ScottBolton

The title sort of says it all. What are your views / pros / cons on starting times for such a self-supported, Audax-style ride in western Europe?

kingston 

I prefer to sleep when it's dark and be on the bike when it's light out. I would time my day 1 start so I could I could be on the bike on the second day a bit before dawn after 3-4 hours sleep.

ScottBolton

Kingston, what time are you looking at starting Day 1? Would you be riding from, say, 07:00 until midnight?

kingston 

Depends on when the sun comes up and how far I'm planning to go on the first day. For example, If sunrise is at 7AM, and I want to go 400k on day 1, I would leave at 6AM and budget 20 hours, which would get me to the day two start at around 2AM with 3-4 hours of sleep and another 6AM start on day 2. If I ride faster or slower I get to sleep more or less.

rhm

@ScottBolton, did you see the thread I started, with complete ride report, for the LOL? If you haven't done an evening start 1000k ride, I suggest you read my ride report there; it will give you some idea of how the evening start might go, depending on weather &c. Here's a link to that:

LOL - the Lap of the Lake (Lake Ontario)


I also addressed this in the "Is it too early..." thread. Too Early to Think About PBP?

My conclusion is that the evening start is a good thing. It is difficult, but you get the worst of the nightitime riding over before you get too tired; and then you can go to bed at the end of 24 hours or so, at a time when it is really difficult to keep riding.

GrainBrain

That's incredible! First time I've read someone's report like that.

Cyclist0108

I like to start a 1000 km ride by 9:00 am so I can get more than half of it done before lunch.

clasher

I liked the 4am start for the granite anvil last year, even at a slower pace we were at the 400km overnight just after midnight so there was enough time for a good nap.

The only evening start (6pm) I did was a flèche and I didn't like it so much but I was having knee pain that ride and we had an easy route so it wasn't really analogous to most 1000K brevets.

kingston 

Same as PBP, I think the night start is best for people who are either looking for a fast time or are going to need a lot of time on the bike and want to get a good chunk out of the way on the first day. For the middle-of-the-pack 24-25 kph/avg-on-the-bike rider looking to get two decent night's sleep, I think the morning start is more comfortable.

ScottBolton

Thanks to all that replied. Looks like the field is split. I'll see if I can get a couple of 400s in before the big one and try to compare am with pm.