Posted on March 10, 2013
Getting ready for the big ride
Well, it’s been a while since we’ve updated the site. However, we’ve been pretty busy behind the scenes. JP has been training like a rockstar all winter long. I’ve been slightly less diligent (I packed on the ShmooCon 5 it seems) but the weather is turning and I’m back in the saddle.
There’s been a lot of interest from folks looking to cruise along for parts of the ride. To give you an idea of timelines, we’ve pulled together this draft schedule. (COR-xCountry-2012-v3) It’s by no means final, but the starting location and date is probably fixed. The rest of it should give you and idea of our best guess of where we’ll be throughout the ride. Obviously, we haven’t completed the route all the way to the Pacific, but getting to Vegas is 90% of the battle.
If you’re interested in hooking up with us for any of the ride, email info at cycleoverride dot org or leave a message in the comments.
Next up, transportation, jerseys, sponsor updates and more. Until then, keep the wheels down 🙂
I’m guessing you have already looked at the Race Across America site (specifically the results for 2012, located here http://www.raceacrossamerica.org/raam/rcrank.php?s_N_Year_ID=36). The solo riders appear to avg around 15mph or less. However they have to complete it in 12 days, so there is not much sleep involved.
Have you figured out what your planned avg’s are (while 15mph is a conservative, and easy number to maintain for the first few days, that number may slip significantly as the days pass, as well as any inclement weather)
How far into the planning are you (while I won’t be able to do the entire thing.. some of us have to work 🙂 ), I’m good to go for the first day, maybe second (I remember how I felt at the Seagull… not too bad, but another 100 miles might be painful). I would suggest breaking up the longer rides, 100, 50/60 for a few days, another 100/120, and so forth. Obviously I have no idea what everyone’s endurance is, but I suspect 4 100+ mile days in a row will take a heavy toll on anyone.
Gear wise (tools and such), I have pretty much everything (well for Mtn bikes, a few adapters can fix that for road versions) one would need to strip a bike down and fix it (including suspension.. again not need), except fixing a busted wheel (well hub yes, rim/trueing no), or pulling the headset. With that, have you/are you planning to reach out to various bike stores along your proposed routes to garner support in the event something catastrophic happens (does not need to be a sponsor, but it would be nice to know that a store can help out with an fix at the time, rather then saying they will get to it in a few days).
Not sure what Dean (@bbtick/@bigbluetick) schedule looks like or what his plans are, but I know he is interested, however, I am game for a few legs of the trip (short of any problems or wife veto powers). I suggest some planning dinners 😛
@jvanbrecht on twitter.
Jason
ps, profile creation with twitter/facebook is broken, the intermediary appears to be busted.
We’ve done a few training rides in the last year (a 4 day ride across Ohio and part of KY and then a week long ride up the east coast to the end of Long Island). I think the pace while we’re riding isn’t the real problem… it’s the impact of late starts, mechanicals, and various unforeseen incidents have.
We’ll be mostly riding ACA routes, and I think the distances we’ve put together are doable without too much issue based on what others have done on those routes. That said, we’re not tied to the the particulars if each segment. I’m sure we’ll be modifying along the way 😉
For instance, the plan now is not to start in G-Town and to the Garrett County Gran Fondo. Rather, we’re going to start in Yorktown on the same day. That reduces the total mileage by a bit, but also decreases the climbing on the east coast DRAMATICALLY. That allows us to put in 4 full blown rest days in and keep the same arrival time in Vegas. I’ll be updating the spreadsheet to reflect that.
What part of the ride are you interested in doing? sounds like the initial few days. Not sure if changing the start location to Yorktown changes that at all for you…?