This post is for Greg, and maybe other too.
Last Sunday Greg and I got to talking about trying to do a 5-hour century some time this fall. I think if we had a group that was pretty committed to this we really could do it. Probably out in Saint Charles County, so we don't have to deal with so much traffic, and almost zero stop lights. We can easy make some loops that are 20-30 miles with no lights, and we'd only have to do them 3 or 4 times and we'd be done. I think a group of 5-8 riders who could pace line at 22-23 should be able to get the job done, and we'd bank some time for a stop or two. If we really had our act together (I'm volunteering) we could park a car or two in different places on the route, and the car's could have extra bottles of performance drinks, and some food or gels that we could change out on or bikes / into our jerseys in less than 5-minutes.
I know of at least two guys who are not on this blog who I could probably talk into helping with this. They are both good cyclists, but not crazy types. They would both be able to take their pulls at the above speeds.
Speaking of pulls, if we had say 6 or 7 cyclists, you'd only have to pull 60-90 seconds on the front. Or even less if you were not fully recovered. A 90 second pull on a flat road would leave you with almost 10 minutes before you got to second position. We'd all have to work together with each others plusses and minuses to make it work the best for the team. We could / should probably practice with some 20 mile hours or 40 miles in less than 2 hours on some of our rides leading up to this. We may need to look at some investment in gear, but not much. I'm only talking about things like gel bottles that make it easier for you to eat while in the back, while trying to stay on a quick line. If you have an extra bottle cage to cary more water (like the cages that go under you seat) that may be a plus too, but probably not completely necessary.
Let me know what you all think.
Mike
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3 comments:
Mike,
I used to ride St. Charles county a lot and I went from St. Peters to Portage des Sioux and back which was 60 some miles. I was thinking we could start from the Mueller soccer field, do a 50 mile loop twice and stop at our cars once for supplies. However after reading your post maybe it would be better to have a 34/35 mile loop and then stop at our cars at the parking lot twice. That way we wouldn't have to leave our cars anywhere but at the start point. However the stops would have to be 5 minutes or less. When Roark gets back I will work with him to lay out a route since he has the software that gives the distance as you plot the route. There also are three guys at my work, who are on our team, more than capable of doing this, and one has a friend he rides with. I don't know if they would be interested since they have accomplished this without a problem a number of times. One guy did the century year before last by himself on the first day of the MS 150 in under 5 hours and two others use to do the Tour de Cure century in under 5 hours. By the way I did say I would like to try to do this, but unlike you I don't know if I am capable. We only averaged 18 last Sunday on 75 miles and that was with several stops. I agree we need to work together on a few rides to practice, the ride this weekend may not work for 40 miles, probably for only 20-30. However next weeks bicycle fun ride we probably can get a 40 mile stretch in.
Greg
Greg and all,
I think we are going to get this done! I heard back from one of my guys, and he is interested, but he can't go the weekend of Sept 16/17. So maybe we can shoot for two weeks after the MS150.
I think I know the guy you work with that did that solo 100, Ryan. He would be a great addition to the group. I think we don't need to worry too much about group size either. The more the merrier, but if we get over 12 or so we'd probably need to run a double pace line, but they can be a real blast, and there are some good advantages to a double line.
I think 2 stops would still be best. We could all get through the first 50 mile loop, but a second loop of this size would be a problem. Plus even working hard we will have to go to the bathroom, probably more so towards the end of the ride. We can tinker around with the route. Maybe 40-40-20, or something. I think if we could stay out in the fields more (and less coming back to the soccer fields) that may be good to as it would keep us away from some of the stops and congestion. Maybe we could use that high school out there (Crab Orchard?) as a stop. I'd be willing to put my car out there with a cooler. I'm sure we can tinker with the route and come up with something that works. I also think a good group will be able to keep a good pace on those flat roads, and we'll bank some time for stops. With 10-12 people riding for 5 hours there will be people who need to stop either for bathroom, or unfortuantely maybe a flat. We'll need to have a good teamwork plan for how to deal with a flat and get it changed very quickly. Or a plan to split the group, and bring the person with the flat back in with some hard pulling. I don't know, that may turn into too much work. On the other hand, if we had the extra planned stops, and we wound up in two groups due to a flat, the stop (down the road) would help us all get back togehter. The group with the flat that may be a bit behind, would have to pull hard to get back on, and if they didn't quite make it, they could hold their stop to 2-3 minutes and then they'd be back in.
I'm looking forward to working on this over the next few weeks. I'm sure it will come together pretty well.
Mike
Mark wrote:
The St. Charles route that the HYH uses is a great 100 miles and it is all flat and returns to the start at 65 miles. Ron and I did that with two guys in June and we avg over 18 mph so it can be done. Let's figure out a date that will work for everyone. Labor Day?
Mike wrote:
Labor Day will not work as I will be out of town.
I'm thinking two weeks after the MS150.
What do you all think?
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