Century and Long Ride Pacing Planner
What moving average a target finish time actually demands once stops and climbing are counted, with checkpoint times to ride to.
Checkpoint times
| At | Elapsed |
|---|
Elapsed times, including the stops you will have made by then. Compare against the clock, not your computer's moving time — the clock is what decides when you finish.
What the mistake costs, in minutes
A 160 km day with 4 stops and a 7-hour target. Distance over target time gives 22.9 km/h, and a rider who takes that as the number to ride at finishes late by almost exactly the time spent standing around.
| Stops | Off the bike | Odometer must read | Distance ÷ target | Late by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| racing, 3 min each | 12 min | 23.5 km/h | 22.9 km/h | 11 min |
| brisk, 8 min each | 32 min | 24.7 km/h | 22.9 km/h | 31 min |
| social, 18 min each | 72 min | 27.6 km/h | 22.9 km/h | 71 min |
It is not a small correction that creeps up on you — it is the whole error, present from the first stop, and it is invisible on the road because the odometer agrees with the plan all day. With unhurried stops it is 71 minutes, which is a different finish time and often a different sunset.
And the stops cost more than the terrain
For the same 7 hours, the speed you have to hold on the bike goes from 23.5 km/h with racing stops to 27.6 with unhurried ones. That is 4.1 km/h, which is a different kind of day.
For comparison, moving from flat ground to rolling costs about 1.5 km/h of equivalent effort at that pace. The choice of how long to spend at the feed stops moves the required pace by more than the shape of the road does.
Nobody plans a long ride by deciding how long to spend at the stops, and on a fixed target it is one of the largest levers there is. Deciding it in advance is worth more than any amount of pacing discipline afterwards — and it is the one decision that is entirely yours, whatever the weather does.
How to use
- Enter the distance, your target time and the total climbing.
- Say honestly how many times you will stop and for how long.
- Read the moving average you need, which is not the elapsed average.
- Ride the checkpoint times against the clock, not your computer.
Frequently asked questions
Why is the moving average higher than the elapsed average?
Because your computer stops when you do and the clock does not. A rider targeting seven hours for 160 km needs about 22.9 km/h elapsed, but with four eight-minute stops that is over half an hour off the bike — so the odometer has to read nearly 25. Almost everyone who misses a target time missed it here rather than on the road.
How long do stops actually take?
Longer than planned, every time. Three minutes is a racing stop where you fill a bottle and go. Eight is brisk and realistic for a well-run day. Eighteen is what a stop becomes the moment you sit down, and there is nothing wrong with that as long as the plan accounts for it.
Should I ride the first half faster to bank time?
No, and it is the most common way long rides go wrong. Going out at the average and fading is the default outcome; the suggested split rides the first half slightly under and the second slightly over. Almost nobody regrets the first hour of a long ride, and a great many people regret the fourth.
How does climbing change the target?
Considerably more than the distance suggests, because you spend far longer going up than coming down and descending returns less time than climbing costs. The metres-per-riding-hour figure is the honest measure of how hard a route is — above about 800 an hour is demanding to hold for a full day.
Why does terrain get its own adjustment?
Because the same speed is a very different effort on different ground. The tool converts your required pace into the flat-road speed it would take to equal it, which is the number to judge the target against — a rolling 25 km/h is not a flat 25 km/h.
What if the tool says my target is not feasible?
Either the pace exceeds what anyone sustains for that distance, or the planned stops use up more time than the target allows. Both are worth knowing before the start rather than at 120 km, and the fix is usually the stops rather than the speed.
How should I use the checkpoint times?
Against a watch, not against your bike computer. The checkpoints include the stops you will have made by that point, so they are elapsed times — which is what actually decides whether you finish when you said you would.
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