This has been one long and patient wait for me. I wanted to take the next step and start on my Randonneur journey by doing a 200 km BRM (Brevet) ride for over a month now. Brevets are basically long endurance rides starting at 200 km and going all the way upto 1200 kms! Typically conducted and approved by ACP (Audax Club Parisien) which is a 100+ year old French organization. You have to ride within a set time period for the distance. For 200-600 km distances you have to ride at an average 15 kmph including the rest stops you have. So 200 km has to be done in 13.5 hours, 300 in 20, 400 in 27 and 600 in 40 hours. If you do all 4 in a single calendar year you becore a Super Randonneur (SR).
After the 100 km Neelkantheshwar ride and then the 100 km Panchgani race felt I have been ready to take on the 200 km challenge. But Pune Randonneurs werent conducting a ride in Oct. Would have had to go to Mumbai to do the ride on Oct 25th. Also ACP's (Audax Club Parisien) new year runs from Nov to Oct end. So decided to have some patience and do the first brevet in November.
New calendar year has now started... I am now a registered AIR (Audax India Randonneur) member ... rider number 53... also registered for the 200 km Brevet ride on 15th November from Pune to Supe and back. There was a 300 km Mahabaleshwar ride on Nov 1st, but dont have the confidence of doing a 300 km before I can scale the 200 km challenge. So here I am waiting patiently for Nov 15th!
The 200 km Pune - Supe and back seems to be a 'relatively' flat route with about 850 mtrs climb overall (here's a strava route I created for this ride - http://www.strava.com/routes/1135309), but apparently the route has crazy headwinds coming back.
The plan
As this is the first really long ride for me, I am not sure what my target time should be and when i will run out of fuel and energy. But I want to target a 10 hour completion - meaning with a 1 hour break I will need to average a healthy 22.2 kmph for the time on the saddle. Pachgani route had 1500 mtrs climb and I did an average of 20 kmph there for about 100 kms. So certainly think this is a doable target.
The ride starts at 5 am. Luckily the ride starts very near to my house - at Cafe Nook in Balewadi. Have to reach there by 4 - 4:15 am or so. So my plan is to ride as much as I can in the morning hours before the sunrise. Hope I can do the 100 km stretch in one go without a stop. With regular fueling of Gatorade, bananas and Gu Gels on the saddle. So hopefully I reach by 9 - 9:30 am to the controle and turnaround point at Supe at around 22-25 kmph. There is one 10 km stretch from 80-90 km with a climb of 1.6% gradient. Manageable for sure but as it comes at the 80 km mark will be interesting to see how i tackle it and keep the 25 kmph average on my hybrid.
Target to start riding back is around 10 or 10:15. So I can reach end controle point in Koregaon park in 5 hours at around 3 pm. 20 kmph. As the sun will be burning down with the supposedly tough headwinds and the energy level will be down, overall it will be tough I think. But want to keep reaching by 3 pm as a stretch goal. Worst case I will get back by 4 pm which will be 11 hours from start - still well within the 13.5 hours limit for the brevet.
This is all assuming things go smoothly on the ride. Crossed fingers. :-0
Here are the things I will be carrying ...
- Reflective vest (buying it from Lifecycle today. Couldnt find it at Giant or Decathlon or in Pro Sports. Only Lifecycle is carrying it)
- Bright headlight: bought it at Decathlon for 1300 2 weeks back. The challenge is that this is rechargeable and can be charged by an USB and lasts only 2 hours. Not an issue for this ride, but for longer ride have to figure out another alternative.
- 700x32c extra tubes (couldnt find these in Giant, Lifecycle or Pro Sports yet). Hopefully will get these before Saturday. Else a puncture will be quite a harrowing experience on the ride.
- Puncture kit (Has 5-6 tire patches, Tire levers, Rubber solvent glue, and sand paper)
- Mini pump
- Tire pressure guage
- Spare mini torch: this is batter operated. so will work in emergency but very low lumens.
- Gloves
- Arm sleeves
- Cyclometer
- Phone
- Polar v800 GPS watch
- Money
- 2-3 Bananas
- 2-3 Gu Gels
- Salted and buttered baked potatoes
- Salt
- 3 Gatorades
- 2 Ltrs of water in camelback backpack
- Protein organic bars
There are plans ... and then there is reality. So the excitement, butterflies in stomach and the anticipation of a clean 10 hour finish looms as I wait for 15th November eagerly.
After the 100 km Neelkantheshwar ride and then the 100 km Panchgani race felt I have been ready to take on the 200 km challenge. But Pune Randonneurs werent conducting a ride in Oct. Would have had to go to Mumbai to do the ride on Oct 25th. Also ACP's (Audax Club Parisien) new year runs from Nov to Oct end. So decided to have some patience and do the first brevet in November.
New calendar year has now started... I am now a registered AIR (Audax India Randonneur) member ... rider number 53... also registered for the 200 km Brevet ride on 15th November from Pune to Supe and back. There was a 300 km Mahabaleshwar ride on Nov 1st, but dont have the confidence of doing a 300 km before I can scale the 200 km challenge. So here I am waiting patiently for Nov 15th!
The 200 km Pune - Supe and back seems to be a 'relatively' flat route with about 850 mtrs climb overall (here's a strava route I created for this ride - http://www.strava.com/routes/1135309), but apparently the route has crazy headwinds coming back.
The plan
As this is the first really long ride for me, I am not sure what my target time should be and when i will run out of fuel and energy. But I want to target a 10 hour completion - meaning with a 1 hour break I will need to average a healthy 22.2 kmph for the time on the saddle. Pachgani route had 1500 mtrs climb and I did an average of 20 kmph there for about 100 kms. So certainly think this is a doable target.
The ride starts at 5 am. Luckily the ride starts very near to my house - at Cafe Nook in Balewadi. Have to reach there by 4 - 4:15 am or so. So my plan is to ride as much as I can in the morning hours before the sunrise. Hope I can do the 100 km stretch in one go without a stop. With regular fueling of Gatorade, bananas and Gu Gels on the saddle. So hopefully I reach by 9 - 9:30 am to the controle and turnaround point at Supe at around 22-25 kmph. There is one 10 km stretch from 80-90 km with a climb of 1.6% gradient. Manageable for sure but as it comes at the 80 km mark will be interesting to see how i tackle it and keep the 25 kmph average on my hybrid.
Target to start riding back is around 10 or 10:15. So I can reach end controle point in Koregaon park in 5 hours at around 3 pm. 20 kmph. As the sun will be burning down with the supposedly tough headwinds and the energy level will be down, overall it will be tough I think. But want to keep reaching by 3 pm as a stretch goal. Worst case I will get back by 4 pm which will be 11 hours from start - still well within the 13.5 hours limit for the brevet.
This is all assuming things go smoothly on the ride. Crossed fingers. :-0
Here are the things I will be carrying ...
- Reflective vest (buying it from Lifecycle today. Couldnt find it at Giant or Decathlon or in Pro Sports. Only Lifecycle is carrying it)
- Bright headlight: bought it at Decathlon for 1300 2 weeks back. The challenge is that this is rechargeable and can be charged by an USB and lasts only 2 hours. Not an issue for this ride, but for longer ride have to figure out another alternative.
- 700x32c extra tubes (couldnt find these in Giant, Lifecycle or Pro Sports yet). Hopefully will get these before Saturday. Else a puncture will be quite a harrowing experience on the ride.
- Puncture kit (Has 5-6 tire patches, Tire levers, Rubber solvent glue, and sand paper)
- Mini pump
- Tire pressure guage
- Spare mini torch: this is batter operated. so will work in emergency but very low lumens.
- Gloves
- Arm sleeves
- Cyclometer
- Phone
- Polar v800 GPS watch
- Money
- 2-3 Bananas
- 2-3 Gu Gels
- Salted and buttered baked potatoes
- Salt
- 3 Gatorades
- 2 Ltrs of water in camelback backpack
- Protein organic bars
There are plans ... and then there is reality. So the excitement, butterflies in stomach and the anticipation of a clean 10 hour finish looms as I wait for 15th November eagerly.