Author Topic: Dutch brevets in 2018  (Read 28798 times)

Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #150 on: 28 September, 2018, 09:57:52 am »

As was the 200km brevet in Groningen last week: 59 riders. Which is a lot I think, considering that [..] this brevet was not useful for people who want to ride PBP [...]


Still, there were quite some (German) participants who stated that they were riding with the aim of pre-qualification.


quixoticgeek

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Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #151 on: 28 September, 2018, 10:45:48 am »
The Boekelo 600 was a blast participant's wise.
As was the 200km brevet in Groningen last week: 59 riders. Which is a lot I think, considering that a) this brevet was not useful for people who want to ride PBP and b) many think Groningen is a very remote place (never mind that it's just two hours by train from Amsterdam). It was also a blast riding; quite literally sometimes because of the strong wind.

As a local, I must admit it was a real treat to be able to sleep in (9am is considered a civilised starting time for audax in the Netherlands) and have a hot shower shortly afterwards  8)

I was doing a BRM in Denmark when the 200k in Groningen was on. If you had anything like the wind we had up in Denmark I feel for you. I had 30+kph headwinds for over 150km of the ride. Very much a full value ride at 13:12.

Two weeks later we head down south for a 200 through the Brabant province. The start is in the cyclingcafé de Velosoof in Eindhoven on the 20th of october. https://www.randonneurs.nl/event/brm-200-eindhoven-nl-rondje-brabant/

Am looking forward to this. Am going to ECE it out to 400, as there's going to be no trains around at the finish time, so I may as well keep myself amused riding until the trains start.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #152 on: 02 October, 2018, 08:57:57 pm »

Two weeks later we head down south for a 200 through the Brabant province. The start is in the cyclingcafé de Velosoof in Eindhoven on the 20th of october. https://www.randonneurs.nl/event/brm-200-eindhoven-nl-rondje-brabant/

Am looking forward to this. Am going to ECE it out to 400, as there's going to be no trains around at the finish time, so I may as well keep myself amused riding until the trains start.

J

I'm kind of wondering in which remote corner of the Netherlands you're located that there are no trains around at the finish. Coming from the far North myself (i.e. Groningen), I can be an almost full value rider and catch the last train back at 22:34.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #153 on: 02 October, 2018, 11:35:30 pm »

Two weeks later we head down south for a 200 through the Brabant province. The start is in the cyclingcafé de Velosoof in Eindhoven on the 20th of october. https://www.randonneurs.nl/event/brm-200-eindhoven-nl-rondje-brabant/

Am looking forward to this. Am going to ECE it out to 400, as there's going to be no trains around at the finish time, so I may as well keep myself amused riding until the trains start.

J

I'm kind of wondering in which remote corner of the Netherlands you're located that there are no trains around at the finish. Coming from the far North myself (i.e. Groningen), I can be an almost full value rider and catch the last train back at 22:34.

Oh, reading error on my front. I was thinking of this weekends 300. Full value would mean a 0500 finish, trains take a few more hours to start.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #154 on: 03 October, 2018, 08:24:26 am »
I'm planning to ride both of these, Boekelo is new for me, most of my brevets have started in Belgium or Merselo and Bunnik. In fact my last
300km on Dutch soil ended after 220km with a ruptured rear tyre (no replacement so lesson well learnt), i'd like to think i will complete this one.

I rode Eindhoven last year, nice start location close to the center, route takes in some decent scenery once you get out of the city.
As Helmonder the only hard part about the Eindhoven BRM is that the last control point is about 4km from my house, feels kind of wierd to
do the final loop and then ride back from Eindhoven. Any chance of rain and i would probably turn right at the church. ::-)
Hoping to bring along a few club members to this ride, last year the weather was indifferent so they all cancelled at the last minute.
Regards,

Alan

Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #155 on: 03 October, 2018, 08:52:45 am »
@Quixoticgeek: That's the problem with these 300 km brevets. You get up extremely early to catch the first train to Boekelo and then have to race to catch the last train back. I solved the issue by getting a hotel for two nights.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #156 on: 03 October, 2018, 10:30:11 am »
@Quixoticgeek: That's the problem with these 300 km brevets. You get up extremely early to catch the first train to Boekelo and then have to race to catch the last train back. I solved the issue by getting a hotel for two nights.

I have a Hotel for the Friday night, but I didn't think it worth it for the 2nd night, given I'm likely to be a full value rider. Hence ECE the 101km to Ede hopefully in time for when trains are running.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #157 on: 07 October, 2018, 06:03:52 am »
@Quixoticgeek: That's the problem with these 300 km brevets. You get up extremely early to catch the first train to Boekelo and then have to race to catch the last train back. I solved the issue by getting a hotel for two nights.

I have a Hotel for the Friday night, but I didn't think it worth it for the 2nd night, given I'm likely to be a full value rider. Hence ECE the 101km to Ede hopefully in time for when trains are running.

J

Turns out the plan failed due to stinking headwinds. Ended up over 19 hours for the 300, and am too broken to ECE. Have made it to Enschede station, awaiting first train of the day.

Was a lovely route. More when I've slept.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #158 on: 08 October, 2018, 12:03:25 pm »


Turns out the plan failed due to stinking headwinds. Ended up over 19 hours for the 300, and am too broken to ECE. Have made it to Enschede station, awaiting first train of the day.

Was a lovely route. More when I've slept.


That sounds like an epic ride - congrats for finishing it, probably more than half in the dark ?

I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride for the first 100km  ;)  and after that it was plain sailing, finished in around 14hours at 11pm - and thats exceptional for me as i often do 200km brevets in 11 hours.
Actually the forcast was for it to get wet and windy after midnight*, so there was an incentive to get on with it to some degree.
(*Depends on which weather site you consulted)

Regards,

Alan

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #159 on: 08 October, 2018, 07:53:32 pm »
That sounds like an epic ride - congrats for finishing it, probably more than half in the dark ?

I was fortunate enough to hitch a ride for the first 100km  ;)  and after that it was plain sailing, finished in around 14hours at 11pm - and thats exceptional for me as i often do 200km brevets in 11 hours.
Actually the forcast was for it to get wet and windy after midnight*, so there was an incentive to get on with it to some degree.
(*Depends on which weather site you consulted)

Yeah, the weather forecast I used had the wind/rain coming in nearer dawn, rather than dusk. it arrived a good 10+ hours earlier than I was expecting it.

The big question I have tho, who the hell ordered the plague of frogs? I mean seriously. That was just crazy. Once the sun had gone down and the rain began, the road from CP2 to CP3 was covered with a slalom of frogs, various sitting, hiding, and hoping. In the dark, at 20kph, a frog looks far to similar to the leaves that also littered the fietspaden. I know I ran over at least 1, I hope it wasn't too many more than that.

On the descent from the Posbank I saw a wild boar. It was just slinking off into the bushes by the side of the road it had just crossed. Had it been a few seconds earlier I would have likely disturbed it mid road crossing, at the speed I was at I could have stopped fast enough to not hit it, but that would have then left me stationary next to a quite a large amount of mobile, angry, surprised pork...

I was the last rider in, whilst there were a few DNS, none of those who started DNF'd.

Total time: 19:22:51
Total moving time: 15:23:29

I really need to work on my faff to forward ratio.

I also need to do something about my nutrition strategy for 300's. My 200's approach isn't working as well when I move to a 300. I consumed less than 2500kcal. I burnt about 7500kcal.

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #160 on: 09 October, 2018, 07:11:25 am »
@farfetched: I think we rode together for that first 100k. Unless there were more Englishmen riding, of course.

Which would not be that surprising. It was a very international brevet with 40-odd Germans, at least one other Brit (but not an Englishmen), a guy from Japan, an American and probably more. While most of them lived nearby, one guy actually came all the way from Austria for this brevet (he appreciated the flatness of the Netherlands). For me, it was a relaxed and uneventful ride. Due to the perfect cycling weather, it was a fast ride, though. The first 200k was among my fastest ever and I arrived in just over 13 hours, which corrected for the overdistance of 12km made it my fastest 300 in the last two years. I was only reminded that it was autumn when I cycled from the arrivee back to my hotel in some nasty rain.

@quixoticgeek: your faff-to-forward ratio seems pretty decent to me. At least, when your using the faff time efficiently. I took two longer breaks to eat some proper food, but try to be efficient when ordering food (order everything at once, pay when you order). That seemed resting time well spent to me. Concerning the intake of calories: unless you felt hungry or without energy, I don't think there is a need to match calorie for calorie on these rides. 7500kcal is a lot of food and the human body does tend to have some excess energy stored somewhere.

Re: Dutch brevets in 2018
« Reply #161 on: 09 October, 2018, 12:21:19 pm »
@slugbait - yes that was me (alan), at least until Hardewijk when i decided that i needed to do this more at my own pace.
I am used to club events of 100-120km @ 30kmh so its no big deal, its just that i know there is still 200km to go.

Food intake/energy is of course all stricly personal, and depends on fitness levels, weather and how much you exert yourself.
In this specific case, i could get round on 3 cheese sandwhiches, a 'broodje kroket' 2 bananas and the occassional marsbar
and winegums, that said i eat well the day before and make sure that i eat and drink well on the way in the car.
Not much sugary stuff - normal food, as i know most of the time i will be cycling well within myself at around 25-26kmh.
Regards,

Alan