2014 Plans for Riding Brevets?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on March 3, 2014 at 7:52pm

Nice. My bike is orange....close enough. And, I did buy some lycra this year...so I'm fairly certain I can shave a couple of hours off of my 12 hour finish time. Ha.

Permalink Reply by ilter on March 3, 2014 at 8:50pm

According to Adam, you can make up for the lack of red on the bike by putting more red on yourself. Red hat, red jersey, you got the idea..

Permalink Reply by Adam Z on March 4, 2014 at 2:24pm

To be clear Lanterne, blood does not count.  Loss of blood will generally slow you down.

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on March 4, 2014 at 8:17pm

You are absolutely correct, as I had discovered on last May's 200K. If it weren't for a sharp, gravel covered turn tearing up my hands and hips, and thusly causing me to bleed, I would have easily been much faster (I can assure you, 24 mph headwinds had nothing to do with it.)

Adam Z said:

To be clear Lanterne, blood does not count.  Loss of blood will generally slow you down.

Permalink Reply by Eric Peterson on March 18, 2014 at 12:54am

Not to freak anyone out, but I just read a ride report where the author got Lyme disease from sleeping in the grass. Concrete sounds even better now. If you do ditch nap, it is something to consider:

http://blog.seattlerando.org/?p=168

--Eric

ilter said:

Warmer weather makes me dream about the approaching brevet season. I wish to ride overnight to a 200k. That would be good way to fine-tune my ditch-nap gear in preparation for another take at 400K. Sleep in Super 8 has never been good before a ride, but should be fine after one :)

Permalink Reply by Joe on April 28, 2014 at 8:03pm

I'm one of the 137 that did no GLR brevets last year….and won't be making any this year either. I don't have the time to ride a long way (opened a business, no time for anything now)…so I'm doing the MATTS time trial series instead. But in 2009 I managed to finish the series and have the super randonneur medal.

I think having such a fantastic brevet series in Delevan is awesome! I really enjoy a challenge and am somewhat "competitive" but the whole "man vs. man" kinda sucks, right? I mean, I have to beat you to win, you have to beat me to win, we can be friends for awhile but eventually we have to turn on each other.  Whereas in in a brevet we can take on a huge challenge and all end up winners if we can go the distance in the time limit. And when the *shortest* ride is 125 miles….that is an unbelievable distance.

Brevets are great! I'll be back :)

Joe Frost

Permalink Reply by pistola on May 8, 2014 at 1:41pm

This isn't a true brevet, but has a similiar focus, self supporting 'gentleman's race' with teams of 1 or 3.  The course will not be marked and orienteering is part of the challenge.  Currently I'm looking for 1 more person to fill out a 3 person team.  Anyone interested?  Please note this is not for the faint of heart:

10,000 feet of climbing, 200km, only one gas station on the course where you can replenish food and drink, and it's mostly gravel.

 

http://rideaxletree.com/2014/03/ten-thousand/

Permalink Reply by Rich S on June 2, 2014 at 1:07pm

I'm tentatively planning on riding my first brevet on the June 28 200K. Does anyone have any tips on not getting lost? And how easy is it to follow the route?  

I've been thinking about getting a bike computer for some time now regardless. Reviewing the cue sheet makes me think it'd be a really good idea to have one to help determine if a turn is coming up. Especially since the cue sheet indicates some roads are unsigned. 

Permalink Reply by Lanterne Rouge on June 3, 2014 at 12:24pm

I'll be riding the brevet on the 28th as well. 

Not getting lost is pretty easy as the organizers have done an awesome job putting the cue sheets together. The only reason I got some 'bonus miles' last time is by completely misreading the cue sheet and turning left when it should have been right. 

And yes - a bike computer is a great idea. I purchased mine primarily for doing rides with cue sheets, and exactly for what you mention. I like to have some concrete idea as to when my next turn is coming, not just , 'well, it feels like I've been on this road  for 3 miles."

See you there.

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