Cycling a double century takes a lot of planning and preparation in addition to the training miles. In addition to managing your nutrition and hydration needs, managing you pace can make the difference on successfully completing the event.
Managing your time does not mean riding as fast as possible. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Riding at a pace that’s a little slower than your normal riding pace and staying steady is an approach that can have you crossing the finish line with a little extra energy in the tank instead of bonking and barely making it.
Think about driving your car 400 miles and you get 20 miles per gallon with a 20 gallon gas tank and no gas stations along the way. The way you drive is going determine whether you have enough gas to arrive or if you are going to run out of gas.
If you drive at 55 mph, you’ll get great gas mileage but it may take you a little longer. The other option is that you can drive at 80 mph and get there faster but your engine is going to burn more fuel and you’ll most likely run out of gas before you get to the end.
Your body is the same as your car. Find a pace that you can settle into without raising your heart rate (tachometer in cars) and still have a conversation while riding (so you’re not out of breath) and you’ll keep your body (the engine) cooler and get more mileage out of the fuel in your body.
Bottom Line: Keep it steady and pedal at a pace just under your regular pace on shorter rides. You’ll finish the ride and celebrate the accomplishment!
We’ll get into fueling your body (the gas and oil) to keep you going in an upcoming article.
Below are some tables based on different average pace groups with estimated arrival times.
10 minute breaks at each rest stop plus one 20 minute rest stop are factored into the calculations.
17 mph rolling / 16 mph average
Start Time: 5:00 am / Estimated Finish Time: 6:50 pm
| 4:44 am | Start Time | 17 mph rolling / 16 mph average | ||||
| Rest Stop | Mile Marker | Segment Miles | Segment Minutes | Arrive | Stop Time | Depart |
| RS-1 | 28 | 28 | 105 | 6:45 am | 10:00 min | 6:55 am |
| RS-2 | 58 | 30 | 113 | 8:48 am | 10:00 min | 8:58 am |
| RS-3 | 78 | 20 | 75 | 10:13 am | 10:00 min | 10:23 am |
| RS-4 | 98 | 20 | 75 | 11:38 am | 10:00 min | 11:48 am |
| RS-5 | 127 | 29 | 109 | 1:37 pm | 20:00 min | 1:47 pm |
| RS-6 | 150 | 23 | 86 | 3:23 pm | 10:00 min | 3:33 pm |
| RS-7 | 178 | 28 | 105 | 5:18 pm | 10:00 min | 5:28 pm |
| End | 200 | 22 | 82 | 6:50 pm | ||
| Total Miles | 200 | 750 min | Minutes | 80 min | 830 min | |
| 12.50 hrs | Hours | 1.33 hrs | 13.83 hrs | |||
18 mph rolling / 17 mph average
Start Time: 5:00 am / Estimated Finish Time: 6:07 pm
| 4:44 am | Start Time | 18 mph rolling / 17 mph average | ||||
| Rest Stop | Mile Marker | Segment Miles | Segment Minutes | Arrive | Stop Time | Depart |
| RS-1 | 28 | 28 | 99 | 6:39 am | 10:00 min | 6:49 am |
| RS-2 | 58 | 30 | 106 | 8:35 am | 10:00 min | 8:45 am |
| RS-3 | 78 | 20 | 71 | 9:56 am | 10:00 min | 10:06 am |
| RS-4 | 98 | 20 | 71 | 11:17 am | 10:00 min | 11:27 am |
| RS-5 | 127 | 29 | 102 | 1:09 pm | 20:00 min | 1:19 pm |
| RS-6 | 150 | 23 | 81 | 2:50 pm | 10:00 min | 3:00 pm |
| RS-7 | 178 | 28 | 99 | 4;39 pm | 10:00 min | 4:49 pm |
| End | 200 | 22 | 78 | 6:07 pm | ||
| Total Miles | 200 | 707 min | Minutes | 80 min | 787 min | |
| 11.78 hrs | Hours | 1.33 hrs | 13.12 hrs | |||
20 mph rolling / 19 mph average
Start Time: 5:00 am / Estimated Finish Time: 4:53 pm
| 4:44 am | Start Time | 20 mph rolling / 19 mph average | ||||
| Rest Stop | Mile Marker | Segment Miles | Segment Minutes | Arrive | Stop Time | Depart |
| RS-1 | 28 | 28 | 89 | 6:29 am | 10:00 min | 6:39 pm |
| RS-2 | 58 | 30 | 95 | 8:14 am | 10:00 min | 8:24 pm |
| RS-3 | 78 | 20 | 63 | 9:27 am | 10:00 min | 9:37 pm |
| RS-4 | 98 | 20 | 63 | 10:40 am | 10:00 min | 10:50 am |
| RS-5 | 127 | 29 | 92 | 12:22 pm | 20:00 min | 12:42 pm |
| RS-6 | 150 | 23 | 73 | 1:55 pm | 10:00 min | 2:05 pm |
| RS-7 | 178 | 28 | 89 | 3:34 pm | 10:00 min | 3:44 pm |
| End | 200 | 22 | 69 | 4.53 pm | ||
| Total Miles | 200 | 633 min | Minutes | 80 min | 713 min | |
| 10.55 hrs | Hours | 1.33 hrs | 11.88 hrs | |||
22 mph rolling / 21 mph average
Start Time: 5:00 am / Estimated Finish Time: 3:52 pm
| 4:44 am | Start Time | 22 mph rolling / 21 mph average | ||||
| Rest Stop | Mile Marker | Segment Miles | Segment Minutes | Arrive | Stop Time | Depart |
| RS-1 | 28 | 28 | 80 | 6:20 am | 10:00 min | 6:30 am |
| RS-2 | 58 | 30 | 86 | 7:56 am | 10:00 min | 8:06 am |
| RS-3 | 78 | 20 | 57 | 9:03 am | 10:00 min | 9:13 am |
| RS-4 | 98 | 20 | 57 | 10:10 am | 10:00 min | 10:20 am |
| RS-5 | 127 | 29 | 83 | 11:43 am | 20:00 min | 12:03 pm |
| RS-6 | 150 | 23 | 66 | 1:09 pm | 10:00 min | 1:19 pm |
| RS-7 | 178 | 28 | 80 | 2:39 pm | 10:00 min | 2:49 pm |
| End | 200 | 22 | 63 | 3:52 pm | ||
| Total Miles | 200 | 572 min | Minutes | 80 min | 652 min | |
| 9:53 hrs | Hours | 1.33 hrs | 10.87 hrs | |||