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notoriousBMT
Really well done, 300 is a seriously big ride!
Without getting to numbers-y like hippy said even a wee bit faster on the road will help, jumping from 19 km/h to 21km/h you'll be back a fair bit earlier and that's not that big of a speed jump. also numbers-y is making the most of the good times while taking it easy. Is there a tailwind or is a flat and easy going? then use it and up your speed without going into the red. It can be tempting to cruise with a tailwind or when it's a easy section, but if you put in similar effort as if it was rolling or whatever there you're really getting a speed benefit without putting in "extra" work. It'll bump up the avg speed and lower your total time without penalty. It's also a bit lame but a HR monitor helps me to keep my heart rate out of the red but keeps me honest when it's time to work, eg if I'm crusing at 100 bpm then I could prob give a bit more. This is all in an effort to finish in good time. But again hippy is right, if you want to properly get around quickly being savage and organised at checkpoints will reduce it big time. if you stop 5 times for 30 mins that's 2 and half hours. you stop for 30 mins twice but 10 mins three times that's another hour off your total ride time and you've probably just gazed out the cafe window a little less and decided your saddlebag was fine as-is, and put your helmet back on and kept going.
So I've saved you energy with tailwind and two hours off your total ride time and you haven't done anything :)