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WABA 50 States Ride Last-Minute Taper and Training Tips
The WABA 50 States Ride is fast approaching (this Saturday!) and it’s important to be ready for the District’s ultimate concept ride. Are you? Before you answer that question, I’ve put together some handy taper and training tips that you can follow for the rest of the week. Remember, you want to make it to… Continue reading
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International Peace Marathon: 26.2 Miles on the C&O Towpath
The alarm sounds at 5:40 a.m. Ugh. I turn over, fumble with my clock, and seriously consider ditching the International Peace Marathon for an extra hour or two of sleep. Having spent the night before carefully preparing a pre-run meal and assembling all my essentials for the day, I reluctantly think sleeping in is not… Continue reading
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Harvest Time and 200K Brevets
Growing up in rural Iowa, the harvest was always an intense and busy time. Tractors constantly moved through the fields, and it was not unusual to catch sight of the lights of a tractor shining over the dirt clouds raised up by someone working into darkness. Kids missed school to help their families. Crops had… Continue reading
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First Week of September in D.C.
Like that, everyone is back in the city. Congress gears up and the tourists recede. I forgot so many people work here. Spectacular weather means an explosion in fair weather commuters. They’re everywhere. Part of me is glad to see more people on bikes, and part of me feels annoyed by the overall congestion. Continue reading
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A Visit to Bikes@Vienna on the Leesburg Loop
Over the weekend Felkerino and I meandered from home to do what we call the “Leesburg Loop,” a 90-ish mile ride that starts in D.C., crosses the river into Virginia and takes the Custis and W&OD Trails to Leesburg, winds around to White’s Ferry for a quick ferry ride across the Potomac into Maryland, continues… Continue reading
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Fall Events and an August Wrap-Up
August passed in a herky jerky fashion. I had trouble getting into a rhythm with my riding and I ventured infrequently to the weight room. As a result my cycling miles were down and I probably have reduced my pushups capability for the moment. Who knows what miserable state my core is in (kidding… I’m… Continue reading
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How Did I Get Here?
And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack And you may find yourself in another part of the world And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife And you may ask yourself Well…How did I get… Continue reading
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Red Rocks! Five Days in Sedona
This last week Felkerino and I left the bikes at home and traveled to Sedona, Arizona, for five days of hiking with his daughter DF. Have you ever been? It was my fist time in the area, and I was constantly amazed by the beauty of its red rocks and vegetation. Continue reading
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What Does Health Mean to You? Laying the Groundwork
This week the WordPress Weekly Writing Challenge, a blog that essentially gives bloggers voluntary writing assignments, encouraged people to reflect on health and what it means to them. I have been thinking a lot about my health over the last year, in part because I turned 40, which really had me in a prolonged existential funk.… Continue reading
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Tara and Simon’s RAGBRAI Part 4 of 4: Unexpected Joys, Lessons Learned, and a Look Ahead
What better way to spend a Friday than spending a few minutes with Tara and Simon as they wrap up their RAGBRAI trip. Read on to find out the unexpected joys they encountered, lessons they learned through the week, and their pondering of the question– would we do it again? Continue reading
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Tara and Simon’s RAGBRAI Part 3 of 4: Other Riders and Unexpected Challenges
RAGBRAI is a sprawling event with more than 10,000 riders criss-crossing the state of Iowa over seven consecutive days of riding. Today’s post features Tara’s observations about some of the other RAGBRAI riders as well as unexpected issues that Simon and she confronted. Continue reading
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Tara and Simon’s RAGBRAI Part 2 of 4: The Ride
What is it like to be a rider on RAGBRAI, the largest cross-state bike ride in the country? Tara takes us there with her vivid recount. The Ride Continue reading
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Tara and Simon’s RAGBRAI Part 1 of 4: Why Iowa?
Every year in the final full week of July, thousands and thousands of people participate in the Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI), a west to east ride through the state from the Missouri River to the shore of the Mississippi. As many readers know, Iowa is my home state. Growing up RAGBRAI… Continue reading
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Century Ride: D.C. to Buckeystown, Maryland
Sunday was a perfect day to be a bike rider. Since Felkerino and I consider ourselves bike riders, we went outside and rode our bike most of the day. We departed from the District and steadily made our way north past the Lincoln Memorial, through Georgetown, and out to Maryland. Continue reading
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2013 In Progress: Kept the Spreadsheet and Changed My Story
Now that we’ve reached one month beyond the halfway point of 2013, I wanted to take a snapshot of July as well as the year so far. Continue reading
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The Big Confusing Dilemma of What to Wear While Bike Riding Around Town
When I rode my bike as a child I did not give much thought to the clothing I would wear while riding it. Have bike. Wearing clothes. Shoelaces tied. Will travel. Remember those days? Fast forward a few decades and what to wear while biking has become much more wrought. Currently, there are a couple… Continue reading
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Say My (Bike’s) Name: On Naming Your Bike
Do your bikes have names? If so, how did you name them? Did you give them a name you would give a person, like Betty or Howard or something? Or is the name you gave your bike akin to something you might bestow on a pet, like Pumpkin or Spot or Patches? Did your bike… Continue reading
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From the Captain’s Perspective: Our Colorado Tandem Tour
This week it’s all happening on The Daily Randonneur. Felkerino breaks down our recent Colorado tour by day and also discusses how our tour took shape. He includes links to our GPS files that show the routes we followed each day. I know some of you had asked about the exact location and routes, and you… Continue reading
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Running Off the Week: A to Z
“All My Friends,” by LCD Soundsystem sounds through my headphones, and I think about how this song has become one of the favorites on my running playlist. Bright afternoon sun shines this post-work Friday, and makes shadows grow long. Cranking up the volume on my tunes, I take tired steps toward the National Mall and… Continue reading
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Seeing Changes
Instead of riding brevets and doing a 1000K or a 1200K this year, Felkerino and I focused on a weeklong Colorado bike tour, which included two days of riding around Boulder and a seven-day loop rich with hills and mountains. (Felkerino is writing a post of our routes and the gear we took over at… Continue reading
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Back in Washington, D.C.
It was rough to return to regular life this week after eight straight blissful days of the bicycle life in Colorado. I missed the open road with stop signs few and far between. I missed full days in the sun, and the steady progression over mountain passes. Lo’ our bike tour was wonderful. After today’s… Continue reading
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Final Day: Oh My God Road and a Rainstorm
We were loathe for our scenic week in Colorado to be at an end, so when we met a cyclist at the top of Loveland Pass who recommended we route back via Oh My God Road rather than suburban roads we were intrigued and routed our 72-mile return from Georgetown to Boulder accordingly. Continue reading
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Fremont and Loveland Passes: From 58 Miles Per Hour to Carnivorous Flies
Rain falls steadily in Georgetown, Colorado, as I write. It feels lovely to be clean and dry in a hotel room after a sweaty warm day of 71 miles out in the sun. After a tasty coffee in Leadville, Felkerino and I warmed up the legs with a steady climb up Fremont Pass, which tops… Continue reading
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100 Miles: Cottonwood Pass to Leadville
Yesterday’s ride was an excellent reminder that not all centuries are created equal. It was also the first day where I settled into “tour mode,” where I did not worry about the miles or how often we stopped. I was just in the present moment. Continue reading
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Kebler Pass: 10,000 Feet High with Neil Diamond
I loved listening to Neil Diamond when I was little. My parents owned Tap Root Manuscript, which I was pretty certain was a kid’s album. In early elementary school my musical tastes changed and that Neil Diamond album began to collect dust. This morning I had the chance to make up for decades of not… Continue reading
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This Bike Fueled by Eggs and Espresso: McClure Pass
I’m glad I wrote those sentimental notes about how wonderful tandeming with my partner can be, as I had to remind myself of them this morning. I woke up famished with only the thought of scrambled eggs and breakfast in my mind. Felkerino, on the other hand, awakened to an equally powerful urge for espresso.… Continue reading
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When the Ride is the Destination: Following the Colorado River
At its core, today’s ride was a 90-mile tour of several roads flanking the Colorado River in the hills between Kremmling and Glenwood Springs. Continue reading
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Trail Ridge Road on Tandem
There’s nothing that kicks off a bike tour better than riding the highest continuous paved road in the United States. Continue reading
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All the King’s Horses, and All the King’s Men: Co-Motion Reassembly
I’m happy to report our tandem reassembly did not end like the tale of Humpty Dumpty. It took some time, but our tandem arrived safely in Boulder, Colorado, and is now a big bike again. It helped that we are staying with cycling friends who have a spacious back porch to spread out the coupler… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 