Planning a very long ride - 8 hrs - Page 6 - Cycling Mob: Road Cycling, Mountain Biking and More

06-11-2004, 11:49 AM

David Kerber wrote:
:: In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>,
:: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
:::
::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
::
:: How long is "long" (mile-wise, that is)?
::
::
::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
::: 3-2-1-2?
:::
::: People who do touring and stuff ride about 8 hours a day for like 2
::: weeks. 'Course they're sightseeing so it's more fun. It would
::: probably require a "support crew" to bring food and change of
::: clothes and stuff. If you were gonna do it how would you break it
::: up?
::
:: I'd probably put the first rest stop well before the 3 hour point,
:: and space them more evenly. Maybe 1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5, or 2-2-2-2.
:: Also, 30 minutes might be too long of a break; it might give your
:: muscles too long, so that you would need a long warm up again when
:: you start back up YMMV a lot on this, and will probably depend on
:: the weather (temperature particularly). More frequent, shorter
:: breaks work well for many people, such as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.

How many times (or how many miles) would you break on a century ride?

::
::
::: I'm thinking the mental aspect would be the most difficult. Gonna
::: try and get the family interested in it to help with that.
:::
::: I'm sure some here would say 'just ride for the 8 hours, what's the
::: big deal', but that would be OK for those who have ridden a lot
::: (like frequent 3-4 hour rides), but my longest ride has been 3.5
::: hours, and only did that once. I'm hoping to get some posts on
::: others who have done something like this, and their experiences vs
::: the initial expectations.
:::
::: I plan to start the ride early in the AM, like 5-ish, or first
::: light. o 5:30-8:30
::: o 9:00-11:00
::: o 12:-1
::: o 2-4pm
:::
::: TIA,
:::
::: -Badger
:::
:::
:::
::
:: --
:: Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
:: newsgroups if possible).

06-11-2004, 12:03 PM

Badger_South wrote:
:: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:34:30 -0700, Terry Morse <tmorse@spamcop.net>
:: wrote:
::
::: Badger_South wrote:
:::
:::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
:::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
:::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
::::
:::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
:::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
:::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
:::: 3-2-1-2?
:::
::: Why not just do an organized, supported ride? They typically have
::: rest stops every 1.5-2 hours apart. It's a great place to find out
::: about pacing and fueling, and there's sag if you need it. Try a 100k
::: to see if you like it. If that was too easy, try a 100-mile.
::
:: Well there probably aren't any organized supported rides in my area.
::
:: There are weekend group rides, I hear, but never been able to track
:: any of them down to an actual person. (I'm in Charlottesville, Va).
::
:: In addition, I'd want to ride my own pace, and would worry about
:: being dropped and having that affect the motivation. I realize in an
:: ideal sitch, your suggest -would- be the way to go. Also the area
:: around here that people ride these things are probably too hilly.
::
:: I'm planning the ride in Va Beach, where it's mostly flat, and doing
:: it on bike paths. (there's 137 miles of them down there!). It would
:: take a big stroke of luck to find an organized ride in Va Beach to
:: co-incide with my attempt, but I'll definitely try to check that
:: out. I'm heading back down there in about a month. Even if the ride
:: was a 50 miler, I could do that and then finish up on my own. Great
:: idea...

Have you checked with your local bike clubs? They have lots of organized
rides around here, I don't see why they wouldn't there.

And don't worry about being dropped...check your ego at the door before
leaving home. I did my 35-mile organized ride last Saturday (turned out to
be 38-miles 'cause I failed to turn at one paced) and didn't mind not being
with the pack. Besides, there are riders of every level out there...I found
people that I had to pass up simply because they are going way too slow --
and they were much smaller than me. I ended up riding with this one nice
lady who had only been riding a week - on her hubbies bike - and had bought
herself a bike the night before this ride! The lady didn't even understand
about shifting gears...so she would fight her way uphill in too high a gear
and then fly down the other side. of course, I would drop to granny gear
and smoke her going up the hill (that was too funny given that I must weight
80 lbs more than her). I would get to top, wait for her, and then she'd
eventually come flying by...and then I'd have to catch up to her

The organized ride was a lot of fun. They had good rest stops, too. Free
food. I even won a raffle price -- a basker full of biking goodies -- high
viz yellow vest (in XL), insulated water bottle, sweatband, park allen
wrench set, some kind of lube stuff, atlantic coast biking tour book, biking
socks, two chocolate bars, some energy gel stuff, and a bunch of toostie
rolls! It more than covered the $20 I spent on the ride.

And they had great sag support - so if you give out someone will come pick
you up, or help fix your machine!

If I had 137 miles of flat roads to ride, then I'd try a century tomorrow

06-11-2004, 12:03 PM

Badger_South wrote:
:: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:34:30 -0700, Terry Morse <tmorse@spamcop.net>
:: wrote:
::
::: Badger_South wrote:
:::
:::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
:::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
:::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
::::
:::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
:::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
:::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
:::: 3-2-1-2?
:::
::: Why not just do an organized, supported ride? They typically have
::: rest stops every 1.5-2 hours apart. It's a great place to find out
::: about pacing and fueling, and there's sag if you need it. Try a 100k
::: to see if you like it. If that was too easy, try a 100-mile.
::
:: Well there probably aren't any organized supported rides in my area.
::
:: There are weekend group rides, I hear, but never been able to track
:: any of them down to an actual person. (I'm in Charlottesville, Va).
::
:: In addition, I'd want to ride my own pace, and would worry about
:: being dropped and having that affect the motivation. I realize in an
:: ideal sitch, your suggest -would- be the way to go. Also the area
:: around here that people ride these things are probably too hilly.
::
:: I'm planning the ride in Va Beach, where it's mostly flat, and doing
:: it on bike paths. (there's 137 miles of them down there!). It would
:: take a big stroke of luck to find an organized ride in Va Beach to
:: co-incide with my attempt, but I'll definitely try to check that
:: out. I'm heading back down there in about a month. Even if the ride
:: was a 50 miler, I could do that and then finish up on my own. Great
:: idea...

Have you checked with your local bike clubs? They have lots of organized
rides around here, I don't see why they wouldn't there.

And don't worry about being dropped...check your ego at the door before
leaving home. I did my 35-mile organized ride last Saturday (turned out to
be 38-miles 'cause I failed to turn at one paced) and didn't mind not being
with the pack. Besides, there are riders of every level out there...I found
people that I had to pass up simply because they are going way too slow --
and they were much smaller than me. I ended up riding with this one nice
lady who had only been riding a week - on her hubbies bike - and had bought
herself a bike the night before this ride! The lady didn't even understand
about shifting gears...so she would fight her way uphill in too high a gear
and then fly down the other side. of course, I would drop to granny gear
and smoke her going up the hill (that was too funny given that I must weight
80 lbs more than her). I would get to top, wait for her, and then she'd
eventually come flying by...and then I'd have to catch up to her

The organized ride was a lot of fun. They had good rest stops, too. Free
food. I even won a raffle price -- a basker full of biking goodies -- high
viz yellow vest (in XL), insulated water bottle, sweatband, park allen
wrench set, some kind of lube stuff, atlantic coast biking tour book, biking
socks, two chocolate bars, some energy gel stuff, and a bunch of toostie
rolls! It more than covered the $20 I spent on the ride.

And they had great sag support - so if you give out someone will come pick
you up, or help fix your machine!

If I had 137 miles of flat roads to ride, then I'd try a century tomorrow

06-11-2004, 12:03 PM

Badger_South wrote:
:: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:34:30 -0700, Terry Morse <tmorse@spamcop.net>
:: wrote:
::
::: Badger_South wrote:
:::
:::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
:::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
:::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
::::
:::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
:::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
:::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
:::: 3-2-1-2?
:::
::: Why not just do an organized, supported ride? They typically have
::: rest stops every 1.5-2 hours apart. It's a great place to find out
::: about pacing and fueling, and there's sag if you need it. Try a 100k
::: to see if you like it. If that was too easy, try a 100-mile.
::
:: Well there probably aren't any organized supported rides in my area.
::
:: There are weekend group rides, I hear, but never been able to track
:: any of them down to an actual person. (I'm in Charlottesville, Va).
::
:: In addition, I'd want to ride my own pace, and would worry about
:: being dropped and having that affect the motivation. I realize in an
:: ideal sitch, your suggest -would- be the way to go. Also the area
:: around here that people ride these things are probably too hilly.
::
:: I'm planning the ride in Va Beach, where it's mostly flat, and doing
:: it on bike paths. (there's 137 miles of them down there!). It would
:: take a big stroke of luck to find an organized ride in Va Beach to
:: co-incide with my attempt, but I'll definitely try to check that
:: out. I'm heading back down there in about a month. Even if the ride
:: was a 50 miler, I could do that and then finish up on my own. Great
:: idea...

Have you checked with your local bike clubs? They have lots of organized
rides around here, I don't see why they wouldn't there.

And don't worry about being dropped...check your ego at the door before
leaving home. I did my 35-mile organized ride last Saturday (turned out to
be 38-miles 'cause I failed to turn at one paced) and didn't mind not being
with the pack. Besides, there are riders of every level out there...I found
people that I had to pass up simply because they are going way too slow --
and they were much smaller than me. I ended up riding with this one nice
lady who had only been riding a week - on her hubbies bike - and had bought
herself a bike the night before this ride! The lady didn't even understand
about shifting gears...so she would fight her way uphill in too high a gear
and then fly down the other side. of course, I would drop to granny gear
and smoke her going up the hill (that was too funny given that I must weight
80 lbs more than her). I would get to top, wait for her, and then she'd
eventually come flying by...and then I'd have to catch up to her

The organized ride was a lot of fun. They had good rest stops, too. Free
food. I even won a raffle price -- a basker full of biking goodies -- high
viz yellow vest (in XL), insulated water bottle, sweatband, park allen
wrench set, some kind of lube stuff, atlantic coast biking tour book, biking
socks, two chocolate bars, some energy gel stuff, and a bunch of toostie
rolls! It more than covered the $20 I spent on the ride.

And they had great sag support - so if you give out someone will come pick
you up, or help fix your machine!

If I had 137 miles of flat roads to ride, then I'd try a century tomorrow

06-11-2004, 12:03 PM

Badger_South wrote:
:: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:34:30 -0700, Terry Morse <tmorse@spamcop.net>
:: wrote:
::
::: Badger_South wrote:
:::
:::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
:::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
:::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
::::
:::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
:::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
:::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
:::: 3-2-1-2?
:::
::: Why not just do an organized, supported ride? They typically have
::: rest stops every 1.5-2 hours apart. It's a great place to find out
::: about pacing and fueling, and there's sag if you need it. Try a 100k
::: to see if you like it. If that was too easy, try a 100-mile.
::
:: Well there probably aren't any organized supported rides in my area.
::
:: There are weekend group rides, I hear, but never been able to track
:: any of them down to an actual person. (I'm in Charlottesville, Va).
::
:: In addition, I'd want to ride my own pace, and would worry about
:: being dropped and having that affect the motivation. I realize in an
:: ideal sitch, your suggest -would- be the way to go. Also the area
:: around here that people ride these things are probably too hilly.
::
:: I'm planning the ride in Va Beach, where it's mostly flat, and doing
:: it on bike paths. (there's 137 miles of them down there!). It would
:: take a big stroke of luck to find an organized ride in Va Beach to
:: co-incide with my attempt, but I'll definitely try to check that
:: out. I'm heading back down there in about a month. Even if the ride
:: was a 50 miler, I could do that and then finish up on my own. Great
:: idea...

Have you checked with your local bike clubs? They have lots of organized
rides around here, I don't see why they wouldn't there.

And don't worry about being dropped...check your ego at the door before
leaving home. I did my 35-mile organized ride last Saturday (turned out to
be 38-miles 'cause I failed to turn at one paced) and didn't mind not being
with the pack. Besides, there are riders of every level out there...I found
people that I had to pass up simply because they are going way too slow --
and they were much smaller than me. I ended up riding with this one nice
lady who had only been riding a week - on her hubbies bike - and had bought
herself a bike the night before this ride! The lady didn't even understand
about shifting gears...so she would fight her way uphill in too high a gear
and then fly down the other side. of course, I would drop to granny gear
and smoke her going up the hill (that was too funny given that I must weight
80 lbs more than her). I would get to top, wait for her, and then she'd
eventually come flying by...and then I'd have to catch up to her

The organized ride was a lot of fun. They had good rest stops, too. Free
food. I even won a raffle price -- a basker full of biking goodies -- high
viz yellow vest (in XL), insulated water bottle, sweatband, park allen
wrench set, some kind of lube stuff, atlantic coast biking tour book, biking
socks, two chocolate bars, some energy gel stuff, and a bunch of toostie
rolls! It more than covered the $20 I spent on the ride.

And they had great sag support - so if you give out someone will come pick
you up, or help fix your machine!

If I had 137 miles of flat roads to ride, then I'd try a century tomorrow

06-11-2004, 12:03 PM

Badger_South wrote:
:: On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 10:34:30 -0700, Terry Morse <tmorse@spamcop.net>
:: wrote:
::
::: Badger_South wrote:
:::
:::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
:::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
:::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
::::
:::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
:::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
:::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
:::: 3-2-1-2?
:::
::: Why not just do an organized, supported ride? They typically have
::: rest stops every 1.5-2 hours apart. It's a great place to find out
::: about pacing and fueling, and there's sag if you need it. Try a 100k
::: to see if you like it. If that was too easy, try a 100-mile.
::
:: Well there probably aren't any organized supported rides in my area.
::
:: There are weekend group rides, I hear, but never been able to track
:: any of them down to an actual person. (I'm in Charlottesville, Va).
::
:: In addition, I'd want to ride my own pace, and would worry about
:: being dropped and having that affect the motivation. I realize in an
:: ideal sitch, your suggest -would- be the way to go. Also the area
:: around here that people ride these things are probably too hilly.
::
:: I'm planning the ride in Va Beach, where it's mostly flat, and doing
:: it on bike paths. (there's 137 miles of them down there!). It would
:: take a big stroke of luck to find an organized ride in Va Beach to
:: co-incide with my attempt, but I'll definitely try to check that
:: out. I'm heading back down there in about a month. Even if the ride
:: was a 50 miler, I could do that and then finish up on my own. Great
:: idea...

Have you checked with your local bike clubs? They have lots of organized
rides around here, I don't see why they wouldn't there.

And don't worry about being dropped...check your ego at the door before
leaving home. I did my 35-mile organized ride last Saturday (turned out to
be 38-miles 'cause I failed to turn at one paced) and didn't mind not being
with the pack. Besides, there are riders of every level out there...I found
people that I had to pass up simply because they are going way too slow --
and they were much smaller than me. I ended up riding with this one nice
lady who had only been riding a week - on her hubbies bike - and had bought
herself a bike the night before this ride! The lady didn't even understand
about shifting gears...so she would fight her way uphill in too high a gear
and then fly down the other side. of course, I would drop to granny gear
and smoke her going up the hill (that was too funny given that I must weight
80 lbs more than her). I would get to top, wait for her, and then she'd
eventually come flying by...and then I'd have to catch up to her

The organized ride was a lot of fun. They had good rest stops, too. Free
food. I even won a raffle price -- a basker full of biking goodies -- high
viz yellow vest (in XL), insulated water bottle, sweatband, park allen
wrench set, some kind of lube stuff, atlantic coast biking tour book, biking
socks, two chocolate bars, some energy gel stuff, and a bunch of toostie
rolls! It more than covered the $20 I spent on the ride.

And they had great sag support - so if you give out someone will come pick
you up, or help fix your machine!

If I had 137 miles of flat roads to ride, then I'd try a century tomorrow

06-11-2004, 12:06 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> David Kerber wrote:
> :: In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>,
> :: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
> :::
> ::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
> ::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
> ::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
> ::
> :: How long is "long" (mile-wise, that is)?
> ::
> ::
> ::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
> ::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
> ::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
> ::: 3-2-1-2?
> :::
> ::: People who do touring and stuff ride about 8 hours a day for like 2
> ::: weeks. 'Course they're sightseeing so it's more fun. It would
> ::: probably require a "support crew" to bring food and change of
> ::: clothes and stuff. If you were gonna do it how would you break it
> ::: up?
> ::
> :: I'd probably put the first rest stop well before the 3 hour point,
> :: and space them more evenly. Maybe 1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5, or 2-2-2-2.
> :: Also, 30 minutes might be too long of a break; it might give your
> :: muscles too long, so that you would need a long warm up again when
> :: you start back up YMMV a lot on this, and will probably depend on
> :: the weather (temperature particularly). More frequent, shorter
> :: breaks work well for many people, such as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.
>
> How many times (or how many miles) would you break on a century ride?

I've never done a century, but on shorter rides (60 miles / 4 to 5
hours) or so), I find that 15 minutes every 1.5 to 2 hours works well
for me. I do munch a peanut butter cracker or chocolate chip cookie and
take periodic swigs of water or gatorade more frequently than that.

Other people with more long distance experience than me will weigh in as
well, I'm sure.

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-11-2004, 12:06 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> David Kerber wrote:
> :: In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>,
> :: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
> :::
> ::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
> ::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
> ::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
> ::
> :: How long is "long" (mile-wise, that is)?
> ::
> ::
> ::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
> ::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
> ::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
> ::: 3-2-1-2?
> :::
> ::: People who do touring and stuff ride about 8 hours a day for like 2
> ::: weeks. 'Course they're sightseeing so it's more fun. It would
> ::: probably require a "support crew" to bring food and change of
> ::: clothes and stuff. If you were gonna do it how would you break it
> ::: up?
> ::
> :: I'd probably put the first rest stop well before the 3 hour point,
> :: and space them more evenly. Maybe 1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5, or 2-2-2-2.
> :: Also, 30 minutes might be too long of a break; it might give your
> :: muscles too long, so that you would need a long warm up again when
> :: you start back up YMMV a lot on this, and will probably depend on
> :: the weather (temperature particularly). More frequent, shorter
> :: breaks work well for many people, such as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.
>
> How many times (or how many miles) would you break on a century ride?

I've never done a century, but on shorter rides (60 miles / 4 to 5
hours) or so), I find that 15 minutes every 1.5 to 2 hours works well
for me. I do munch a peanut butter cracker or chocolate chip cookie and
take periodic swigs of water or gatorade more frequently than that.

Other people with more long distance experience than me will weigh in as
well, I'm sure.

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-11-2004, 12:06 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> David Kerber wrote:
> :: In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>,
> :: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
> :::
> ::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
> ::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
> ::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
> ::
> :: How long is "long" (mile-wise, that is)?
> ::
> ::
> ::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
> ::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
> ::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
> ::: 3-2-1-2?
> :::
> ::: People who do touring and stuff ride about 8 hours a day for like 2
> ::: weeks. 'Course they're sightseeing so it's more fun. It would
> ::: probably require a "support crew" to bring food and change of
> ::: clothes and stuff. If you were gonna do it how would you break it
> ::: up?
> ::
> :: I'd probably put the first rest stop well before the 3 hour point,
> :: and space them more evenly. Maybe 1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5, or 2-2-2-2.
> :: Also, 30 minutes might be too long of a break; it might give your
> :: muscles too long, so that you would need a long warm up again when
> :: you start back up YMMV a lot on this, and will probably depend on
> :: the weather (temperature particularly). More frequent, shorter
> :: breaks work well for many people, such as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.
>
> How many times (or how many miles) would you break on a century ride?

I've never done a century, but on shorter rides (60 miles / 4 to 5
hours) or so), I find that 15 minutes every 1.5 to 2 hours works well
for me. I do munch a peanut butter cracker or chocolate chip cookie and
take periodic swigs of water or gatorade more frequently than that.

Other people with more long distance experience than me will weigh in as
well, I'm sure.

.....

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in the
newsgroups if possible).

06-11-2004, 12:06 PM

In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>, [Only registered and activated users can see links. ]
says...
> David Kerber wrote:
> :: In article <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]>,
> :: [Only registered and activated users can see links. ] says...
> :::
> ::: I'm toying with the idea of doing a long ride this fall, after a
> ::: summer of 400 mile/months, and I'm interested in some ideas as to
> ::: pacing. Here's something I've been thinking about:
> ::
> :: How long is "long" (mile-wise, that is)?
> ::
> ::
> ::: Ride for three hours, then 30 min rest (and take a shower?), eat,
> ::: then ride for 2 hours, repeat rest, then ride for an hour, repeat
> ::: rest, then ride final 2 hours. Does that seem like a good scheme?
> ::: 3-2-1-2?
> :::
> ::: People who do touring and stuff ride about 8 hours a day for like 2
> ::: weeks. 'Course they're sightseeing so it's more fun. It would
> ::: probably require a "support crew" to bring food and change of
> ::: clothes and stuff. If you were gonna do it how would you break it
> ::: up?
> ::
> :: I'd probably put the first rest stop well before the 3 hour point,
> :: and space them more evenly. Maybe 1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5-1.5, or 2-2-2-2.
> :: Also, 30 minutes might be too long of a break; it might give your
> :: muscles too long, so that you would need a long warm up again when
> :: you start back up YMMV a lot on this, and will probably depend on
> :: the weather (temperature particularly). More frequent, shorter
> :: breaks work well for many people, such as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.
>
> How many times (or how many miles) would you break on a century ride?

I've never done a century, but on shorter rides (60 miles / 4 to 5
hours) or so), I find that 15 minutes every 1.5 to 2 hours works well
for me. I do munch a peanut butter cracker or chocolate chip cookie and
take periodic swigs of water or gatorade more frequently than that.

Other people with more long distance experience than me will weigh in as
well, I'm sure.

.....

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