each told me the same thing, "my [gps] is doing something it has never done before and I'm confused."

I had to teach the 600 lantern how to use his cue sheet, AFTER I gave him a spare copy because he had lost his earlier in the ride. That was at least in daylight on the second day.

On the 1200, I told the lantern to continue straight for 6-miles and I would be parked at the BP station, and we would figure out how he could proceed from there. That was at about 10 or 11 pm on the third day. The solution? Turn the gps off and use the cue sheet.

I have threatened that I will henceforth carry a hammer with me whenever I might end up playing leapfrog with the lantern rouge. Use for the hammer? To fix the gps unit and remove the confusion.

Do NOT put all your eggs in the gps basket.

skiffrun

Proof Keith used to come down to Raleigh for his brevets.

Scroll through the photos and find the one of Keith's red LHT in front of the "waterfall".

Drew Eckhardt 

No.

Speed gains up-hill are essentially inversely proportional to total weight. Drop 2 pounds off a 230 pound bike + rider combination and you're going to be at most 0.9% faster up the steepest hills, saving at most 30 seconds per hour in the mountains. At 160 pounds total it's still only 1.25% and 45 seconds an hour so I don't remove lights/rack/lock for mountain rides.

On flat ground you won't be able to measure the difference.

Assuming .008 Crr from the worst tires and 15 mile/hour average speed, each 2.2 pounds or 1kg of additional weight will take

1 * .008 Crr * 9.8m/s^2 * 6.7 meters/second = 0.5 Watts. Good tires are approaching .004 Crr for 0.25 W per kilogram.

If you want speed gains from equipment and your local roads aren't too bad you can save about 15W at 15 MPH going from OK to fast tires like the GP4000SII. That's over 10% of the energy it takes.

I don't flat more often with those during the dry season (not often enough to remember how many thousands of miles between flats), but did puncture 6 times this winter while it was raining or shortly afterwards (statistically that's every 400 miles, but it was at least two within the same wet week) and they have limited side-wall protection for sharp gravel/glass.

A handlebar bag out front in clean air with Cd approaching 1.0 and large surface area is going to hurt a lot more than a 6" wide trunk with less frontal area that's in the turbulent air coming off your legs or Caradice which is trying to draft you.

That'd be the thing to leave behind when trying for a personal record. Most of my jerseys have pocket room for phone, wallet, keys, wind jacket, and six Clif bars. I print cue sheets 2" wide, cover with clear packing tape on both sides so they don't run in sweat or rain, and stick them on my top tube like an improvised TripTik.

Of course it won't make you miss a 13:30 200k time limit. Just pack to make yourself comfortable in spite of forseeable problems (cold, rain, flats, other mechanical problems) and have fun.

falconsusi

And I greatly appreciate every bit of it! Thanks!

falconsusi

Holy cow! You will be packed up! One thing that could help you is one of the things I will be carrying https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B...ilpage_o00_s00 It is little and has juice enough to recharge both my phone and my Garmin. I have used one before on century rides as my cell phone will lose power after about 5-6 hours and I know I will be out 10+ hours.

falconsusi

The century I did in Sept had an elevation of 5200 which is a little more than I expect to do on this ride Saturday. I finished (last) with a time of 9 hours which included stopping time of 1.5 hours. I was stopping a bit long to wait on the gal behind me who eventually gave up before finishing. The organized 200K I did in July was much flatter and my time was 8.5 hours moving and just over 2 hours stopping (the stops were at wineries and I chatted too much).

I am not worried about my electronics. I only will have a phone and my Garmin and a portable charger. No GoPro this time

I love your story!

falconsusi

The predicted weather is now a high of 53 degrees with a little rain Still hopefull. But I will will need to wear more clothes now. If it stays this way I am thinking tights with knee warmers on top so I can remove them. Short sleeve with arm warmers and a convertible water resistant jacket and hope for the best. UGh They are calling north winds 7-10 mph and the ride is out and back going south first so into the wind the whole way back. I can do it!!!!

Fullcount

Thanks everyone for the analysis on weight vs friction. At this point, not going to do anything with tires or even removing the front handlebar bag. Guess, I will pedal, pedal some more and strive just to finish. Not worrying too much about time or trying to keep up with a pack. Gonna concentrate on having fun. See everyone in Suffolk.

Fullcount

Falonsui, how did it go for you? Hope well. I finished after 11.5 hours, but I finished in the time limit

falconsusi

Me, too! 11.5 hours. My entire way back (this was an out-n-back) was in the headwind. Brutal blowing 13 steady gusting to 26! My saddle sores have saddle sores! Okay, not that bad, but I won't be on my bike anytime soon I have to work all week anyhow.

Yea to us, me and you Fullcount!

The same day leaving the same time was a 300k, same route +. So I got to ride with the slower group of 4 which was awesome for the first 63 miles! I was the only one on the 200k so the way back was on my own. And I ended the ride by stopping by the Emergency Room with something in my eye nearly blinding me in the right eye. Vision back to normal by mid day Sunday. What a trip!

Miles 80-110 I told my bike, Penelope, that I'd never let her talk me into another 200k. But then with some sugary drink and sugary cookies I was back to riding and now I am already looking for the next Big Ride!

It is addictive.

rando_couche

WOOT! And sounds like "randonesia" is in full swing. So when's your 300k?

SP
OC, OR
RUSA #3481

thebulls

Congrats!

I wear either clear glasses or sunglasses almost all the time to help avoid getting stuff in my eyes. Basically the only time I don't is if they are getting so foggy that I get sick of it.

To me, one of the signs that I am starting to bonk is that I get cranky and start thinking rando is a stupid sport. Once I eat something and get it digested enough, I'll be riding along thinking that rando is a fabulous sport, isn't it beautiful out, etc etc etc.

falconsusi

Like you I wear some sort of glasses always while cycling. Just one of those things this time. Pollen season and all.

That's exactly what happened. Well, it takes experience to know how to eat and I have to learn that. I don't normally drink sugary drinks, but I learned sometimes you have to. It took about 10 miles after eating before I perked back up. And still I was stopping every 4-6 miles at the end if even for only a minute.

25 miles out I was having terrible thoughts like I wished I was carrying a knife so I could slit my tires enough to call my hubby to come get me. Won't tell hubby that one just in case I have to use that reason some day It would have to be real damage as he knows I can change my own tires/tubes.

falconsusi

HAHA! Never!

Well, not this year.

That I know of.....

falconsusi

Cool story to add. I was alone the entire way back wondering if someone from the 300k would catch up to me since I was so slow. About 10 miles out I see a cyclist coming from behind me. I asked as he was passing if he was coming back from the 300k and he wasn't. He said he was training for a race in June. When I told him that I was only 10 miles from finishing the 200k he was kind enough to offer for me to draft him as he was going my way. I was so slow at this point. I didn't want to hold him up and I told him so. He even offered to slow down for a while for me to draft. I didn't though, but wow that was so nice of him!

Fullcount

Wow, it sounds if we were experiencing the same things. Towards the end, I was asking myself why I was into self inflicted pain producing hobbies? But it is all good now.

I too was struggling the whole 64 miles back and into the headwind the entire way. At one point, I was going so slow, the cows were chasing me down. Glad there was a fence between me and them.

Glad you had a good ride. I will probably try another soon. Gotta do something about the rolling resistance of my tires though. Half of our route was on chip seal surfaced roads, so I do not know if anything can overcome that and the headwind. But I did learn some things for next time.

thebulls

Haha, there have been times when I have been inside a control and hoped my bike wouldn't be there when I come out, so that I have an "honorable" way out :-) Hasn't happened yet and I am sure that I would not actually be happy if it did!

unterhausen

I always used to say that my long-term randonneuring goal was to have a ride where I didn't hate myself for starting. I remember that ride, it was a 200k in October of 2013. The thing that really makes a difference for me is making sure my nutrition is good over the distance from 25 miles-100 miles. Unless there is extreme heat, after that I almost always feel good. But from 50-100 miles has usually been a tough stretch for me. Mostly I got through that by using liquid based nutrition as my primary source of calories over the first 100 miles. Otherwise, I have trouble eating enough and that doesn't feel good.