Originally Posted by
StephenH
I just get in the drops and keep grinding away.
One aspect of long-distance riding that I hadn't figured on was that with longer rides, you can also get stuck riding into the wind for longer times. On my 1200k this spring, I rode solo into a headwind for about the first 115 miles. On one of my 300k's, I had almost a 100 miles of headwind coming back in. There's no magic solution, just keep riding and work your way in.
(Oh, draft a tandem if possible, but not always feasible!)
One other thing, if it's an out-and-back as you say, just ride out, if you get too pooped too early, just turn around early, no law that says you have to go the whole way just because you start out.
No tandems, I ride solo.
The wind was terrible. But I did it anyway. 100mi on the button. At the 83mi mark I was on the small chainring and on the second lowest gear that I use for hillclimbing. It was a howling kind of wind. So here I was in a racing tuck going a stinking 9mph. I looked at the ground creeping by, my cadence spinning like crazy and thought to myself, "I better start hammering or I could get dropped by a frickin' jogger".
Oh well. It's done.