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Friday Link Love
Whew! What a fast and busy week. It must be the season, especially that Randonneurmas! Nevertheless, I have a few things to share. Red Light Running: Remember last week’s link to a study about Red Light Running? Broads of the Beltway explained her experience and approach to being a cyclist in urban traffic. I can… Continue reading
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The 12 Days of Randonneurmas
For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be dedicating some time to working with my blogging associate, Felkerino, over at The Daily Randonneur. Felkerino and I are partnering to celebrate the fourth year of Randonneurmas, that holiday time before the holidays where we spotlight twelve of our favorite randonneuring things. Over the years, we’ve begun… Continue reading
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Ahhh… Beautiful December Commutes
As I rode home in the December chill with my hands throbbing and my toes fading to numb, I thought about how much I love winter commuting in D.C. The short days and cold weather combine to noticeably reduce the bike and pedestrian traffic, leaving only the stalwart year-round riders out on the roads and… Continue reading
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Weekend Bike Rides: Coffeeneuring, Cupcake Commuting, and a Noodle
Congratulations to all the people who ventured out for the decidedly difficult Woodbine Wallop! Something about getting up in the dark in sub-freezing weather and riding 128 miles with 12,000 feet of cumulative climb had me sleeping in on Saturday morning. You all are tough! Felkerino and I chose more leisurely outings this weekend. Here’s… Continue reading
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Friday Links from Here and There
Can it really be Friday already? Yippee! I didn’t get to read as much as I wanted this week, but I did get to a few things I wanted to share. Best Ride of 2011. The Bike Show wants to know what was your best ride of 2011 and what ride you are excited to do 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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Friday Link Love: A Potpourri
I’m liking the Friday link roundups. Below is another set of cycling-related highlights from the week’s blog reads and feeds: Bike Power Naps: A flickr group dedicated to bicycle napping. I’m not kidding, and the pictures had me in stitches. See the many facets of urban bike napping in the Bike Power Nap flickr group.… 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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The D.C. Driver that Stalked Me on my Bike Commute
Last week after work I rode my bike to Georgetown. It was the day after Thanksgiving so the roads were pretty quiet. Still some activity, but not the normal frenetic pace of the workday. I pedaled to the corner of “S” and Wisconsin, and got in line behind a truck waiting at a stop light.… Continue reading
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Carradice Cheesecake, Weekend Cycling, and Mechanicals
How was your Thanksgiving? In the D.C. area, we were not only treated to a holiday, but also some spectacular late November weather. Sun, light wind, and temperatures in the mid-sixties. At least not all the good weather happens while I’m at work. Here are the weekend highlights from this neck of the woods. Continue reading
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The Road Less Travelled 130K Populaire on the Rawland dSogn
Over the past weekend, Felkerino and I met up with fellow D.C. Randonneurs Chuck, Crista, and George to ride the recently approved Road Less Travelled Populaire. This ride, designed by George Moore, totals 130K/83 miles, with approximately 60 percent of featuring unpaved roads. It starts in Haymarket, Virginia, and takes a blend of back roads… Continue reading
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Bikes to Like: Kevin T.’s Rivendell Atlantis
Since we’ve been on the subject of randonneurs and coffeeneurs in Alaska, I thought I’d start out the week with a long overdue Bikes to Like, featuring my flickr friend and RBA of the Alaska Randonneurs, Kevin Turinsky. What kind of bike does this Alaska randonneur choose for the varied conditions Alaska offers? Read on… Continue reading
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Friday Link Love: from Randonneuring to the Commute
Another week has rolled by, colder temps have come to Washington, D.C., and all that fall color I raved about is quickly fading or finding its way into the street gutters. That’s ok; we were due, I suppose. Several stories caught my attention this week. I liked them so much, I thought I’d pass along… Continue reading
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Coffeeneuring Rewind Part 2: Ted in Alaska
When we last left Ted, he was returning from his third (or fourth, however you might be calculating) coffeeneuring ride on his Long Haul Trucker. Today, we follow our intrepid coffeeneur on the latter half of his coffeeneuring rides, which he attempts to complete riding a different bike each ride. So far, he’s ridden a… Continue reading
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Coffeeneuring Rewind Part 1: Ted in Alaska
Once again we’re reliving the journey of some of our exceptional coffeeneurs. This week, I’m featuring Ted T., an Alaska randonneur and coffeeneur. Not content to abide by the mere 15 rules of the contest, Ted added an additional criteria for himself: complete each coffeeneuring ride on a different bike. Nice one! I’ve spent a… Continue reading
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Weekend Roundup: Two Shorties, a 200K Brevet, and the D.C. Tweed Ride
If you were in the D.C. area over the weekend, you know that we had some choice cycling weather. A pinch brisk in the mornings, giving way to sun and warmth in the afternoon. Long-sleeve, no-jacket temperatures. With weather like this, who can stay inside? Not me. Continue reading
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Week in Review
Time for a mostly visual week in review. Can’t let all this vibrant fall pass without some photographic evidence. The slightly acrid smell of drying leaves, the cascade of leaves when a slight breeze prompts their detachment from the tree where they spent the summer. Delicious. Continue reading
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#Coffeeneuring Rewind: @nikki_d and @dirteng
Coffeeneuring rewind pedals on, and today we go into the heart of Washington, D.C., and feature two D.C. bloggers and coffeeneurs. First, we have @nikki_d, who writes the blog, Pedal ‘n Purl. She visited the following spots to meet her Coffeeneuring Challenge goals. Click on the coffee shop to get the full coffeeneuring scoop. Continue reading
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#Coffeeneuring Rewind: @whatsupwheaton, Trips 5-7
As promised, the @whatsupwheaton coffeeneuring recap continues today, with the recount of Tara and Simon’s final three coffeeneuring trips. Thank you both so much for participating (and winning the Coffeeneuring Duo category). I hope all you readers enjoyed their coffeeneuring summaries as much as I did. Continue reading
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#Coffeeneuring Rewind: @whatsupwheaton, Trips 1-4
While the official coffeeneuring is currently on hiatus, I thought I’d take a few posts to feature some of the outstanding coffeeneuring of some of our challenge participants. First up are Tara and Simon, the coffeeneuring duo known on Twitter as @whatsupwheaton. Reading about the places that Simon and Tara visited and the account of… Continue reading
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Congratulations, Coffeeneurs!
The intrepid coffeeneurs began their journey on September 24. Many started, but the weeks passed quickly and unfortunately, not everyone who started made it to the finish. For some, pressing life events intervened, preventing coffeeneuring challenge completion: “I have no excuse except that I got distracted by Halloween stuff.” Others fell ill: “I had a… Continue reading
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D.C. Commute Scenes: Fall, Yarn Bombing, and the D.C. War Memorial
After our miserable Snowtober Saturday, our fall days have taken a dramatic turn for the better. Beautiful brisk morning commutes, a pinch of warmth in the air at midday, and refreshingly cool commutes home. I’m so happy with the way that fall has lingered. Aren’t you? Today I received the nicest note. It read: Continue reading
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#CyclingCapTuesday Recap
Another Tuesday almost gone, and another successful #CyclingCapTuesday under my belt. CyclingCapTuesday is building community one cap and rider at a time. Being able to connect with other cap-sporting cyclists and admire their Tuesday caps of choice is a highlight of my week. In addition, it helps to validate my cycling cap addiction. As those… Continue reading
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Some Coffeeneuring and a Populaire
A big CONGRATULATIONS to all the people who completed the Coffeeneuring Challenge this weekend. Remember, you must e-mail me your submissions to gersemalina “at” gmail.com. Yes, even if I have been twitterspying on your adventures, you need to e-mail me your final submissions. Due date to send in your coffeeneuring trips is November 2. I… Continue reading
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My PBP 2011 Story: You Have to Go to Know
October, 2011 Pre-Ride Many people who start randonneuring already know about Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP), but when I joined RUSA in 2004, I only knew what a fleche was. I had no clue there were these events called brevets, a thing called a Super Randonneur series, or Grand Randonnees. After meeting my randonneur- and now real-life spouse,… 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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#Coffeeneuring: One weekend remains!
I can’t believe the Coffeeneuring Challenge has gone by so quickly! Only one weekend remains to bag those final two coffeeneuring rides to complete your seven trips to coffee. So who’s been out coffeeneuring? Glad you asked! Continue reading
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Five Things Friday: Do Not Walk in Bike Lane Edition
Sometimes I do a little Five Things Friday over on my flickr page. There have been a lot of pedestrians walking in the 15th Street Bike Lane lately. Lately, I’ve been thinking about ownership; for example, we are proprietary about our roads here in the U.S. Sidewalks are for pedestrians (rightfully so), and cars are… Continue reading
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#Coffeeneuring: You’re either in, or you’re out
Two full weekends remain in the Coffeeneuring Challenge, leaving participants with four possible days to complete their remaining seven coffeeneuring rides. If you haven’t completed at least three rides by now, then you will have to wait until next time to make it to the Coffeeneuring Challenge podium. Coffeeneurs, how have you been doing? I’ve… Continue reading
Chasing MailBoxes 