unterhausen

I figure the 400k or 600k will be really hot, but the 300k this weekend was colder than projected. I dropped my chain at the start, and everyone took off like it was a race. Tried to catch up, no deal. The start featured a lot of uphill, so maybe I wouldn't have held on for long anyway. Rode with a couple of people for a while, but then I dropped off. Finished a little faster than I have been in recent years, but not quite as fast as I would have liked. There were headwinds on the first half of the course, I was pretty wiped by the midpoint. I got past all of the high traffic roads before dark, which was at least part of my motivation for training hard this winter.

Machka 

You could come down here! We're running a 400K in August and 600K in September. Right in the dark of winter. We figure they'll be really cold.



Congrats on your 300K!

europa

Does 20km before work each day count?

Machka 

No sorry.

gecho

Last weekend's 200 was kinda windy, with an evening reprieve for the last 30 km. Tomorrow's promises to be "why even bother starting" windy, 40 gusting to 60 km/h around noon and staying that way through Sunday evening. Ride or not we usually meet up in the morning and decide what to do at that point. For one ride earlier in the year that I didn't bother even showing up to, I heard tales of not being able to break 10 km/h on flat ground before they turned around.

unterhausen

one of my worst decisions in randonneuring was starting a 200k with 30-50mph winds. And it was in Lancaster county PA, no trees to be found.

Amitoj

What a coincidence! I started randonneuring in November 2016 only.
Started with the Sunday series of New England Randonneurs and did their 100K rides each month from November to March of this year, except for February when I was down with flu. After that, I have done 2 200Ks, last one being yesterday in Vermont.

After each 200K i was exhausted. I want to do a few more 200Ks before i jump into longer distances but I dont see any more 200Ks for rest of the season

I guess that's the norm for randonneuring and I should look for permanents if i want to do 200Ks?

Machka 

It depends on your area ... where I live there is a 200K in December, another in March, another in April, and the final one in June but each area is different.

Amitoj

I am in New England region and October to March is considered off season. The New England Randonneurs have a 100K every month during the off season, which is really nice. And apart from June and July there is at least one 200K every month. So, essentially i am complaining about 2 months during the season

Machka 

Saturday -- Rowan and I cycled what was probably the most difficult / challenging 200 km randonnee (long distance cycling event ) I've ever done. 210 km with 2700 metres of climbing in a heat we haven't experienced since we were in Queensland at Easter in 2016.

We made a guest appearance with the BC Randonneurs and did the 200K event of the Peace to Parliament "hell week". Some riders also did only the 200K, but some did the whole set of four rides from Fort St. John all the way down to Victoria.
https://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/peace2parliament.html

Rowan was all right in the heat. He is usually the one who struggles with hot temperatures. But this time it was me. By about the half way point I knew I was battling heat exhaustion. I think May's surgery put a dent in my fitness level.

Nevertheless we finished the ride within the time limit ... with 30 min to spare! Our total time was 13 hours.

And then went for a 2-3 km walk to find dinner!

antimonysarah

I had my first truly-miserable slog on a brevet the weekend before last -- the same 400k that I'd finished strong on the year before, this year I hit a wall of pain with 20 miles to go (after feeling not-great for 20 or so before that -- prior to that I'd been having a fun ride). Finished, but the last 20 miles took me three hours.

Pretty sure at least 75% of the problem is that I haven't been doing core strength work -- while my legs were tired, it was everything else that tipped it over into misery.

I am signed up* for my first 600k this year, in October, so I'm going to work on that in the interim. I'm all out of order this year; the 400k was the first official ACP kilometers, and I may have the hardest time finding a convenient 200k if I decide I care about Paris recognizing my first full series. (I am ride organizer for a RUSA 200 this summer, but we didn't get it on the calendar in time for ACP.) We'll see how the 300k goes first, since it's a daunting beast of a climbfest, which is not at all playing to my strengths.

* Well, technically, the RBA isn't collecting signups yet, but I've made my hotel reservations.

2manybikes

Glad the heat didn't get worse, and you're OK. I did 142 miles (228Kilometers) Sunday. One of those days everything goes right.

Machka 

I like those days.

Machka 

Saturday 01 July -- Canada Day!

We cycled our first Canada Day Populaire ... 150 km for Canada's 150th birthday.

There were about 600 riders on this event which ran throughout the lower mainland BC. We got some hills, some flat, lots of wind and lots of sun!

And then we cycled a bit more to get our century.

Distance: 161.5km
Elevation: 1270 metres
Moving Time: 7:49:22
Elapsed Time: 9:06:31
Speed: Avg: 20.6km/h | Max: 50.8km/h


It's been a busy couple weeks!

The goals we completed:

1. We successfully completed yet another Petite Year Round Randonneur cycling distance, making this the 9th month in a row.

2. We successfully completed yet another Century (100 mile) ride, making this the 7th month in a row for that.

And as a bonus, we did two long rides (the 213 km ride last weekend and the 161 km ride this weekend) in Canada with a club I have ridden with in the past, and got to see several people I knew back then.

2manybikes

I love them.

2manybikes

Obviously you both had a few good days too.

Machka 

We did!