Hello! This will be my first three day ride. We plan to do something like 50, 60 and 80 miles. But should we knock out our longest ride on the first day? Or the last? What is the best strategy for covering those mileage goals? Thank you!
It depends on your preparation. If you regularly ride 200+ miles per week with some back-to-back long rides on consecutive days, you won't have any problem riding long on all three days of the Coastal Ride. If (like most of us), you train less than that, you'll probably want to do the longest ride on the first or second day. It's relatively easy to ride 50-80 miles in a single day, but riding those distances three days in a row is much more challenging, both physically and mentally.
Check out the FAQ section of the Mountains to Coast Ride webpage. It contains some training advice and a schedule for multiple day cycling events. Keep in mind that the Mountains to Coast Ride, with 7 consecutive days of riding and challenging hills, is much more difficult than the Coastal Ride, which is 3 days and flat. But the training advice is still useful.
Last year, I did both events. For Mountains to Coast, I prepared well with two months' of 150-200 mile weeks. I was comfortably challenged, but not overwhelmed by that event. For Coastal Ride, I didn't prepare much at all, and after riding 60 and 45 miles on the first two days, I really didn't feel like riding much the third day. So, based on my experience, I think your ride strategy should be based on an honest assessment of your preparation and training.
I suspect most people tend to do the Long Ride on Saturday......From the past it seems many people do the super long ride on Saturday, and use the Friday as the get the feel of the land and warm up........And it is surprising how many bug out and not ride at all on Sunday.
I wonder if CycleNC has any statistics to support this suspicion.
