Tip #8 - First Grand RandonnéeTips

Intro:
You've reached the grand tamale as you prepare for a grand randonnée.  Congratulations! Welcome to the club!  You’ve survived ACP qualifiers in good form and are ready for more.  You need to pay attention to detail, but make riding grand randonnées about the experience.  I’ve provided tips in the first 8 posts.  In this one, I focus on illustrative stories.

My illustriative stories come from the 9 grand randonnées I've completed.  To review them, see here:  http://pittsburghrandonneurs.blogspot.com/2018/02/jim-grand-randonee-log.html


Summary:

• If brevets are more about survival than fun for you, complete your first grand randonnée close to home.  

• Research what you are signing up for.

• Think about the experience you are going for.  You’ll have a better chance of doing it.

• Arrive early enough to have dinner with or meet other riders.  

• Understand the leg distances, particularly at night when everything is closed.
• Choose your own battles. Unless someone dares you.
• A few tips repeated:

• For extreme weather, remember feet, hands, and head.  Legs too.
• Check out your equipment before you get on your bike.
• Have modest but actionable redundancies

• A day will come when you promise yourself never to do it again

Detail:

If brevets are more about survival than fun, complete your first grand randonnée close to home.  

My first year of randonneuring in 2007 was mostly about suffering.   What I learned about randonneuring I learned by suffering.  I suffered modestly on the 300 km.  I suffered a lot on the 400 km.  I suffered on the 600 km.  Then I went to Paris.  PBP was an amazing sufferfest for me.  My equipment wasn't quite dialed in. My fitness wasn't dialed in.  It was the most painful thing I ever did.  While it was a memorable experience, it would have been a better one if I learned how to avoid or survive suffering closer to home and less expensively.  Check out North American options first.

Research what you are signing up for.
When PBP added the sign-up preference for people that rode a 1000 km or longer the year before PBP, I started riding a 1000 km the year before PBP.  In 2014 that was DC's Appalachian Adventure 1000km.  I assumed this lead mid-Atlantic club would do the sensible thing, and have a pleasant little 1000 km to let people get their cards punched.  Instead, they took pride in having the most difficult 1000 km on the East Coast, and perhaps the country.  It did draw well from across the country. It wasn't the 1000 km I was looking for.  I rode it anyway.

Think about the experience you are going for.  You’ll have a better chance of doing it.

Do you want to have a little test out of the eyes of the world, or do you want a memorable life experience into the national or international order of randonneurs?  Do you want the challenge of endless climbing, or are largely flat courses just dandy?  The US and the world have enough grand randonnees that you have options to pick from,  While you may pick just by calendar, you have more options.

Arrive early enough to have dinner with or meet other riders.  
Popular US grand randonees may have 60 riders registered.  Less popular ones may have a handful.  Most of the time, there is some social aspect to people arriving, assembling bikes, and either a reception or going out to dinner together.  Getting to know people a bit makes it all a little less intimidating.  Other than when you realize the person you are having dinner with does 10 grand randonnée a year.  Or have been doing it for 30 years. 

Understand the leg distances, particularly at night when everything is closed.

Since grand randonnees are longer, leg distances between controls can be longer than shorter brevets.  Sometimes there are services along a route between controls.  Sometimes not.  Especially at night.  Be comfortable that you can ride 60 miles or longer between  controls with what you have on your bike as needed.  Not just on the first day, but the 3rd day and your body is totally wasted and at a low point.


A few tips repeated:

For extreme weather, remember feet, hands, and head.  Legs too.  
Shoe covers, gloves, and hats are really light.  Personally, I always cover my legs before my torso.

Check out your equipment before you get on your bike.
Paris Brest Paris 2011 is likely the high point of my randonneuring career.  I was fit and experienced.  I sat around all afternoon for the start, and waited at the starting line for hours.  Then when I started and at a round-about perhap 3-5 miles in, I felt my front tire rolling off the rim from a flat.  I stopped to replace the flat, losing my starting group.  I did find a French bystander several miles down the road with a floor pump in his car to get the new tube fully inflated.  I did meet a great slow moving group of English people that invited me to slow down and party with them for 4 days.  I did enjoy slowly overtaking members of my starting group.  And within an hour or so, the next starting group overtook me and I could sit in a bit as these faster groups overtook me.  So having that flat did add some color to my ride.  Still, if I had just checked the tire before starting, I could have had an uneventful start.

Choose your own battles. Unless someone dares you.

Randoneuring culture is suffer or finish at all cost. Still, I encourage you to pick your own battles.

In 2008 I wanted to finish a 1000 km. I forget why, but probably for an R5000. I suffered heat

exhaustion on day one and didn't recover. I rode out of time at 600 km, but I did self extricate
myself by riding tot the second sleep control the next day. I could have kept riding, but I didn't
see the point of having any volunteers worry about me as I rode outside time. I DNF'ed, and
completed a 1000 km in Ohio 3 weeks later. Know your own goals.

Have modest but actionable redundancies

While I grossly overpack drop bags, I have used a lot of redundant items (or suffered when I didn't).  My main lack of backup was on Endless Mountains in 2009.  I turned my headlight on in Pennslyvania work zone on a descent, and perhaps blew out a capacitor.  It would variably for the next 2 days.  I had to be careful to ride with others after that.  On my first 300 km in 2007 before I had equipment sorted out, I ruined a tire from rubbing a badly mounted steel fender.  Fortunately I was carrying a spare tire then.  In 2011 at PBP my headlamp failed from rain on the first day.  I had a spare in my drop bag.  In 2007 PBP in a nasty rain I had trouble seeing the road with my pre-LED headlight.  I had a spare headlight on my handlebars that I could swivel to the right to see bushes on the side of the road.  Both PBP 2007 and Endless Mountains 2009 were historically cold and rainy.  If I didn't carry extra cloths and have generous extra clothes in drop bags, I wouldn't have made it.  On Endless Mountains in 2009 on the second day (starting at perhaps 1 AM), worrying a bit about weight, left behind my pannier and shoe covers among other things.  I suffered a night of cold, soggy feet, and promised myself to never ride ever again without shoe covers.  They weigh next to nothing.  Ditto on a bataclava and gloves that don't lose insulation when wet.

A day will come when you promise yourself never to do it again

In 2015 I signed up for the Sunshine 1200 km as my consolation prize for not going to PBP.  The pre-riders a week before reported a fabulous ride.  All we had to do was ride 15 mph like them, and it was a piece of cake. I wasn't quite in shape, and I did a 400 km the week before that I didn't fully recover from.  Riding out of Key West, we had pretty fierce headwinds the first 80 miles.  Concurrently, the temperature ratcheted up to "oven" with a Florida dose of humidity.  I had little power, and couldn't keep up with other riders even when they were doodling along.  At the second sleep control, I made a heart-felt promise never to ride another one.   As I review my ride history for this post, I see that was entirely rational.

Now in 2018, I’ve signed up for the 2018 Blueridge to the Bay 1200 km,  We'll see how it goes.  Maybe, maybe not.  In any event choose your battles.  Do what is important to you, for your own reasons.

This is a continuing list of tips in what I explain what works for me.  What I did may or may not apply to you.  However, it should inform your decisions of what can work for you.  I am writing this series because one of Pittsburgh's riders asked me to do it

Jim's Grand Randonée Log

I've been asked to extend my Tips series to include a "First Grand Randonée" blog.  To gain context for that next blog, I wrote this retrospective on my grand randonées to date.

I’ve start 9 grand randonnée and completed 8 as of this writing.

1. 2007 Paris Brest Paris 1240 km
2. 2008 Endless Mountains 1000 km (E PA) – DNF
3. 2008 Ohio 1000 km (OH)
4. 2009 Endless Mountains 1240 km (E PA)
5. 2010 Natchez Trace 1000 km  (TN)
6. 2011 Pars Brest Paris 1240 km 
7. 2012 Allegheny Highlands 1000 km  (W PA) 
8. 2014 Appalachian Adventure 1000 km  (DC)
9. 2015 Sunshine 1200 km FL)

In 2015 during Sunshine 1200 km I made a heart-felt promise never to right another one. Now in 2018, I’ve signed up for the 2018 Blueridge to the Bay 1200 km

Year	Event	Location	What I was riding for	Proudest or best memory	Most important lesson learned	Sufferfest memories
2007	PBP 1240 km	France	To become an ancien	I’m an ancien!	Just keep moving.  Don’t pack light	Hardest thing I did in my life.  Legs totally ripped apart in a way never before or after.  50F and rainy 1st 2 days. Last 2 days were hell on wheels.  Mildly psychotic last day from sleep deprivation.
2008	Endless Mountains 1000 km (DNF)	Eastern PA	Punch my card on home turf. Except I didn’t.  Completing my R5000.	Dinner before the start with the other riders.  Though I got nervous when Crista was nervous about the route	Never pass up an RBA or volunteer with water.  They know something you don’t	Heat exhaustion at 90 miles after passing RBA with water then went dry .  Rode another 1 ½ days without recovering.
2008	Ohio 1000 km	Columbus PA	Show I learned my lesson 3 weeks earlier at Endless Mountains.  Got my R5000.	3 weeks after DNFing in PA, completed a 1000 km.  Self-supported out of a motel room.	The simplicity of a base camp figure-8 grand-randonnée.  The RBA/organizer hit a dog and went to the hospital on day 1.  It didn’t matter:  I self-supported out of a single motel room	The mechanics of my right foot broke down on day 3.  Removed an insert as my feet swelled (lost my 2nd big toenail in 2 years).  The difference in leg lengths was brutal on rest of body.
2009	Endless Mountains 1240 km	Eastern PA	Punch my card on home turf after DNFing year before in 1000 km.	Completed a grand-randonnée on home turf!  Last rider to complete within time limit	Training and fitness matter.  Preparation matters.  Do more though.	I was prepared for 2 days of cold rain.  My body broke down on days 3 and 4.
2010	Natchez Trace 1000 km	Nashville TN	A milestone on my R5000.	Rode a grand-randonnée without my body breaking down (much)!	Natchez Trace is really dull – trees, trees, trees.  Then more trees (a very long and narrow national park with nothing commercial visible from the road.  Filled water bottles from a lot taps in national park restrooms	Mostly survived.  After finishing, the sole of my right foot was almost too numb to drive – I couldn’t feel the gas pedal as I drove to the after party.
2011	PBP 1240 km	France	Ride it with style	I’m a randonneuring stud.  78-ish hours	Training and fitness matter.  Preparation matters.  I’ve arrived!	A good 3 days, then arrived at 3rd sleep control at noon – skipped it.  A mistake.  Suffered last day.
2012	Allegheny Highlands 1000 km	Pittsburgh PA	I was RBA and this was in my region.	Don’t assume route designers know what they are doing.	If you offer a grand randonnée, make it ACP, so people can get  medal.	Great route for 2 days.  Then with 800 km in our legs, we rode the return of the 400 km from Erie. Brutal.
2014	Appalachian Adventure 1000km	DC	Checking off my 1000 km box in case I registered for PBP in 2015.	Completing it, despite it being stupidly hard	Know what you are signing up for. I thought our lead regional club would offer a sensible 1000 km in a pre-PBP year.  Instead, they offered a sufferfest	I endured OK.  But was annoyed by it.
2015	Sunshine 1200 km	Florida	A local substitute for PBP 2015.	Riding through unexpected heat and surviving!	I don't need to do this again.	I suffered the heat.  I wasn’t prepared for the distance.  I promised myself I would never ride a 1200 km again.

Tip #7 - First 600 km Tips

Intro:
A 600 km is about riding for a full day, sleeping a few hours, then getting back on the bike.  This is the last step before riding grand randonnees.  Since we don't offer 600 km brevets in Pittsburgh, you are likely riding with another randonneuring group, perhaps for the first time.

Summary:

• You aren't in Pittsburgh any more.  Be sure to know the local interpretation of the rules for bike inspection.
• Know something about the route before you get there.
• Learn how to read the cue sheet.  Practices differ.
• While it is helpful staying in contact with the group of locals until sunrise, ride within your limits. 
• Pace yourself so you feel good after riding perhaps 80 or 120 miles.
• Have a plan for eating and restocking at a diner if there are diner controls..
• Rest does matter.  Just keep it short.
• Have a plan for the sleep stop - have a drop bag.
• The night before the night before is the traditional night to be sure to have good sleep.
• Observe and learn from others around you. 
• Enjoy riding in the wee hours.  
• Wear your Pittsburgh Randonneurs jersey.

Detail:

- You aren't in Pittsburgh any more.  Be sure to know the local interpretation of the rules for bike inspection.

• In Eastern PA in particular, Tom Rosenbauer has liked to see both headlight and taillight attached to the frame, plus at least one spare for each.  
• Use solid on red lights at the start and when riding in groups.

- Know something about the route before you get there.

• The cue sheet is the official documention of brevet routes everywhere.  It used to be the practice for organizers to distribute cue sheets and not GPS routes.  The plus side of getting only a cue sheet and you want to use a GPS is that you review the entire route when programming it.  This always helped me a lot.  Though now I do mostly display tracks and just follow along the line.
• I've always use routing GPSs - Garmin Etrexes and Dakotas, rather than bike computers for navigation.  If something goes wrong with a GPS route, the next most comforting this you can have in a GPS is the location of the next control.  If it is just displayed on the map, at least you know you are going in the general right direction.   My most recent Etrexes allows me to route to a city or address.  If I don't have a route or track file, I'll sometimes have the GPS route to the control.  Even if it is wrong guessing the route, it displays the names of roads it wants you to turn on, as well as let you know if you are going in the right general direction.   
• Here is a pre-smartphone tool I use.  I print out the small route profile from the bottom of a map.  I mark the control locations.  I notate distances between controls.  This lets me get perspective on a leg.

- Learn how to read the cue sheet.  Practices differ
Different organizers format cue sheets in different ways. Be clear where the elements of "after miles x, turn y onto road z."  I always try to run a cumulative trip mileage on a bike computer as well as keep track of current leg mileage on a bike computer.  That gives me two ways to navigate if I get confused.  

- While it is helpful staying in contact with the group of locals until sunrise, ride within your limits.
People generally take it a bit easier before sunrise.  And there are locals or experienced people that likely know the area better of you.  Hanging with a group helps to get to sunrise in reasonable time without fussing on navigation.  Don't worry much about other people unless they ask for help.  Everyone has their own issues to deal with in their own time.

- Pace yourself so you feel good after riding perhaps 80 or 120 miles
After riding perhaps 80 or 120 miles, hopefully you surprise yourself on occasion how good you feel.  One way to do that is pedal uphill and coast downhill.  Recharge your bodies on downhills.

- Have a plan for eating and restocking at a diner if there are diner controls.
Particularly if your 600 km is in eastern PA, you will probably have a diner or two as a control.  Arriving at a diner isn't the time think about what to order - thinking may be hard.  Some easily digestible food - scrambled eggs and pancakes, mash potatoes, apple pie and ice cream, milk shakes.  Order first, then use the bathroom.  Perhaps ask for pitcher of water to refill your bottles.  Think about what you will be eating over the next 50 miles or so.  Generally I carry snacks and drink mixes for a control like this.  Tip crazy well so the waitresses like randonneurs.  You probably made a mess.

- Rest does matter.  Just keep it short

• Once you get beyond 400 km, you can't keep moving forever.  On a 600 km, there is generally a planned rest stop.  Many rider try to keep this stop to a few (2-4 hours) or less on a 400 km.  Enough to eat, shower, prepare supplies for the next, sleep an hour or two.  Some riders skip the sleep stop - if the next day is there and back they look haggard whenever I see them.  Some do sleep more. Eat first so it starts digesting.  If you have enough muscle ache to keep you awake, take an over-the-counter pain pill an hour before the control so you can relax and rest.

• Out on the course, if you start to have trouble keeping your eyes open or you really need a break, lay down for a power nap.  Benches and concrete are the preferred locations.  It shouldn't be too comfortable.  Plan how much you are laying down for - perhaps 15 minutes.  I haven't really heard of people oversleeping power naps.  If you've kept time in the bank by leaving the sleep stop early, then oversleeping a nap is hard to be a problem.

- Have a plan for the sleep stop - have a drop bag.

• Think through what you are going to do at a sleep stop.  Perhaps eat a little, take a shower, put on clean riding clothes to sleep in, refill drink bottles and restock your bike, change batteries.  Set your alarm.
• Have all you need for the sleep stop organized in a drop bag.
• If you rode after sunset with someone, they are perhaps are a good candidate to leave with,
• Don't be discouraged if others are leaving while you are arriving.
• You can get by with minimal sleep on this night.  If you aren't fast, 1-3 hours of sleep is enough.  I usually try to get on the road perhaps 3 hours after arriving.  Leave yourself a few hours in the bank.

-- The night before the night before is the traditional night to be sure to have good sleep.

• Make sure you are well rested the night before the night before.  This gets you through the next 2 nights.
• The night before a 600 km I get to sleep perhaps by 10 PM and wake up at perhaps at 2 AM or 2:30 AM.  The first think I do is eat breakfast so digestion starts and bowels move.  Check your equipment out so you don't have to stop in the first 10 minutes.

- Observe and learn from others around you

• Both on the upside and downside.  What people do that you can emulate, and what perhaps not.  You'll see bikes and gear of a lot of experienced randonneurs.

- Enjoy riding in the wee hours.  

• Most of us don't ride in the countryside, particularly between midnight and sunrise.  It is actually quite pleasant once the world quiets down.  Do try to ride with other riders at night - I am a poor role model here as I am a lone wolf rider

- Wear your Pittsburgh Randonneurs jersey.

• OK, this one is optional.  But think of wearing home club jersey at the start or end.

My first 600 km was in Eastern PA out of Quakertown.  Eastern PA has beautiful routes, but they are mountainous.  At about 300 km getting back to a town, an experienced randonneur overtook me.  He was short batteries, so I was able to restock him.  We rode together (i.e. i followed him) the rest of the evening.  We rode out together after a sleep stop of perhaps 3 hours.  Most speed differences among riders happen in the first day.  Most people cycle at about the same pace on the second day..  

This is a continuing list of tips in what I explain what works for me.  What I did may or may not apply to you.  However, it should inform your decisions of what can work for you.  I am writing this series because one of Pittsburgh's riders asked me to do it

Tip #6 - First 400 km Tips

Intro:
A 400 km is about as far as randonneurs typically ride in a day.  A 400 km is about learning that you can ride the first day of a grand randonnee.  It is also about riding further than you ever thought possible in your pre-randonneuring life.

Summary:

• Carry your own toilet paper. 
• Don't trust cars.
• Shivering at night is a bitch.  Carry appropriate clothes for when you are worn out.
• Just keep moving.  No it doesn't get any better.
• Riding in cool rain is pleasant with the right equipment. 

Detail:

- Carry your own toilet paper.

• Not every you stop has toilet paper in their bathrooms
• I generally keep small rolls designed for camping in the bottom of one of my bags
• Sometimes you have intestinal problems in the middle of nowhere.  Or at least somewhere you don't have access to bathrooms

- Don't trust cars

• I pay attention to all cars passing me.  In the daytime they typically move over.  At night they typically let up the gas (and/or move over) when they first see you.
• If I am on road with a bad berm and high speed traffic, between 9 PM and 1 AM I sometimes pull over and stop for passing cars. 
• After 1 AM cars are often more cautious about unexpected stuff on the road - like you.
• Once in them middle of the night I head a car manual shifting repeatedly on a road they could probably see me.  I got off the road.

- Shivering at night is a bitch.

• My body has poor thermal regulation when I am tired and sick.  There are nights it's been 60 F, and I left a control with leg warmers, arm warmers, vest, balaclava,and gloves to avoid shivering (I was pretty sick).  As my body warmed up, I took most of these off.  Repeated at each stop.

Just keep moving.  No it doesn't get any better.

• Actually, it may get better.  But you have to get through the sufferfest to get there.  At least I often recover from bonk or heat late in the day.  But you can't wait it out off the bike.  So just keep moving and accept your fate.

Riding in cool rain is pleasant with the right equipment.

•  Wool is magic.   I can't wear it over 75F.  Below that it is magic.  Particularly 45F to 60F and wet.  When it is cool I wear wool bibs.  I wear or carry a wool jersey.  I have wool arm and leg warmers.
• Nominal waterproof shoe covers are light enough to always carry.  Water sloshing in shoe vents is bad.  Your feet still get soaked with shoe covers.  But it takes longer and is more indirect.
• Having gloves that are warm when wet is important too.  I have a green pair fleece gloves I've carried for over a decade when it is too wet for glove liners.  I used to have an ultralight pair of waterproof mitten shells, but I lost one.  Dan B reports success with surgical gloves under other gloves.
  
• The how and why of fenders
• Water sluicing onto feet from your front tire really sucks hour after hour.  If you have only one fender and mud flap, have a front one.
• Keeping manure and giardia cysts off water bottles on wet country roads.
• Keep bottles usable longer on trail riding.  If you are on a limestone trail more than 10 miles, your bottles get gunked up fast without fenders.  

My first 400 km was in Eastern PA out of Quakertown.  Eastern PA has beautiful routes, but they are mountainous.  I started to have pain in my left knee around mile 76.  After the turn around point up in New York, my knee hurt to bad I couldn't put any downward pressure on my left pedal.  Tom Rosenbauer (RBA) came upon me, asked how I was doing.  He happened to be carrying one over-the-counter pain and anti-inflammatory pill.  He let me have it and rode off.  After an hour or two the pain in my my knee lessened.  Several hours later I was almost pedaling normally again.  I arrived off the road perhaps around 1:30 AM.  After the ride, I had a professional bike fit, which eliminated the knee pain going forward. 

This is a continuing list of tips in what I explain what works for me.  What I did may or may not apply to you.  However, it should inform your decisions of what can work for you.  I am writing this series because one of Pittsburgh's riders asked me to do it

Tip #5 - First 300 km tips

Intro:
A 300 km is the first real stepping stone into ultra riding for most riders - it is the longest ride they have started.  It involves riding in darkness at least a bit, and it is long enough that most people have time to bonk and recover for the first time.   Or at least bonk and endure.

Summary:

• Riding collectively is different than group riding.
• RUSA rules on lights and reflective gear are herd knowledge about staying alive.
• In the dark, randonneurs typically slow down and ride together. 
• Experience riding through a bonk or some pain.
• Riding for 15 hours is a week worth of work-outs - taper!
• Pre-inspect your bike - tires, brakes, etc.
• RBAs do what they do to help riders succeed.
• There is no SAG.

Detail:

- Riding collectively is different than group riding. 

• Randonneurs often do ride in groups.  With some exceptions, they don't worry about group integrity.  People come, people go.  Everyone has things to deal with on their own timeline.   Practices change a bit after dark. 
• Keeping another rider in sight is a form of group riding.  To keep someone in sight without going crazy, you have to really suppress the "cheetah sighting the gazelle" syndrome - automatically wanting to catch.
• It's amazing when you ride between two controls and never see a soul. Then at the next control, you overlap with a group of rider that are literally just minutes before and after you on the road.

-  RUSA rules on lights and reflective gear are herd knowledge about staying alive. 

• You can either view the RUSA rules on reflective gear as bothersome, or you can view them as the herd knowledge about staying alive in low light situations.  Don't cut corners:  Stay alive.
• Tail lights should be on solid red as a courtesy to other other riders.  Blinking lights make it difficult for riders behind you to see.
• Your tail-lights should not be aimed where other riders eyes normally are if you are riding in a group.
• Blinking tail-lights are illegal in France.
• I generally ride with 3 or 4 tail lights.  One is an emergency backup.
• Redundancy is good in lighting!

-  In the dark, randonneurs typically slow down and ride together. 

• Randonneurs typically start riding together after dark for increased safety.  I do so less than most.  In Eastern PA there is a group that builds as the last riders are swept up on the road. 
• People that meet at the last control before darkness often start riding together.  It is a courtesy to have the conversation if people want to ride together or not.  Our last leg on the Kitten and Puppies 300 km utilizes several busy highways - including Rt 51.  Do band together for safety on Rt 51.  
• Most randonneurs put on reflective gear and night wear at the last control before dark.  I like to wait until sunset - it keeps me from overheating - and gives me a reason to stop.  Any low light situation any time of day - have your lights on and reflective gear on.

- Experience riding through a bonk or some pain.

• 300k is long enough that people riding it for the first time are likely to bonk at some point.  Except in randonneuring, most cyclists stop when they bonk.  Learning to ride through a bonk is a new experience for most.  Eat, take it easy, and you will recover.
• Ditto you may well have some pain and get an hour or so to wonder about the wonders of modern medicine as you wait for Aleve or similar to take effect.
• I need to take a longer break every 100 miles or so.

- Riding for 15 hours is a week worth of work-outs - taper.

• Even if you are on a high volume workout plan, you likely aren't exercising more than 15 hours per week.  A 300 km or longer is literally a week of workouts in a day.  And if you are new to it, you exercise every muscle you have as find creative ways to keep going despite some muscles being exhausted.  If you've never ridden this distance, the best thing you can do is to give your body a rest for a week before and let it fully heal and recharge. 

- Pre-inspect your bike - tires, brakes, batteries, etc.

• Make sure your tires are solid and don't have foreign objects embedded in them.  Make sure you have sufficient brake pads, especially if the day is going to be very wet.  Make sure you have working batteries in your lights

- RBAs do what they do to help riders succeed.

• It took me a while to learn this.  Yes, RBAs enforce the rules to ensure the integrity of what we do.   However, being a successful RBA is about helping people succeed rather than fail.  RBAs are looking to enforce the rules in ways people succeed.
• If you forget to document a control, don't panic.  One approach is to always get a receipt from all controls with name and date/time.  Another is to have several witnesses that saw you at the control.
• Everyone is cheering for you to succeed.  And the slower you are, experienced riders know you have it tougher and respect you for it

- There is no SAG.

• We run with minimal volunteers.  We don't schedule SAG.  Your RBA rides events, so it you wait for me, you will have to wait a long time.  Arrange for your own SAG if needed except in extraordinary circumstances.

About Jim's first 300 km:
Dave Lampe pieced this together from my comments: my first 300 km was rather epic, in a "crap happens" sort of way.  My first 300 km was in DC.  It was two weeks after my first 200 km, and I hadn't fully recovered yet.  I had steel fenders, and tire rub blew out a sidewall (Fortunately I was very anal at the time on doing what people on randon said, and was carrying a spare tire).  It was a hot day and I wilted.  I arrived at a control at 4 PM.  Not only was there a gallon jug of water on the picnic table (the universal randonneuring sign the water is available to share), but there was suntan lotion - Most other riders had been there many hours before - early enough that the sun mattered.  Then a rider rode up and said:  "I'm usually the last rider on the road - what is your name, so I can report I saw you?"  After sunset, I was reading the cuesheet with a headlamp for a first time.  I learned you don't have peripheral vision with a headlamp  and I rode off the road into a fortunately soft grass covered ditch.  But I did get a second wind after dark.  Not only did I catch that last rider on the road, but a women.  At that time I had no desire to go to PBP (my goal had been Boston-Montreal Boston - but there never was another BMB).  The women was riding at my level; she had a goal of PBP.  She was just taking it one step at a time.  I rode after dark with her.  She helped inspire me to want to do PBP.

This is a continuing list of tips in what I explain what works for me.  What I did may or may not apply to you.  However, it should inform your decisions of what can work for you.  I am writing this series because one of Pittsburgh's riders asked me to do it

Tip #4 - First 200 km Tips

Intro:
 Welcome to randonneuring.  More than anything, a 200 km is about learning that 100 miles (a century) is not a magic number.  You can go any distance you want.

More than my other tips, I'll be quoting dogmatic randonneuring tips in this post.


Summary:

• Pace yourself. 
• Be responsible for your own navigation.
• Eat regularly.
• Carry the equipment you need in the 300 km, 400 km, and 600 km.  Make sure it survives 200 km.
• The slower you are, the faster you should control through if you want to see other riders.
• Keep moving.
• Keep time in the bank.

Detail:

- Pace yourself. 

• Experienced randonneurs ride at the same pace at 4 AM as they do at 10 PM.  Or for a 200 km, at 7 AM and 5 PM.
• I've learned that if we over-extend my heart early (zone 4 - over 150 bpm) for the first 2-3 hours of a ride, my average heart-rate declines for the rest of the day and I never recover an upside in heart rate.  If I stay in zone 3 early on, I can hit all heart zones as needed most of the day.
• The ride out Rt 51 to the first control is nominally flat, but we climb onto the plateau after that.  Don't over-extend on the flat.
• Don't pedal downhill.  Recover.  Even when you don't need recovery.  That's what anciens do.

- Be responsible for your own navigation.

• Even if your plan A is to keep someone actually navigating in sight, keep track of turns yourself with your cue sheet and cyclo-computer.  
• If you can't see the cue sheet at all times, that is a problem.  Fix it.
• Losing your cue sheet is a problem.  I did that on my first 200 km.  Mount it where it doesn't get lost.  Carrying a spare cue sheet is prudent.
• A GPS can help relieve stress, but don't always believe it.  Use to help advise at turns.
• Be safe, but often you can walk around bridges closed for work.
• Do team up with other riders.  However, if you want an experienced randonneur to stay with you, explicitly ask.  We are used to everyone being self-accountable.  It is especially ok to ask another rider for help if you are impaired or having navigation or equipment difficulties. 

- Eat regularly.

• I eat breakfast before starting out.  Generally 2 or 3 hours before leaving.  For a 4 AM departure, I may eat main breakfast before going to bed.
• I  normally carry two water bottles for sports drinks and a camelbak for water.  That normally gets me between controls spaced 50 miles apart in typical weather (typical grand randonnee conditions).
• It's hard for me to leave the house without enough food on me and my bike for 50-100 miles.
• Do eat what you take on the bike.  It took me several years to eat what I started out with.
• On the Kittens and Puppies 200 km, if I've been dropped on Rt 51, I might skip refueling at the first control, to get out in front of the other riders.  I carry enough to do that.
• If you feel like you can't go on, stop and eat something.
• If I have something that hurts, I may take Aleve.  It  takes about an hour to take effect on me.  
• I find that taking electrolytes really help me keep my strength up and avoid cramps.  The bigger you are, the more likely you are a fan of electrolytes.

- Carry the equipment you need in the 300 km and 400 km.

• Mount your lights and make sure they stay on.  At least one frame mounted headlight and one frame mounted taillight. Redundancy is highly encouraged.
• Ditto on fenders.
• Most randonneurs ride with their ankle reflectors on even in daytime.  It also helps tag us on the road to each other.
• If you have generator lights, run with them on in daylight to be better seen.  It is generally worth it to keep a taillight on all day too (Planet Bike blinkies run 3 days on two AA's).
• Have enough tubes and ways to inflate them.  Perhaps a tire, depending how much you trust your tires.  Enough tools to make small adjustments.  If yo don't carry a chain tool, carry a spare link.  I've broken chains twice on randonneurs (I didn't have a chain tool either time - Stef bailed me out one time).

- The slower you are, the faster you should control through if you want to see other riders.

• I've always played the game of turtle and hare. I've been the turtle.  Often in my career I've overlapped hares on the road by controlling through faster.
• Note to hares:  Don't get anxious when you see a turtle leaving before you.  It is a social thing to do.
• I like there-and-back routes because all riders get to see other riders on the road.  Even when I was the last rider on the road, it raised my spirits to see other riders on the ride as we crossed paths. 
• One reason to try not to be last is that there is someone behind you that can help you if needed.  That day I controlled through at Al's Corner after being dropped on Rt 51 was a day I broke my chain.  Stef was behind me with the biggest multi-tool ever.

- Keep moving.

• It's amazing how far you go if you just don't stop.
• It you looking for a reason to stop, find something else to do.  Whether a nature break or adjust something, that helps to pace the stop.  Do things you can't do moving.
• It is ok to walk.  If I feel I can't climb anymore, I'll sometimes get off the bike and walk for the distance of say two telephone poles for a break.  Admittedly, I watch my mirror so people don't see me.  However, it is within the rules to walk.  I once walked the last 3 miles or so of a brevet (up a mountain), when I had a chainring bolt loosen and jam. 

- Keep time in the bank.

• I always try to leave controls at least an hour before control time.

-  Other comments

• No one is accountable for anyone else, but everybody should look after everybody else.  Note where people are on the road before you and after you.  When you cross paths with another randonneur on the road, short conversations about typical rando topics are typical.  They help people check on each other. 
• Don't feel bad about imposing on strangers for help.  I've walked into car repair shops 80 miles from home, told the rando story, and borrowed tools for repairs
• Tell the truth about how you feel if it the topic comes up.  Don't whine.  But it is ok to express how you really feel.  
• An old rando rule of thumb if something will heal within two weeks, don't let it worry you.
• Most things heal within several weeks.  If you hit an exception, know it.  But most ways you can hurt yourself on an ultra do heal.  

About Jim's first 200 km
My first 200 km was in Ohio, with a motel start.  I arrived the night before, and saw the casual camaraderie during check-in.  Outbound we hit a bridge out, so we had to pass bikes down and up a 3+ ft concrete embankment and and cross a stream.  I carried my cue sheet in a jersey pocket and lost it - so I had to borrow one.  Close to the turn-around point, we had a heavy and cold downpour.  I remember a female ride talking about the value of carrying a dry set of riding clothes - I typically have carried a spare jersey and shorts since that ride.I finished the ride.

This is a continuing list of tips in what I explain what works for me.  What I did may or may not apply to you.  However, it should inform your decisions of what can work for you.  I am writing this series because one of Pittsburgh's riders asked me to do it