Before the 200k ride(s), I had been thinking that we "irregulars" ought to do a century or an "epic" ride on the equinoxes and for the summer solstice. Perhaps centuries on the equinoxes and 200k for the solstice (after all, a lot of people do double centuries to celebrate "Mid-Summer's Day"). Certainly I / we have the courses to allow such fun and not duplicate ourselves. For example: the Virginia Border Raid beckons, the Middleburg (Solstice) Century is worth a second ride, the Hurdle Mills 200k course was good, and the Kerr Lake Loop was fun (either the 84 miles version we did Jul-3rd would likely be fun again, or the longer version from which the Jul-3rd version was . . . "ripped" would likely be interesting). Btw, the nominations for best ride of the year are heavily favoring the Jul-3rd Kerr Lake Loop -- we could do that course on a winter Saturday and compare the scenery to that encountered on Jul-3rd.
Anyway, I was mulling these thoughts around. Considering even doing more century rides in addition to the "official" "irregulars" rides -- that had been part of my plan for 2009, but you guys tired me out on most occasions when I was planning to do more after the return to PUE -- only once during the warm months did I extend the "irregular" route to sneak in a century. We now have quite a few 70+ and 80+ mile courses from which it ought to be easy to extend oneself to 100 miles. (I wonder how many times the Mallet was "extended" to 100 miles because he rode the 14 mile round trip from his home to-and-from the ride -- probably they mostly came up a few miles short.)
Anyway, I was mulling the above thoughts around. Also wondering how to train-up for and do a 300k ride. I was looking at the Hurdle Mills 200k course, and the Mayo-naisse 100-miler (which I've figured out, but which we've never done) and beginning to chart out a 300k course.
Then, out-of-the-blue, and completely unsolicited (and I don't recall ever mentioning my thoughts about going beyond 200k to him), Lt. Dave e-mailed me with information that he'd like to do a 300k next year.
That settled it: 2010 -- more long rides. But for those not wanting to go THAT far, don't worry. You know my routes usually come with "bailout" options. Have you ever looked at the maps of most of our 70+ and 80+ routes? They are not circles. More go north on one road, cut over a few miles, and come back on the next road over. The Middleburg Century route is like that. The Stagecoach route. Community House Rd route, also. And, of course, up one road, back on the next is a pretty good description of the Mt. Harmony-Berea and Allensville-Berea and Mayo Lake routes. Even the Virginia Border Raid fits that description.
I still want to ride NC BR #2 farther east than I have so far (I made it to within a mile of I-95. For the "knowledgeable" reading this, I made a small loop where NC BR #7 starts, and then hi-tailed it back to Youngsville on NC BR #2). Seems like that might be a good ride to do on the first weekend of the month. Huh? Lt. Dave does his fireman thing on those weekends, thus the anti-out-and-back rider is "not a problem" those weekends.
So, what am I writing other than a bunch of jibberish? If / when a long ride / route is "announced", but you want to go shorter, consider e-mail responding to the whole group, maybe someone else is thinking the same thing. And by now you should know that I almost always have a short-cut option I can cue-sheet for you. And even if there is not a shot-cut, Lt. Dave is the only one I've heard denigrating an out-and-back course.
Riding long and longer does seem to indicate the likelihood that I'm not likely to get any faster. 16 mph for 50 miles seems to have morphed to 16 mph for 100 miles. Perhaps I can get the 200k pace up to 16 mph, also (after all, I avg'd 15.5 mph for my first 100-miler, and that's not so different from 15.4 for 200k).
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Timing:
I looked at the NC Randonneurs "Raleigh" brevet series web-site. Raleigh Brevet Series The Raleigh series starts with a 200k early in April, and finishes with a 600k before the end of May. That may seem early in the year, may be early in the year, but there is less heat and humidity in April and May than June, July, August. (For some of us, the Raleigh Brevet Series may be a good place to ride 200k or 300k or more; but Lt. Dave is almost psychotic in his abhorrence of out-and-back courses.)
I also looked at the "western NC brevet series". ("western NC brevet series") Seems to be almost year-round. Some of those brevets are . . . very hilly. And it is often cooler in the hills and mountains than here. The series also seems to be not just in "western" NC next year. Some mtn brevets, some Piedmont brevets, some "coastal" (?) brevets, too.
I understand that brevets can be entered without joining Randonneuring-USA (RUSA), but that "Permanents" are "members only". We all (well, 6 of us) have experienced the "meat" of one near-by 200k Permanent course (the Kerr Lake Loop), and I'm pretty sure that several randonneurs (MikeD prominent among them -- after all, it is his course) ride that course several times a year. There are also some Permanents that start from or near Raleigh that are out-and-back courses. RUSA (I wonder if RUSA spells permanent with an "e" on the end, after all, it is probably another French or semi-French term.)
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Conclusions:
You didn't actually expect me to come to a conclusion about anything, did you?
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For more information:
Stay in touch. Eventually a long-ride program will develop. And it will have short-cuts. And be interspersed with some shorter rides so that the "long-ride crew" can keep in touch with the "are you guys crazy!, aka, shorter-ride crew".
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