Did a 400k this weekend. I started out tired because it was a 2+ hour drive to the starting point for a 7am rollout, but I miscalculated and left the house an hour earlier than necessary. We were riding towards the
southernmost point of mainland Asia, which sounded a lot more exciting than it should. I guess if I were touring it would be a lot more fun exploring and taking pictures of the national park, but here it's just a quick stamp-and-go.
Most of the ride was quite windy, and practically a headwind all around. The first 100km practically hugged the coastline, so it was cool and very flat. The fast group was pushing over 32-35km/h most of the way to the first controle at 88.4km. By the time we arrived most of the stores were just beginning to open, so I just went into the earliest one open and had a quick breakfast before moving on.
Towards the second checkpoint we endured the hot (late) morning sun, but since we were still riding along the coastline the wind was nice and cool. A big part of this section is on small, isolated rural roads to we enjoyed low traffic. A mix of nice, smooth paved road and some gravel/unpaved sections. Suffered a dropped chain along one of the unpaved stretches... probably wasn't a good idea to drop down to the small ring during a bumpy ride. Luckily had some wet wipes to clean my hands after fixing it. Always carry wet wipes to clean your hands, your bum, in case you have to use a public toilet with no toilet paper... its usefulness is practically endless!!
After the second checkpoint at the national park, the route turned inland. Although it was still pretty windy but it was no longer a nice and cool breeze, so the hot afternoon sun was taking its toll. My appetite was completely shot and I resorted to liquids for my nutrition - ice cream, fruit juice, energy drinks and the like. On the bright side, it worked better than expected. Didn't feel hungry at all despite only having liquids for both lunch and dinner. The weather also sort of improved after 4pm, with an overcast sky blocking out the sun. Definitely felt a lot better after that. During the hot periods I felt like even pushing as low as 60-65% of my FTP was work; had to soft pedal at around 45-55% FTP to maintain a decent heart rate.
I hit my lowest point between 300-380km of the ride. The climbs were all backloaded on this course, and doing them in the middle of the night, in pitch black darkness, sort of reminded me of PBP - cold, and never-ending rises. Kept questioning why am I putting myself through this... but I guess everyone goes through this low periods now and then. This was also the time where sleep deprivation started to hit. At first it was talking to myself to stay awake (thank goodness I was riding solo at the time, lol), and then it was quick short 5-minute breaks to shake off the sleepiness. And then it was energy drinks -- Livita or Red Bull, whichever was available -- where there was an open convenience store or petrol station. But it worked, managed to finish the ride by 3:30am - 20h 30m overall.
A bit disappointed at this actually; at the start I was thinking I might be able to pull off a sub-16h finish due to the fast start and relatively flat course, but after suffering from the dropped chain and being slowed down by the unpaved road sections I readjusted my expectations to 18h. And then after the hot afternoon sun plus the sleep deprivation through the night, I just went with whatever I could pull off. It's still a personal best, admittedly... just thought I could pull off something better after all the training that I've been doing ever since my DNF in France. I guess my biggest obstacles are still the hot afternoon weather and the sleep deprivation at night. Depending on location and start times, I can probably deal with the sleep issues with sleep banking and other techniques, but hot weather is going to be an issue with randonneuring anywhere within South East Asia.
Anyways, I've made a pretty long ride video this time around. Have a look if you have the time: