bicycling
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Sierra Cascades Day 6: Mt. Shasta to Ashland
Cloudy and cool this morning. Wahoo! The sun can take a break from burning a hole in my retina. We eat and coffee up at Seven Suns- best breakfast burrito ever- and roll quietly out of Mt. Shasta. No one follows us, but I can feel the mountain’s gaze on me. Even partially shrouded, the… Continue reading
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Sierra Cascades Day 5: Burney to Mt. Shasta
Every day I sleep a full seven or eight hours, but each day that passes our cumulative miles make themselves known throughout my body. We’ve achieved true touring pace, I tell myself. A bowl of oatmeal and we’re on the back road out of Burney. Yay, we don’t have to deal with that no-shoulder rise… Continue reading
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Sierra Cascades Day 4: Mineral to Lassen Volcanic National Park to Burney
Climbing from Mineral and back up Morgan Summit ended up not being as daunting as I imagined. Knowing that Lassen Volcanic National Park awaited us around the bend inspired us forward, too. Our friends and Instagram buddies told us Lassen would be an eye popping ride, and we took our time pedaling through it. This… Continue reading
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Sierra Cascades Day 3: Graeagle to Mineral
“I was up above it, now I’m down in it.” –Nine Inch Nails, Down In It We departed Graeagle- on a sweet sweet downhill- and pointed the bike toward Quincy. Highway 89 was quiet in the early hours, which was helpful to our tour-tired bodies. At Quincy, Felkerino was tempted to stop at a restaurant… Continue reading
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Sierra Cascades Day 2: South Lake Tahoe to Graeagle
It’s a good day of bike touring when your only what-if is whether you should have eaten dinner on a picnic table at the Tastee Freeze or held out for the possibility of finer fare down the road. Felkerino and I eased our way out of South Lake Tahoe and after a few miles of… Continue reading
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Sierra Cascades Day 1: Sacramento to South Lake Tahoe
If anyone ever suggests you start a tandem bike tour by biting off 147 miles with over 12,000 feet of climbing from Sacramento over to South Lake Tahoe, laugh at that person. Tell them to think seriously about what they are doing. Advise no. Now Felkerino and I pack light since we credit card tour,… Continue reading
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Real Life Lessons From Randonneuring
I started randonneuring because I wanted to see what the distances beyond 100 miles held for me. I hoped randonneuring would make me fitter and stronger, and help me see new places. What I did not realize, though, is that randonneuring was stealthily strengthening me in other ways, too. Over the past two years, other life… Continue reading
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Summer Bike Tour Plans: Sierra Cascades
A couple of years ago, someone advised me that Oregon is a nice place to ride bikes. At the time, Felkerino and I were both taken with the mountains of Colorado, and that’s where we took our bike. Not this year. This year we take on the ups and downs of the Sierra Cascades, launching from Sacramento, California on… Continue reading
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Beyond Fun: D.C. Randonneurs Frederick, Maryland 300K
As I set out my gear for Saturday’s 300K, I noticed the 2015 cue sheet for the same ride still in my bag. One year later, back again. For a while Friday evening and into the next day, I wondered yet again why I thought of randonneuring as a worthy pursuit. Early ups, questionable weather… Continue reading
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RUSA Member Profile: Bill Beck of D.C. Randonneurs
While some of you may already have read this feature in the most recent issue of American Randonneur, I like to repost pieces I do so that those who may not subscribe to the newsletter or who prefer to read it in a blog format may do so. I hope you enjoy. I’m rolling out a… Continue reading
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Randonneur- and Real-Life Spouse
As one of a small group of women who likes to ride long distances, I’m often exposed to conversations about “the wife.” I almost hate to write “the wife,” since I feel so strongly about it, but I’m writing what I hear and there you are. Sometimes “the wife” is referred to in other ways,… Continue reading
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Out of My Gordonsville: D.C. Randonneurs 300K
For the second year in a row, Felkerino and I couldn’t get our acts together to fit in a 200K, so we began our brevet season with this weekend’s D.C. Randonneurs 300K out of Warrenton, Virginia. Continue reading
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Dedicated to the Cause: Calista’s Road to PBP 2015
I recently had the pleasure of talking with D.C. Randonneurs and RUSA member, Calista Phillips, who had a great year on the bike. Some of you may have already seen this feature in the latest edition of American Randonneur, but I present it again in full here. In 2015, Calista completed three 1200Ks (including PBP), and… Continue reading
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D.C. Randonneurs 2016 Flèche: The Only Way Out Is Through
Thanks Felkerino, MG, Jose, Steve and Kip for the ride. I sure enjoyed all those gravel roads and the 20 percent hills and the hail and snow squalls and the crazy wind situation and all the tree debris littering the roads and trails the whole night and the cold and the moaning and drama and the… Continue reading
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The Road to the Flèche: Team If We Lived Here…
One of the many motivators behind Felkerino’s and my increased riding miles in the early months of this year was our decision to take part in the D.C. Randonneurs flèche, which kicks off this coming weekend (April 1). The flèche is a rules-laden team event, many of which make no sense to me, but that I follow anyway… Continue reading
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Nick’s 2015 Paris-Brest-Paris: Had We But World Enough and Time
We’re heading into the spring riding season, and as we do the dreams of big rides take shape. To help stoke the flames of our big ride plans, I’m featuring friend and fellow D.C. Randonneur Nick Bull’s PBP story, “Had We But World Enough and Time.” Nick’s story gives the reader an inside look at PBP,… Continue reading
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Traveling Light and Self-Contained: Jerry’s Cross-Country Bike Tour Secrets
Last summer, our friend Jerry spent 9 weeks bike touring 9,300 km across the United States and parts of Canada. I talked with Jerry a few times about his tour – once before he left, once while he was in the midst of his ride, and again after he finished. He also shared snapshots of his… Continue reading
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Riding in Search of Brevet Legs
In an attempt to avoid gutting it out like it seemed we too often did on many of last year’s brevets, Felkerino and I have been taking advantage of snow-free roads to build our endurance for the upcoming randonneuring events. While it gave me confidence to know that Felkerino and I had the experience to successfully complete brevets on less-than-ideal… Continue reading
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Strava For the Unracer (and Randonneur)
As I recently wrote, I began using Strava this year as part of the Freezing Saddles challenge. So far, I have really enjoyed using it as a training log. I know Strava can do more than serve as a virtual log and space for kudos (although I will never tire of kudos!), but those other features… Continue reading
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Bon Courage: Theresa’s 2015 Paris-Brest-Paris
Sometimes when conditions conspire to limit my ability to be outdoors, I turn to the stories of rides gone by for inspiration. Today I’m honored to post one such story, Theresa Furnari’s 2015 recount of riding Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP). As I read “Bon Courage,” I remember the dedication and tenacity one needs to take on a ride like PBP,… Continue reading
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Idaho-Montana Bike Tour: By The Days and Miles
Over the holidays I received the gift of free time, and spent a fair amount of it going through photos from Felkerino’s and my 2015 summer bike tour of Idaho and Montana. In retrospect, it appears we had a grand adventure. While it was happening, our good times were interspersed with humbling moments and some… Continue reading
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Friends Don’t Let Friends Sit on the Couch: Horsing Around Sugarloaf 200K
Lately I’ve had the uncomfortable sensation that my life is on top of me, its everyday demands pushing me into the cushions, reducing me to a sedentary state. It hasn’t felt good. Continue reading
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Giving Thanks for Long Rides: Jerry’s 2015 Coast to Coast Bike Tour
As we head into Thanksgiving, I thought I’d share a recent conversation with our buddy Jerry, who rode his bike coast to coast this year, beginning in Alaska, passing through Canada, and back into the United States until finally reaching his Washington, DC., home over nine weeks of riding. Continue reading
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John and Lynne
When I began riding bikes with the D.C. Randonneurs, I didn’t imagine the significant role this activity, as well as the people involved in it, would have on my life. But the randonneuring community is small and the rides are long. Preparation for events leads to pick-up rides through the countryside with other randonneurs. Continue reading
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From Randonneur Rookie to PBP 2015: An Interview with Eric Williams
This brevet season Felkerino and I had the great pleasure of getting to know Eric Williams, member of #BikeDC and the D.C. Randonneurs. In Eric’s first year of randonneuring, he completed a Super Randonneur series, a 1000K brevet, and Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP). And he just keeps on riding. He has the rando fever! Continue reading
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Unexpected Letdown
Almost two weeks have passed since Felkerino and I were last turning our tandem wheels through Idaho and Montana. This bike tour, combined with my recent work travels, really helped me appreciate my Washington, D.C., home. Continue reading
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Day 11. Crouch to Boise, Idaho: Coming Full Circle
I’m wrapped in the good vibes of finishing our loop of Idaho with a brief foray into Montana. As you may have guessed if you read my previous post, we took the pavement today. Continue reading
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Day 10. Cascade to Crouch, Idaho: Taking Off the Training Wheels
Greetings from Crouch! It smells delicious here, like a sweet wildflower I don’t recognize. The dry air heightens my senses; the afternoon sky is pure blue, and there is no haze, anywhere. Continue reading
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Day 9. McCall to Cascade: An Invitation to the Idaho Mountains
After days of roadside observation of the stand-offish peaks on our tour, Felkerino and I received an invitation to the mountains in the form of the Adventure Cycling Idaho Hot Springs Mountain Bike Route. And so we went. Continue reading
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Day 8. Riggins to McCall, Idaho: 50 Miles Up
Today Felkerino and I had a hard time getting our bike touring act together and ended up leaving Riggins at 9:30 a.m. Gasp! Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 