Total 200 — Advice and Roll Call

[hozn]

Yeah, so that was something.

Very cool to see DaveK out there! All the volunteers were amazing, I couldn’t agree more.

I think the fact that we’ve had little heat and that I typically do any longer rides in the early morning really did me a disservice on this ride. In general I have a hard time with overheating. I start getting chills, which is — as I’ve been told, anyway — entering dangerous territory. So that happened several times on this ride; had to pull over and sit down and spend extra recovery time at the stations. And I had continuous problems with legs cramping, despite consuming several dozen (!) of those electrolyte pills, doubling (then tripling) up the Nuun tablets in my bottle, and drinking several V8s (yum!). I don’t know what I was doing wrong there, but maybe I’ll try the vinegar/pickle juice approach next time. So a little frustrating to have my body shutting down on me, but I tried not to let that get in the way of having a good ride. I’m glad it wasn’t a race, so I didn’t feel any pressure to get back on my bike at the rest stop (other than, toward the end, to make the cutoff times). Of course, it was a much slower ride for me than Tim (and many others, I’m sure). I also made the foolish decision to ride from home, so not sure exactly how long on the course, but total time in the saddle that day was around 13 hours.

I rode with my friend Doug the whole way; he does much better in the heat and it was funny to see such a stark contrast in our performance comparing to feeling relatively evenly matched (he would claim I pulled him along, but that’s just being generous) on our [cool-weather] century the weekend before. But having someone to ride with does make all the difference; I suspect I’d still be out there now if I was doing it alone. Doug is also great at organizing others (or extroverted enough to do so, or whatever that mystical quality is), so we had some great short-pull pacelines later in the day. That’s always lots of fun.

Saw lots of people that were overcome by the heat or other physical tolls that sort of thing places on the body. One of the guys we had been riding with earlier in the day (who rode on ahead when Doug had a flat) was throwing up at the side of the road. We made sure he had plenty of water, phone, and gave him electrolytes. He called for help and we saw him at the next stop — not doing any better, unfortunately. Hope he’s all better now.

I loved riding back through southeast DC; it was so incredibly social and people were so friendly. It was different from the few other experiences I’d had in southeast and certainly different from what you’d expect based on nightly news (i.e. murders), and honestly that new perspective was probably the part of the experience I enjoyed the most.

So, I’m glad to have done the ride; I certainly enjoyed aspects of it. There were some really pretty roads in first and last 40 miles or so. I wish I had squeezed my camera in!

[mstone]

@hozn 57373 wrote:

I think the fact that we’ve had little heat and that I typically do any longer rides in the early morning really did me a disservice on this ride. In general I have a hard time with overheating. I start getting chills, which is — as I’ve been told, anyway — entering dangerous territory. So that happened several times on this ride; had to pull over and sit down and spend extra recovery time at the stations. And I had continuous problems with legs cramping, despite consuming several dozen (!) of those electrolyte pills, doubling (then tripling) up the Nuun tablets in my bottle, and drinking several V8s (yum!). I don’t know what I was doing wrong there,

You may have overdone it with the electrolyte tablets.

Yes, I know, Brawndo’s got electrolytes–but a little goes a long way.

[eminva]

@hozn 57373 wrote:

I loved riding back through southeast DC; it was so incredibly social and people were so friendly. It was different from the few other experiences I’d had in southeast and certainly different from what you’d expect based on nightly news (i.e. murders), and honestly that new perspective was probably the part of the experience I enjoyed the most.

This is great to hear. I love that part of the city and don’t get there often enough; some great hills for cycling. If you haven’t done it yet, you should do the WABA 50 States Ride and visit some more of that area. The residents I encountered were friendly and encouraging for that event, too. That’s in the early fall so it’s not so hot.

Sorry you had so much trouble but glad Doug was there to help. And congrats on gutting it out!

Liz

[eminva]

There’s something Tim forgot to tell you: he was in the first group that finished to 200 mile distance. Congrats!

Here he is coming into the final rest stop:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3262[/ATTACH]

Liz

[KLizotte]

Errr, has anyone asked the hosts to do the race maybe a month earlier or in the fall so as to avoid the heat/humidity?

[ShawnoftheDread]

@KLizotte 57408 wrote:

Errr, has anyone asked the hosts to do the race maybe a month earlier or in the fall so as to avoid the heat/humidity?

I thought the weather was part of the point of the ride.

[americancyclo]

After re riding the last half of Kill Bill this past weekend, I thought I should put the total 200 on my calendar for 2014. After reading these stories and remembering how Hans destroyed Jay Miller, not so sure again.

[hozn]

@americancyclo 57410 wrote:

After re riding the last half of Kill Bill this past weekend, I thought I should put the total 200 on my calendar for 2014. After reading these stories and remembering how Hans destroyed Jay Miller, not so sure again.

Naw, you’d be fine. I was in far better form on Kill Bill since I didn’t have to worry about heat. Total200 was a good event. I probably won’t do it again, but I’m sure I’ll find similar ways to push myself — maybe Diabolical Double next year. My only advice would be to do it with someone; that was really helpful.

I think ShawnoftheDread is right, though, the heat is part of the challenge here, so I don’t think it would make sense to move the ride. And it sounds like it was a heck of a lot hotter last year, so at least there’s that.

[Tim Kelley]

@KLizotte 57408 wrote:

Errr, has anyone asked the hosts to do the race maybe a month earlier or in the fall so as to avoid the heat/humidity?

Next year, for their 10th anniversary that are looking to make changes. Maybe a different ending location and maybe a different date. Although June can be pretty hot here in DC too…

[Tim Kelley]

@hozn 57417 wrote:

Total200 was a good event. I probably won’t do it again, but I’m sure I’ll find similar ways to push myself — maybe Diabolical Double next year.

I did both this year. (And rode to and from the start of both) In terms of watts and kJs and all the hard data that a power meter can provide, they came out almost exactly equal in terms of work done and training stress scores.

Personally I think Diabolical Double was harder for me since I’m generally a bigger guy. Going up steeps hills is harder for me than dieseling through the hot, windy flats. Also, there was considerably more chafing from the “sit and spin” position I was riding in for the DD…

[hozn]

@Tim Kelley 57427 wrote:

Personally I think Diabolical Double was harder for me since I’m generally a bigger guy. Going up steeps hills is harder for me than dieseling through the hot, windy flats. Also, there was considerably more chafing from the “sit and spin” position I was riding in for the DD…

Yeah, I could see that. I like hills better, but would get just as burned up in the heat. I’d do more heat training next year if I decide to do a summer ride of that length/intensity.

Re: chafing … yikes. I’m only now finally recovered from the chafing of Saturday’s ride.

[Tim Kelley]

@hozn 57453 wrote:

I’d do more heat training next year if I decide to do a summer ride of that length/intensity..

I feel like I got all my heat training for the season done in just one ride! Last night’s TNR felt quite comfortable.

[culimerc]

So apparently I was the only one of us that actually drove to the start (yea me!).

Anyways- I tried this 3 years ago, went out too fast it was hotter than it was this year and I completely blew up at mile 160. So my strategy this year was take it easy. not worry about the clock and just ride all day.

I spent most of the day riding with Mark and MegaBeth. Just cruising along. At one point Mark and I were just riding along blathering away at each other, turned around to check on MegaBeth, and there were 6-7 riders just pacing quietly behind us. We didnt see MegaBeth with us so we pulled over to wait and all 6-7 riders pulled in right behind us! (No really guys, you need to keep going….). So anyways, we stayed together until just after the lunch stop, when I rode ahead and missed a turn (again), but eventually met up again at the 147 mile rest stop. From there I went off by myself. My Garmin battery started getting low, so I had to turn the Navigation off, and since I didnt have a paper copy I started riding with folks for a bit then jumping up to the next person or group. I saw the guy Hozn saw throwing up, but by this time he was on the side of the road, leg just convulsing like it had an alien in it. I tried to pull him to the next rest stop, but that didnt work out so well.

So I tried to jumping from rider to rider again. Finally I got to rest area 8. The cramping/throwing up guy had beaten me there (he managed to get scooped up, Yea volunteers!!) Saw Dave K (Yea volunteer) who told me not to stop too long, I was on the time cut off. He gave me a cue sheet (Yea Navigation!!) and off I went.

Couple miles down the road I caught “Joe”, who was sporting so much pink that even Dirt would be impressed. Pink Trails End Bike shop jersey, pink/black handle bar tape, pink socks, pink skort (yes pink skort) and a custom TI bike painted in a pink leopard print, of course buffed out with all pink Chris King hardware. He was a site.

So we finally made it to rest station 9, where there were 10 or so people that all ganged up together to ride the last 20 miles. Its 7:15 at this point. So, I’m thinking 1:15, 1:20 at the most, we should be done by 8:30. Nope. It took us 2 HOURS to cover the last twenty miles. We got so turned around and lost, oh well I’ve had worse times. And what people have said about riding through SE, we had the same experience. Some kids on a motor scooter rode with us for a while just Laughing and having a good ol’ time. 2 little kids on BMX bikes decided we should race. They hung with us for alot longer than I would’ve thought they could. So, we finally make it back, and it was great having a cheering group waiting for us. Mark, MegaBeth, Hozn, Dave K. were all there (thanks guys!!) and my poor wife, worrying about me riding around SE in the dark. My brother was there too.

Overall, I couldve gone much harder. I was never in trouble and had plenty left in the tank at the end. I’ll probably do it again, despite my wife saying that this is my last time attempting it. Next year, I think I might try the diabolical double tho.

[consularrider]

@KLizotte 57408 wrote:

Errr, has anyone asked the hosts to do the race maybe a month earlier or in the fall so as to avoid the heat/humidity?

I think one of the points of the timing of the ride is to maximize the available daylight to make 200 miles achievable for more riders without requiring lights.

This was my second Total 200. Last year I rode to the start with Dirt, Tim, and Mark, but skipped the Leonardtown to St Mary’s segment and then rode home. That gave me 203 miles, but an additional two hours to finish.

This year I decided to drive to the start (two car family now and pacing myself because I’m still recovering from the sprained ankle). In the end I called it quits at pit stop #6 (mile 137). I still had energy, but was having shifting problems and on climbs it felt like my inner thigh wanted to cramp if I pushed it at all. In addition I am riding RAIN (Ride Across Indiana – a one day, 160 miles Terre Haute to Richmond on US40) this Saturday and didn’t want to jeapordize that by overextending myself at the Total.

Would I do it again? Yes! I heard a number of comments both last year and this that people didn’t like riding on busy roads. For me that’s actually one of the attractions of the ride. A group of 20 to 50 riders heading down Pennsylvania Ave/MD 4 early in the morning is quite a thrill. In addition there were (mostly) good shoulders on the other busy roads and I never felt threatened by any of the motorized traffic.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Reading the thread, it sounds like I have already have a 2014 goal. Heat, humidity, traffic… what’s not to love?

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