Richard Cranium

Just out of curiosity - how many cyclists out there in bike forum land would be interested in meeting other cyclists to attempt a triple-century bicycle ride.

The goal is to gather strong cyclists into a group so as to make a quad century possible for the greatest portion of those entering the ride. This ride isn't for showing off or winning, its about a demonstration of group riding skills and like-minded determination.

The idea is to create a "special event" that boasts a remarkable amount of "miles ridden" by accomplished riders within a 24 hour period.

If I could get four or five riders interested - I would consider hosting - if not in fact riding the event. This event - if i host it - would be in the southern Illinois area, just 50 miles east of St Louis.

I'm going to ride for 24 hours next month regardless- send a PM or comment if you interested in joining me. This could be a great training experience for those interested in riding for time at PBP.......

(wow did I just post that?)

Homeyba

I think the better question is how many people on this forum can do 400miles in 24hrs? My guess it not too many. Sounds like fun though, I'd love to do it. Unfortunately the next couple months are really tough for me.

StephenH

RC, I would suggest going through the local rando message boards within driving distance of the event. I say this because Bikeforums.net reaches a relatively small percentage of cyclists.

Is it a triple century or a quad century? I can't do either, but that narrows your target audience.
Is it recumbent friendly or is this a team/group ride? That also narrows your target audience.

Rick@OCRR

RC, If you want to do this why not hook it up with the Los Angeles Wheelmen and the Grand Tour? The 2011 edition was last Sat. so you have a year to set everything up for a trip to Socal.

I think there were four sucessful quads this year, lots of triples too. I rode the Highland Double in 15:15 with my friends David Slaton and Lou Ann Montalvo. David and I could have gone faster, but we were supporting Lou Ann's attempt to finish in daylight (which she did!).

We also saw your old friend Bob Harding several times throughout the day (just like Litchfield!). Plus, I rode with Kitty (the first woman to ride RAAM) and she remembered Dr. Beeson, Lon and Susan and a lot of the old Long Distance riders.

Anyway, my point is, with the Grand Tour all the difficult set-up work has already been done. Why not just join us out here in 2012?

Rick / OCRR

The Octopus 

RC, I think it's great that you're trying to set something like this up. I'm not in shape to ride 400 miles in 24 hours these days (and won't be this year), otherwise I'd be all over it.

I think the toughest thing about this is going to be keeping a group together for that long without people flying off the front or people getting shelled out the back. I was part of a fleche team that did 560K a few years ago -- quite a bit shy of 400 miles -- and the challenges of keeping everyone together and on the same page were formidable (and this was a very experienced group that included a RAAM solo finisher and probably two dozen successful 1200Ks among us).

Anyway, I think it's a heck of a good challenge and I hope you have some takers. There are a lot of guys over at Big Dogs -- many of whom are in the same geographical area as your planned ride -- who could easily turn in 400 miles in 24 hours, and many of whom have ridden together quite a lot, so you might try over there to drum up some interest.