I am sure the Hamilton loop was way harder than Solvang, just judging from the terrain of the Solvang century last year. You'll be fine. Your intervals are worth more than throw-away miles on the road, as you know. I'm just sort of a head case about the whole double metric thing.

I always start at the earliest time! Something about knowing I have a little leeway is very helpful mentally. (We started Mt. Tam double at 4:45 or 5 am, but we finished before dark!) Your 14 hour goal should be do-able. (Though a lot may depend on the weather.) I don't know what to expect time-wise for this early in the year. And also, I am not riding with Mike so my time will be slower than what he and I would do together. We did Davis in 11:30 total time, and I would expect 12-ish for Solvang IF he were with me and we were working well together. As he won't be, my expectations are much more modest, and I am liable to be a little more relaxed. He started out Davis like a team time trial, and I was really worried it was too fast, but we ended the same way (we hooked up with another friend of his and our last 40 miles - all pretty flat - were 22 mph average) and felt good over all. (He also always pushes me to go faster on the hills that I would otherwise, and we're both good on the flats/rollers.)

I notice that I have real ups and downs throughout the day - I don't notice this quite as much for a century, but the swings are really noticeable in a double. When I am feeling low, I force myself to eat/drink and maybe pull th epace back a bit. It is also interesting to see what hurts - this tends to change over the course of the day! I am so excited for you doing this first double. I found it was really a great experience. A bit like my first marathon, which was fun (but then all the rest were terrible - and with doubles, the rest have been fun too. Which proves my theory that running just sucks.)

It might be nice to ride together for a bit, and perhaps we could plan to start out together? But I also know that a double is something you really have to do at your own pace. (Unless you are riding with your spouse! ) It's just like what we coach the Death Ride folks: If you try to ride with someone, your paces will vary but you will have times where you are either riding too fast or slow for what you should be and in the end, your overall time will suffer. For events where time matters, that can add up. Time at rest stops is also huge. I tend not to stop much and always try to get in and out quickly. I expect I will probably "hook up" with people along the way. My 508 partner isn't doing the ride, so I will basically be on my own, which will be an interesting experiment.

At the very least I would love to get together the night before.