Endurance riding



On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:24:14 -0400, Bill Baka wrote:

> On Wed, 11 Aug 2004 18:03:54 -0400, Steve Palincsar <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 11:36:24 -0400, the black rose wrote:
>>
>>> Which is better for endurance riding: road or touring bike? Or is it
>>> all about how the bike fits you so type doesn't matter?

>>
>> The classic endurance ride is the brevet, and the classic bikes (Rene
>> Herse and Alex Singer) for randonneuring can be classed as "light
>> touring" bikes. Here's a link to a web site that describes one in very
>> great detail, with some wonderful pictures:
>> <http://home.t-online.de/home/dirk.feeken/singer/singer.html>
>>
>> If you're planning on riding about 780 miles in 90 hours, you can
>> expect to be riding in the dark, dog tired. So you need lights, you
>> need a comfortable bike, and you need one with forgiving handling that
>> doesn't require constant full-alert attention just to make it go
>> straight.

>
> I may be nuts, but I am not crazy. 780 miles in 90 hours? Is that 24
> hour pedaling with no sleep breaks or just 4 days of double centuries?
> Sounds like 90 hours straight if it is in the dark as well as the light.
> Insane. Where do I sign up?
> Bill Baka


Here's a link to the Randonneurs USA site <http://www.rusa.org/>
where you can read more about the sport. Here's a link to an article
about Paris-Brest-Paris <http://www.rusa.org/pbp.html>, which will next be
run in 2007. The top brevet in North America is Boston-Montreal-Boston,
which will be Aug 19-22. Here's a link to an article that describes this
event <http://www.geocities.com/b-m-b/>

I was wrong, by the way: it's 1200km, or 750 miles (not 780), in 90 hours
total elapsed time. There are checkpoints along the way, and you have to
make each checkpoint by a specified time.
 
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In article <[email protected]>,
Steve Palincsar <[email protected]> wrote:
>On Tue, 10 Aug 2004 11:36:24 -0400, the black rose wrote:
>
>> Which is better for endurance riding: road or touring bike? Or is it
>> all about how the bike fits you so type doesn't matter?

>
>The classic endurance ride is the brevet, and the classic bikes (Rene
>Herse and Alex Singer) for randonneuring can be classed as "light
>touring" bikes. Here's a link to a web site that describes one in very
>great detail, with some wonderful pictures:
><http://home.t-online.de/home/dirk.feeken/singer/singer.html>
>
>If you're planning on riding about 780 miles in 90 hours, you can expect
>to be riding in the dark, dog tired. So you need lights, you need a
>comfortable bike, and you need one with forgiving handling that doesn't
>require constant full-alert attention just to make it go straight.


_ For me this is the key thing. A zippy road bike is fun for
about 4 or 5 hours, but beyond that you want a bike that just
goes and doesn't fight you to keep a straight line. It's amazing
all the little muscles you need to keep a bike straight and
how much they hurt after 7 or 8 hours. I'm no where near a PBP
rider, but I've done a fair number of 9 - 10 hour rides. My
favorite long ride bike has these features.

1. Relatively slack angles.

2. Long wheelbase/ long chainstays

3. Low bottom bracket.

_ You can find these characteristics in either a road or touring
bike. Admittedly, you'll have to look a lot harder to find
them in a road bike.

_ Booker C. Bense

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