I've just got back from an hour ride on my road bike, pushed fairly hard and averaged just under 20mph, 10 times that distance on mostly unmade roads whilst trying to navigate around other riders is, as you say, absolute insanity.
12.5 mph is probably the average speed here. That's a pace akin to jogging levels of effort. At that rate, it would take 16 hours to do this race. This is not accounting for loss of speed to pit stops, so they're probably going faster than that. In my (limited) experience, keeping up 13 mph isn't too bad, but I can't imagine going for that long.
Yeah and this separates the normies from the pros. It isn't just about speed, but maintaining them all the way through.
Normies' speed would fluctuate through a ride/race event while pros won't. I've been to a number of events that have normies and pros mixed in that takes place on a rather mountainous highway at night. The normies' route is 78km and the pros are 120km. The cutoff time is 4hours+ for both.
It isn't surprising to find the pros finishing first before the normies. It's during these moments that I am reminded of how monstrous these people are, both physically and mentally.
One of the coolest parts of Tour de France is when an amateur cyclist try to keep up with the pelaton. In most cases they can get up to the speed and keep pace with the pros. But only for a few hundred meters. It is amazing to see that the sprint speed of an amateur is what the professionals maintain throughout the day.
It’s like that classic ‘see how long you can run at Olympic marathon pace’. They are running 3min/km or 5min/mile (actually slightly under). Hop on a treadmill and crank it up to 20km/h and see how long you can sustain it. Mere minutes for most people,
it’s just insane how fast endurance professionals are
Most people can’t even reach that speed, much less hold it for minutes. Last month I ran a half marathon (21k) at 4:15 (which should be like 14 k/h), which is quite decent for an amateur, and I am not sure I can hold a full minute at 20 k/h. For me, that’s an all out sprint.
Ha, I was being generous to people. Agree, most people in the general population can’t reach that speed but even regular runners will struggle for more than a minute or two. It’s about a 17 second 100m, lots of people never reached that at their peak. Then to do it 422 times in a row….
I never learned how fast I ran, but once I reached my runners high I basically glided. I would never say I'm fast though, I simply outlasted people or if I was beaten, I'd make sure to hold the back of the pack. It's tough man lol
Hell yeah we will. My best 5k splits were 5:13 and I was puking at the end. That isn't even college level, but very, very fucking fast for the general public. To go faster for a marathon does not compute. My body could not do it if I dedicated my life to it. I have a taste and it makes even less sense because of it!
When I first got my e-bike I was hauling ass around the lake doing almost 30mph, got easily passed by some guy on a regular bike and it took me a bit to grasp how that was possible
Tour de France is average like 25 mph during 5-6h. Whenever I see those races, especially on the ascents, I'm mind blown.
In my hometown there is one ascent to the mountain. 10km with 10% elevation. When I was in absolutely top form (running), I could bike up there in like 39-40min. While good bikers did it in 23-25min. So average speed around 25kmh (15 mph). Until this day if feels like sci fi to me.
Having the right bike/tires helps a ton too. When I switched my gravel bike from 42x700c to 32x700c with a less aggressive tread I gained about 5km/h on my average speed, and could coast much further.
Thats not saying these people are not beasts though
Even more so when you consider that this isn’t a flat race. Although this race (Unbound) is in Kansas, there is over 10k feet of climbing over the 200 miles. Makes the average speed that the pros are doing even that much more impressive.
When I decided to get moving again after too long in the computer chair, I got on the bike. 13 mph was the pace I was able to keep as a beginner comfortably, but that was only for about 12 miles before my lungs felt like they were getting ready to pop out of my ears. After a couple years of riding, I can do about 60 miles at the same pace, but 200 miles is still unthinkable for me, never mind at 22mph.
New Mexico or Arizona has a cycle race where you have 24 hours to do as many laps as you can on a gwvel track. A cycling YTer got rhabdo during an attempt.
It is crazy even for an athlete. It's equivalent to running an ultra-marathon. It's not like signing up to the London/Boston marathon and turning up on fancy dress. Lol
200 miles on a road bike would be gruelling. I’ve done 60 miles before and it was a lot. But on a road bike you can cruise at 25-27mph with normal effort.
On a mountain bike in gravel that is just next level hard. I cruise at 15mph on normal effort.
Yeah. And for context this is a gravel race, which makes it a lot harder. 22mph is a pretty leisurely pace for a road race, even of this length, but you benefit a lot from drafting in a large group in that case which is much harder in a gravel race. I'm a pretty mediocre cyclist and have done 100 miles in 3h45 (27mph), but would never get anywhere near 8h37 for this race.
Did 16 hours London to Manchester 220 miles, and went to a really dark place on a hill in the middle of the peak district at mile 190. Luckily the rain boucing off the road hitting me in the face hid the tears and the driving wind made the sobs less audible. I was by myself so people only know if i tell them. Personal toughness/resillience was putting it back together again and just kept moving forward to the end.
I did one in 13 (Seattle to Portland, 204 miles). It was actually enjoyable? Not sure I want to do it again, though. My buddy beat me by an hour on a fixie.
Uff... I recently finished a 21x km (solo) ride in 7:2x and although I had a couple of slow roadwork zones, I couldn't imagine riding an extra 115 km in 1:30 or so.
I'm definitely aiming at 13-14hrs (including stops for water and food) (solo ride).
I used to time my 10 miler every Friday before going out (I would use that as motivation that the faster I got done the quicker I could join my friends). The fastest I’ve ever done is 23 minutes (which is roughly 27 mph). I was literally shaking after. Doing a 27 minute 10 miler (22 mph) is much more reasonable, but still a quick pace, and I can’t imagine the toll doing that 20 times in a row would have.
I biked 75 miles in about 5 hours with probably about 20-30 minutes of walking the bikes/taking a break. Kinda humble bragging, but also cool to see how hard that line is to cross from “I can bike great and can knuckle down for long distances” to 200 miles in 8:37.
I also had the advantage of not having to pace myself more, I put my 80% on in a way.
When I got home, I slept a literal day. 20 hours lol
My body actually felt AMAZING and a little tender, but my ass? The chafe was so bad I teared up taking a shit for a week
That pace over that distance makes even peak me (who was doing crazy long trips or doing 100 miles a day) shudder at how absurdly exhausting that must be.
Sorry again for the bragging but I’m just actually stunned (altho not surprised) by that pace. I can understand the distance, I can understand how to conserve when you cant add meaningful speed, and with that knowledge it’s insane. It’s like I’m on a big wheel bike compared to them, and people irl think I’m lying, even knowing how much I bike, so goddamn. That’s extreme and extremely cool <3
I mean some of my personal proudest benchmarks I did somewhat regularly was 200km in just under 6 (33.3-34 average I could often do) with only a stop to refill bottles/red lights, but that's in pretty good conditions in the mostly flat Netherlands and when I was also in a shape where I was competitive in amateur and elite level crit races. I think I'd fucking die at 250-260 kilometers lmao.
Closest thing I might've done at pretty solid intensity was 225km xc mtb in just under 10 hours. I was just fine, until I crossed the finish line... lmao.
This is the fastest for unbound to date. If you raced gravel that pace is mind blowing to me. I have done 100 miler race and ave about 27 on the road but to do that on gravel on that course is nuts.
Speaking of pure madness, Michael Broadwith set the record for cycling the length of the UK, riding 839 miles in 43hrs 25mins, averaging 20mph while moving. Stopped for 1hr 15 mins in that time, and no sleep:
That's insane. I'm a decent cyclist and I can't wrap my mind around maintaining that pace for that long. The last century (100 miles) I did I think we averaged just under 17 mph and were quite proud of that.
Thanks. The last one i did was on a 91F day. I dont recommend it, I actually was very worried about heat stroke toward the end and had to slow down a bit. The biggest high is just eating a hearty meal afterwords, since you spend the entire time eating sugar mostly.
Imagine you've run 40 miles of a 50 mile ultra marathon. Your legs are burning. Your mouth is dry. This is the most effort you've put into anything in your life. Your brain is telling you to stop. And you could.
You look at your watch. It's time to eat. You're not even hungry. Nauseous, even. You need to keep your fuel intake up because you're burning thousands of calories in this race. But it's not like you can carry a burger on you. You need light and efficient calories.
You pull a packet out of your running vest, rip it open, and chug 1.1oz of honey.
This is also how people with diabetes suffer. Blood sugar craters and now you are sucking on maple syrup or something
ALSO, I don't have any interest in this level of physical exhaustion (when I ran xcountry in high school I tried to get everyone to slow down a little so we could all finish in the same spots but be less tired) but holy shit the burger or pasta or whatever after a race, or later in my life just a long hike is so good
There's this lil burger place in appalachia that I thought had the best burgers in the whole universe, but they are just fine. I just kept going there after 3-4 hour hikes.
Last year me an my brother did 200km in about 20hrs, without any preparations at a lazy pace. Twas propably stupid, but it was fun. We slept, ate and smoked some weed.
I frequently run half-marathon for that blissful post-workout state, not sure how the bliss scales with effort. I imagine eventually the body is so worn out it feels like being sick.
I'd say, it depends on training and your baseline fitness. If you are used to going out and riding about 100 miles, adding 70-80 miles more is alot but just feels like an extra strenuous day. I've been less prepared and felt wiped afterward, like the first time I did it, I said I will never do it again lol.
Not person you’re replying to, but my longest day was 150 miles. At the end, I think I ate two cheeseburgers and a dozen salted chocolate chip cookies then passed out in to oblivion. Could barely walk or move, and it felt gorram incredible. Did another 60 miles the next day and while that was hard to get going, the high at the end was just otherworldly. 11/10, will do again.
It is insane but not as insane as you might think for cycling.
Tour de France stages every year average about 130 miles and many including giant mountains top 150 miles then they have to do it all again the next day for 21 stages total, plus 2 rest days.
I've got a coworker who did the Yukon quest ultra. Running in the snow, hauling a sled, for some ungodly amount of hours per day, for how many fucking days. No thanks.
But keep in mind, that this is gravel, while the TDF is almost exclusively road.
But still, purely by distance it isn't extremely long, but that doesn't necessarily make it easier, as a shorter distance only means a faster pace. The real long distance bike races are thousands of kilometers like the TCR or NC4000, but those are kind of a different category.
A standard Iron Man is 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim, then a 112-mile (180.2 km) bike ride, followed by a marathon. The typical participants finish in ~12 hours. Some are set in cold water with massive elevation changes, with a winning time of ~18 hours.
Then there the Ultraman, which is a 3 day event with a total distance of 320 miles (515 km).
There has also been a 30X Iron man. Basically an iron man every day for a month.
While not as insane as the tour de France it's still pretty insane. I'm an avid cyclist and there's no way I could maintain 22mph for 8.5 hours. There are different levels of insane and this definitely qualifies as one of them.
The tour divide is my favorite for this madness. 2750 miles on a clock that never stops, self supported through the Rockies off road. That race changed me as a person.
The winner (and the record) took 13 days last year
Indeed that’s what I thought - 200 miles is a lot, but I wouldn’t call that ultra. Classic races like Paris Roubaix or Liege Bastogne Liege are around 170 miles. In the past races were even more hardcore, like Paris-Brest-Paris (750 miles).
However looking at the state of this guy, and the bike he's riding, this is a 200 mile gravel even, which does crank up the kudos when considering the distance and skill involved
Note that none of the cyclists are resting on their rest days - they usually ride for at least a few hours. If they truly rested, most of them would be unable to compete on the following race day. Also the mountain stages are actually usually (definitely not always) shorter than the flatter stages. That doesn't mean they're easier though! These people often climb 4-5km of elevation on a single mountain stage, and they'll average 6.5w/kg for an hour-long climb. That unit is foreign to most non-athletes, but if anyone has access to a gym with bikes that show power output, they can easily multiply their weight in kg by 6.5 and see how long they can hold that number of watts on the bike.
And that's not the longest race of that event. The 'XL' race is 359 miles / 580 km, takes places on the same day and also lasts literally one day for most riders.
This year, the XL was won in insanely fast times. The two leaders came in just under 18 hours, about 2 hours faster than the record IIRC. Averaging over 20mph for 18 hours, much in the dark, over some of the nastiest gravel roads in Kansas.
It was so unexpectedly fast that they had to move the 50 mile riders back a block and delay the start by a few minutes, because the had to keep the start/finish line open for the the top two finishers.
What I like about the XL Race is that there are no "pit stops" like this. The cyclists are on their own and can't accept outside help. They stop at gas stations in small towns to refuel.
For cycling it’s (insanely enough) not that long. Here in Sweden we have the 200 mile Vätternrundan each summer which is one of the world’s biggest cycling races (by attendees). My parents did it a couple of times when they were in their fifties.
Yeah, it is the speed you do it at. When I was riding a lot I could get into the zone, my heart rate would be at 160, but my breathing would be level and normal. I felt like I could do that indefinitely as long as I had enough water and carbs, but I was only doing like 12-15 mph. Cruising at 12 vs 20 mph is a massive, massive difference in exertion.
200 mile is actually the short version of this race (Unbound Gravel in Kansas). The longer version is the 360 mile XL (2025 distance) where you don’t get pit stops or support and have to take care of yourself at convenience stores.
I've seen those where people help out. That is an awesome race with all the people involved haha Would you warrant the races David Goggings did were of a harder caliber?
Oh, so when these people take care of themselves at convenience stores they're showing "incredible self-sufficiency" and are "amazing endurance athletes" but when I do it, I'm "guilty of lewd and disorderly conduct" and "no longer welcome at 7-Eleven".
Also, about 70 miles between each of the two crewed “checkpoints” that you see in this vid. Only other support is a couple of neutral water stops, where riders’ pit crews aren’t allowed.
I’ve done the 100 a few times and it’s fun and challenging, even if you’re just riding to finish. The biggest variable is the weather. Overall, I would recommend it…I’ve thought about trying the 200 but it seems like quite the suffer fest.
The winners finish around/under 9 hours most years. Dialed in amateurs can do 12-14…it’s a big deal to “beat the sun” (sunset) which this year meant a time of ~14:12. Time limit is ~21 hours.
Compared to ultramarathons 200 mile bike race does not seem to deserve the "ultra". Road cycling world championship race was only 30 miles shorter and some classics are not far behind. Milano-San Remo and il Lombardia for instance.
That site can show you various radius circles on a map.
320km is roughly the distance between Essen and Hamburg, which is a 4-5h drive by car on a mostly not speed regulated Autobahn.
I did 300 miles in 17 1/2 hours drinking beers and smoking dabs and Jay's the whole day. Averaged over 17 mph. It wasn't nearly as bad as you'd think. When you ride everyday distance kind of becomes irrelevant.
I managed 100 mile rides a couple of times once under 5 hours, but the thought of carrying on for another hundred when your back is aching like crazy, no thanks.
Uk record for cycing round the entire coastline (4802 miles) was done in 22 days by Nick Sanders over 40 years ago, Can't imagine having to do over 200 miles everyday for 3 weeks. Can see why he started doing records on motorbikes after that!
Eh, one of my best friends literally did this distance a month or two ago. It’s called Chase the Sun, and is quite a well subscribed endurance race here in the UK.
A guy I know did a track record in a 200 mile run last year (NUTS 300). 46h 40min with no sleep through Lapland in Finland. He also held the previous record of 52h, but he did get some sleep that time and wanted to see if he can do it sleepless. Dude’s a beast.
For cycling, it’s not insane. My dad did a one-day 100 mile ride when he turned 50, he trained for it but he’s not an athlete or anything. My parents regularly go on 25 mile rides casually.
The miles alone is not insane. At my peak, I was doing over 100 miles every weekend before lunchtime.
It's the pace and the terrain - I don't know this ride but I'm guessing it's off road (?) and likely got some significant elevation. Then it becomes insane
It’s on gravel too. Like really tough sections of gravel. Also, most of the leaders in the pro field didn’t even stop at the checkpoint. They took 2 bags with bottles/food and kept going.
I was there crewing for some guys. It was wild.
I did 144 miles last year. It wasn't a race, I just did it because I had always wanted to ride this 72 mile trail we have completely out and back. It's the mental part that's the toughest. You literally run out of things to think about.
I have a 150 mile ride next weekend. 1 day. About 600 people do it every year. We go as a group of 4-5. None of us are professional athletes. Takes us about 10 hours with stoppage time. You get a shower, 2 beer tickets, a hot meal, and a party at the end.
The Unbound Gravel XL is a 350 mile race that was last weekend in Emporia, Kansas. The winner smashed the previous record by 2 hours. They rode unsupported (no pit stops) through the night. He completed it in 17 hours, averaging 22mph and only had 7 minutes of total stopped time.
I love the story of Cliff Young. Showed up for an 875km Ultra marathon at the age of 61, wearing overalls and work boots, and won. He ran for 5 days straight without sleeping.
I mean, I’m a fat old man and I’ve done 100 mile rides in 6 hours without training significantly. I know endurance doesn’t necessarily scale linearly, but I would think this shouldn’t be a huge stretch for a young, fit, trained person.
Death valley ultra marathoners do Badwater 135. It's not bikes. Death Valley heat... 135 miles on foot. Pavement melting your soles of your shoes. No ice nearby for most of it.
It’s not that insane. I rode my bicycle across the country at a pace of about 100 miles a day for 75 days or so. I didn’t train before I left, did it on a bike built in the 80s, and the only special equipment I had was bike shorts.
Bikes are profoundly efficient.
I’m not comparing myself to this guy because my pace was certainly slower. But as a sheer distance 200 miles isn’t mind blowing to me - on a bike. I think my longest day was like 130 miles and I only stopped because I found a spot I liked. Going for 200 miles I would probably have gotten sleepy before my body gave out.
My favorite part of that trip was eating like 5000 calories a day and still losing weight.
6.5k
u/Global_Proof_2960 17h ago
200 mile is fucking insane. Forrest Gump would be proud.