RTL: How hard will it be?

[tholub]

Today's poll is on the subjective experience of riding in RTL: how hard will it be, compared to other unicycle events? Clearly RTL will be an epic event, but the relay aspect makes it different than other epic unicycle events. Everyone will get to rest about twice as much as they actually ride, and the total distance per rider is relatively low for five days of riding. On the other hand, all the riding will be in intense race conditions, and the days will be very long.

So, where do you think RTL will fall in terms of effort expenditure? Will most of us be celebrating and laughing at the end of each day, or will we be dragging our exhausted butts to bed each night?

[lpounds]

I'm not sure. I'd have to say this depends on the team. For a team like mine (Team Tricycle) , we are all relatively new to distance unicycling with only maybe half a year each of experience. For us I'd say it will be pretty tough with the cumulative distance taking its toll by the end of the five days, if not earlier. This constant knowledge that rest is just around the corner is, however, great encouragement for speed.

Also, some teams have never even met in person before.

IMO though, for guys that have been going on some of the epic tours that people like Ken and Nathan organize and participate in, it should seem easier than the constant grind of a multi-day tour. This being said, I would guess the more experienced teams will be able to concentrate more on speed than others.

Hard for some, easier for others. For those it will be 'easier' for, they may choose to make it harder for themselves by pushing themselves to the limit during their ride time.


We shall see soon enough, and the results will be great fun to analyze here in the community.

[steveyo]

Originally Posted by tholub

Today's poll is on the subjective experience of riding in RTL: how hard will it be, compared to other unicycle events? ...

Tom, you forgot to list a "Harder-than-reading-and-voting-in-all-the %$#@*! polls-posted-by-tholub-why-doesn't-that-guy-get-a-job" poll choice.

Just kidding - I voted for the middle choice.

Much peace and love from the Albany guy who's going to be trying hard to beat you.

[forrestunifreak]

I wouldn't say Moab Muni Fest is all that difficult...

So I voted harder then Moab.

[semach.the.monkey]

I voted "Harder than anything that's been done before".

If it's not... then you're just not trying hard enough![1]

STM




[1] Only exception will be for one team if they are at least an hour ahead of everyone else!

[johnfoss]

Originally Posted by semach.the.monkey

I voted "Harder than anything that's been done before".

If it's not... then you're just not trying hard enough!

Something like that. "Ease" is a subjective thing. If a team is well-trained and riding well within its abilities (probably not what any team *wants* to do) it shouldn't be too hard. But if a team is ill-prepared, has breakdowns of people or equipment, or if the weather is nasty, or if the output of the team far exceeds the level of training they managed, etc. it'll be a pretty hard effort.

Which leaves, then, the whole scale of "how hard." If I were to vote in polls here, which I've given up because the so-called "data" misleads people, I'd pick something in between choice 3 and 4. If riders give it their all, it's equivalent to a record-breaking ride. If they manage to give it their all for every leg of every day, it deserves choice 5.

As for me, I don't know hard it'll be until I attempt it. The harder my team pushes, the higher we'll be on that list. I expect us to be *at least* 3.5.

[Jerrick]

Originally Posted by forrestunifreak

I wouldn't say Moab Muni Fest is all that difficult...

So I voted harder then Moab.

Thats how I felt. I did Moab all on a Torker DX 20", and it was fine. Kinda long, but thats what happens when you stop at every section to session it for a while and enjoy the view. Not hard though. I think a lot of trails would be amazing on a 29".

[GizmoDuck]

I don't know how you can compare it to anything.

We'll race as hard as we can for the duration of the riding. Having done the 24hr record, and UNICON, and the Alps Tour, I don't know how you can compare. Is it by how tired/hammered you feel afterwards?

[steveyo]

Originally Posted by GizmoDuck

I don't know how you can compare it to anything.

We'll race as hard as we can for the duration of the riding. Having done the 24hr record, and UNICON, and the Alps Tour, I don't know how you can compare. Is it by how tired/hammered you feel afterwards?

In the case of this poll, it's by how tired/hammered you expect you will feel afterwards. Which is impossible to know and maybe even to guess at.

[rolandisimo]

I didn't post this poll, but would propose a working definition of 'hard' being some combination of the motivation to push yourself to your personal extreme, and the duration of the event.

RTL seems to be right at the top in both regards, with world-class competition, prize money, and 5 long days of riding (ok, maybe 4.5).

Of course the race can also be not so hard if you don't want to kill yourself, there will be a lot of fun to be had, hard or not.

ro

[tholub]

My opinion: RTL will be difficult to the extent that you are pushing the limits of what is physically possible for you. My best guess is that the top teams are in such good shape that they won't be over the red line too often; for them, RTL will be strenuous but Totally Doable. It's actually the slower teams with less training who are more likely to be in real pain; if one of your riders bonks after 8 hours of riding, and still have 4 hours to go as a team, it's gonna be a nasty day.

But that kind of dynamic also exists on the big tours and at events like Moab; there are riders in great shape who end the day tired but not spent, and there are poorly-prepared riders who end the day dehydrated, short on glucose or electrolytes, and aren't able to do much more than eat and go to sleep.

So I think it will be similar to the most difficult of the big events, and not as hard as the big individual record attempts.

[tholub]

I'd be interested to hear other perspectives on this one, especially from folks like Ken and Sam who've done ultra-endurance events before.

For me, RTL was pretty freakin' hard. I spent more time at or above my aerobic max than I have in any five-day period in my entire life. When you've got someone on the road ahead of you, the competitive spirit and adrenaline kicks in and you push your body to the limit.

I came into the event in peak shape and never really bonked on the road. The rest breaks allowed for smart hydration and nutrition and kept us from burning out. But they also made the last 50km of each day into a sprint; those dang Lost Wheelers were pushing us the whole time, so we had to work hard to either catch up or stay ahead. We had some great racing, incredibly strenuous.

[steveyo]

Originally Posted by tholub

For me, RTL was pretty freakin' hard. ..When you've got someone on the road ahead of you, the competitive spirit and adrenaline kicks in and you push your body to the limit.

Yeah, that made each turn we took, riding a 5 or 10 km section, gnarly. We were 23 seconds behind Texacali starting Friday morning. We were really chasing them for the first half of Friday, before their supercharge at the end.

[phlegm]

Originally Posted by steveyo

Yeah, that made each turn we took, riding a 5 or 10 km section, gnarly. We were 23 seconds behind Texacali starting Friday morning. We were really chasing them for the first half of Friday, before their supercharge at the end.

That's interesting to me that you say that because I didn't feel like I pushed any harder at the end of Friday than the beginning of Friday. All of Friday felt like a mad dash to the end for me. The beginning was fueled by caffeinated Gu's, and the end was fueled by adrenaline.

Overall, I definitely rode hard the whole time, much harder than anything I've ever done.

[steveyo]

Originally Posted by phlegm

That's interesting to me that you say that because I didn't feel like I pushed any harder at the end of Friday than the beginning of Friday. All of Friday felt like a mad dash to the end for me. The beginning was fueled by caffeinated Gu's, and the end was fueled by adrenaline.

Overall, I definitely rode hard the whole time, much harder than anything I've ever done.

You were awesome. It seemed like you got better on that guni as the week went on.

Maybe, since we realized we couldn't catch your morning lead, we got slower.