About a month ago, I rode the SFR 300k event. Prior to the 300k, I rode the SFR 200k event and completed it successfully. I hoped to add to my training, but I was only able to take one ride in the weekend ~28 hilly miles to supplement my 4-5 days of commuting during the week.
Despite the lack of long miles, I was confident that if I stuck to my plan of taking it easy on the hills and limiting my stopping time, then I could have a good outcome. The 300k route is very similar to the Russian River 200k route, except the extra 100k comes from riding from the out and back from San Francisco towards Fairfax-Olema. There were a few extra km in the mostly flats around Santa Rosa too. I had around a 10 hour 200k, so I was targeting a 10 + 6 hour =16 hour 300k. I made my chicken sausage/egg/rice "sushi" rolls and then didn't stop at all for food. I took a couple quick bathroom breaks and a water break, but the only substantial time off the bike was my two flats. Unfortunately my rear tire picked up some steel belted tire wires that went through my Grand Bois Hetre tire and gave it a slow flat. These annoying metal wires can only be removed by pliers, so it is a good idea to carry one in your toolkit. I have a mini leatherman tool that I have in my bike bag. --One thing I did notice was that my tire had some sidewall damage despite being stored inside and the tire being relatively new. I booted the tire with a sticky park tire boot and continued on to the end without mishap. I'm not sure when the tire damage happened and need to make sure to check my tires before a long ride more carefully. Despite the 2 flats, I finished in about 16 hours, so overall it was a good ride in that I reached my desired goal. I couldn't do the SFR 400k, which was yesterday, ending today, due to an orchestra concert today. It was a bit wet out there, so I hope everyone who did it managed ok. Actually, a couple years ago I rode the 400k and played in a concert the following day. I wasn't so confident this time! Several years ago I rode a wet 400k and finished around 23 hours (brutal!) and did the very stupid thing of trying to drive home without taking a nap. I caught myself falling asleep on the drive home and could have killed myself. I promise to rest before going home! I'm sure to have at least one big ride (double century or 400k) to ride this year, but I have to juggle that with my crazy schedule. Luckily my daily commute is providing a good base of training for these rides. Toshi in Oakland -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/CAGB59xzMXhCE2J0PbVwymrvpV8KnyRiSV%2BU1SG35O7F8u2skJA%40mail.gmail.com.
