Randonneuring
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PBP Stories: On Tandem with Felkerino
Hi there, Chasing Mailboxes readers, it’s been a while! I hope everyone’s year is shaping up the best that it can. It’s certainly been a time of change for me and I plan to update you on some of that soon. (Surely I am a chrysalis soon to emerge into a butterly? I’ll keep you… Continue reading
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Update: Felkerino Hurt in Hit and Run
Hi everyone. I want to send along some personal news. Long story short, due to unforeseen circumstances I will respond to people about their Coffeeneuring Challenge results the week of December 11. Longer story as follows. As many of you know, the Coffeeneuring Challenge is run by a lean, mean staff of two: the Intern… Continue reading
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PBP 2023: Midnight Meal of Stars
Last light. The time for lights and reflectives signals its beginning and we pause to ready for the night miles. Vests and anklebands on bodies, head- and taillights powered up for the coming hours. The heat of daytime fades as we ride within the snake of night riders. We’re going faster now, I think. Truth… Continue reading
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Belief: Paris-Brest-Paris 2023
What if we don’t finish? The thought shot through me as Felkerino and I rolled from our hotel to the packet pickup in Rambouillet. Felkerino and I had ridden Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) on tandem two times previously (2011, 2019) and never had the idea of not finishing ever entered my head. But the fraught years leading up… Continue reading
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Future Me: DC Randonneurs Shenandoah 600K
As part of the MBA program I finished last month, I took a course called Operations Management. I didn’t know much about this discipline until a few weeks ago. Operations management techniques attempt to optimize resources to efficiently produce goods and plan for the future. During one of our classes I commented that many of… Continue reading
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Pittsburgh Randonneurs 400K Allegheny Mountains Cruel and Unusual Punishment: Rebrand Campaign
The Pittsburgh Randonneurs Allegheny Mountains Cruel and Unusual Punishment (AMCUP) 400K – a scenic tour of the Alleghenies boasting around 18,000 feet of climbing over 262 miles (full description here) – has a branding problem. Let’s agree that a brevet with such a title probably does not entice a lot of participation. Cruel and unusual… Continue reading
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Stretching Rituals: Pittsburgh Randonneurs 300K
I was going to write you a story of our Pittsburgh Randonneurs 300K, but it’s an amalgamation of spent feelings punctuated with mental snapshots brought about by a beautiful course on a perfect weather day that began with a full Flower Moon that set as rays of spring sunshine came up into a brilliant blue… Continue reading
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Meeting Myself: DC Randonneurs Ye Olde Frederick 300K
We are always meeting ourselves. Every moment is fresh, a chance for us to stand in a new place. A different self than the one we were just a second before. A unique package of commitments, health, emotions, and experience. That is, we can meet ourselves if we are open to it. The mind is… Continue reading
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A House Cat Rides the DC Randonneurs Both Sides (Not Now) 200K
There’s nothing like peak bloom of the DC cherry blossoms to motivate a person to leave the city for an all-day bike ride. It also helps when the ride start happens to be 7 miles from your house. Add that to an urge to put off homework as long as possible, and it’s a perfect… Continue reading
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DC Randonneurs Super Randonneur Series 2022: Full Heart Appreciation Edition
Hi friends. Before time gets away from me I wanted to put together a wrap-up post about Felkerino’s and my Super Randonneur Series on tandem this year. For those who don’t randonneur but follow along, a super randonneur is someone who successfully completes a set of four organized brevet distances: 200K; 300K; 400K; and 600K. … Continue reading
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Full Moon Fairy Tale: DC Randonneurs Many Rivers and Trails 600K
Someone cut a hole in the night sky, popped in the moon, and turned it up to the brightest setting. It’s a full moon like a flashlight and I am here for it. After more than 200 miles in the saddle, it feels like we’ve pedaled into surreality – a faraway fairy tale despite being… Continue reading
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Quiet the Mind: DC Randonneurs Northern Exposure 400K
The restless mind. The shiftless mind. An unsettled mind. Worries, classes, work. The world. I cannot shut it off, this mind. The only way to pause the mental cartwheels, it seems, is to apply some pedal strokes to the matter. Go for a bike ride, and try to forcefully divert the energy from my mind… Continue reading
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How Riding Bikes Taught Me Financial Accounting
A few hours ago I turned in the last assignment of my first semester as an MBA student. This was never a phrase I thought would ever apply to me, but an opportunity too good to pass up came my way so here I am – an MBA student. Of all the classes on… Continue reading
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Cracking the Perfect Ride Code
This is an article I wrote for the March 2021 edition of American Randonneur. It evolved from a piece about our club’s fall 200K that I wrote here. Enjoy, and hope you all are well. My home club, the D.C. Randonneurs, has quite a few good courses in its brevet library, thanks to the expert… Continue reading
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Old Rag 200K Fall Edition: Time Sandwich
My. Feet. Are. So. Cold. Even though Felkerino and I waited to start the Old Rag 200K with the sun, it’s one of the first chilly mornings of fall. I had booties in hand, but left them home at the last minute, thinking they would just take up space for the majority of the day. … Continue reading
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Escape into Fall: Northern Virginia Randonneurs 400K
Over the last couple of weeks, Fall has been trying to catch my eye. The tumble of a golden leaf, a surprise wave of red from a tree. These gestures reach out to me as I briefly interrupt my stay-at-home life with an errand or workout. Can’t talk now, Fall, don’t you know what’s going… Continue reading
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Ride Your Own Ride
Ask a randonneur what it takes to tackle a big brevet and you’ll get a million pieces of advice (at minimum!). Most of this wisdom can find a home under the Ride Your Own Ride umbrella. How long will I ride before taking a break? What kind of speed will I carry, given the course’s… Continue reading
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Message in a Bottle: Stillness
Back in April, I wrote some initial thoughts about the pandemic and cycling in a column for American Randonneur – the quarterly newsletter of Randonneurs USA. Like sending a message in a bottle, I didn’t know how I or others would relate to these early observations in three months. Three months seems a long time… Continue reading
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Digging Deep with D.C. Randonneurs: Kelly Smith
This year our local cycling club, the D.C. Randonneurs, added two new categories of recognition to its 2019 awards. The first of these was the Digging Deep award. Criteria for this award was to nominate a rider who you saw experiencing a challenge during a ride – such as a wild detour, an unusual mechanical… Continue reading
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PBP 2019 Ride Reports and Stories
Ride reports have been popping up all over since the conclusion of Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) 2019. These stories come from various parts of the world, and I’ve been enjoying seeing the event from other riders’ perspectives. It also gives me an even better sense of how large PBP really is. I’m going to use this page… Continue reading
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Paris-Brest-Paris 2019: Sleep Stop Serenade
Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP), Day 3. Around 30 miles to reach Mortagne-au-Perche, and my watch says it’s close to midnight. Despite momentary jubilation over a math miscalculation where I thought we had more than 50 miles left for the day, I’ve resorted to slogging. Over 600 miles of pedaling has eliminated all pop in the legs. I… Continue reading
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Journey to Paris-Brest-Paris
We wrapped up our final prep ride for Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) with a 600K permanent and I went out to get a new haircut the next week. Our last big training ride done, in the midst of some considerable swelter. It felt right to note the occasion with a new look. Now we are here on… Continue reading
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D.C. Randonneurs Shenandoah 600K: Out of My Comfort Zone
After last year’s 600K, where I showed up physically ready but mentally underprepared, I spent much of this year’s series of brevets assembling my 600K face. As I said in 2018, you can’t shove your 400K and 200K faces together and expect a 600K to go well. Every distance needs its own face. I burned… Continue reading
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The Answer to All My Questions: D.C. Randonneurs Northern Exposure 400K
The past couple of years have been oversaturated with persistent questions. What am I doing with my life? Where do we go when we die? Am I doing the “right” things? What should I have done differently? What can or should I still do? These questions pester and burden more than they used to do,… Continue reading
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D.C. Randonneurs Warrenton 300K Pre-Ride
Today features a guest post from D.C. Randonneur and brevet organizer Bob C., who we accompanied this past Saturday on the Warrenton 300K checkout ride. Bob’s summary encapsulates our day on the bike and also provides helpful information to those who will be riding the event, starting at 5 a.m. on May 11. (All photos… Continue reading
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Frederick 300K: Sway Under Sun
For our recent D.C. Randonneurs 300K, I had imagined a ride that also served as a sort of bike therapy. Based on previous outings on this course, I conjured up a head-clearing tour through the hills of orchard country, tempered with peaceful farm roads in the middle, and a nice glide into the ride finish.… Continue reading
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Go Time With the D.C. Randonneurs: Nokesville Nomad 200K
Like many randonneurs, Felkerino and I have decided to throw our hat in the ring for this year’s edition of Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP). (We plan to be part of the 84-hour starting group.) This great ride, which kicks off in August, requires that riders complete a full brevet series – that is, a 200K, 300K, 400K,… Continue reading
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Leaving a Space: Planning for a 1200K
It’s easy to make summer ride plans in winter, a time of possibility for lots of us. The year stretches out ahead like an open road, just waiting to be ridden. It’s another matter to follow through on one’s winter ambitions. After riding Paris-Brest-Paris in 2011, I realized that life has to make a space… Continue reading
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Coulee Challenge 1200K: Four Sunrises Postcard
A fourth sunrise signals the final day of the Coulee Challenge 1200K. Hazy light illuminates the morning rises. Despite being fully awake and alert – something I wasn’t sure would happen after this many hours and miles – remembering where we are eludes me. We’re somewhere lush and lovely, but the rolling terrain doesn’t distinguish itself to… Continue reading
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The Secret Society of Randonneuring: Kit ‘n Kish 600K Permanent
3:30 a.m. Felkerino and I quietly maneuver our eight-foot tandem out of the hotel room, and Felkerino muscles it into the elevator, hoisting the front half of the bike into an upper corner, since it is too long to naturally fit the space. Our cycling cleats tap purposefully on the floor as we exit through… Continue reading
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