Category Archives: 200K

Alec, Eric, and Mike on the Urbana 200K

Ride summary: Ride the rollers out of Urbana. Whee! First control in Union Bridge, Maryland. Pedal pedal. Climb 77 in Catoctin National Park. Climb. Climb climb climb. Descend. Grind through the rollers out of Smithsburg. Stop for a couple pics. Pedal through the fragrant countryside. Whoah, stinky! See eight cats in someone’s driveway. Eight! Control in State Line, Pennsylvania. Eat half a sandwich. Hello rider. Hello rider. Hello rider. Pedal pedal pedal. Kemp’s Mill Road, a friendly zippy stretch. Control at KOA. Hello Lowell. Hello Severna Park. See end of cooking show about brownies. Depart control. Mosey to Sheetz. Eat an almond butter and jam sandwich. Drink a latte. Meet up with fleche teammates Lane, Mike, and Eric, as well as Scott G. and Alec. Chat and laugh. Ride. Information control in Antietam. The question is… just kidding! It’s a secret! Ride ride. Bonk. Battleview Market control. Eat chips. Contemplate life. Pedal pedal pedal. Trego, bleah. Climb climb climb. All alone with Ed. Gapland finally! Lane waited. Thanks! Descend whee! Pedal pedal pedal. Eric waited. Thanks! Marlu Ridge the easy way! Group ride with Mike, Eric, Lane. Chat. Listen to Mike. Fingerboard. Slog slog slog. Finish. Photo op by Bill. Pizza pizza pizza. Yeah.

I’ve never had a lot of love for the Urbana 200K, even though it was the first brevet I ever rode. It’s a good ride and an honest challenge, but for some reason I have always found it somewhat unkind.

It’s a pretty hilly course, and doesn’t offer too much reprieve. It also doesn’t offer too many food stops along the way. That’s not a big deal, I’m not hoping for Zagat-rated dining during my brevets, but I think all of the climbing on the route and the limited places for food make for a tougher ride.

Hanging out at Earl’s Market on the Urbana 200K

This was my first ACP brevet of 2012, as I missed the other D.C. Randonneurs 200K two weeks ago and ran the D.C. marathon instead. I worried about my conditioning, but it ended up being fine. The ride was hard, but my body held up well physically. My emotional state throughout the ride was a little different matter, and directly correlated to my food intake.

This was probably my hilliest ride of 2012 to-date, and I did not eat enough to get through it. I had a hard time eating any breakfast before the start. I brought along two almond butter and jam sandwiches, which I ate, as well as two Clif bars and two packages of Clif shot blocks that I gnawed on throughout the ride. I also bought (and ate) two bags of potato chips.

Gapland Road and the War Correspondents Memorial on the Urbana 200K

While that might be enough for some people, it didn’t seem sufficient for me. I made it to the midpoint of the ride without too much fatigue, but after that I found myself ebbing in and out of bonklandia for the remainder of the day. The ironic aspect of my bonking, though, was that I lost my appetite and nothing sounded tasty. Then I felt weepy and began emotionally imploding. Thank goodness this was just a 200K.

Lessons Learned:

• I always feel like I’m starting from square one when I do my first ACP brevet of the year. Maybe next year I won’t feel like such a novice.
• The Urbana 200K course is always tough.
• Food is your friend, especially on hilly rides.
• Crying is no way to spend a bike ride.
• Felkerino has a lot of patience.
• Getting in with a good group helps the miles pass, even (especially?) on the more unforgiving segments.
• It’s just bike riding.

I took pictures. Want to see them? I believe they mask most of the discomfort, bleariness, and fatigue I experienced. Smiles everywhere! Just click here.

P.S. Sorry for the Foreigner reference. I just couldn’t help myself.

I know Felkerino will be doing a roundup of this brevet on my favorite news source, The Daily Randonneur, but until he does, here’s a quick summary from the stoker.

Charlie and Scott on the Warrenton 200K

I had a tough time kicking myself out of my house at 5 a.m. to run off to Warrenton, Virginia, for the D.C. Randonneurs Old Rag 200K this past Saturday. It rained most of Friday, and Saturday promised more rain. Yippee.

Oh well. Felkerino and I had pre-registered, our legs felt good, and we thought we’d give it a go. We packed up the Gore-Tex and off we went.

After checking in with ride organizers Chuck and Crista, we took off with 40+ riders into the morning cloud cover, wondering what we were in for. Turned out only a few drops of water fell and we spent a beautiful day on the bike with temps that quickly climbed out of the mid-40s into the 70s.

We rode through a course exploding with dogwoods, redbud, and pretty patches of tulips.

The End.

Wait! That isn’t all! There’s more. Read on, my friends.

In addition to the warm temps and dry day, even more happened to make this ride special. That’s right. Even more!

• We got into a couple of shootouts at the Randopaparazzi Corral;

I shoot Bill

Felkerino shoots Bill (c) Felkerino

Bill shoots Felkerino and me. Kapow! (c) Bill Beck

• We escaped the clutches of a determined dog.

Don’t eat me, Fluffy!

• We got to see Chuck and Crista, the ride organizers, at various points on the ride.

Crista at the top of Old Rag. Hi Crista!

• I saw my shadow. Only six more weeks of winter!

Remember this? It’s called a shadow.

• I spent a few hours in the glorious sun, and the last 10 miles with bare arms and legs.

Bare arms and legs the last 10 miles

•   I documented people documenting the ride. Meta randonneuring!

Taking a picture of Alec taking a picture

Taking a picture of Felkerino and Bill taking a picture of Ritchie

• I spent the day in the good company of my randonneur spouse (who is also my real life spouse) and some good riding buddies. We rode much of the day with Alec, Lane, and Lowell, and frequently crossed paths with Charlie and Scott, too. Thanks to everybody who passed the miles with us and thanks to Felkerino for being an awesome captain.

Lane and Alec

What a fun day! The humidity of the morning ebbed, the sun emerged, and I felt the toasty warmth of spring the latter part of the ride. Each mile felt better and better, despite the fact that the Carradice kept getting heavier and heavier from all the clothes we kept depositing into it. Even Piney Meetinghouse Road wasn’t so bad.

My full set of pics can be found here, and Felkerino’s are here. Oh, and Bill’s pics are here.

Now it’s back to the commute. See you out there! And watch out for the tourists!!

I had a great time this Saturday, making my way 128 miles from Urbana, Maryland, around the Catoctins and South Mountain on the D.C. Randonneurs Urbana 200K (full route description here). Felkerino and I had not ridden a brevet since November so it was fun to carry a card around on an official event with 67 other people.

I know Felkerino will be doing a summary of this brevet so I’ll leave most of that to him over at The Daily Randonneur. I’ll simply say that:

• I did not like starting in 25-degree temperatures;
• I liked my toe warmers;
• I liked that the sun shone all day;
• I liked that temperatures eventually warmed to the 40s;
• I did not like the headwind in the first half of the ride (although, if you have to have headwind, I prefer it on the outbound);
• I liked the draft off the captain;
• I loved the tailwind in the second half of the ride;
• I liked the homemade brownie I purchased at the KOA Campground control in Williamsport, Maryland (my post-ride reward);
• I did not like the timing chain falling off four miles from the end of the ride;
• I liked Felkerino’s 6-minute timing chain fix (my hero!); and
• I liked riding with the group, reconnecting with people I had not talked with in a while, and meeting a few new people.

Overall, it was a day well spent on the bike. For a full set of our ride, check out my pictures here. And don’t forget to check out Felkerino’s summary, too!