I simply change down gears and go slower.
Surging in power on every kicker can add up to a significant time in high power zones. This isn’t the optimal endurance ride execution. If an endurance ride really is your target, do your best to execute it correctly.
There is considerable value in properly executing your endurance work. A large portion of it being the carry over into the following training day/days. Learning proper intensity discipline is a skill in itself.
I often remind myself, like Luke Sky Walker attacking the Death Star…
Stay on target.
I also learned that it’s impossible for me to do an endurance ride on my local MTB trails. So, I never attempt it. I make my MTB rides, hard/fun days etc. This obviously depends on your terrain.
The single best piece of advice I’ve ever learnt in terms of endurance rides is get proper low gearing. Most amateur cyclists are dramaitcally over geared. We are not profesional cyclists, we do not have 6w/kg FTPs. Hence, we need far lower gearing. Without it, we are very limited on what terrain we can execute proper endurance rides.
Work out the math. Work out how low you need your gearing to be to maintain endurance power at an ideal cadence. You’ll likely be quite surprised how low it needs to be to deal with actual steep hills. I began my endurance rides on my MTB, as it was the only way I could get low enough gearing.
Your mileage may vary. A lot depends on your terrain and gradients.
Bin the ego on endurance rides, speed, times on segments etc are totally irrelevant. You want nice steady volume. That is your goal.
Get low gears, play some nice tunes, let the squirrels pass you. Patience, patience patience. Play the long game.