RATN 2020

[Bobby]

I've just signed up, it'll be my first race though I've done a few long audax - got my work cut out to get ready!

Who else is in?

[quixoticgeek]

I look forward to checking you bike out.

No, not like that, I've volunteered to help with bike check.

I'm not riding again, I'll never do better than I did this year, best I could hope for is an almost as good.

In the new year I'll publish an updated blog post with advice based on riding it twice. I'll post here when I've done so.

Good luck, see you in Amerongen

J

[Bobby]

I look forward to checking you bike out.

See you in 164 days! 

[rob]

I look forward to checking you bike out.

See you in 164 days! 

Is it that soon ?   I don't start training again until Jan.

[Bobby]

See you in 164 days! 

Is it that soon ?   I don't start training again until Jan.

It is indeed, I suspect from seeing your posts that you have significant more base & strength than me & the "off season" will do you well.   On the other hand, I've spent most of this year on an "off season" so am getting cracking with base training now   See you in May!

[rob]

See you in 164 days! 

Is it that soon ?   I don't start training again until Jan.

It is indeed, I suspect from seeing your posts that you have significant more base & strength than me & the "off season" will do you well.   On the other hand, I've spent most of this year on an "off season" so am getting cracking with base training now   See you in May!

Tell that to the extra half stone I’m carrying.  That said, this time last year I was confined to the turbo with a fractured hand.   At least I can ride outdoors at the moment.

I probably won’t do any planning for this one until the New Year.  See you at the start.

[rob]

Just leaving this here……..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb_sozJb01Q&feature=youtu.be

[Frank9755]

'Old faithful' position called for

[Phil W]

I see there is a Swiss rider who rides a velomobile. Finished Transam in 10 days in 2018. Should be interesting to see on the much flatter terrain of RATN.

[quixoticgeek]

I see there is a Swiss rider who rides a velomobile. Finished Transam in 10 days in 2018. Should be interesting to see on the much flatter terrain of RATN.

Didn't he ride RatN last year? Scratched somewhere around Amsterdam. He was riding an unfaired recumbent.

J

[Phil W]

I see there is a Swiss rider who rides a velomobile. Finished Transam in 10 days in 2018. Should be interesting to see on the much flatter terrain of RATN.

Didn't he ride RatN last year? Scratched somewhere around Amsterdam. He was riding an unfaired recumbent.

J

Not sure I was only following you and Wobbly last year.  I might be tempted by this , though I don’t have a free year till 2024!  Likely get a front fairing for my recumbent, if I do,  the plexiglass ones and quick release mounting hardware only come to about 750g.

[quixoticgeek]

Not sure I was only following you and Wobbly last year.  I might be tempted by this , though I don’t have a free year till 2024!  Likely get a front fairing for my recumbent, if I do,  the plexiglass ones and quick release mounting hardware only come to about 750g.

Check before you sign up, I think that anything other than a DF upwrong needs approval from the race organiser first.

J

[rob]

Not actually very far away now is it ?   I've shifted half a stone since Christmas and the legs are coming back together.   I have booked ferries and the days off work.   In case anyone from the UK hasn't spotted it the early May Bank holiday has shifted from the Monday to the Friday 8th to celebrate VE day.

[Bobby]

I’m feeling stronger and more comfortable on the bike, not fast at all but I don’t suppose I ever will be 🤣.  I suspect so much of my speed will depend on the Dutch hills...

Off the bike prep is also getting there. today I got a Bivy bag to add to the mat & sleeping bag I got last month.  I think I’ve worked out how to carry it all under the bars, but I do need to practice that & actually try sleeping in it!  I’m thinking I’ll alternate nights sleeping out vs hotel. 

Might need a larger saddle bag too, need to actually try packing the one I have.  I’ve always had some sort of bag drop in the past, makes the planning a bit more fun 

[Frank9755]

Off the bike prep is also getting there. today I got a Bivy bag to add to the mat & sleeping bag I got last month.  I think I’ve worked out how to carry it all under the bars, but I do need to practice that & actually try sleeping in it!  I’m thinking I’ll alternate nights sleeping out vs hotel. 

Might need a larger saddle bag too, need to actually try packing the one I have.  I’ve always had some sort of bag drop in the past, makes the planning a bit more fun 

You are on the right lines thinking through your packing in advance.  I now have mine sorted out but I recall a frantic couple of hours in a hotel in Geraardsbergen, packing what I was going to take on TCR that evening into the bags I had decided to use, and realising that it was the first time that I had tried to do it and that I had less space than I thought. 

I had some space for food, which people sometimes forget to allow for, but I had to leave behind things such as:
spare garmin (which I would have used if I'd had it), chain tool, spoke key and best tyre levers (I took some small ones they gave us at the start).

[Phil W]

Not sure I was only following you and Wobbly last year.  I might be tempted by this , though I don’t have a free year till 2024!  Likely get a front fairing for my recumbent, if I do,  the plexiglass ones and quick release mounting hardware only come to about 750g.

Check before you sign up, I think that anything other than a DF upwrong needs approval from the race organiser first.

J

Really that’s a bit rubbish. Who are they the UCI? What’s the reasoning?

[Karla]

Probably taking a lead from the TCR?

[quixoticgeek]

Probably taking a lead from the TCR?

I think it's more about people competing on equal terms. That said I think velomobiles won't be approved due to them just being too quick.

J

[LMT]

Checking the ride manual the only things banned are fully covered recumbent bikes and e bikes. This would mean that velos are allowed providing they are the three wheeled variety.

[quixoticgeek]

Checking the ride manual the only things banned are fully covered recumbent bikes and e bikes. This would mean that velos are allowed providing they are the three wheeled variety.

Is a velomobile not a fully covered recumbent?

J

[LMT]

Checking the ride manual the only things banned are fully covered recumbent bikes and e bikes. This would mean that velos are allowed providing they are the three wheeled variety.

Is a velomobile not a fully covered recumbent?

J

Two wheel or three? From the above two wheel is banned three is not.

[grams]

The exact wording is “Riders may ride any type of human-powered bike. Except fully covered recumbent bicycles and any kind of E-bikes.”

Vehicles with more than two wheels are banned by the first sentence, if we’re using a pedantic definition of bike/bicycle.

[rob]

I'm riding an upright bike.  I don't care.

[Phil W]

Checking the ride manual the only things banned are fully covered recumbent bikes and e bikes. This would mean that velos are allowed providing they are the three wheeled variety.

Is a velomobile not a fully covered recumbent?

J

So a recumbent with just a front fairing would be fine. Besides you can get front fairings for uprights if so inclined.

[Bobby]

You are on the right lines thinking through your packing in advance.  I now have mine sorted out but I recall a frantic couple of hours in a hotel in Geraardsbergen, packing what I was going to take on TCR that evening into the bags I had decided to use, and realising that it was the first time that I had tried to do it
<snip>

Oh, that would stress me out!  Good news is that the Bivy/mat/bag sleeping gear all fits nicely in a dry bag &!harness under the tri bars  now I need to actually try sleeping in it, but that does feel like a good step forward in prep terms