Tuning into your heart rate and perceived effort can also be useful. If the perceived effort seems much higher compared to heart rate later on in your ride it can mean you’ve got dehydrated or haven’t been taking on enough calories. Hopefully the OP will have an idea which has occurred but upping their water intake and getting more calories on board won’t do them any harm.
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Absolutely…but both are also subjective. Your first point of reference should be the objective data and then adjust, if necessary, based on the subjective data.
The perfect examples of this, as others noted, is that when riding “by feel”, what often feels “easy” early in a ride like this is actually too hard. A solid tempo pace can feel easy at the beginning due to the emotion and energy of the event, etc. but can prove to be disastrous 5-6 hours later.
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Indeed but you’d know you were tempo from your heart rate.
I would keep tabs on normalized power and some level of recent power (3-30s average depending on preference). The goal would be to keep NP at a rough target that seems doable based on your other long rides. Slight caveat, if the course starts with a climb than this wouldn’t really apply until there’s been enough descending to balance that out, in that case just don’t go bonkers on the initial climb.
Past that, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Trying to hit a precise number is more stressful than it’s worth imo; it’s less fun and cognitive load (to steal Amber’s term) is not free.
Not always…again, it is a subjective measurement. Hydration, temperature and a host of other elements can impact your HR and cause it to fluctuate.
I’m not saying ignore it, just that your primary focus should be power and check that against subjective data such as HR and perceived exertion.
True, but for a ride like this, you are looking to be in a pretty wide range, not a specific number.
I’d just ride easy and ignore power numbers. Look at the scenery instead. When there’s a climb, shift to a lighter gear and remind yourself that it’s a long day. But then, I don’t really ride to power outside of TTs anyway.
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Which is what I covered in my original post. But I’d hope you start your rides properly hydrated and not already on the back foot. Thus your RPE and heart rate are an accurate reflection for you in the conditions you find yourself in.
IME, HR is useless for big events like this, there is so much adrenaline and nerves that my HR is way off for the first hour or two. If I had to choose RPE or HR for pacing an event like this, I would pick RPE.
It’s not an either or choice between them, use them both as data points.
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Interesting discussion between Dylan Johnson and Seiler on this topic…
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On a 257km ride with 3000m of climbing? Maybe your fysiology is different than mine, but I would aim for 75% of FTP at most on the climbs, which would make it a very, very hard day for me. No way I can do 90% of FTP for that much climbing on such a long route.
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If you read my comment farther down, that climbing number is depending on the type of climbing your doing. The longer the climb, the lower that number would need to go. For me and the racing I do, most of the climbing is short repeats, 30-180 seconds of threshold work and then recover. If you’re gonna be doing hour long climbs, then that power limit would need to be lower. That said, I’d be aiming for a finishing IF around .70-.75 and If I climb at a max of .75 it would be hard to have that kind of finishing IF.
My point was moreso to drive home that you should use power more as a governor than a target. Let perception drive the effort but understand that there is a disconnect between the perception and the physiological toll of the effort, especially in the beginning of a race/ride like this that lends itself to going to hard if left unchecked.
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When I have done my longer hillier rides in the past, it was pre powermeter and I rode on feel with the occasional glance down at my %max hr to confirm what I am feeling correlates with it. It was only 125mile 7,000 ft ride from me yesterday but now with power it was similar, riding mainly on feel but the occasional glance at the %max HR and/or power. I think though I still go off %max HR more for correlation on a longer ride, keeping it below 95% when things steepen.
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Hey, proud Husky here who is also training to do a 160-mile ride with 10,000 feet of climbing at the end of July - guessing we’re doing the same event 
It’ll be my 6th time doing this event, and one of the things I’ve gotten pretty good at in longer events is pacing myself so that I finish strongly. This usually means getting passed a lot in the first half, and then passing a lot of people in the second half.
On this specific event, I mostly go by perceived exertion, but looking back at my numbers, that translates to going to or a little above FTP on the shorter rollers in the beginning, and then cruising around 65-75% of FTP for the long climbs (and interminable flat sections). What that feels like to me is on a short kicker letting my legs burn a bit and feeling my heart pound, but on longer stuff keeping my effort such that I’m breathing deeply but calmly. If it’s going to be a hot day, I’m more willing to push in the beginning (and keep rest stops super short) because getting to the big climb when there’s still some shade on the road can make a huge difference.
FWIW, the last 35 miles, though trending slightly downhill, tend to be into a hideous headwind - it’s not the walk in the park that the course profile makes it look. If you’ve emptied the tank before then, it can get real ugly real fast.
Have a great ride!
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Here is the bottom line: If you are experienced using RPE to finish long rides, use RPE. If not, then don’t. If you do use it, you should 100% use it as a governor, as others have said.
Here is an experience I had last year during a 7 hour gravel race: Had a pacing plan of avg. power 200, np 210. I had practiced this strategy leading up to the race, and knew I would be good to go.
Day of race: Legs felt the best they ever felt. 200 watts felt like a recovery ride. Going up hills at 230 watts felt just as easy. Going up short hills at 95% felt like sweet spot. After the first 20 miles, decided to up my strategy to 210 ap 220 np. I started to suffer pretty hard in the last 5 miles but still had enough to put out a moderate sprint at the end.
Here is my takeaway, if I used RPE that day, I would have bonked for sure. My carb loading, taper, and sleep leading up to the race was perfect (which never happens during a normal week). My RPE for the first half of the ride would have been off by almost 30 watts if I had to guess (somehow during ramp tests, my RPE is always off in the opposite direction). At the same time, I allowed myself the flexibility to adjust my plan based off RPE.
I did a 5 hour event that was about half this distance. I used HR as a limiter. My self imposed goal was to stay below tempo HR (145bpm in my case). There were climbs that were so steep that I was at 150-160bpm but those couldn’t be avoided. I finished strong but was about 90% spent so I think I paced it well. The previous advice about targeting your zone 2 pace is probably spot on.
And try not to burn matches that you don’t need to burn - like sitting on the wheels of the hot shots for the first 30 minutes of the ride. I made this mistake and bailed after 15 minutes. I knew if I kept up that pace for an hour I’d be looking for a car ride back to the start.
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Thank you to everyone who has responded! I have learned so much reading through this thread. Sunday I went for a “test” ride of 92 miles with 11,200 feet of climbing. On the flats I kept my power in Z2 and just allowed it to get a little into Z3 for the rolling parts of the road and then mostly Z2 again when I got into the 10.5 mile climbs. This felt extremely slow to me, which made me realize that in the past when I would ride by feel I would go out way too hard early and explains why I would always be dying at the end. I did the 10.5 mile climb 3 times. I felt so good yet when I started the 3rd time that I decided to try doing it at mid Z3. Not a good idea, I had to back off and recover for a bit and was then able to finish feeling good again. Turns out all 3 of those climbs were done within a minute and 15 seconds of each other. I finished the day with an IF of .68 and feel like I probably could have gone a little bit harder. I didn’t spend the whole ride staring at my power and I don’t want to do that for my upcoming event either, but are there any tricks for trying to hit a specific IF? I’m thinking maybe around .72?
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Sounds like you have gained some valuable experience here. Pacing is really a skill that can only be developed by riding outdoors with specific targets in mind. I like that you tried giving in to your temptation, sometimes you just have to try to know where your limit is. Now you know.
Kudos for pacing your climb so well, I don’t know how long the climb was in total (10.5 miles = 16.9 km, so I reckon about 1:30:00 hours?). Hitting your times within 00:01:15 is pretty damn good in my book!
That’s tricky to answer. But I’d probably try something else: how about trying to be a bit more aero in the flat bits? That way you can really gain some time without having to up your power. I’m sometimes surprised how fast I can go riding in low-to-mid Z2 when I am aero.
After all, it isn’t the person with the highest watts or watts-per-kilo who wins the Tour de France, it is the person who is fastest 
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Z2 always feel slow if you haven’t developed your power in that zone. If you build out your Z2 rides you’ll find you get faster for that same Z2 effort. It still feels really easy but you’re going faster.
As for a precise IF. I wouldn’t worry about that. If you do what you just did you’ll finish strong and your pace won’t fade later on in the ride.
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