I haven't done a 600 yet, just did my first 400 last weekend. I've been so used to century rides that I rode to/from the start that a 200k is pretty routine for me. A 300 is still a pretty big jump from 200, though. 200 I can crank through in daylight hours on all but the toughest of courses on the shortest of daylight hours. 300 means spending a bunch of time in the dark at the end of the ride when I'm already tired. (I'm a 17hr finisher, not one of the 11 - 13hr fast randos.) The 400 was a whole new surprise: Daylight, night riding, and daylight again. Something about that 2nd day sunrise made me realize exactly how long I'd been on the bike, and that was enough to make me tired. Knowing that if it was a 600k there would still be another 12 or so hours of saddle time left was enough to make me understand that I've got some work to do before attempting that distance.

A lot of people think the 400k is a tougher ride than the 600k. It just depends on how fast you are and what kind of shape you are in. On the 600k you can get a lot of sleep which makes it very pleasant. Basically a 400k-sleep-200k. If you want to do it straight through I suggest you do it fast. I've done a 600k in 22hrs and I've done one in 39hrs (and all sorts of times in between). The one I did in 39hrs was the most fun because we got about 7+hrs of sleep. Part of doing these things is pacing yourself. If you go out too fast you'll be in trouble. You have to know your body and what a sustainable pace is. It took me about 6 years to figure that one out. :) In my early rando days (before they enforced opening control times) I did my fastest 200k (4:45). Unfortunately I still had 400k left to do! Yeah, it was a 600k. Don't ask me what the heck I was thinking. ;) Later, on the first Goldrush we (the lead group) arrived a the first control 1/2hr before it opened and had to wait. I tried to get better but blasting out of the blocks is a hard habit to break.


IMHO if you're riding 30k miles a year and are not paid like Lance Armstrong you need to get a life! There is more to life than riding your bike 24/7. I'm not the fastest guy out there by a long shot but I can get down the road at a good clip when I need to. Often enough to have a few ultra distance course records and I rarely ride more than 10k miles/year.

This is exactly why I was preaching speed work earlier! You don't need to become the next Lance Armstrong. You just need to learn to ride a little faster. Last weekend I finished my very first 300k (that I can remember) in the dark. I usually don't even carry a light on a 300k. I knew I was going to be cruising with some friends so it wasn't a big deal. Actually it turned out pretty good because I pulled a muscle in my butt (sacroiliac?) the night before the ride and it hurt like an SOB the whole ride. Nothing like riding 300k with one leg...The key is to ride fast enough to enjoy yourself. These rides should not be a torture fest. At PBP in 2003 I had some major mechanical issues that had me leaving Brest two hours after the control closed. I had the opportunity to ride through the back of the field and it was not pretty! I guarantee you that I wouldn't want to voluntarily suffer like that. That was an eye opening experience!

As soon as I finished my first official 200K brevet (I'd done one or two casual 200K rides on my own the previous year), I knew I was ready for a 300K brevet and went out and rode it a couple weeks later.

I actually found my first 300K (which was really about 320 km) easier than the 200K. I rode the 200K on my 40 lb upright, knobby-tired mtn bike because I had torn my rotator cuff about a week or two before the ride and couldn't put much weight on my left arm. By the time I rode the 300K I could ride it on my road bicycle. That 300K was a piece of cake!!

You did a 200 K at a 26.5 mph pace? :rolleyes:

Yes I did. Sucking wheel behind five tandems and 15+/- singles. It was out of Davis CA north and basically flat. It was also a little short of 200k (115miles). I can ride a sub five hour century solo so doing that sucking wheel isn't a big leap... :)

btw, I should mention that 600k wasn't my fastest 600k! I over did it in that first 200k which made the next 400k pretty tough. My fastest 600k(386miles)was 22hrs. Nowadays I typically ride try and get 6-8hrs sleep on the 600K which makes the times in the 30+hr range.

Many worthless comments - the better to confuse the OP and any good answers to the original question.

But like I previously posted, "there's no way to know everything about" a ride you've never previously ridden. So you take the ride more seriously and exercise the experience you do have as well as you can.

And like I've said a dozen times - just because a ride is longer, doesn't make it harder or easier - a lot of other factors can outweigh the importance of distance......