Strategy for a hilly 200k
 

I just signed up for the Dairyland Dare. This is a very popular challenge ride held near Dodgeville, WI. Participants can travel several different distances. I've completed the 150Km distance in 2009 & 2010. The weather will be very good on Saturday with dry and cool conditions in the 60 to 80f range, light winds also.

The 150Km is 10,300 ft of climbing and the 200Km is 12,400 ft of climbing according to the organizers. I'm targeting the 200Km for the first time.

Should I stick with a smaller group that will be going at a moderate pace? Should I go it alone?

I'm very good at keeping a sane pace as a solo rider. I tend to descend faster than 90% of the riders, but also take it slow when climbing.

I also tend to skip Aid Stations unless my bottles are near empty and I avoid wasting time when I do stop.

Solo or group? What would you do?

My strategy:
1. Go solo.
2. Ride slow.
3. Walk up the really tough hills.
4. Carry cell phone.
5. Call wife to come and get me at mile 80.

Barrett-I last rode the DD in 2010. I rode the first half with a friend who had to bail with a bad leg and the second half on my own. I like the company and Skipper and I have ridden together enough that we're comfortable with our pace etc. That being said, I can see where riding with a group might change your pacing. Like you, I like going fast down and slow and steady going up, at least on a ride like that and riding alone I also spend less time at the stops usually just long enough for fresh water and a piece of fruit. If I had some more hills in my legs I would join the madness! This year, however, the miles have been flatter as I've been riding the rail trail due to heat and wind. Enjoy!

I'd top up with water at every opportunity.

I'd ride at my own pace, which probably means solo. Nothing wrong with latching onto a wheel if someone else is going at the pace you need, but it's very easy to be tempted into going too fast, and anyway, with that much climbing there'll be longish periods in which there's little benefit to be had from riding with others.

Hi chasm54,

Aid stops are every 12 miles, on average. I'll use 4 of the 9 stops available.

Join the madness! The weather might be perfect... I was undecided until yesterday.

Sounds like you'd do better riding solo. I usually ride solo on similar rides, but will hook up with other riders for parts of the ride, usually the flatter sections.

Food and water management is important for longer rides. Safer to stop at the stops and get something than to run out. Not lingering is a good plan. Grab something and go.

Every twelve miles? Good grief.

The normal charity rides around here have rest stops every 10 miles or so. If it's hot and you're just carrying one or two bottles, you may stop at every one. If you're in North-East England, you may not appreciate what "hot" is. With a camelbak, you can stretch that to 30-40 miles when it's hot. But I digress...

Personally, I find it a lot more fun to ride with other people, IF I know other people to ride with. But just glomming onto a paceline of strangers deosn't appeal to me so much. But if you can ride the miles, and have fun doing it, that makes it way easier, mentally.

I do not stop at rest stations except for water until I get to around 65 miles. Then it is eat something more substantial -drink a full bottle- stretch a bit and go.

But on these organised rides there is always some one or a group going at your pace. Just don't get on a group that makes you breath hard and overextend yourself and don't stay with a group that is just a bit too slow.

And as the milage is longer than you have done before and it is a bit hillier- put a cassette on with a lower gear than you would normally run. You may not need it- but it could be tough if you do and it isn't there.

Normal rules apply of drink- eat and take pics.

Since this ride appears to have a lot of up and down, being in a group may not make much difference anyway. Everyone climbs and descends at their own pace - hills tend to be "every man for himself".

I'd like to see a Garmin 800 file for the elevation profile. Looking at the ride data I bet it has around 7900' total. Whatever. It's still a hilly ride and you will have to pace the hills or they will wear you down as the ride progresses. Sometimes rides that are constantly up and down are harder than those with a few really long big climbs. The reason I think is we tend to want to get over the little ones by powering up them while the big climbs require us to settle into a steady climbing pace that will be sustainable. So the many short climbs become a ride of Z4 intervals and eventually the legs turn to rubber. Watch your effort on those hills, especially early in the ride and you should be fine.

The Old Kentucky Home Tour (which I need to sign up for) has cookie stops every 12 miles until you hit the miserably hilly last 20/50 miles (depending on the route) which have almost none until the finish. It really chaps my hide. Traditionally I stop for all of them, but I might skip most of them. Gotta keep the speed up, and I'd hate to have to stop and talk to someone I knew ;)

I don't think what any of us would do really matters, does it?. Do what works best for you. You have enough experience to know that when you see it. If you think you would like to ride with the group, maybe try it for a while and see if it is working for you. If so, stay with them. If not, drop them or let them drop you.

Whatever you do, have a great ride and post lots of pictures.

Bluesdawg is right - we're all different and you surely know your style better than we do. With that said, on the few occasions when I've done this kind of ride, I've kind of mixed and matched - rode with people, but then told them to go on without me when their pace was burning me out, rode solo and then taken up with some riders with whom I found myself in sync. I've never done this kind of ride 100% solo. But YMMV, of course.

The Dairyland Dare is on my bucket list, but I'm in no shape for it this year. I hope you have a blast.

What ever you do, save something for the last few hills.

We have a double-metric coming up and I was kind of wondering the same things . . . group or solo? http://www.cibike.org/cool-breeze.html

I usually start out with a group of friends and riders from our club and see how the pace shakes out from the start. There's 8,500 feet of climbing but the only long climb is Casidas Pass, so nothing brutal.

I rode Tour de Big Bear last weekend (119 mi., 8,000 feet of climbing); started out with my friend David, but probably pushed too hard just trying to stay on his wheel and was burned out (somewhat) for the two long climbs up both sides of Onyx . . . so rode the balance mostly solo.

To get ready, hopefully, I'll lay off the climbing for this coming weekend and ride a double metric as a training ride, at a slower pace, and mostly along the coast (I think it's only 4,000 ft. of climbing). We start in Anaheim (at the train station) and ride to Oceanside, then most riders will take the train back while the rest of us fight the afternoon headwind and ride back.

So Barrettscv, I would advise you to not have a solo vs. group plan going in and just play it by ear as the miles roll out.

Rick / OCRR

Yes, I force myself to eat at least 200 calories for every hour if I'm hungry or not. I also drink at least one bottle per hour, more in hot weather. I expect to use more than 5000 calories over 7 or 8 hours, so I'll still be using way more than I can digest.

I also use a HR monitor and stay below 160 BPM on the climbs. My Max is about 180 BPM. I've stopped riding to allow my HR to normalize, plus it's a chance to take pictures.

I don't know, I often get good advice from more some very expert folks here. I also like to hear a range of opinions. I am going to do what you stated. Start with a group and get to know their pace before deciding. If I do end up riding solo, I'll be social-able before and after the event. I'm probably car pooling and sharing a room with some people I know.

I'm usually a solo rider and have a pace that works for me but might not work for other riders. While riding with friends in Chicago, I'll join a stronger mate or group and suffer with a too-fast pace for two to three hours. On longer rides, I'm stubborn about keeping a sane pace and almost always break off the back on climbs or off the front on descents depend on the pace of the group.

I'm planning on a solo day, after starting off in a group.

Those are words to live by :-)

Drink more than you want to, because if you discover you're dehydrated, it might be too late to feel good enough to continue.

Eat much more sugar than you normally would. Sugary drinks are poisonous except in events like this, where they're practically required.

I will have my Garmin 800 active during the event, I would guess the actual vertical will not match the data on the official website. I learned on my first day in this area, back in 2008, that these short-but-steep hills deserve respect.

Thank's Rick, it's good to know that other event cyclist have the same debate concern the solo or group question. I'll decide as I ride.

While I'm not 50+ I'm doing this ride in Saturday, maybe I'll see you there! I'm also doing the 200 km ride, which for a Clydesdale is gonna be interesting. I did the HHH 100 km last year and had a blast so I figured this would be a nice progression. Being a bigger guy I just try to stay within myself, eat every time my garmin beeps (I have it set for 5 miles), and drink often. I'll usually stop at the rest stops if just to top off the water and stretch for 30 seconds.

For riding with others, if you find the right people then totally. Just make sure not to over extend yourself to maintain their pace.

Hope to see you out there! Look for he big guy in red with the Catlike whisper helmet, you can't miss me.

Rick, I rode the Cool Breeze double-metric last year and am signed up again this year. However, this year I'm adding a couple of miles because the 18th is my birthday and I'm going to ride double my age in miles, so I'll have to add about two or three miles to make the goal. Last year, I hung with a small group to the summit at Thatcher School, then went solo after that. Will cut down the amount of time goofing off at the rest stops this year. Just in and out this time, long enough to grab about 200 calories and top off the water bottles. The run in from Carpentaria to the finish is very fast with the prevailing ocean breeze pushing us. I finished pretty strong last year.

Several things that I really like about the Cool Breeze is that all the big hills are front loaded and you have the wind with you on the return leg. The weather also cooperates most of the time. We're up and over the interior hills before it really starts warming up, and then we're along the relatively cool coast. It's a great ride!

I'll look for you. I'm starting at 6:30 and might be in a mixed gender group. I wear a simple white bike jersey with a white long sleeve base layer. My bike is all black, no brand name. I'm also a big guy, 6' & 205 lbs.

If we miss each other, have a great and safe event!

Michael