Randonneuring
-
Living On In Memories
This past weekend I had one of the best rides of my life on the D.C. Randonneurs 600K brevet, and that’s not the randonnesia talking. The course layout, weather, and randonneur fellowship combined to set up a practically perfect 375 miles. Continue reading
-
Randonneuring Beneath the Stars
The sun flares orange and pink, drops behind the mountains, and leaves us. Felkerino and I pause to don night gear, assess our 600K progress, and estimate the hours of night riding ahead. Continue reading
-
600K Brevet Packing List
I’ve been readying for the weekend’s big ride– the D.C. Randonneurs 600K. I stew in my nervousness and look frequently at regional weather forecasts. I burn off steam with short runs and rides, during which I consider and reconsider all I need for two days of pedaling. Continue reading
-
Randonneuring: Making the Ordinary Extraordinary
Randonneuring events allow ordinary people like me to participate in extraordinary bike rides. Brevets changed my definition of a long day ride, from a century to more than double that– distances I previously could not even conceptualize pedaling. The randonneuring community helped me feel okay as a rider who does not move particularly fast, but has a body that has proven… Continue reading
-
The Mind’s Journey
I began this year feeling quite uncertain, almost ambivalent, about the brevets. The past year has included some serious and unexpected health issues in my family. These scrambled up my head, and prompted a reassessment of that big question “What am I doing with my life?” Continue reading
-
Training for a Century Ride
Gear Prudence reached out to me this week about a question he received about training for a century. The person writing in wondered if it was truly necessary to train for a century. The question surprised me somewhat because I am a big believer in preparing for things and avoiding problems when I can. I’m not… Continue reading
-
Randonnesia Strikes on the Mother of All 300Ks
“We’re too blessed to be depressed,” a church sign at mile 70 read. Our riding group of three shared a chuckle. We had just climbed Wolf Gap, Mill Gap, and were en route to more gaps and roads with words like “church” and “mountain” in their names. The path ahead gave us pause. Continue reading
-
What’s Your Favorite Brevet Distance?
Four years ago, I interviewed 12 randonneurs from different parts of the country about randonneuring. One of the questions I asked them was, “What is your favorite distance of the Super Randonneur series (200, 300, 400, 600K) and why?” With this year’s Super Randonneur series in full swing, I’ve been pondering this question again in my own… Continue reading
-
Experience: a Randonneur’s Frenemy
This weekend, Felkerino and I rode our first official brevet of 2015, the D.C. Randonneurs 300K out of Frederick, Maryland. I was feeling pretty lackluster about the whole thing, but the forecast indicated spectacular conditions, leaving us no excuses to skip out on a ride in the countryside with rando buddies. Continue reading
-
A Dose of Reality on a 200K
Felkerino and I met up with bicycling friends Eric, Jerry, Barry, and Joel to ride the classic D.C. Randonneurs “Old Rag 200K” route. Jerry had some weird rattle in his rear wheel that would not go away, Barry was riding a loaner bike since his main rando ride was in the shop for repairs, our Schmidt… Continue reading
-
Randonneuring In Retrospect
I’m a randonneur romantic. Sure, longer brevets almost always include periods where I question my recreational pursuits due to discomfort, exhaustion, or some dissatisfaction with a route segment, but they don’t hang on. Eventually, those feelings fade and bike riding reclaims its place on my list of favorite things to do. Continue reading
-
The Randonap
Since beginning my glamorous randonneuring career in 2005, I’ve not only ridden in places I never imagined, but I’ve dozed in an assortment of spots I never before would have considered comfortable or conducive to sleeping. Ride long enough, sleep little enough, and you too will find yourself mastering the strategy of the perfect randonap. Continue reading
-
Building Up to Brevet Distances
Like a lot of randonneurs, Felkerino and I have developed a method that serves us well in our preparation and training for brevets. I see our approach as one that works for people who have other activities vying for their time and attention (be it job, family, or other pursuits) and for those who have… Continue reading
-
Why Write About Bicycling
As I was padding around the Mall on a meditative lunch run, I pondered what keeps me writing about time spent on my bicycle. Continue reading
-
PBP 2015: To Go or Not to Go Again?
The turning of the calendar to 2015 also means the arrival of a “PBP year.” Paris-Brest-Paris, the most heralded, historic, and international of all grand randonnees now peeps its head around the corner and beckons to us randonneurs, a mere eight months away. I thought that deciding on a return trip to PBP would take little internal debate.… Continue reading
-
The Randonneur Q&A Interview Series
Just before PBP 2011, I interviewed a group of 12 randonneurs to get their perspectives on various aspects of long-distance cycling. I talked with both men and women who were members of clubs throughout the United States. I called it the Randonneur Q&A. The Randonneur Q&A covered big-picture randonneuring themes, including insights over the various brevet distances, and what it is… Continue reading
-
Talking, Planning, Doing
Anything is possible to achieve on the internet. Talk is the only requirement. I’m thinking about riding insert whole lots of miles here this year. I’m planning to do insert impressive event here. Articulated aspirations can make us heroes in our own minds. Planning also has its place. I’m planning to do insert impressive event here. These are the… Continue reading
-
All Dressed Up For PBP: The Towns Along the Way
This is the latest in a series of posts I’ve been planning about the incomparable international randonneuring event, Paris-Brest-Paris. Previously, I wrote about Drew Buck, who completed PBP 2011 on a 1900 Peugeot, a as well as the tandem bicycles (Post 1 and Post 2). Today I’m talking about the towns along the PBP route. Continue reading
-
The Overnight Ferris Wheel: Mile 418 on the Appalachian Adventure 1000K
Felkerino and I returned to the Appalachian Adventure (AA) 1000K course this past weekend to staff the second night of the actual event. Continue reading
-
A Post-1000K Conversation With “Future Me”
Immediately after Felkerino’s and my 1000K ride, I was proud of our accomplishment, relieved that we completed what I felt was an extremely challenging course, and happy that we rode within ourselves from beginning to end. There were several tough parts, but we did not come close to timing out and, and our bodies held… Continue reading
-
Enduring the Pain Point
Mile 250 of our 625-mile ride. Fatigue courses through my body. My skin has that beat-up feeling from multi-day endurance riding. The sun is shrouded in fog and the road keeps going up. Mile 372. Crawling through Douthat State Park. It’s peaceful and wooded, but night is falling. And the road keeps going up. And… Continue reading
-
Appalachian Adventure 1000K Pre-ride Report
Felkerino wrote a day-by-day summary of our weekend 1000K pre-ride. It was intended for those who will be riding the event this upcoming weekend, but I thought others might enjoy reading it, too. Continue reading
-
Melting Time Under the Moonlight
A self-confessed person of routine, I don’t stay out late and I don’t rise before the sun most days. I eat three meals a day, work Monday through Friday, and try to sleep seven to eight hours a night. I’m a huge fan of sleep. Randonneuring appeals to my affinity for routine. I select the events I… Continue reading
-
Things to Do During Your Taper
Ah, the taper. Time to back away from the long efforts, rest the legs, eat good meals, and ready for the big day. What’s a person to do with all this new-found spare time? Continue reading
-
Preparing for a 1000K Brevet
After a summer of bicycling, the Appalachain Adventure 1000K is fast approaching, and Felkerino and I will be riding it. Given that the Appalachian Adventure is a late summer affair, Felkerino and I maintained a pretty big base of mileage since finishing the Super Randonneur series with the D.C. Randonneurs. Despite not tracking my cycling miles, I still have a… Continue reading
-
The Wonder of the “Road Closed.” Detours by Bike
Summer is a busy time for road construction. Road repairs may reduce traffic to one lane, and in some cases may cause a temporary road closure. With those road closures come detours. When I see a “Detour” sign during a ride, two thoughts pop into my head. Is it really a detour? That is, can a… Continue reading
-
More Tandems at Paris-Brest-Paris 2011
After digging through the photos archives, I discovered more tandem shots worth sharing from the last edition of PBP. That is, they are not hopelessly blurry or otherwise terrible. Perhaps you will even recognize some of the randonneurs. Continue reading
-
Tandem Bicycles at Paris-Brest-Paris 2011
Events like Paris-Brest-Paris are difficult to unbox all at once. Some aspects can be, such as the immediacy of the ride experience and the emotions and physical states experienced. Continue reading
-
Kit’n Kish 540K: Good Honest Pennsylvania Countryside
To complete our final mileage build before tapering for the upcoming Appalachian Adventure 1000K, Felkerino and I set out with our friend Jerry to ride an abbreviated version of Crista B.’s Kit’n Kish 600K Permanent, which she describes as follows: Very challenging route north through the mountains of central Pennsylvania, with spectacular scenery. “High”lights include… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 