How many minutes stopped on a 125 mile ride?

[Banjo]

I have entered the Dragon Sportive in June I am trying to work out what my average moving speed needs to be to finish inside the 9.5 hour time limit.

there are 3 feed stations and not many junctions you would need to stop on. Barring Mechanicals does 30 minutes stopped sound about right?

 

[lukesdad]

10 mins per station would be ample i would think. Add 10 more for incidentals ( not taking the camera I take it )

 

[corshamjim]

It really depends what you expect your moving average speed to be. Anything less than 13.16 mph and you're not going to make it regardless! btw that would count me out. I've not yet ever averaged more than about 12mph on a long ride.

p.s. duh I just understood the question. For a half hour stop you would need a moving avg of 13.88mph.

(subtract stop time 0.5 hours from total 9.5 hours = 9 hours. miles (125) divided by hours (9) = 13.88 mph.

 

[Banjo]

It really depends what you expect your moving average speed to be. Anything less than 13.16 mph and you're not going to make it regardless! btw that would count me out. I've not yet ever averaged more than about 12mph on a long ride.


p.s. duh I just understood the question. For a half hour stop you would need a moving avg of 13.88mph.

(subtract stop time 0.5 hours from total 9.5 hours = 9 hours. miles (125) divided by hours (9) = 13.88 mph.

Thanks for replies. Its close to the limit for me. 14mph average doesn't sound much but there's at least 3 climbs that go up over 500 meters plus several smaller hills. If I feel good on the day I will go for it if not there's a shorter option. You can chose on the day on the Dragon. PS I won't be taking the camera on this one it doesn't work properly after I drilled holes in it to make it weigh less :-)

 

[asterix]

Yes 14mph isn't bad at all on that sort of ride! I would stop as little as possible..

 

[MacB]

Jeez, I'd be worried about stopping 125 miles in 9.5 hours is pretty darn quick, on a purely mathematical basis, ignoring terrain, then I'd want to subdivide the ride into 3 or 4 sections. Maybe 50 miles, stop, 40 miles, stop and leaving a final leg of 35 miles, or something along those lines. I'd certainly want to aim to have time in hand and shorter legs later on.

 

[potsy]

3 feeed stations = 3x45 minute stops, oh hold on this isn't a Colinj forum ride

That would be too quick for me Banjo, I like a leisure ride with a couple of decent stops.

 

[Dave Davenport]

You can waste a lot of time stopped on sportives, I prefer to grab drink/food and keep moving. If you sit up and ease off on a flatter section and get some food down you you're still covering ground and also you're legs won't stiffen up. Last one I did was 117 miles and I only stopped for about 4 mins in total.

 

[corshamjim]

I must do a similar calculation myself for the Wiggle Mendip ride I'll be doing in August. Thankfully on that one too it's possible to divert to the shorter route so if I'm not far enough ahead of the broom wagon by the time I get to that point I'll do that rather than struggle. Thankfully I'm not raising any sponsorship or anything on this one, so there's no pressure.

 

[martint235]

Thanks for replies. Its close to the limit for me. 14mph average doesn't sound much but there's at least 3 climbs that go up over 500 meters plus several smaller hills. If I feel good on the day I will go for it if not there's a shorter option. You can chose on the day on the Dragon. PS I won't be taking the camera on this one it doesn't work properly after I drilled holes in it to make it weigh less :-)

I've not done a sportive but I've done a few rides over 100 miles and I've found that unless you're very unlucky, hills will tend to even themselves out.

 

[phil_hg_uk]

I like a leisure ride with a couple of decent stops bags of chips and a cheese burger.

Fixed it for you potsy, or was that me

 

[vorsprung]

I would assume I will loose an hour per 100km on longer rides (300km+) due to taking a piss, eating, stopping at junctions, unwrapping Mars bars etc

On a short sportive where you are determined to go as fast as possible I'm sure you could halve the 200km= 2hours figure. So let's call it an hour

So the total time actually spent moving will be 8.5 hours to get your 9.5 target. Therefore your speed is 23.5km, or just under 15mph

If you can take advantage of drafting groups a 9.5 hour target sounds realistic

 

[Banjo]

OK thanks for all the replies,

I know its a bit of a how long is a piece of string question but its interesting to see other peoples ideas on it. One thing in my favour is there are some big hills but also some fast descents with fairly decent road surfaces.

Still not decided ,will quite possibly make my mind up at the top of Bwlch One .So little time left and so little training done...

Views from Bwlch

 

[fossyant]

Even being 'quick' on a stop can waste time fast. I averaged 7 mins each at the 3 feed stations on last years Cheshire Cat - first one was waiting for the loo as it took over an hour to roll over the start - Best option I think is refill bottle, grab food, get on bike and eat the food as you roll, rather than try and eat a banana and a cake whilst stopped.

 

[asterix]

Even being 'quick' on a stop can waste time fast. I averaged 7 mins each at the 3 feed stations on last years Cheshire Cat - first one was waiting for the loo as it took over an hour to roll over the start - Best option I think is refill bottle, grab food, get on bike and eat the food as you roll, rather than try and eat a banana and a cake whilst stopped.

Yes, I am expert at one-handed banana peeling (which is not a euphemism).