Myosmith

Besides just more miles in general I have a couple of long distance goals for this summer:

Complete a gravel century at an organized event
Solo century+ rides at least a couple times a month
Complete a century in 6 hrs or less at an organized event
Do a weekend or other multi-day bike trip

seajaye

last june was my first century, last september was my first 200k, and this may i'd like to try my hand at 300k. will need to do a 200k this month or april to test the legs!

Machka 

We're just over halfway through the year ... how are the goals coming along?


I'm still not doing so well at meeting goals, but I did want to ride at least one century this year, and I've done that.

Jacque Lucque

I almost finished my double century Tuesday past. I was feeling really fresh and in high spirits towards the end, but got a little lost and ran out of enthusiasm for listening to another 3 hours of This American Life.

Maybe next week!

cccorlew

Clearly you spent too much time making cool photos.

Jacque Lucque

It's my trade, so I'll say it's my duty as opposed to a great excuse to rest my weary knees.

brianogilvie 

I didn't set many goals this year. One was to do D2R2 again; that's coming up in a couple weeks. Last year I did the 100K; this time around, I think I'll do 115K. On hilly dirt roads, that's plenty! I'm doing the Great River Ride out of Westfield, Massachusetts, again in October; last year I did the 170K RUSA Populaire route; this year the RBA has applied for a 200K brevet route and if that's approved, I might give it a go. Then a week after that, I'm doing Fat Cyclist's 100 Miles of Nowhere century.

unterhausen

if I finish the Appalachian Adventure, all I need is a populaire to earn a RUSA cup. The 1000k should earn me a Randonneur 5000 from ACP. I just ride for the medals -- and the sleep deprivation

ThermionicScott 

Been failing pretty hard so far this year. Torrential rain and other things gobbled up all of my weekends during the spring season (I had wanted to do the whole series this year as a dry run), so now I'm somewhat doubtful of being able to do PBP next year. Now is the time we need to be making our hotel and travel arrangements, right?

unterhausen

I haven't made any arrangements at all. It's a bit of a tradition to do a first SR series and PBP. Assuming you are still in Iowa, I would try to get up to Minnesota and do one of the ACP 200k's they have on the calendar, I'm thinking that will pretty much guarantee that you can preregister for PBP.

Machka 

You've got lots of time ... I didn't make hotel arrangements until after my 400K in late May, less than 3 months before the PBP. And I wouldn't have booked my flight until after my 600K in early June, about 2 months before the PBP. I've never liked making advanced travel plans.

skiffrun

I can only take about 40 minutes of "This American Life" at a time.

In 2011, my friend Robert didn't know about PBP until AFTER Jan-01-2011: He had a great adventure. No reason you can't have one, too.

ThermionicScott 

Thanks for the encouraging feedback, folks. I will keep PBP 2015 in my sights, then.

antimonysarah

Since people have started talking PBP in here, anyone know what in the way of domestic-USA and Canada 1000ks or 1200ks are rumored for the schedule next year? I know the official list won't be out for a while yet.

Back on topic -- My goal this year was to get faster and see if I liked longer rides. Both accomplished! While I opted out of our local very-hilly 600ks due to worries of not being fast enough yet, the 400k was so much fun that I'm looking at aiming for a full series + a big ride next year. (Possibly a full series with a flat 600k for confidence-building and then the Vermont 600k and then a big ride.) The PBP crowds don't really appeal to me.

unterhausen

I think there were 5 domestic 1200k's in 2011. Not sure if there will be the same number next year or not.

Heathpack 

Centuries 1 & 2: Done
Added a 3rd Century in June, a tough one, 9000 ft of climbing, all in the first 60 miles.
Added a Double Metric in June, with 7000ish feet climbing
Added a rando-style 130 mi ride in July with two friends, 9880 ft climbing
Decided to ride the century version of my 70-mile altitude ride, then caught in a lightning storm at the top of a summit and had to abort after only 50 miles
Added an almost-Century 90 mile, 9880 ft climbing ride, tough because it had over 7000 ft climbing in the first 50 miles

My altitude hilly/climbing century, 8000 ft climbing is still on the agenda for Sept and I added another tough one for October, around 10,000 ft climbing I think. And I did register for my first double, that is in December.

So my year is going well so far!

lhbernhardt

OK, Hoodoo 500, check.

Next week is the Cino Heroica. I'd better get the old pedals with toe clips on my steel fixie, and put the cleats on some road shoes! The ride requires a "heroic" bike. I'm also putting together an old De Rosa for my wife, with lots of my old parts I no longer use: Campag Super Record rear derailleur, Simplex retrofriction downtube shifters, clamp-on Campag front derailleur, etc.

I also managed to get an SR series in there, along with the odd 300 km brevet (setting up for Hoodoo) as well as a populaire on gravel roads. I may also throw in a 1,000 km brevet to get an earlier registration time for PBP 2015.

Luis

Rick@OCRR

I saw you at the HooDoo since I was crewing for Team Griz! Amazing that you were able to do all those climbs (and descents!) on the fixed gear.

Rick / OCRR

lhbernhardt

I was looking at my initial ride plan and comparing with the actuals from the result sheet. I was amazed at how much time I was losing on the climbs. I was fine until Escalante, and then I was suddenly 2.5 hours behind by the time I'd gotten over Boulder Mtn and into Loa. I just kept losing more time from then on, needing to sleep, needing to get into warmer clothes, find toilets, etc. The descents were almost as bad as the climbs, having to brake on the faster descents, like the 10-km drop from Cedar Breaks into Cedar City, which you can just bomb with a freewheel since it's completely non-technical. On the fixie, I had to hold the speed to around 50 kmh. The plan was to finish during daylight on Sunday, but that was totally out of the question. I was also mildly hallucinating on the second night. So I was happy just to finish.

But for an 835-km course with about 10,000 meters of climbing, my time fits within my rule of thumb (although at the high limit): 25 kmh plus 1 hour for every 1,000 meters of climbing. So that's 33 hours + 10 = 43 hours, and I finished in 42h52. But that's supposed to be an outside limit, so there's potential to go faster on the fixie!

In their race report they listed me as the "oldest finisher," but of course that was only among the solos. Team Griz was the 70-year-old team, right? You guys were right up there with the fast teams!

Luis

Rick@OCRR

Yes Luis, The average age of our team was a bit over 70 years. We had four riders, two very fast and two fast enough. I was part of a 3 person crew so big picture it worked very well.

We kept our riders on course, well fed and hydrated, plus we had a sleeping area in the 2nd car (Ford SUV) so they were able to sleep/rest as well. Also we didn't get rained on that first day.

A fun event and very well oganized but still . . . I can't imagine doing that course on a fixed gear bike!

Rick / OCRR