bluestacks867

EDIT: THIS RIDE HAS BEEN COMPLETED. RECAP ON PAGE 2





Hello all -

I am looking for advice regarding my first double century.

I am 32 years old with three young kids and a wife who is just barely putting up with my swim-bike-run. I am training very well for my first half triathlon in late May but I don't really have the time to string together multiple centuries / long rides to prepare for a double on the bike. I'll list out complete details below so you can tailor your advice accordingly.


Bike
2012 P2
3 bottles
Top tube stealth bag
Triangle frame bag
Rear saddle bag


Previous solo rides

2/18/17 - 56 miles - 3:12:51 - 17.5 mph - 1,978 feet - 150w
2 gels
1 banana
3 bottles of Gatorade

2/24/17 - 112 miles - 6:25:45 - 17.5 mph - 4,065 feet - 154w
5 gels
4 bananas
6 bottles of Gatorade

I felt really, really good during the 112. I feel like I could have done at least 150 with out problems if I kept eating properly. It was an out and back and I didn't budget any time to go further. The logistics of following turn directions from a note card worked well.

Route
I already finalized this route after a lot of planning. Loops just won't cut it for me. I need an adventure and something to chase. I planned this route on google street view. For safety, 90% of the ride will have wide shoulders. I do not have any specific rest stops in mind, but there are plenty of gas stations ever 10-15 miles. I will begin near home and end at in-laws. The first 100 miles will be moderate rolling hills, the last 100 miles will be pancake flat.




Time
I am planning on doing this April 7 dependent on wind conditions. There will be 13 hours of daylight and almost 14 if I include twilight. I plan on starting just before twilight with a couple bike lights and familiar roads.


Packing list

• Wear
• Socks
• Shoes
• Coconut oil
• Shorts
• HRM
• Sunscreen
• Jersey
• Chapstick
• Helmet
• Sun glasses

Bike

• 920xt
• Bottles x 3
• Bike light x 2

Stealth Pouch

• Multi-tool
• Chapstick
• Gels
• Extra Garmin

Frame Pouch

• Sunscreen
• Coconut Oil
• Pump
• Cable/lock
• Baggy
• License
• Insurance
• Money
• Charging stick
• Banana x 2
• Directions

Seat Pouch

• Tubes x 2
• Patch kit
• Tire levers
• Contacts
• Money

Jersey

• Baggy
• Phone
• Directions
• Gel Flask

I already know that my body handles Gatorade, gels, and bananas very well. I was thinking of stopping half way and eating a solid real meal but supplementing the rest of the ride with the above three.

I would ideally like to do two centuries on back to back days before April but I really don't think family life will allow it.

I do not have a time goal other than I would like to finish before dark. Maybe 12:30:00 + 1.5 hours of stopping. I plan on using my aero position as much as possible but long periods of time upright and stretching.

I will leave a day early, late, or postpone the ride a week if there is a rain or a major east or south wind.

Am I missing anything from my pack list? Could you offer any advice or lessons learned from this distance?

Thank you for your time.

Carbonfiberboy 

As long as you know how to eat and hydrate, you don't need to do any ride over 60-75 miles as long as that ride is ridden all-out and you do one every weekend. If you can climb hard on every hill all the way to the finish, you're strong enough. Weekly mileage can be as little as 150 for the last 6 weeks before the long ride, but 200 is better. I always include some midweek aero training, spending 1/2 to one hour continuously in aero position.
14 hours should be plenty of time.

I like to have a second pair of gloves, slightly different than the first. I use a headband to keep sweat out of my eyes. I'd bring some butt grease besides coconut oil. I also bring a small bottle of eye drops.

StephenH

One challenge is doing the distance, one challenge is doing it fast, but don't confuse the two. You're probably good for the distance right now, whether you can hit your time goals is a different issue.
Depending on weather, you'll likely either need additional clothing on the bike, or need to strip down after a while and need a place to put that additional clothing.
I know nothing about the roads there. Around here, the preferred riding is on rural roads with zero traffic, rather than on trafficky roads with shoulders. And a pet peeve, they're putting more and more rumble strips in those shoulders.
Test your lights out well prior to the ride if you haven't.
I assume the socks, shorts, shoes, jersey are the ones you're wearing, not extras.

bluestacks867

Thanks for the advice Carbon and Stephen.

Yes the "wear list" is clothing that I will wear out the door, not extras.

These roads will not have 0 traffic but they are also not major highways. Most of the roads are supporting roads to a larger highway. The traffic does not bother me as long as I have a nice wide shoulder. I think it might just be because of the options I have living around here and grew used to it.

I do pretty well in cold weather, I was hoping to dress light even on the early April morning when it may be chilly. I do have arm warmers my dad gave me that I can add to the list and decide that morning.

bluestacks867

I have always only used coconut oil for long rides without issues but obviously this double century is almost double my longest distance. Do you have any recommendations on butt grease?

Secret Squirrel

+1 on chamois cream. For that long of a ride, I like to use a brand that has a heavy viscosity : https://www.amazon.com/Sportslick-3-8-oz/dp/B0007OC0A2
Performance Bike has :Paceline Eurostyle Chamois Butt'r
The lighter weight ones like "Paceline Eurostyle Chamois Butt'r" works well and you might need to re-apply after about 80 miles.

You will get multitudes of opinions on chamois creams. Your best bet is to try more than one type before riding a double.

Secret Squirrel

If you don't carry an extra folding tire, look at a tire boot. I carry a 3 inch section from an old folding tire. A chain tool could be part of your multitool. It looks like you could maintain a 6 hour 100 miles, but look at a declining 2nd half at maybe 7 hours. Total 13 hours. The effort is not 2 centuries added together. You will be in the saddle for 12-13 hours with added abrasion and limited body position changes.
Also, bring something to combat cramping. Some people use tums. I like to use Nuun electrolytes added to my water.

bluestacks867

I picked up some chamois cream and tire boot pack. Thanks, Secret Squirrel.

Drew Eckhardt 

That doesn't matter.

Two popular rules of thumb seem to be accurate out to 200 miles (with 12,000 feet of climbing):

1. You can comfortably ride your weekly average all at once. 200 miles a week = 200 miles in one ride.

2. You can comfortably ride 50% farther than your longest ride.

I'd do a 130 mile or 200K ride a month before, keep riding 200 miles/week (add 10% 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 4 weeks if you're not there yet), and not worry about it.

While I wouldn't go as far as wearing a skin fit aero jersey (the pockets are small and not comfortable when stuffed), I'd pass on baggy. The flapping gets annoying and is extra drag you don't want to deal with. The same applies to outer wear (I have a race fit wind jacket).

Make a cue sheet and include convenience stores / free water sources.

I like ridewithgps which can use the Open Street Map cycling maps that include things like water as points of interest.

I wouldn't do that. The two pieces of fried chicken I had 130-140 miles into my first double century gave me indigestion for two out of the four hours remaining. One piece of chicken, a sushi roll, 1/4 pound of Chinese food, or similar real-food snack is OK on a long ride; it's just more that doesn't sit well.

Bring a spare folding tire. When a tiny piece of road debris embeds itself in your tire and you have problems finding the leak without water to dunk the tube under and/or fail to find and dig out a piece buried in the rubber you can swap it and deal with the problem later. A tire boot won't help you there.

Bring a chain tool, 3 master links, and the left overs from a new chain. That will get you back to full length following the oddest failure I've seen - the chain going off the outside of the big ring and back on creating two loops which each bend a link.

Carbonfiberboy 

^Another good point. I always carry a spare tire, the smallest and lightest that I have laying around. But I also carry a boot kit! One never knows . . .

Secret Squirrel

It might be too late in the planning stage for this suggestion:
If I we're to plan a ride template, I would duplicate a local double century (or century) route as the basis for a solo ride. It would have the resources listed on their route slips. The route slips should be available from sponsoring club websites. It would also list rest stops and relative route times.

CliffordK

Being familiar with the route is good.

I've programmed routes into Strava Routes that I can access real-time. However, I don't list particular stops. I just keep my eyes open for parks, campgrounds, etc. And sometimes streams.

OH, and RESTROOMS. I did run into a problem earlier that the park restrooms were locked. Then then next convenience store I bumped into had no public restrooms (last time I'll ever buy anything there). And, it was an extended suburbia on a busy road, so another 10 miles or so until I found a place I was comfortable stopping beside the road.

I did do an organized century ride last year with rest stops, but I can really only guarantee one stop would be "open", unless it was seasonally closed. But, I'm not sure I could stand doing two circles.

On a couple of rides, I've hit 180 miles, thought about stopping by "home" to dump cargo, then heading out for the last 20 miles to make a double-C, but it is so hard to head out again after I get home.

unterhausen

yeah, my first 300k, I had a plan to go out and ride another 12 miles to hit 200. Yeah, right. Turns out it just doesn't mean that much to me. And I was planning on riding 250 miles 2 weeks later anyway.

bluestacks867

Thanks for all of the additional advice everyone. I will definitely get a spare tire and bring that along.

I have been studying the route on Google street view, studying the turns and planning out the directions.

I print out some small card with turn by turn directions like this:

78.7 | Right | PA-272 | 9.8 | sign, fireworks (L)

The step basically means at mile 78.7 miles I turn right onto 272 for 9.8 miles. There is a sign for 272 as well as a fireworks building on the left.

After every turn I hit the lap button on my gps just in case my total mileage starts getting off I can use the current lap distance to be prepared for the next turn. I don't know if it is personal preference, but having this sheet with a list of turns really helps pass the time. It feels like checkpoints and mini victories, keeps me chasing smaller distances and takes my mind off of the big picture which can feel overwhelming.

unterhausen

How are you going to get back?

A 200 mile loop is a pretty impressive thing. I think you'd be surprised what is 100 miles away from Harrisburg. Not trying to talk you out of your route, I take a similar approach with my fleche route, it goes 226 miles pretty much due east of here. But that was in hopes of a ride with a massive tailwind the entire way Your route is likely to have, at best, a crossing headwind the whole way.

bluestacks867

Hi unterhausen -

I have a century route leaving Harrisburg but it is an out and back. I could do come up with a double out and back but I find out and backs to be very depressing. I need to always feel like I am getting closer to the destination. It is just a mental thing for me. I tried to come up with a century loop but I don't like the shoulders on some of the roads I would need.

We are visiting in-laws sometime in April, tentatively the weekend of the 7th. I will hitch a ride back home with my Wife if we are still married by then

I have been studying wind data, current and historical. It looks like that area between start and end usually has a WNW, NW, or NNW wind which will be good, possible a cross wind. I am really hoping to leave on a day with calm wind. I know I can't handle a strong head wind at this distance, and I would not enjoy a strong tail wind. I'll play it by ear in early April and check weather forecasts. Hopefully I get lucky and can pinpoint a somewhat calm day.

StephenH

On the spare tire thing- yes, I carry one, but then again, I'm carrying a Carradice bag the size of a picnic basket, too. At some point, you have to decide if you're going to be prepared for anything/everything you might encounter or going to go fast, and plan accordingly. People do it both ways with satisfactory results.


That said, after some 90,000 kilometers of randonneuring, I've used a spare tire twice, I think, and could likely have survived with a boot either time.
What I've needed more often that a spare tire was a spare pump. I carry a Road Morph II, but I've broken two or three of those things now, too, so having some second way to air up a tire when the first way doesn't work, statistically, is more needful than a spare tire.


Another handy item is a spare shifter cable, assuming you have some idea of how to install it. I've not needed one myself, but have seen several people who did, and had their rides salvaged accordingly. Takes up very little room.

unterhausen

ok, now I know there is something wrong with you

I find that with a tailwind, i feel like I'm really strong that day. Then I realize intellectually that I must have a tailwind. Just block out those negative thoughts. Living in Happy Valley, it sometimes seems like there is a headwind no matter which direction you are riding. Just the other day, I rode into work with a headwind and rode home with a headwind. Was not happy.

One year, we had almost 200 miles of strong tailwinds on my fleche. Unfortunately, there is a stretch between Pine Grove and Swatara Gap that heads back west, so that was a bit of a travail. But riding along in the middle of the night with 25 mph winds at your back is a thing of joy. We have also ridden it with moderate headwinds the entire way. That is no fun. The year with the strong tailwinds, the date corresponded with an east-to-west riding of "Crush the Commonwealth." Everyone agrees that's why we had the tailwind.

Drew Eckhardt 

Unfortunately, rest stops on many organized rides are temporary with water coolers and Porta Potties that disappear when the ride ends.

Permanent and past year brevet routes from your local randonneuring clubs and rusa.org are a better starting point because they're setup for self-supported riders.

Fortunately, with

• The strava global heatmap showing where people ride
• Google Street View showing road width, shoulder configuration, and the most egregious pavement.
• Google Maps searchable for convenience stores
• Ridewithgps Open Street Maps cycle maps including urban bike routes plus water sources/restrooms as points of interest

planning is easy albeit time consuming.

Some places also have good printed resources. In the San Francisco Bay Area I like the Krebs Cycle Products maps (plasticized for water resistance). Grant Petersen's _Roads to Ride: A Bicyclist's Topographic Guide to Alameda, Constra Costa, and Marin Counties_ and _Roads to Ride South: A Bicyclist's Topographic Guide to San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Santa Cruz Counties_ are also useful.

seajaye

Good on you to do the thorough homework in preparing your cue-sheet.

Just curious, I didn't see any mention of planning your route in advance on RWGPS and downloading it to your Garmin. That way, your GPS instructs you where to go, and one less thing to think about (although obviously prudent to have your cue sheet visible at all times). You can drop points on the map for the various convenience stores and services available, etc.

As for the checkpoints and mini-victories, I always break up any brevet by controle. So, each Garmin route I have is 20-30-40 miles or however long the leg is, and I can stay focused on the here and now vs. the crushing thoughts of hundreds of miles at a time.

In general, it sounds like you've got a pretty clear idea of what you're in for, and pretty solid advice from everyone else so far.

ksryder

Whatever you did on your 100+ mile ride will work for 200.

bluestacks867

Wow, that website is great! Google Maps limits the number of manual points you can create. This site seems to have unlimited. I was able to create the route on their website.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19480400

I see it even makes a cue sheet. I'll still use mine but it won't hurt to double check mine off of theirs.

My only head unit is a Garmin 920xt mounted to my stem. I am not sure how that unit would handle turn by turn notifications, probably just a bread crumb trail. Either way, I am loving the website.

Steamer

After looking at your route, my advice would be to spend more time picking quieter roads. You have taken a lot of main routes that look terrible to ride on.

Richard Cranium

Obviously, you have given your big ride a lot of thought. Clearly you have more than enough "endurance" in planning a long ride.

However, could you supply a little more information about your current fitness for an all-day solo event?

Your posts are sprinkled with references to "family" - enough free training time - and a decided dig at the possible stability of your marriage in lieu of your training and personal cycling ambitions.

In the face of your current life-stresses - I just kind of wonder what physical reserves you possess. In addition, I wonder what type of rest and mindset you'll have the last 24 hours before the ride - and first 24 hours after the ride.

Please don't take this wrong - I wish you success - but only if it leaves you happier and stronger down the road.

Drew Eckhardt 

On the top right of the ridewithgps map panel there's a "map" drop down to select the map source. It defaults to "map" which is Google maps, where zooming in enough gets you icons for businesses which link to Google Maps where you can see things like hours of operation.

Use "OSM Cycle" for Open Street Map bicycle maps. These are the same maps you can download from sources like openfietsmap.org for map-capable Garmin computers. They include features relevant to cyclists, like bike routes and water sources.

Pull up your route, select "OSM cycle", and zoom in once. Click the right turn onto MD-213 at mile 94.9 on your cue sheet.

The purple line marked "1" right of your path is a bike route as is the red road marked "ECG". Streets with blue outlines are also bike routes. Often you have to zoom in to a finer detail level to make these visible because the OSM meta-data flags them as less significant roads. They are usually nicer than other streets, but are sometimes multi-use paths which are worse for recreational cycling.

Where I dropped into Google Street View, the purple streets were nice two-lane roads with wide shoulders. When I looked at your route the shoulders were narrow or non-existent. I suggest making changes.

Here's the key: https://www.opencyclemap.org/docs/

Also look at the Strava Global Heat Map. Usually roads favored by cyclists are better. Unfortunately it doesn't identify roads which are only good in one direction - in the mountains near me there there's a spot with a low traffic narrow road you wouldn't want to descend but will enjoy climbing, and a higher traffic road that'd be scary to go up but is great down hill taking the lane. Look for other nearby alternatives and cross-check with other sources when things don't seem right.

Locate water/food/restrooms which are minimal detours from your route. Pick extras so you don't suffer needlessly or have to turn around when you miss one, unseasonably warm weather has you drinking more than expected, you'll go mad if you must eat your ninth energy bar, 150 miles of processed food-like substances make a restroom visit urgent......

Google Maps searches for grocery stores in the area are most useful. Super markets have automatic doors you can roll your bike through, have public restrooms, are often open 24 hours, and usually have hot prepared food you can buy in a few minutes when it's not too early or late. Convenience stores are better than nothing.

Note the hours of operation. A store which closes at 6pm is useless to you at 9pm.

In more rural areas you may need to find water sources which are included in the OSM cycle map. In the route I linked below, there's 50 miles and 2000 feet of climbing between the mountain top observatory and nearest store of any kind with a fire station the only public water source between the two. Unfortunately water sources are invisible until you zoom in. Look at the route, select "OSM cycle" in the map drop down, zoom in as far as possible, and click on the "WATER" cue sheet entry at 52.6 miles. The white faucet on the blue background only shows up in the last three levels of zoom.

Also locate the nearby bike shops (visible on the OSM cycle map) in case you want a fix you're not fully equipped for. It'd stink to listen to a chain link that started squeaking then remained noisy for100 miles.

Mark food/water/restrooms/bike shops as "points of interest" so you can see them when zoomed out. Add them as cue sheet entries so your Garmin and printed cue sheet can tell you how close the next one is.

Example: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/19569413

which was part of my second solo double century

"food" entries show up as a banana on my Garmin display
"water" entries show up as a drop

The extra points of interest go with other routes in the same ridewithgps event and the end points of roads not taken which might have been interesting. Ridewithgps "events" allow grouping and viewing multiple routes together which is useful when you split rides to accommodate optional loops if time looks good, potential GPS problems, and multi-day events.

Some Garmins (like the Edge 800) in some situations (people tell me writing to the micro-SD card instead of internal memory makes the 800 more stable) crash after a while. When your Garmin does that you want to split your ride into separate .tcx files and join the recording afterwards via a site like fittools. My 800 got sluggish 70 miles into its first long ride and crashed after 140 recording to internal storage so I try to split at stops under 60 miles apart.

Sometimes planning longer rides is easier in pieces, where you create routes on roads you want to ride then connect them together. On the ride I linked I wanted to hit the two highest paved peaks in the area. You can leverage other peoples' routes for this, especially randonneuring brevets and permanents on local clubs' and rusa web sites. Routes can also be converted from rides via tracing when you're a premium ($6 or $10 a month) ridewithgps user.

"pre ride" your route virtually as you go with the ridewithgps Google street view option and re-route when the pavement isn't good, you disagree with a city's idea of the best bike route (you have different needs on a recreational ride than cyclists looking for the shortest commuting path), etc.

Remove any fake "turns" ridewithgps added like "Turn slight left onto Big Basin" where there are other roads because your Garmin will display that as "Left on Big Basin" which can be confusing when you have problems reading street signs because it's dark, they're obscured, people stole them, etc. You may want to remove "straight" cue sheet entries so Garmin distance count downs ("next course point" field, cue sheet screen, distance to course point on the map/course screen) are to something more interesting than where the street changes names.



When you're missing turns select "add to cue sheet" on the right menu, click your route, and select "left" or "right" for the type. Lost turns are less common than extra "turns" where you're going "straight." This is less critical on navigation capable Garmins like the Edge 800/810/820/1000 that offer "turn guidance" which doesn't rely on the .tcx file <CoursePoint> entries. If the big white arrow doesn't point to a different road on the map you don't need to turn.

Do some dry runs on shorter rides to see how this all works.

Have fun!