Rando Reflections
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A Case of the Rando-Blearies
Every year around this time, I experience the rando-blearies. Despite commuting and riding centuries-plus year round, when the temperatures rise and the sun lingers longer in the sky, I want to be out there even more. It doesn’t help that I’m married to Felkerino, my partner in all things bicycling and beyond. Oh, you are… Continue reading
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Pre-Ride Ruminations on the Flèche: A Social, Yet Serious, Bike Ride
This week, 13 teams (65 randonneurs) in the D.C. metropolitan area are in the throes of final preparations for the weekend’s flèche. Felkerino and I are participating as part of Team Definite Maybe, a team of three of our riding buddies and us. In our case, that translates to five people on four bikes. As… Continue reading
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The New Old Feelings of Randonneuring Rides
Now that spring is here, the longer rides have begun for Felkerino and me. This weekend, we packed in a 155-mile ride on Saturday (Felkerino wrote an excellent post about it here) and a 37-mile recovery ride on Sunday. Saturday’s ride was in preparation for our upcoming 24-hour, 360 kilometer flèche. In order to avoid… Continue reading
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The Wheel of Influence
Why did you start riding a bicycle? Who are the people that influenced you? I’ve been giving these questions heavy consideration as I think about the reasons that I started to ride and continue to do so today, especially when I see the numbers showing how few people ride bikes. While the data I’ve come… Continue reading
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Looking Ahead Without a Spreadsheet
As mentioned in a previous post, I track the miles I run and ride. I keep tabs on the number of days I do each activity. Bike ride? Check. Trip to the gym? Check. Miles ridden or run? Write them down. I usually take great pleasure watching the trips and miles add up over the… Continue reading
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2012 in Review: Variety is the Spice of Life
Another December passes, the sun sets on 2012, and I find myself reflecting about the activities of the past year. While Felkerino and I focused on preparing for and completing Paris-Brest-Paris in 2011, our 2012 cycling proved more varied. We commuted, completed a Super Randonneur series with the D.C. Randonneurs, trained to ride the Colorado… Continue reading
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A Return to the Single Bike Lifestyle
This past year, we retired our custom-fit Co-Motion tandem. It wasn’t by choice. Over the six years we had owned it and an estimated 25,000 miles, it gradually developed a crack in the area near the stoker seat tube. Felkerino wrote a post about it complete with a photo of the crack, here. As you… Continue reading
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Look Mom! Re-Learning to Ride No-Handed
Sometimes I like to see myself as a “serious” bike rider. I ride in the rain and cold, maneuver adeptly in urban traffic, and participate in the occasional brevet. That’s right, people. Serious. Another part of bicycling that I take seriously is riding no-handed. Ironically, riding no-hands evokes images that to me are far from… Continue reading
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Grant Petersen’s Just Ride, the Rivendell Reader & an E-Less Stanza of “The Raven”
Grant Petersen, of Rivendell Bicycle Works, appeared at College Park Bicycles last night to talk about his book, Just Ride. I had a great time seeing familiar faces of the #BikeDC community AND meeting the man behind Rivendell Bicycles. Woo! I won’t rehash the evening too much, as I think he covers much of the material he talked… Continue reading
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The Bicycle Cycle
Given this week’s temperate weather, I’ve heaved a big sigh of relief and welcomed the idea that fall will soon be (if it is not already) here. Fall is my favorite time of year for bike riding. Ironically, fall is often when my monthly mileage slacks off, at least for a couple of months. As… Continue reading
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On Bicycling and Other Pursuits: How Much is Enough?
The past couple of weeks I have not spent much time on the bike. Rather I’ve been catching up on things that went neglected while Felkerino and I focused on the brevets and our trip to Colorado for the High Country 1200K. It’s been a nice release to know that our big bicycling event for… Continue reading
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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
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Ride Photos: Capturing the Moment
Since 2009, I’ve regularly carried a camera with me. Like the other essentials in my purse/pannier, I never know when I might need it. Seeing Bill Beck (king of the randopaparazzi!) and Felkerino‘s ride photos inspired me to start taking my own camera on brevets and other rides. Yes, Felkerino and I are regularly on… Continue reading
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Randonneur Rewind: Another Take on my First Year of Randonneuring
It’s hard for me to believe that I completed my first Super Randonneur series in 2005. That seems so long ago, yet it doesn’t feel like I’ve been randonneuring for that many years. Time is flying! As the brevet season kicked off for Felkerino and me this past weekend, I started feeling a little nostalgic and… Continue reading
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Five Things Friday: Randonneuring Edition
The D.C. Randonneurs have their annual meeting this Saturday, and they’ve also arranged a pre-meeting 106 KM Populaire out of Glen Echo, Maryland. Are you going? If so, perhaps I’ll see you there. The upcoming meeting got me thinking about some of the things I enjoy about randonneuring. I decided to list five of them… Continue reading
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More 2011 in Review: The Rides and the Photos
The past couple of years, I started photographing more of my rides. I like having the tangible memory of an outing. I’ve always written ride stories, but this year, I enjoyed capturing commutes, weekend touring rides, brevets, meetups with friends, and miscellaneous errand running. I spent a fair amount of time cycling in 2011, in… Continue reading
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Bicycle Wayback Machine: My Second Year of Randonneuring
Chasing Mailboxes takes another trip in the wayback machine to 2006, my second year of randonneuring. I don’t even remember writing this one, but then again, randonneur Bob Casciato once told me that amnesia is one of the essential qualities of a good randonneur. It seems to be working for me. Hope you enjoy it! Continue reading
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The Randonneurs who Coffeeneur
Summer months can be intense for randonneurs. While the spring ACP Super Randonneur series’ have mostly been completed, summer is often when randonneurs take advantage of the long days and warm weather to ride their brains out. That could be through touring, more brevets, 1000K or 1200K rides, or other endurance rides. Coffeeneuring was born… Continue reading
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Bicycle Wayback Machine: Thoughts from a New Randonnneur and Long-Distance Cyclist
Recently, I was combing through some old ride reports and came upon a piece I had written from 2005, which was my first year of randonneuring. In it, I talked about my impressions of that first year of training and riding with Ed, the D.C. Randonneurs, and Chuck and Crista’s weekend century rides. Even though… Continue reading
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Why Men Ride Bikes: Razors and Bags
Have you ever wondered why men take up cycling? I used to think it was because they wanted to stay fit, be sporty, or maybe use a mode of transportation that was better for the environment. But recently I’ve concluded that it’s really about leg shaving and the pursuit of the perfect bag. When brevet… Continue reading
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Post-PBP Funk and New Challenges
Felkerino and I spent the past year gearing up for Paris Brest Paris, and the ride was definitely one of the great highlights of my summer. Since PBP, Felkerino and I haven’t been doing much riding. We unpacked, put the bike back together, and tried to catch up on sleep and stuff at the office. Continue reading
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How I Learned to Love Spandex
Today I’m featuring a guest post by Severna Park Peloton cyclist and fellow D.C. Randonneur, Dan Oldale, who writes about the evolution of his affinity for spandex. I thought it made a perfect Friday post, as it sends us all happily into the weekend ready to ride our bikes. Thanks, Dan, for being part of… Continue reading
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Saying Good-Bye to Thai
We lost one of our D.C. Randonneurs’ members last week. Thai Pham, a fellow randonneur, died while riding in last week’s Paris Brest Paris. Continue reading
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Five Things Friday
Wow, the weeks are flying by, and it’s time for Felkerino and me to get off our bikes, take our hands off the keyboards, and pack pack pack for Paris-Brest-Paris. First, though, a quick five things Friday to reflect on life of late. Thanks to everybody who helped Felkerino and me prepare in some way… Continue reading
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Randonneur Recruiting: the National Parks Passport Book
Recently I went to the Randonneurs USA (RUSA) website to take a peek at the most recent membership information. According to their data, RUSA currently has 2,848 active members. To my mind, 2,848 is not a large membership given our nation’s current population. Also, the number of women compared to men is quite disproportionate. What… Continue reading
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Sheer Shorts Syndrome = Sheer Embarrassment
The booties, balaclavas, and jackets are long forgotten as the summer heat cranks up and the time for riding in bare arms and legs is in full swing. It’s glorious! Now is also the time for all cyclists who wear spandex to assess the state of their cycling shorts collection. Your favorite shorts that you… Continue reading
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Reverse Tandem Double Panda Shot
Previously I wrote about “panda portraits,” which are typically self-portraits you take while riding your bicycle. This past summer, though, Felkerino and I worked on taking photos of each other while we were riding the same bicycle. See? Continue reading
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Cyclist Stan Miller and Community Impact Statements
Yesterday was the sentencing for the person who killed our friend and fellow cyclist, Stan Miller. Prior to the sentencing, individuals were invited to submit Community Impact Statements that would then be read and considered by the judge in Stan’s case. The purpose of these statements is to show the implications of a person’s death… Continue reading
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TDR Rando Photo Contest – Wild Card
The fourth and final category of the 2nd Annual TDR Rando Photo Contest is the Wild Card. This category allows photos from Populaires and Permanents, and is the catch-all category for those brevet photos that do not seem to fit in Randonneur Lifestyle, Obligatory Cow Photo/Nature Shot, or Spirit of Randonneuring. I had a couple… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 