Ultra Distance

I keep coming back to this, folks who ride hundreds and hundreds of miles in a single session. The latest comes from a discussion of the relative merits of various tires. There are those who, like me, love Schwalbe Marathons for their toughness and can't imagine that any lack of "suppleness" makes a noticeable difference. And then someone responds (and I paraphrase) that, in a 600 KM ride, using Marathons would slow him down by an hour.

How do I process that? He's saying that when he goes out for a 360-mile ride, he wants nice supple tires so that it will only take him, say, 24 hours of riding instead of 25 hours.

Who does that? And so what if it takes 25 hours instead of 24 hours? He's missing the central point, that he's insane. Or nonexistent. I mean, I have to believe these people do what they say . . . but how? And why?

I suppose most would respond the same way to my 132-mile day last summer. But come on. I did that in 12 hours, with lots of rests. And I was plenty ready to be done at the end. Tripling that distance?