As my blog staff compiles results, I’m taking a few posts to share some Errandonnee participants’ adventures who chose to share their stories, not through Twitter or blogs, but through their control card or narratives.

This week features BikeDC friend and errandeur Eric P., who tells a lively story of how the Errandonnee helped foster his transition to utility cycling and lessons learned along the way. Thank you, Eric, for your fine write-up and for letting me share it!

I am not a blogger and not much of a tweeter, so I did not document my 2013 Errandonnee as I went along beyond completing the control card and compiling photographs. However, as I completed the control card and compiled my photos I realized that the experience was a bit more than the sum of its parts and needed to be documented in a more thematic way.

By way of background, I am primarily a recreational cyclist. Most of my riding, and the focus of my riding, has been on weekend rides with friends and clubs. I backed into bike commuting as a way to keep in shape and squeeze a few more miles in, but I treated the commute like a workout, even using a fixie, and would not describe myself as a utility cyclist.

Continue reading “Errandonnee Rewind: Eric P. of BikeDC Becomes a Utility Cyclist”