1200K & 1000K Rides
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
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
-
PBP Memories: Drew Buck and his 1900 Peugeot
This week BBC News ran a feature about Drew Buck, a long-distance cyclist from Somerset, England, who is famous in the randonneuring community for completing Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) multiple times on vintage bicycles. The article prompted me to search through my own set of photos from the 2011 edition of PBP, and I realized that Felkerino… Continue reading
-
Colorado High Country 1200K: A Breathtaking Trip Out West
The Colorado High Country 1200K is a 90-hour, four day jaunt through about 750 miles of the great states of Colorado and Wyoming. Felkerino and I rode it last month and this month I wrote my story about it. Continue reading
-
Memories of Donald Boothby and the Cascade 1200K
Donald Boothby, a Seattle randonneur, died of cancer this past week. I did not know Donald well, but he left such an impression on me during the 2006 edition of the Cascade 1200K, that I wanted to share the fond memories I have of him. One of the best things about randonneuring is the people… Continue reading
-
Colorado High Country 1200K Photos
Hard for me to believe that the Colorado High Country 1200K is now in the books. Felkerino and I spent the last six months working toward this event, and suddenly it’s back to business as usual. No 1200K on the horizon, just the regular routine. To keep the post-event blues at bay, I’ve been reviewing,… Continue reading
-
And We Made It: High Country 1200k
Friends, Felkerino and I officially finished the High Country 1200K yesterday in just under 83 hours. To give you a brief summary (full report and pics later), we had an incredibly good ride. Our bodies held up well, weather was pleasant, and we spent lots of miles chatting and pedaling with some great randonneurs. John… Continue reading
-
And We’re Off: High Country 1200K
If you’re reading this, we’re off riding the High Country 1200K!!! Rider updates will happen on the High Country blog as the event unfolds. Felkerino (@dailyrandonneur) and I (@gypsybug) will post updates of our adventure via Twitter, using the hash tag #hc1200. Fellow DC Randonneur Bill (@bicyclic) is riding, too, so be sure to check… Continue reading
-
Pre-Ride Jitters: High Country 1200K
I regularly get some form of the pre-ride jitters before intense multi-day cycling events. I don’t sleep well. I keep thinking I’m forgetting something. The longer the event and the more complicated the travel logistics, the greater the jitters. This year, Felkerino and I signed up to ride the High Country 1200K, which takes place… Continue reading
-
Paris-Brest-Paris by Tandem
Have you heard enough about PBP yet? Well, hang on just a minute, because I’ve got one more story to share with you. Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 