Want to ride the lobster

General
1

I ride almost every day 10 - 14 km Rain, snow, morning, night.

Hope to participate in RTL June 2008.

Today I just road 24 km on my 29", only problem was batteries on mp3 got low.

Over the winter I intend to do my two day qualifing ride.

Not sure if it will happen before or after the snow.

With luck and hard work perhaps I may qualify, the problem is finding other team mates.

I believe that I have a handicap qualifing on a 29". But that’s what I’m gonna use to qualify on.

In the end I will be at RTL, be it as a spectator, support person, or spare rider.

2

It depends on the route, but it shouldn’t be that much of a disadvantage. Elevation is taken in to account with the qualifying ride, so you can do a short steep ride which might be easier on a 29er than a Coker.

The longest single ride I’ve done on a 29er is 45 miles, and it’s only the fact that my knee packed up around midday that I stopped. So it can be done.

STM

Edit - that was my single speed 29er. My 29" Schlumpf has done 74 miles in a day

3

Thanks for info STM

A good suggestion.

I plan my route accordingly.

4

You definitely can qualify! To find other team mates, post a message in this thread with your location and what you’re looking for. There are already some people there looking for teammates.

Hope to see you in Nova Scotia!

—Nathan

5

???

hey, what is ride the lobster anyway

6

I have not seen this posted (although it might have been) but is there a date at which you are no longer allowed to qualify?
The reason I ask is because I may not get a coker until spring and I am still unsure as to whether I am going to enter RTL.

Ride the Lobster is race that will take place in Nova Scotia, Canada next year.

7

We haven’t set a hard cut-off yet, but it will be later than March 1st for sure, maybe more like April 1. We do have to have all the teams registered as early as possible for things like jerseys etc. It is also first-come first-served, and once we have 25 teams, we may have to cut it off. So get out there and qualify! Registration starts Jan 1. And it’s looking like we’ll be able to offer incentives of some type to register early. Still working on details of that though.

—Nathan

8

Nathan, how many teams registered so far ?

Nathan, how many teams registered so far ?

9

legtod2

There are no teams registered yet. Registration doesn’t open until January 1, 2008. Hope you find a team. Later.

aj

10

Yes, registration starts Jan 1, 2008. To see who’s qualified (that’s individual riders), check this page (not quite up to date unfortunately): http://www.ridethelobster.com/race/riders.php - it also has a link to a bunch of the comments we got on the interest form.

—Nathan

11

Doing my RTL qualifing ride this weekend

I have two routes choosen for two day 160+km ride.

Route 1 is 80km from Millville to Oromocto.
Route 2 is ~80km Fredericton to Oromocto, Douglas Fredericton Loop.

Have been unable to confirm the verticle rise of the hills in the vicinity of the ride.

Going on my 29" with 125 cranks, backback, cellphone, mp3 player.

Expecting the weather to be -10 and chance of snow during day.

Since my present average speed is 10kph should take 8-9hrs (with breaks).

Wish me luck.

12

Errrm, good luck Dude.

13

Good luck - enjoy your challenge!

14

I’ve got a quick question, The qualifying ride can be done in your own area right? you don’t need to go to the race location to do a qualifying ride?

15

Correct… you can do it anywhere…

16

ok, then I know the routes I want, thanks! I’m going to start planning now.

17

Bad weather, only rode 53km this weekend

Saturday’s weather was -10 with -18 windchill. No riding

Sunday was brighter and only -10, wind chill -14 so off I went.

I loaded up my back pack with extra shirt, sweatpants (layers for possible snow flurries). Also loaded up with water, banana, V8 juice, sandwich, and other snackes, plus a camcorder/camera, cellphone. Carried two mp3 players, but batteries only lasted 1.5hrs.

Wearing just sweat pants over cycle shorts, light shirt, jogging jacket, and backpack I was ready.

I warmed up as soon as I was on the biking trails, no chills with light breathable clothing. Looked like it would start snowing when I was 25 km’s out, but it held off.

Since this is only my second time going long distance I decided to keep a steady pace of 10kph. I remember the story about the tortise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race.

Thanks to my Vetta cyclometer, I was able to keep accurate measurement of average speed, max speed, and distance travelled.

At the end of the ride I travelled 53.7 km at an average speed of 9.8km/hr, with top speed bursts of 14.9km/hr. No too shabby for a 29" wheel with 125 cranks.

Felt good at the end, could of gone longer. Next time I’ll pack lighter and go farther.

At least today’s run allowed me to see if I’m cut out to qualify.
Can’t comment of the hills I climbed, don’t know how tall they where or where to go to find that out.

18

Nice trial ride. I assumed that your attempt would be this weekend. Try out some shorter cranks this week - I bet you’ll be able to handle them well and your qualifying ride will be quicker of it - probably will save you an hour of cold exposure.
See ya.

19

Sounds like you did good to me Legtod. The cold weather can be a killer if you’re not used to riding in it, but you did better than I would have done in those temperatures.

As for the elevation of the hills, check out http://www.mapmyride.com/ and plot your route there. It’ll confirm the distance as well as give you elevation details.

I’m looking forward to the not too distant future to the “I’ve qualified for RTL” post. It doesn’t sound like it’s far away now!

STM

20

due to bad weather I was only able to go about 35 miles along my planned route(round trip) but I think I can make it the rest of the way no problem.