atwl77

The 2019 season is coming to a close and next month the 2020 season officially begins, so I thought it be a good idea to start off a new thread to talk about our plans, goals, rides, and other related stuff.

atwl77

Looking at Audax Randonneurs Malaysia's 2020 outline, looks like they're experimenting with a bunch of new things this new season including a fleche, an official LRM1200, and a Super Randonnee. While the LRM1200 and Super Randonnee are an interesting new thing for me to try out, I'm not yet 100% into the fleche as I currently can't think of a team to ride it with; after all, you need people who are approximately on par with, or not too far off from, the same level of fitness and speed as you are... so that will take a bit of effort to work out.

Besides the "specials", I'm seeing some preliminary conflicts in scheduling on some events that I may not end up going for Super Randonneur this time around. I've got a wedding dinner to attend which clashes with one of the BRM300 rides, and the next BRM300 is being held in conjunction with a BRM1000 (which I am more inclined to join).

But anyways there's nothing "special" going on this year (like PBP or LEL) which requires SR, so that's not going to be an important goal for me.

On the other hand, my main goal this season is to improve my solo performance, primarily by optimizing/reducing my off-saddle time but also trying to slightly improve my overall speed as well. I'm still relatively poor with rolling terrain, so I'd want to work on my pacing on such roads. I'm doing this by upping my training regime from 4 rides per week (2 weekday indoor trainer rides + 2 weekend outdoor rides) to 6 rides per week (4 weekday indoor trainer rides + 2 weekend outdoor rides) with an emphasis on sustained efforts on climbs. The end goal is to hopefully get a good boost in FTP (aiming for somewhere between 3.5-4.0 w/kg) and be able to do a sub-30 hour 600K by the end of the season, and then moving on to being able to do a 24hr 600K as a two-year plan.

One recent addition to my bike has been a power meter, and it has been a big help with pacing during my last two BRMs (a 600k in September and 200k last weekend). The power meter revealed that I tended to push harder than I should on climbs, which in the long run affects my ability to push the pedals after fatigue sets in. It's a big reminder to dial down, keep my efforts in check, don't burn matches too soon and unnecessarily; but also when to NOT try to hang with a group and just let them go, and go my own pace. I think in the long run keeping these efforts in check is also going to help with nutrition, or rather minimize/avoid digestion problems related to ultra-endurance cycling in general.

siebengang

My highlight 2020 will be Length of Sweden Sverigetempot, the local 2100 km randonnee in our backyard. Everything else will be either preparation for LoSS, or extra fun afterwards.

If you are into the meditative aspects of cycling (you are, otherwise you would not read this), LoSS is for you. Daylight in July will be plenty, with a late start time maybe even as a full midnight sun the first night, the solitude of the Swedish forest will be immersive and the challenge to cover the distance through rather sparse civilisation will be substantial. Two hundred riders are pre-registered at the moment, and more spots will be opened in the beginning of 2020.

unterhausen

LoSS sounds great.

rhm

Yup.

antimonysarah

My plans right now are:

1. I’ll be more involved in organizing the NER rides; people should come up and ride!

2. Targeting a little unfinished business with Lake Ontario.

3. Do a flèche—have done shorter team events but would like to do the whole thing. Either with other slow climbers or flat terrain with friends who don’t mind letting me wheelsuck.

rhm

New Jersey Randonneurs has something new on the calendar, a New York - Montreal - New York 1200k, August 2 - 5:

https://www.njrandonneurs.org/ny-m-ny-1200k.html

GadgetGirlIL

My plans for 2020 include at least another 300K, a Dart (never have done a team event before), riding the Katy Trail with a dear friend who wants to do at least 80 miles to celebrate turning 79. We are discussing extending that trek to do the whole trail going from one B&B to the next. His wife will drive sag.

I also want to do more credit card touring. I just did a two day, one night adventure this past weekend and my bike has all the bags to support the minimal amount of stuff I need to carry. In 2020 I want to do some three day, two night adventures.

I will also be volunteering at our club's Iron Porcupine 1200K in August. https://www.ironporcupine1200k.org/

ThermionicScott 

I thought "2100 km" must have been a typo at first. Then I looked up the ride. Holy crap!

clasher

There's so many rides I am interested in for 2020! There's a SFR 1000K that look awesome, the Colorado High Country is on next year, there's a new 1200 out in BC on the same date. There's a full schedule in Ontario for 2020 too, including a brevet that goes by Lake Placid that is fairly hilly, would be a good warm-up for the SR600 that I want to do in 2020 as well. The Lake Ontario 1200 is close but I'd rather leave room for non-locals on that one. Ontario also has the Coureur de Bois, a 1000K from Ottawa to Quebec City and back.

rando_couche

Ooh! That looks like fun. Too bad it's 3k miles away!

rando_couche

Yes, I plan to ride some randonnees in 2020. Maybe even a full SR, but we'll see. Life really got in the way this year, but I'm retiring in a few weeks and "should" have more time to ride. Wish me luck.

SP
Nwpt, OR
RUSA 3481

unterhausen

I have gotten to the end of a 1200k and wished it wasn't over with. Okay, that happened once. For people that feel like that every time, there is a 2020km in Thailand in February and 1500 in Italy.

ThermionicScott 

That's the only way I can think of to make a 1200km seem short.

ROT_01

Where can I find info on the Canadian brevets? When venturing into Quebec and Ontario I've looked for information but never get good results. Links, club names, or even keyworkds to search (in French or English) would be appreciated. I'm really intrigued by the Courer de Bois brevet. Nice name and I bet it's a good route.
In local news, a friend of mine and fellow PBP '2019 Group Z rider is taking over as the RBA for RUSA's Gainesville, FL region. He will be starting off with a 200k in February 8, 2020, and building from there to have at least a full series by 2023. Having a club in your own town or not too far away sure makes the whole process of qualifying for LRM brevets a lot easier. Remember to thank your local organizers. Now that I've done my first PBP I look forward to more rides, but also pitching in either volunteering at rides or helping out behind the scenes.

clasher

Here's the Ontario club website: Randonneurs Ontario The 2020 schedule should be up soon! The Courer de Bois route is in the route archive for the Ottawa chapter. I was tinkering with the idea of doing it next year.

I've never ridden with the Montreal gang, but here's their site: Club vélo randonneurs de Montréal and they've got their 2020 schedule is up.

siebengang

That was exactly how I felt after PBP this year and somewhere between Mortagne and Rambouillet the plan to do LoSS became definite ;-)

atwl77

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:

clasher

I put myself on the interested list for the Colorado High Country 1200. I am also thinking about the SFR Golden Gate 1000K, but it's kind of close to the Colorado one but I could just go to SF and then rest and relax until it's time to get over to Colorado. I kind of liked the look of the Iron Porcupine but it seems a bit pricey, I could spend the extra 300$ in gas and drive to Colorado for some nicer scenery since Michigan isn't that different than Ontario. There's also the LOL 1200 going this year but I doubt I'll do that one. We've also got a small 1200 going on in Ontario but it's already full with a waiting list... based on the Manitoulin 1000K, which I rode in 2019 so I don't think I'll do anything but volunteer for it if they need help.

For shorter rides, I'm hoping to do the Saratoga 400k rwgps since I really enjoyed riding around the Adirondacks last time I was down there. Randonneurs Ontario has a Lake Placid ride that starts at the border that I would like to do this year too. I am also intrigued by some of the rides New England has to offer but

Locally I have 2x200k and 2x300 I got on the schedule this year, all of them ride to parts of Ontario that our club doesn't really have any routes in yet so that's exciting. Two of them are fairly hilly for Ontario routes but it's mostly constant rollers and the occasional short steep one so it's nice rolling for the most part. I think my local cycling club has a few folks that would be into randonneuring so maybe one day I can ride a series without having to drive to the start.

antimonysarah

I'm on the interest list for the LOL 1200, to try to knock off two unfinished pieces of business (LOL, the 1200k distance in general) with one ride, but that'll depend on whether I can find the time to qualify, as I'll be even more involved in organizing for NER this coming year.

I think the plan is to do our early 200k, the Westfield Old Saybrook 300k, the Saratoga 600k, and the NER 400k (which is after the Saratoga 600k). And any other rides I can either preride (for credit or not -- I expect I may scout some too early for credit, or may do some combined drive-and-ride scouting to look at the far-away sections of some) will be gravy.
(If anyone, ever, has questions about NER rides, feel free to PM.)

unterhausen

I'm interested in LOL, but I haven't put myself on the LOL list yet. Might be too much of an adventure for me.

clasher

I gave Pete some ideas to avoid the greater Toronto area to hopefully LOL is a bit more pleasant in that regard.

StephenH

I'll be doing lots of local brevets working on K-Hound, probably be running down to Houston or Austin a few times for good measure, maybe to Norman, OK, or Midland, TX.

downtube42

2020 was going to be the year I attempted an SR on an upright bike, as I've been 'bent for nearly 20 years. Then I went and broke my neck.

Now I'm looking at recovering atrophied neck muscles and restoring range of motion, on top of getting my cardio and legs back after 3 months of restricted activity. Transitioning to an upright at this point seems a bit much. I'll defer that until next year.

So I'm thinking a late SR series on the 'bent is a decent goal for the year. I'd love to do the Crater Lake 1200, which is late enough in the season to be a possibility. Finishing a 1200 this year would get me a guaranteed spot for LEL 2021, if I understand their rules correctly.

We shall see. PT starts next week, and I'm allowed to ride as soon as I can turn my head enough to be safe.

atwl77

Good luck on your recovery and SR attempt, downtube42 .

I'm also considering LEL next year, but no commitment yet. I'll probably register normally and let the luck of the ballot decide. Some people I know have already gotten in from last year's early registration though.