Hey, congrats on the R-12. If you can ride an R-12 then you've learned a great deal of what you need to know to succeed at riding an SR series. Don't forget, when you're riding the SR series, each ride is just one more ride, and it's easiest if your goal is not to ride an SR series, which can seem well nigh impossible, but to ride today's ride. After a couple of days to recover, you can decide whether to ride the next one based on whether you had fun riding the last.
To me, a 300Km is not much different than a 200, just a longer day in the saddle. Sometimes a 300 will make you notice bike fit issues that were acceptable on a 200, but at the longer distance they become real problems. If that happens, you'll need to deal with those issues before moving on to the 400. The 400 brings several new challenges. First, you need to get lighting and reflective gear that makes it possible to ride at a good speed and to ride safely. Second, you'll need to carry enough clothing and food to handle the temperature variation through the night and to handle the longer distances between controls. So if you haven't sorted out how you're going to carry everything, that'll be a challenge. Third, sometimes new and surprising eating/drinking issues come up as the ride gets longer and you are riding through the night. Things that worked before may not work as well. Things you could get away with before may come bite you, e.g. in my case, failing to eat any electrolytes for the first 24 hours caught up with me in a bad way on Paris-Brest-Paris. But a big bowl of salty soup with some ham set things straight again. Fourth, as someone mentioned, sleep deprivation can become more of an issue on a 400. Make sure to get plenty of sleep the week before. If you can eliminate caffeine for a few weeks, then your body will be re-sensitized and a cup of coffee at 2 am will perk you right up. Finally, if you're finding that you just can't stay awake, a ten or fifteen minute nap can do wonders. And once you've ridden a 400, you are only one ride away from finishing an SR series. To me, what makes a 600 challenging is getting up after an hour and half of sleep, getting back on the bike, and riding off (often into cold or rain or whatever). I find it helps to tell yourself that you only have to ride ten miles, and if you just can't stand it then you can call it quits. It usually only takes two or three miles to be back in the groove again and then you just ride on to the end, each mile further is one mile less to go. Sleep deprivation is often an issue, but daylight typically helps your body stay awake. Judicious applications of caffeine and occasional short naps will get you through. Nick Bull On Dec 30, 12:41 pm, William <tapebu...@gmail.com> wrote: > Thanks everyone. I'm a numbers guy, so having real measurable goals puts > some structure on things that keeps me focussed. Rando riding keeps enough > randomness and variety in it to not suck the fun out of it. It's a great > balance for me. > > and Mike Goldman, PLEASE! That's a 650b Hilsen, not a Ram. :) > > I ran Soma New Express 650x38s most of the season, but ran several > different things. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
