Originally Posted by PdxMark
I'm riding my first brevet series this year. My 600km ride begins tomorrow, and I'm both excited & nervous. In preparing to ride my first double century I had decided that the first 50 miles would be easy, the second 50 would be OK, the third would be a bit of work, and the difficulty would all come down to the last 50 miles. For this 600km I'm trying the same mental game, but it doesn't ring quite so true... "the first 100 miles will be "easy," the second 100 miles will be "some work," the third 100 miles will get "challenging," and then that last 60-80 miles will be the finale... 100s are not so easy to dismiss as 50s...
After the 600k I'm planning to write a summary of my impressions about a brevet series.
I prefer to break down the kms into . . . to the next control. In other words, on my 600K (I've done 3 of them), the first control is 75 kms down the road. So, I'm only riding 75 kms. Well, I've often ridden 75 kms in training - that's a casual evening ride for me, so no problem. I don't think about the rest of the ride, just that 75 kms. Then when I get to the control, I take care of business and get back on the bicycle for a whole new ride of 75 kms to the next control. It's a brand new ride for me and all I've got to do is ride
that 75 kms. . . . and so on until I'm done.
I don't think about how much further I've got to go for the whole ride, or about whether this section is going to be difficult or that section is going to be easier, I just focus on the small segment of the ride I'm currently riding. I made the mistake of looking at the whole ride on the PBP at one point. I was about 300 kms into the ride, just coming into the Fougere control. I had been struggling with the hills and was pretty tired and suddenly I thought, "I've still got over 900 kms to go." I just about quit at Fougere. Fortunately, I did what has been recommended to me and others: Before you quit, eat something, drink something, take a little nap . . . and then decide. When I woke up from my nap, I was ready to keep riding.
I have ups and downs during the ride and can't predict that I'm going to have trouble here or there. My tendancy is to ride a bit slower and struggle a bit first thing in the morning ... and then to gain strength and speed later in the day and on into the night. So if a ride starts at 6 am (like my 600Ks do), I might feel like I'm really fighting for the first 6 hours of the ride, and then all of a sudden, 130 kms into the ride, I'll have a wave of strength and energy come over me and I'll be flying up and down the roads for a while. I just go with it as it comes.
Good luck on your 600K! Are you planning to sleep or ride right through? I've done it both ways.
I'll be interested to read your writeup. I've done writeups of all the brevets I've done.