Speaking from personal experience, I don't think it would be helpful to ride a 350K in preparation for a 400K, or a 550 before a 600. The 400 and 600 distances start stretching the notion of "fun" (for me) and start becoming real work. Personally, if I were going to ride 500K, I would only do that on the way to a full 600K.
The longer distances will test several things: The suitability of your bike to be comfortably ridden for days at a time Your ability to ride and perform under a sleep deficit (you will *never* be able to get enough sleep on a 600 or 1200) The quality of your clothing, particularly your shorts. I've ridden more than 150 double centuries, and in my experience there's a huge difference between that distance and a 600 or 1200. A minor irritation caused by chafing that you can live with for 200 miles can quickly become quite painful and serious at the longer distances. The worst thing that happened to me at PBP in 2011 was chafing on Day 3, the result of a minor issue that I stupidly didn't deal with properly on Day 1. Your ability to manage time, maintain a pace, and deal with minor setbacks. At PBP, you'll likely end up finishing close to the max time. Little things add up over the course of the almost 4 days you'll be riding, and if you don't pay constant attention to moving toward your goal, you could easily DNF. An extra 5 minutes at each control will add up to an additional hour of time--that could be a disaster. Here's a pretty good overview of what the different distances are about (not written by me): http://marcusjb.wordpress.com/2013/11/05/so-youre-thinking-about-paris-brest-paris-2015-then/ --Eric N campyonly...@me.com Web: www.campyonly.com Twitter: @campyonlyguy Blog: campyonlyguy.blogspot.com On May 23, 2014, at 5:05 AM, 'Tim' via RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com> wrote: > I know several of you in the group ride brevets so it's time to pick your > brains. I've taken them up again this year. In 2011 i completed a 200k, had a > DNF 300k followed by finishing a planned 175 mile ride. I've had no rides > over 50-60 miles since until this year, got fat, etc. I decided I needed a > goal to help motivate me so I put PBP 2015 on the calendar. I've lost over 45 > lbs and am loving riding again. I did a 200k a couple of weeks ago and have a > 300k next week which I'm nervous about but fairly confident. My question is > about beyond that. I'm wondering if I need to progress to the other > distances. In other words, should I try 350k before 400 then 500 before 600? > Or do you think that by the time I've gone 300k that the base is built up > enough to sustain the larger jumps in time and distance? Riv content: I'm > riding this on my Homer and loving it! I'd like to complete the whole series > (200,300,400, 600) this summer so I'll have a good taste for what's in store > next year in Paris. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
