What should I do?

term1te

I have a dilemma. I saw a poster for a local cycle club advertising some organised rides to celebrate the anniversary of the local Canton. Excellent I thought, the forecast is good for the weekend and 150 km around the Jura would be good practice for L’Etape de Legende in September. So I booked online without looking too closely at the route.

I commute past the start, where this morning they are setting up tents and starting to mark the route. I was a bit worried to see the markers heading off road. Just re-checked the website and find it is an off road challenge.

Off road for me means the bike is on the work stand, so here is the dilemma. Do I just bottle out and go for a ride on some nice smooth roads somewhere else, or do I dust off the early 90s Trek 4000 and have a go anyway? I’d remove the rack and mud guards and would probably need to get some new tyres, but without any suspension or off road experience is it worth it?

With 2,500 m climbing I was aiming for 6 hours on the road, what should I expect off road?

mea00csf

150km off road is tough. And if you need to ride a bike that you haven't ridden in ages it's really gonna hurt. Then again it depends how off road it is. Is it technical stuff or just bridleways and smooth tracks?

I would personally say give it a miss. Even when you're in practice off road 150km is a looooong way, but only you know what you're capable off, what is a good challenge and what is just ridiculous

Pagem

Term1te wrote:

I have a dilemma. I saw a poster for a local cycle club advertising some organised rides to celebrate the anniversary of the local Canton. Excellent I thought, the forecast is good for the weekend and 150 km around the Jura would be good practice for L’Etape de Legende in September. So I booked online without looking too closely at the route.

I commute past the start, where this morning they are setting up tents and starting to mark the route. I was a bit worried to see the markers heading off road. Just re-checked the website and find it is an off road challenge.

Off road for me means the bike is on the work stand, so here is the dilemma. Do I just bottle out and go for a ride on some nice smooth roads somewhere else, or do I dust off the early 90s Trek 4000 and have a go anyway? I’d remove the rack and mud guards and would probably need to get some new tyres, but without any suspension or off road experience is it worth it?


With 2,500 m climbing I was aiming for 6 hours on the road, what should I expect off road?

i'd say dust off the old faithful. you might find the off road riding a welcome break and it may do your body good in terms of giving it something slightly different to handle.

stop worrying about it and enjoy. you can always drop out if things aren't going your way. however, that would make you a very bad person...

term1te

Thanks. I checked with the organisers and there is a 15 hour max time for completion with the winner likely to take 8.5 hours. It is supposed to be not too technical, but "difficult". There is a half distance course, which seems a much better option. I’ll try to swap to that one. Does that make me only half bad?

domtyler

I say go for it, you can always DNF if you have to.
________
MAINE MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARIES

baudman

We set up a team for "Six Hours in the Saddle". I fell off on the practice lap and hit hard. My partner decided it was a bit too good for her. My best mate jumped onto my bike (a dually, instead of his hard tail - but he'd ridden it a bit before) and lasted about 15 minuted before coming off with a suspected broken collarbone, which was quickly diagnosed as just a bad impact.

However, we all had a ball.

I'm sure you'll do much better tho - we're all just hacks really.

knedlicky

Term1te wrote:

Do I just bottle out and go for a ride on some nice smooth roads somewhere else, or do I ... have a go anyway?

150 km off-road - that's more than most MTB marathons, more than the Andermatt MTB Alpenbrevet! If you haven't ridden a distance at least half that off-road recently, you'll suffer badly.

Just go for the half-distance now that you've registered, that's easily far enough for someone who mainly rides road.
Or give it a miss and instead ride the La Gruyère cyclosportive (previously known as the La Pascal Richard) which is also this coming Sunday, start and finish at Bulle.

I did it a couple of years ago when they had 95 and 135 km routes; this year they've changed the routes slightly (sadly taking out the Jaunpass) to allow three routes - 85, 125 and 165 km.
Evenso, it's a good event, not too small not too large, good route, good organisation, good atmosphere (supposedly one of the best 8 cyclosportives in the World, according to UCI - not sure of the criteria they use).

term1te

I was planning to go for La Gruyère cyclosportive, but have other commitments on Sunday, which is why I was so pleased to see a local event on Saturday. I did the Cyclotour du Léman, down that way a few months ago, which was an excellent day out, if a bit wet.

term1te

Well I did it last Saturday. Turned up on the old bike with slick tyres and immediately got a bit worried by the sort of kit everyone else had. I only spotted one other bike with no suspension. I bottled it a bit and went for the 75 rather than 150 km route. About two thirds was on paved road, where slick tyres pumped to (above) their max pressure did the business. The off road started gently then we hit the proper stuff. Fortunately it was dry, but on a couple of occasions I lost all traction and had to walk. The descents were no fun. I took so long on one decent through a wood that the guy I was cycling with going up thought I must have come off and was about to go back to look for me when I got to the bottom.

I got hopelessly lost at one point dropping about 200 m into the valley before the next junction, which had no markings. I got about halfway back up when I met a couple of others who were equally lost. Fortunately one guy had a map and we figured where to go.

The last 15 km was on relatively flat roads I know well, so I put my head down and went for it, and came in first! However it was a staggered start and a later starter pulled 15 minutes off my time so I was second overall, and completely gobsmacked.

I think for once complete naivety paid off. Whilst there were some sections of the route that would have been impossible for me if it had been wet, the fact I was on a bike with slick 1.25 inch tyres at almost 80 psi was a great advantage on the roads. However, I was completely knackered and very glad I hadn’t gone for the 150 km.

The best bit was just as I was leaving after the race. There was a Herbalife stand promoting their new sports drink. The guy asked if I’d like a free wellness test, my name would go into a draw for David Beckham’s latest football shirt. I answered his questions and held a fat monitoring machine. When he plotted this data it turns out I’m unfit and need to improve my „wellness“. Having felt very pleased with myself I was slightly deflated, but have decided to ignore this diagnosis completely. I’m sure the fact I was covered in sweat and somewhat dehydrated accounted for 25% fat reading! (subsequently had a go on one of those scales that measures fat levels and got 14%)

heavymental

what an end to this story! Dusted off your old mtb....with slicks on :!: got lost and came in second on a 75k offroad course!? Well done!
I thought you were going to say that it all ended with you winning a Beckham football shirt and, like the Fast Show sketch, the story was going to end with "....which was nice"