Hotels on the TDR (Good or Bad)

[Marshal]

Well, there is snow on the ground so its backpacking.net ‘forum’ time…. and a TDR 2014 post by Pablito got me thinking again about hotel use on the TDR.

Do hotels make you faster or slower?

For me strategic use of hotels not only made me faster but without them I probably would not have finished my TDR.  I think a hotel room is the absolute best way to improve you recovery.  And it has nothing to do with sleep.  If all you need is sleep then you are most likely losing time with a hotel room.

But here is how one might strategically/occasionally use a hotel room:

Check in with large quantity of drink and snack (all of your favorites- especially stuff too heavy to carry and that really appeals to you). Be sure to include your food for the following day so you can hit the road before anything opens.
As soon as you close the door start these “concurrent activities”:
•   get naked
•   snack and drink, keep snaking and drinking as stomach permits—you want to be fully re hydrated etc etc
•   order in a pizza or such if desired
•   wash riding gear and use towel trick to speed up dry cycle
•   wash body (might even soak tender spots in a hot bath)  
•   ice up injuries as needed
•   perform body maintenance as needed—trim, cut, kinsio tape, massage etc as needed
•   bike maintenance as needed
•   you aren’t done till all your gear is repacked and your breakfast food and clothing organized and laid out--all for a fast getaway in the morning.

Remember all above activities are done concurrently and should only use up about 1.5 hrs.    

Once the above is finished get horizontal on the bed and:
•   Continue to drink and snack as body allows.  By spreading your food consumption out over time you can comfortably pump enough liquid and calories into your body to be truly refueled!
•   Plan your next day and set your alarm.
•   Keep the TV off, check track leaders if you must, make short calls etc as needed-- but do not waste time on these activities as they keep you from doing what’s now most important and that’s sleeping.

How to gain not lose time from a hotel stop:
•   Give yourself no more than 5 hrs of sleep.  
•   If you checked in early this may mean you could conceivably be out the door and riding as early as 2:30am

So—no ‘travel’ time is really lost and your recovery is much better than it would have been otherwise.

Anyway the above has worked for me, I spent about ½ my TDR nights on the ground and the others in a bed—

Comments?  Disagreements?

[chainagent]

Hi,

  That was my strategy as well. It worked perfect. Just 4 nights in a tent and all 4 days after on the bike were horrible. I am not a tent sleeper unfortunately. But if you want finish in a fixed time you must have a lot of discipline not to wait for the breakfast or the first cafè will open it doors!

     Kind regards from Germany

      Michael

[Marshal]

When planning out the next day I like to pick a spot down the road that I hope to resupply & maybe get a hot meal- looking forward to reward will 'pull' me on rather than wait for something to open

Hotels and towns can become a time trap if you are 'waiting' for something to open.

[Eszter]

If you happen to not use hotels for the better part of two weeks and decide to check into one, be careful using soap, it'll dry your skin out so badly that you'll itch for the rest of the night and not sleep.

Hotels are time sucks in the end, I think. Generally, I was tired enough at the end of the day that I didn't need a soft bed to pass out before my head hit the ground, and you really don't need as many showers as you think you do.

It's a lot easier to get moving in the morning if you're on the side of the road and freezing than if you're in a warm bed.

[superdavebruno]

Can only super-agree with Eszter. Having read up on much more experienced riders' TD strategies for success before departing, went out with the legendary "one motel night challenge" as a goal. Can say this works super for TD. Riding at all hours of the night is just a normal part of the experience anyways, and you remain 100% flexible so when the body says loudly that it can do no more for the day, you can get from saddle to REM4 in like 10 minutes under a warm bough of a tree or bushes, and in the morning you awake shivering and are pedaling within 10 minutes again, chomping a snickers bar. There are a few drag nights (pre-Butte and Polaris are bitter cold, and there's the goat-crap dust bowl scrub of the reservation lands) but its all survivable and I felt even safer to live out there this way being naturally in tune with the conditions and lighting and land as it changes by the minute. PS buy a really loud alarm watch.

[Marshal]

As Eszter & superdavebruno point out hotels can be time traps for many.  I know I have succumbed a few times to using hotel rooms for psychological ‘comfort’.  I can think of two specific nights where I checked in early to avoid sleeping out in rainy conditions and lost significant time.  Also I would agree staying in a room doesn’t really add much to the ‘sleep’ part of one’s recovery.  With the exception of one wet night I slept equally well on the ground as in a room. 

But usually I don’t sleep any ‘longer’ in a hotel room than on the trail.  And if sleep times are equal you don’t really ‘lose’ much if any time.  Admittedly to keep stop times relatively equal a extended ‘night ride’ may need to flip and happen at the start of the day.  Personally I enjoy riding in the dark at both ends of the day, whatever fits the circumstances……..

And I feel nothing beats a warm dry room for “non-sleep” recovery tasks…… Anyway, better recovery means a lot to me as I am a bit older and generally less fit/physically/efficient than just about anyone I am racing against. 

With good overall recovery I like to think I can gradually, day by day, gain time against the fitter racers who might be recovering less well……...

[james-o]

If a hotel is there on-route at the right time and you use it efficiently it has to be better than a bivi, it needn't be too much slower. But it's all about the ebb and flow, take whatever's there when you have to sleep since pushing on should be faster in the long run.
I do wonder if I'd have been faster in my final 500 or so miles if I'd rested in motels more, but whether the rest adds pace enough to make up for the time spent finding them, I'm not sure. It could have broken my flow more though. Other racers this year stopped some days at 8pm but were riding again at 2am, sets you up for a long day and less regularity but they coped just fine.

[wunnspeed]

The only one I wouldn't stay in again would be in Sparwood, only due to the crazy high cost. An occasional shower and good nights sleep can really help you mentally. As far as slower or faster, it depends on when you come and go. I always paid up front and found out where to leave the key. Also, I went to the store, if possible, and bought food for breakfast and the following day. Then, go to bed early and leave as soon as you can.

When I slept outside it was always at least 1.5 hours from waking up to leaving and occasionally, no food. Just things to keep in mind. Honestly, if I ever do it again, I'd ride it alone (in spite of the friends I made along the way) as I found that I ended up waiting for them at the end of every day we rode together.

[Marshal]

............. Honestly, if I ever do it again, I'd ride it alone (in spite of the friends I made along the way) as I found that I ended up waiting for them at the end of every day we rode together.

You bring up a separate but reoccurring topic— (the TDR ethos discourage it, but the written rules specifically ‘tolerate’ racers riding together)---

But at what point does a casual ‘team’ mate become a liability vs a benefit?  At what point does one stop adjusting ones pace, stops or starts to accommodate chance companions? 

I have thought deeply about the pluses, minuses and 'ethics' of a casual team mate.  The only easy answer for me is I would never “pre-arrange” a teammate (as some have), but after that it’s a complicated dilemma...............

[trebor]

Lodging takes away time. I can't see a way around it. I would say up to an hour on each side, morning and night, is lost compared to sleeping in the dirt. Can that be re-gained (returned?) through the possible better physical recovery and absolute mental recovery later on the bike? I don't know.

I would generally use them when I felt broken - mentally and or physically. Otherwise the town was just a place for food and I would ride on happily.

So from the perspective of allowing one to survive till the end, then they were not stops of lost time - but pauses that allowed continuation.

[Marshal]

Lodging takes away time. I can't see a way around it. I would say up to an hour on each side, morning and night, is lost compared to sleeping in the dirt. Can that be re-gained (returned?) through the possible better physical recovery and absolute mental recovery later on the bike? I don't know.

I would generally use them when I felt broken - mentally and or physically. Otherwise the town was just a place for food and I would ride on happily.

So from the perspective of allowing one to survive till the end, then they were not stops of lost time - but pauses that allowed continuation.

Your comment about losing 1 hour on either side of a hotel stop got me to thinking. ……

And

I created a GPS Record for my entire 2010 effort.  But only in the last few days have I gone back and begun to analyze this real-time race data. 

I realize it’s going to be different for each rider but for me the actual race numbers show I most definitely did not lose 2 hours per hotel stop.  In fact if I subtract the stop times from the occasional/accompanying sit-down/ restaurant meal it’s a wash.  And if I subtract out the 2 extended hotels stays that fall into the recover my achilles injury or dnf category, my hotel stays were actually slightly shorter as well as being more effective in terms of recovery. IE: better food, better sleep

So in my case my actual race numbers tell me:
1: I spent way more time stopped (hotel or camp) than I thought I did.  Over all I raced much less effectively that I thought I had. (ha…I am revealed as somewhat of a TDR wimp)…
2: Unless I make my camp stops significantly more efficient a hotel stop wins hands down.  What with roughly equal down time but much better food/sleep recovery.
3: I am pretty good at hotel stops but have to make all of them, not just most, meet the same time standard.

So considering all the above-- why am I so focused on improving my sleep/camp system (with the additional bulk and weight) so I can camp more if and when I again toe the line???   

This is going to take much more thought and perhaps some real world testing………….

[hikernks]

I didn't finish, but I made it 12 days, and camped about half of the time.  Here's my quick pro's and cons list:

Sleeping in Hotels - Pro:
*Most hotels I stayed in were frequented by motorcycle tourists, and had old rags in the room meant for cleaning bikes.  These were awesome for a quick deep-cleaning of a bicycle drivetrain. 
*Hair Dryers - The in-room hair dryers are awesome for drying shoes.
*Continental breakfast - Very convenient to be able to leave your room, eat quick, and then hit the road with a full stomach.  Bonus - a lot of these start fairly early, compared to most diners.  For some reason, it seemed like every breakfast diner in Montana didn't open until 8.  Eureka, Lima, Ovando, and Elkhorn Hot Springs are all places that stick out in my head that all had a diner but didn't open til 8 am, and there's probably more.  Eating a quick breakfast in a hotel seemed to actually save me time.

Hotel Cons:
*They are a time suck - IE, I didn't want to leave.  It's warm inside, they have a hot tub and a cute girl working at the front desk, and outside is cold, rain, and no cute girls (they were all ahead of me  ).  So be mindful of that.  It's SO easy to want to roll over, shut the alarm clock off, and sleep til noon, especially a few days in.
*A lot of hotels on route aren't staffed 24-7, so if you don't call ahead, you'll be camping or riding on.
*Excess Cost, obviously.

Next time I do this thing, I'll definitely be camping more, and had planned on that this time around once I was out of grizzly country.

[trebor]

I realize it’s going to be different for each rider but for me the actual race numbers show I most definitely did not lose 2 hours per hotel stop. 

I think, Marshal, you don't realize (or don't acknowledge outwardly) you are a far more disciplined and simply put - bad ass than most. You took into account the time stopped buying food, eating food, bathing, etc. and deducted that (more or less) from your sleep time. An exercise I dare say most do not.

If the "masses" get accustomed to sleeping 6 or 7 hours and keep that habit in the room. Then the time all the other activities takes up gets tacked onto the not-riding-but-awake list.

I can't tell you how many times (no joke) I would recall your tidbits of info out there. Like "there is always a better spot to camp less than 10 miles from where you are". I used that almost every night. Got me many more miles per day just with that one alone.

[Marshal]

Ha trebor, you’re welcome for any tips----I certainly learn a lot from all the posts here on bikepacker

Anyway what really pops out at me when I study my personal/real race data is how much time I was not moving forward.  Camp spot, hotel, resupply, food stop, trail stops, whatever, I am somewhat amazed at how much slack time there really was.  I remember how hard I worked at saving time and how exhausting it could be.  And in till I looked closely at my GPS logs, I really was under the false impression I had been much more efficient with my time.  

Of course this means I can see lots of subtle little bits and pieces, that if improved could add up to a better finish time.  ---And as the field has grown even the ‘middle of the pack’ bar is much higher now days……..