I have a 63.1 km Strava segment that a friend and I are going to try to KOM in April/May. Well, more accurately, he is going to try to KOM and I am going to pull him. There’s an unprotected (from trees) section. We haven’t decided if I’m going to pull over that several mile section or if I’m just going to try to pull as long as possible, but I think I need to be ready to go about 55km as fast as possible. There is a section at the beginning that is a climb and I hate climbing, and my friend is a very good climber. There’s no reason for us to try this (although after this maybe I’ll make a segment that doesn’t include the climb). The segment is far enough away that this is a A event. I pulled off two other longer events on my calendar so they aren’t messing things up (although one is in early March so maybe I could still do that). I’m not driving all the way out there for Ben not to come away with the KOM.
The segment isn’t exactly completely flat but even with the climb at the beginning the average grade is 0.1%. The segment is remote enough that there should not be a time of people.
So, my question is what I should set this up as in TR. Right now, I have it listed as a time trial, but even for the older TdF’s this is really long. In 2002 for example, there was 176.5km spread over four stages.
I don’t know what the terrain is like. Ben has ridden it. There are road crossings so. The current KOM is 1 hour, 55 min. The next closest time is 2:18. Only 63 people have done the complete route, so it’s not ultra competitive, but given what I know about trail conditions in Minnesota, I believe the 1:55 time is going to be tough to beat. I guess my point is, it’s a very long time trial. Currently, TR has me doing lots of threshold work, which I guess makes sense. I’m not sure what changes if I change it to something else. I’m not sure what else would even make sense, maybe gravel? It’s paved but gravel would set me up for a more endurance style ride.
