I finished the full 174 km. Felt great doing it too. I struggled at the end of the 85 km last year so i was very proud of myself. After the Paterburg i had a strong final 15 km to the line which made me happy to see I still had that much gas in the tank that late in the day.
I had to walk the Koppenburg. There was a very slow, large, and wobbly rider in the middle and all 3 lanes came to a s too with their foot down so I had to do the same. Then on the Paterburg I came out of me pedal while grinding hard at about 30 rpm coming to a stop behind someone and trying to save it and get around them. I’m not upset though, it’s the name of the game with 16,000 participants.
I had a moving time of 7h11m but that included my ride from the car to the registration area where I forgot to start a new ride file. And then my time walking in line at the base of the Koppenburg for my time. So I’m pretty happy with it.
I vastly underestimated how slow the rest stops would be. The reason I didn’t bonk like normal is I have finally figured out nutrition and hydration on the bike. But I definitely needed to wait my turn for water bottle refills. I didn’t want to use their sports drink so I had to wait at the plain water spigot. At the 75 km rest stop I was in line for 15 minutes just for water. And the 144 km rest stop was insane too.
I had an awesome time. I may do the 174 again next year or I might go down to the 135 to get a little farther ahead of the crowds. It’s a great event and I recommend it to everyone.