the following notes were specifically written as preparation for Hairshirt North but easily apply to any long ride (over 200 kilometres). if you are serious about taking on – and enjoying and meeting – the challenge of long rides, it is pretty important to properly prepare you bike and body.

general notes

• We will ride Rain or Shine! dress and prepare gear accordingly
• This is a self-supported ride, so make sure you are completely self-reliant. Bring everything you may need during the ride with you! Use an additional bike bag if needed. 
• We will plan to stick together as one group with an average pace of 31 kph for the full distance
  • this means at times (tailwind, flat stretches) the group will be going 40 or 50 kph and you will need to hang on!
  • we will wait and regroup at the top of significant climbs, waiting at nearest intersection.
  • if you cannot keep pace with the group, be sure to communicate!
  • if you feel you cannot keep pace and are holding the group back, you will need to decide to use an escape route or call for a ride – again, you need to be self-reliant!

Preparation in days before the ride:

• REST
  • take it easy riding during the week before
  • plan to get really good sleep on the Friday, the night before the night before!
    • Saturday you should plan for a good sleep too, but you may find that your anticipation of the ride may make for a restless sleep
    • Set two alarms for Sunday morning!
      • plan to be up early so you don’t need to rush. 
      • We will roll at 6am without you, even if you’re not there
• HYDRATE
  • on Saturday afternoon and evening, be sure to drink lots of water
  • on Sunday morning, before you leave home for Meridian, chug a water bottle to start you off
  • during the ride, sip steadily so that you consume about 1 bottle per hour. 
  • you can’t drink just water for the whole ride, you will need electrolytes, so bring or buy Gatorade, Nuun tabs, salt, pickles, etc, etc
  • If you fall behind on your hydration and electrolytes, you will end up needing to call for a ride, I can almost guarantee you!
• EAT
  • you will burn 10,000+ calories on the Hairshirt North ride, in addition to your normal daily requirements
    • This requires a lot of steady eating! have lots of food packed on your bike/pockets, in bite size portions, and eat steadily while riding. Every 1/2 hour you should be eating a bit, in addition to food stops
    • You have to be disciplined! If you fall behind on eating, you will bonk and will end up needing to call for a ride, I can almost guarantee you!
  • During our stops, buy and eat enough for the immediate break AND to fill your pockets with additional food that you can eat while riding
• MECHANICAL, GEAR, etc
  • DON’T leave bike maintenance to the last day before! Do it early during this coming week.
  • get you bike tuned up – replace cables, etc that look iffy – Murphy’s law is that it will break on this epic long ride! (trust me, I know from experience that neglecting maintenance will come back to bite you)
  • Lube drive train adequately – bring a small pack of chain oil on the ride
  • make sure your tires are not too thin/worn! replace if needed
  • Pump up tires to proper pressure Saturday morning
  • get all your Di2 charged up fully before Saturday afternoon
  • charge Garmin fully – bring a battery pack that can be used to charge devices during rest stops
  • don’t plan on using any new equipment or gear on this ride!
    • NO new bike, bike-fit, shorts, shoes, saddle, gloves, helmet etc 
    • you want to know 100% that you’ll be comfortable in your gear for 14-15 hours!
  • Use chamois cream or butt butter etc before you leave Sunday morning
    • bring a small pack of it with you for reapplication, if needed
  • if possible rain on ride day, pack a jacket.
    • You can get cold quickly when wet and riding, even if temperature is not terribly cold – 
    • wind-chill is real!
• GENERAL
  • Download the GPX file from route links above, and load the route of your choice onto you Garmin and use it to navigate.
    • If you’re old-school like me, print the map and que cards.
    • paper never glitches or runs out of batteries
  • bring any special medications you may need – ibuprofen, benadryl, epipen, chamois cream, sun screen, bug repellant, etc
  • tell your significant others the route and estimated schedule and have someone on-call for the day to drive and get you, if needed
  • make sure your mobile is charged fully on Sunday morning. turn off wifi, and any features you won’t be using. Set it to power saving mode, etc
  • Again, Rain or Shine! Rules #9 and #5 prevail.
    • It’ll take some really shitty weather to take us off the road, so prepare for the worst and hope for the best and endure what Mother Nature throws at us.

If you have any questions or concerns, please call me at 705-718-7760 any time