[flowingfocus]

Ultra-endurance cycling like the race you mentioned is fascinating. I once met a few contestants in a European bike race and drove alongside one. He said the best in the field sleep around 4 hours per night and do 500+ km per day.

[0_____0]

Depends on how long you're doing it. For a Divide length race, you're going to need more than 4 hours a night. 5 would be sustainable. 4 would work for events 3-5 days long I think.

[skeeter2020]

Either way, the sustained output is ridiculous. These racers go harder than me on my gravel bike, fully self supported, often on rough tracks, for 20ish hours a day, day after day.

Then at the other end of the spectrum there are lots of people who go quite slow, but for months. I'm not sure which is more impressive; both show tremendous grit but in different ways.

[0_____0]

Both those ways of approaching bike travel require a particular mindset. I've been at 6 hours of sleep in 72 hours, been soaked through my layers in torrential summer rain, woken up with my feet in 2" of water in my tent, and loved it all.

The only thing that truly sucks is when you can't continue. Like getting two irreparable flats 20 miles away from town in rural New Mexico, or getting an injury that ends your journey.

Hard to explain to people that don't experience it like that, but even if it doesn't feel good all the time, it's basically always still somehow fun.