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Abandoned on a 200k brevet.

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Fifty Plus (50+) Share the victories, challenges, successes and special concerns of bicyclists 50 and older. Especially useful for those entering or reentering bicycling.

Abandoned on a 200k brevet.

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Old 05-22-24, 03:23 PM
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The brevets do go up from 200k. I don't know if there is an up limit, but I know of a 1400klm brevet around Greece.
My limit is two 1000klm. I've almost reached 100 brevets since 2004 when I started them. Now I only do one or two 200klm ones.
No night riding anymore. Also I have limited the total ascent to 2000m on the 200klm brevets.
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Old 05-23-24, 10:08 AM
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Similar experience to what others have posted.

On my first century ride - 105 miles - I really struggled at about the 75 mile mark (was 58 at the time). I did finish but was really hurting. I wanted to believe I could do better and felt like I could do much better with pacing and hydration.

My next century - a year later - again, I really was struggling at about the 80 mile mark. I felt like I did better with pacing and hydration but this was a very, for me, hot day. Around 95 degrees and fairly humid.

So, I swore off doing long rides on very hot days and continued to refine my pacing and hydration and that helped. Always tired at the end, of course, but felt more like a "good tired" than an "I hope I don't die" tired
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Old 05-23-24, 10:50 AM
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Originally Posted by yannisg
View: Congrats on your effort - and sharing - guessing you might be on the younger side of this 50+ grouping.
Your problem could be simple or complex. Like @Trakhak said = those temps likely cooked the system.
Don't the brevet lengths just go up from 200km?

Maybe by the time you qualify for the 65+ thread you will have conquered this brevet quandary. One way or another.


Aside:
1. Your country gets Hot. very Hot.
2. my most memorable time in Greece was a beautiful little beach below the cliffs at Paleokastritsa, Corfu. Not Athens or the ancient monuments of early civilization. Best to create one's own history ....
Kinda looked something like this from the road, before descending on my rented moped, sweating all the way. The beach would be just out of the pic ..... haha, but you (all) get the idea.
I was a Paleokastritsa in the late '80. glad you enjoyed your stay.
Then I did a few explorative rides in northern Kerkira, and enjoyed them
Amazingly, I was also in Paleokastritsa in late '80. I spent a couple of weeks in the then-comparatively rustic town of Kassiopi in the north-east of Corfu, and drive across to Paleokastritsa for the day. Nice beach.
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Old 05-25-24, 11:19 AM
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I went on a ride 4 days after the brevet, and even doing farm work during those days I rode well on the ride with normal times on uphill segments. So all is well.
After reviewing everything there were probably 2 main reasons for my condition on the brevet.
1. I started the brevet tired. I had done some uphill sweet spot intervals 4 days before, and went on an 1 hour uphill ride 3 days before, and did farm and garden work. You would think I should have known better after all these brevets I have done in the past.
2. Sudden increase in temperature from the previous days 24 C to 34 C. First hot days in 2024.
Anyway, all is well now.
Thanks everybody for your feedback
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Old 05-25-24, 11:20 AM
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Originally Posted by yannisg
Has anyone experienced a similar situation. Any views appreciated.
I ride alone so no one to compare my efforts to. That said, I have good days and not-so-good days, mostly mental.

As others have suggested, proper hydration is everything. You have to drink water and your body must process it properly. Any break in this chain and your ride will suck.
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Old 05-25-24, 01:15 PM
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If I'm in reasonable condition, the only thing that will do this to me is a combination of heat and direct sunlight. It may be old-school, but I always check my bio-rythyms before signing-up for a big event.
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Old 05-25-24, 01:59 PM
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At the start of an endurance ride, I have the fitness I brought, the weather will be what it will be, and luck brings what it brings. My job is to stay within myself and deal with what comes. The more fitness I bring, the easier everything gets. Heat is challenging; I lived in west Texas for a year and margins for error were thin.

I dnfd LEL largely due to unexpected heat. Other errors ate up any margin I had. There have been a few other rides where I was probably close, but that's the only dnf.

Endurance riding, to me, is about exploring boundaries. You can't really do that without risking a dnf.
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Old 05-26-24, 10:06 AM
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Originally Posted by JoeyBike
I ride alone so no one to compare my efforts to. That said, I have good days and not-so-good days, mostly mental.

As others have suggested, proper hydration is everything. You have to drink water and your body must process it properly. Any break in this chain and your ride will suck.
I think I was hydrating well. Lot's of fluids the day before, and a lot of spring fountains along the 1st half of the brevet that I used to refuel. Maybe, I needed to drink more because of the sudden temperature rise. I glad I stopped at 120klm even though there were not many hills left, but I couldn't even ride at my usual pace on the flats, and had to dismount every few klm. It would have been torture even it I was able to finish. Sometimes logic grows with age.
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