Originally Posted by RollCNY

OP, may I ask where in CNY you are? If you have the goal to do 200k this year, you can help yourself a great deal by picking the right course. The northern end of the Finger Lakes are much flatter than the southern end. The eastern sides of the lakes are flatter than the western. Riding east of 81 is much flatter than west of 81.

I ride a great deal from Syracuse to Cortland and Ithaca, out to Utica, and as far west as Canandaigua. If it ever worked out, I would be more than happy to ride with you at some point and perhaps offer more specific pointers, if interested. I do not have the long distance know how of others on this forum, but do ride 200km rides with some frequency, and usually on a steel single speed. Most likely, your bike isn't the major limiter.

Feel free to PM me if that interests you.