The trackleaders trace gives hin 1227 miles on day 1
I guess that's calculating in the distance from when he switched his tracker on as a test at home in Little Rock.... but he drove to Florida AIUI
Strava will sort it out though.
Tarzan clearly has a very different strategy to Steve. 231 miles on his first day is not that different to Steve, but his average speed is way way faster thus meaning significantly less time on the bike. His average heart rate is also way higher (as you'd expect given the effort to go at that speed). This is all well and good but can he vkeep that kind of effort level up for months on end? I personally suspect not. My thoughts are that Steve's approach has a much better chance over the long run.
I think you are right.
A question was asked elsewhere about "recovery times".
With 20+ years of experience of riding these sort of daily distances and by keeping his effort level low (as reflected by an avg hear rate less than 90) Steve will (I hope) not need much "recovery" between rides. The 'evidence' for this ? He's still averaging much the same pace as on day 1. I think I'm right in saying most of us experience a drop-off in speed on multi-day rides?
At a higher effort level I'll be expecting Tarzan's performances to suffer somewhat after the few days - or maybe the first 3000 miles (RAAM distance) .... I doubt his tactic of one shorter (~100 mile) day in every seven will give him the recovery he needs?