Originally Posted by
unterhausen
5000k is a real accomplishment 200k or less at a time, congratulations!
I forgot the 5000k award, I probably should have done a perm pop. 4900k is the most I have ever done, got to 4800k one year.
StephenH, I see you do an out and back route on consecutive days. Do you stay with someone at the remote spot? This is similar to iTrod's idea, except I couldn't talk him into limiting the length to 100 miles instead of 200k.
I just stay at motels at the far end.
I've got 6 perms that are the Stampede 1200k (with Days 1 and 2 broken up into 2 perms each) and 2 new perms that are part of the Hound Dog 1200k route (Days 1 and 3, currently), and 2 or 3 perms that are just for fun. (The routes less than a 200k are a half-day on longer routes). Method so far has been to take minimal overnight gear, but including the lightest sneakers I could find, ride to the far end, park the bike in the motel room and hike down to the nearest grocery store for chow. I like being able to cover a 400k route but do it all in daytime. I think that's a neat idea, but so far, haven't generated much if any interest from anyone else. On the newest route, it's only 90 miles one way, so in warmer weather, I'd probably ride it out and back the same day. On the Pale Green Perm, it's a free-route, so I'm riding one route out and a different route back, with about 15 or 20 bonus miles each way.
I did one route a while back, "Just Go North", because the forecast showed wind from the south the first day, wind from the north the second day, so tailwind both ways. It worked out mostly tailwind on day 1, and mostly at-least-not-headwind on day 2.
That "Just Go North" was leg 1 of the rando tour to Canada, by the way.
On the riding in the cold- just keep in mind that not all the events are created equal in all places. You can work a k-hound just fine here in Texas, but if you want to train for mountains, well, tough.