Originally Posted by
bigfred
It's not quite 160, 154km to be exact and as noted 4:30 would be ambitious. Right now I know I'm capable of riding 100-110km events with riders who finish Tauupo around 4:40-4:45. Flat? Depending on who's Garmin you want to believe it involves around 1700-1800m of climbing. Does that help?
It helps in making me better informed. It doesn't help much with my ego. If you, as a big guy, can ride just shy of 100 miles with 1700m of climbing - which is not hilly, but certainly nowhere near flat - in anything close to 4:30 you must be in terrific shape.
If you're in a paceline with some like-minded hitters that helps a lot, of course, but even then the climbing would see me off. I'd be very pleased to go much under 5:30, even in strong company.