I was planning on riding some brevets last year but a pinched nerve took me out for a couple months…and then work. I was able to do one 300k in 2022 and didn’t absolutely hate it so I figured I’d give it a go agin this year.

This time I actually slept good beforehand and had pretty much everything lined up ready to go so I wasn’t in a rush. There was about 2 times before leaving where I almost bailed. Oddly enough I kind of just wanted to go skate instead, and just was trying to convince myself of reasons not to do it. Annoyingly this one started down past Huntington Beach so even though the drive there was only 45 min I knew I was looking at over an hour back. Adding 2 hours of commute to these things might get old fast. But then I realized if I didn’t go I prob would be even more annoyed at that which could have ruined my day. I knew I didn’t have anyone to ride with near home, and wasn’t even sure if anyone was skating, let alone somewhere fun.

Above is all the bullshit I put down my neck yesterday, but I did not include the Starbucks impossible brekky sandwich (lol) that I had on the way to the start, the apple I ate on the ride, and the banana I ate when I got back to the finish. But it does include the the delicious cauliflower shawarma I had when I got home. Oh shit, also drank half a coke and half a bag of salt and vinegar chips on the drive home. Fucking hell…is this to much? Too Gnarly? I’m getting hungry looking at all of these though. One rider I spoke with rode to the halfway mark with just one bottle of water, and one bottle of – I forget what he called it – liquid meal kinda red slush in another bottle. How the FUCK do you ride 60+ miles with one bottle of water and no snacks? That is wild to me. Lo-key kinda wish I could do that. I had 3 on my frame, and a liter in my bag. The liter ended up being dead weight but now I know. Also, it wasn’t hot out and if it was I would have cashed that liter for sure.

One personal thing I HAVE to address is how my toes start to get tingly, then numb, then basically a sharp pain. I might need a new bike fit from tweaking shit so much, but holy shit its ridiculous. I think I can still feel it this morning, or maybe the balls of my feet are just sore. Either way it really fucked up the last half of my ride (it almost always starts after the 50mi mark). Caveat – I have not been riding much the past few months. Really. Once or twice a week max.

Speaking up fucking up a ride…Wahoo. LOL wtf! The WHOLE first half of the ride it was trying to send me off course and re-routing me…literally the whole time! Somehow I still have over half the battery remaining but thats about all I can say positive about the new Roam. I’ll figure it out, update it or whatever, but if it’s not working properly soon I’m swiping brands. I briefly had a Garmin 530 a couple years ago but got rid of it because it seemed to lag so much. Maybe I’ll go back. I’d be stoked to try a Hammerhead but to pay that money to strap an iPad with crap battery life to my handlebars seems lame. Maybe not though (huh JD).

Last thing to address…the discrepancy between Ride With GPS, Wahoo, and Garmin. I wore a Garmin watch as backup so I THINK I trust that one the most per the calories but there is no way in hell my average speed was 12.2mph…BUT doing the math real quick that does not account for the stopped time, so yes 12.2 over the whole day.

Ride with GPS – the route in the planner said 3094 ft elevation but it only logged 2592ft. Ok cool, 500ft. off, I probably wouldn’t think anything about that if strata didnt count 3731 ft. and Garmin 3579 ft.

Here’s the thing..The Garmin watch records it solo, the Wahoo records it and sends to Strava and Ride with GPS (I think thats how it’s set up) so in the end who the hell knows but they are all shit lol. id like to take the best stats from each and make them one, that way I seem way better than I am.

I think I was a little bit faster last year doing the 300k but that could have been tailwinds and whatnot (no tingly toes) as well. Either way, I finished with over 3hrs of time remaining, and am thinking maybe I could have spent a little bit of that time off the bike eating more.