# 200mi+ organized rides with groups?



## steel515 (Sep 6, 2004)

Those who ride 200+ in a day, do you ride by yourself or with others?


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## kg1 (Apr 17, 2002)

*Brevets*

I've never done that long a ride by myself, and I'm not sure I'd like to. There are a number of benefits to doing really long rides with other people. First, there's navigating. I'm not great with directions or navigating to being with, and something about long rides can put me in a zone. Having more than one person looking for street signs and turns helps. During really long rides you are likely to fee crappy at least somewhere along the way. Having someone along who doesn't feel crappy can help to get through those spells. If you're riding in the dark, it's nice to have more than one light illuminating the road. I've learned a lot from riding with others about surviving long rides -- dealing with cramps, with cold and rain, with mechanicals, etc. Finally, while I like myself well enough, I think I'd get a little tired of myself after 14 or more hours. I've always enjoyed having someone along on the long rides. I've met some really interesting people on the brevets that I've done.

Good luck.

Thanks.

kg1


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## eekase (Nov 10, 2009)

*Organized dbl centuries*

Each year our club has two 200 mile rides. One in june & one in october. We had 5 riders do the june ride last year, I drove the sag van. One rider bonked at ~120 miles. The other 4 made it the whole way. I recommend doing a dbl century with two or at least one other person. 
Like mentioned above, you need someone to confirm the directions, have a spare tube, snack...encouragement, etc. 
I suppose it depends on where your route takes you. Ours go out to the middle of nowhere, sometimes we can't get a cell signal, you don't want to be alone in that situation.


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## KenSmithMT (Feb 17, 2012)

200 miles is a long way to go without catching a draft now and then. I did a double last fall with two friends. We had a great time and shared the pull time. That's not to say you shouldn't do it. We had that trip planned for a while and I was prepared to do it alone if they had to bail. If you go alone, be prepared to solve any issues that come up. Mechanical, weather, crashes, etc. If you're the kind of rider who enjoys your own company for 12+ hrs then get after it. If you need some inspiration. Check out the Tour Divde web site. 2,700 mile self supported mountain bike race. Made my 209 mile ride from Missoula to Bozeman seem like a trip to the grocery store. Have fun whichever way you go.


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## PhilD (May 16, 2005)

steel515 said:


> Those who ride 200+ in a day, do you ride by yourself or with others?


Does it have to be one or the other? There aren't too many doubles offered in my area so one option I have for going long is to do a 50 mile pre-ride to an organized century and then ride 50 miles home afterwards. The pre-ride is often quite serene and the ride home can be a real character builder.


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## KenSmithMT (Feb 17, 2012)

That sounds like a great approach. Keep in mind during the group 100 that they are riding half of what you are and pace yourself accordingly. Have you taken into consideration the time if day? Do you have time to ride 50 miles before the start of the century? We started our double at 4:30 based more on traffic than daylight. There is very little traffic at 4:30 am when riding in the dark. We finished before sunset to avoid riding in some high traffic areas at dusk and after dark. 
Good luck!


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## cyclist brent (Apr 13, 2011)

i second the idea of doing a preride and post ride. That's how I eek out extra distance from the local weekly rides. This weekend I'm doing a 62 mile ride that starts about 10 miles south of my house. Riding there and back gives me 80+ miles. I expect the 62 to be fast so I'll take it easy there and back. 

On some larger organized rides, you can also do some creative short cuts and double up on organized ride distances. This means you often lose the group you may have been, but then you get to grab (or create) another group. For instance, on a century ride I've figured out a cut through road at, say, 75 miles, where I can get back on the route at an earlier rest stop (like the 50 mile stop I was already at). Then I can ride the rest of the normal course and tack on 25 miles or so. I've also finished the century and then turned around and double backed to the last rest stop (which is the last one to close). Then again you ride back to the finish again potentially with other people, and fully supported if you have a problem. I find myself doing this more and more as a century is less and less of a challenge for long distances and longer rides are hard to find.


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## patirwin (Nov 7, 2003)

*Either one*

It just depends on what you prefer - riding alone at your pace or with a group at the group pace. I prefer my pace so I can smell the roses if I want. After a couple dozen Doubles I still end up riding alone.

Pat


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## 4Crawler (Jul 13, 2011)

My one 200 mile ride was solo. Set out with 2 water bottles and a little bit of food and a few dollars in my pocket and rode from Yosemite Valley back to my home. I think I did the first 100 in 5 hrs. and the 2nd 100 took 10 hrs. in the headwinds and heat in the central valley of CA. 

It was more of a training and setup ride for solo hiking the John Muir Trail back in '85. I had to stage a vehicle at the end of the trail so I could drive home after the hike, so I drove up one night, parked the truck and rode the bike back home. 

Have also done a couple of 200k organized rides back in the day and those started out in groups, but seemed to end up as solo rides over the last part as everyone gets back at their own pace.


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