It is now official

Although I am the Slow Randonneur, I actually was not an official randonneur until this past Saturday, when I rode in my first brevet.  My friend Chuck and I rode in a 107K brevet, part of the Boston Brevet series put on by the New England Randonneurs.  The weather was in the low 40s and rainy, but it was quite an enjoyable ride.  Sorry, no pictures, as it was too much of a PITA to get the camera out of the Ziploc baggy.

The ride started at Hanscomb Air Force base in Concord, proceeded west to Sterling which was where the control was located, and then headed back east to Concord.

It was quite hilly

But, the scenery was beautiful.

We met several nice people, including a couple on a tandem who were riding along at pretty much the same pace as us.  Tandems amaze me.  They insisted that it wasn’t hard to ride.  Standing while climbing wasn’t yet in their skill set yet, but they were working on it.  I have seen tandems climb hills where both the captain and stoker are out of the saddle, rocking the bike back and forth, totally in sync, charging up a hill.  It is really quite cool.  I don’t think my wife Jane and I will ever do the tandem thing – we can hardly pilot a canoe together without starting divorce proceedings.

Overall, it was a great ride.  The rain was not such a big deal, and cold generally doesn’t bother me too much. We finished well within the 7 hour time limit.

Lessons learned:

1. Ride more hills.  107K is not that long of a ride.  However, add in those hills and it is a much different experience.  This is how brevets are going to be, though.  I need to ride more hills (and maybe learn to enjoy them?).
2. Get a helmet with a visor to help keep raindrops off my glasses.  It wasn’t such a big deal on this ride – I could see fine, but nighttime in the rain might be a different story.
3. Pay attention to what I am eating.  I tend to not eat as much as I should while riding.  This is just pure laziness.  I was fairly tired at the halfway point of the ride, but did much better toward the end because I was eating more.  On the Randon Google group, someone posted the following regarding nutrition in response to a question on preparing for a 1200K – “nutrition - eat, eat, eat!  not hungry? EAT!  feeling like garbage?  EAT!!  would rather curl up and sleep? EAT!!!  food doesn't taste good?  EAT!!!!!  got to dry out? EAT!!!!!!

Next up, the 200K on May 1 -- 125 miles in 13.5 hours.

Look out Paris, I’m on my way!

Directions and Detours

Not quite a year ago, I bought a Delorme Earthmate PN-30 to use while cycling.  The PN-30 is a GPS unit that mounts to my handlebars.  I must say that I love it because it allows me to create routes from mapping software, and then once those routes are loaded into the unit, gives me turn by turn directions while riding.  It also comes in handy when the route isn't rideable.  Here is a picture of the GPS in my "cockpit", as us cycling types call it. 

Once again, Saturday was a gorgeous albeit chilly and windy day in the Boston area. Strangely, it felt more like Fall than Spring, but I like both seasons equally, so it's all good. Of course, I went out with Dan for another ride.

We were to do a 57 mile ride through Cambridge, Sudbury, Wayland, and Needham, which ended up being a 63 mile ride.  Gotta love those bonus miles.  The main reason for the bonus mileage was this:

Several of the roads around the river (the Sudbury?) that runs through Sudbury and Wayland were still flooded from all the rain we have had.  So, this is where the handy GPS unit I use on rides comes into play.  A few minor adjustments to the route and we were on our way.  Until we got here:

So we decided to check it out anyway.  It was actually pretty cool.

And, of course, a gratuitous bike shot.  This is the type of thing that the Rivendell Bike Group on Google drools over.  They might comment on how the tweed rack bag matches so well with the scenery.

All I can say is thank goodness for the GPS.  It tells me where to go, and keeps me from being swept away by the raging currents of the mighty Sudbury.

The interesting thing about GPS is that sometimes it routes you to where the road isn't much of a road.  Dan and I ran into this situation today, too.  After cutting through Babson College, we were supposed to take a right on some street, but it was essentially just a trail through the woods.  Being the adventurers we are, we took the trail.  After some meandering and a little bit of dirt road, we came to this:

Which from the other side looked like this:

It was pretty creepy, but since we were in Wellesley, most likely on Babson College property, and not in the middle of nowhere, we pressed on and eventually got back on track.  However, if I run into any dirty sundresses draped across barricades at 3:00 AM in rural New Hampshire, I might have to give this randonneuring business a second thought.

Serious Riding

Yesterday was a glorious day in and around Boston. Perfect for a ride, which I needed, because I hadn't ridden more than 8 miles or so since sometime in February. With the brevet series coming up, I am starting to get a little concerned that I won't be prepared. I have to get serious about this.

My friend Dan and I set out on a 40 miler through Concord, Carlisle, and Acton. Specifically, we did the "Concord/Carlisle Farm Tour" - ride # 4 of 5 in the Farm Tours Pocket Rides set.

Here is Dan.

Here is a farm.

As I said, it was an absolutely gorgeous day, so of course the roads were packed with other cyclists. The western suburbs of Boston are extremely popular amongst the spandex shorts set.

When I ride, I like to acknowledge cyclists coming in the other direction with a nod, hello, wave, whatever. Generally, those riders more inclined to ride carbon fiber bikes and wear wrap around sunglasses don't respond back. That's fine, and let me state that I have no problems with carbon bikes or Oakley shades. Although I am not into the "racing" style of riding, I'm a big tent kind of guy and anyone who rides a bike is OK by me. (I have to admit that calling myself a "big tent kind of guy" is a new thing - it's a nice phrase, and it also makes me giggle a little bit.)

The non-responders seem to be on serious rides -- eyes straight ahead, stern facial expressions, in the zone, which is fine too. We all ride differently and for different reasons. But I wonder if they are enjoying themselves. Is it fun? On such a gorgeous day, how could one not be happy to be out on their bike?

I have to be serious if I ever want to ride PBP. It will be a long and hard process to attain that goal. But, if this pursuit ever ceases to be enjoyable, it's done.

So it begins.

My lovely wife Jane feels that I should document my attempt at riding Paris-Brest-Paris in 2011, and she is generally smarter than me, so here it goes.

Paris-Brest-Paris (hereby referred to as PBP) is a 1200 kilometer bike ride to be completed in under 90 hours.  Specifically, PBP is a brevet, which according to Wikipedia is:

"an organized long-distance bicycle ride in the sport of randonneuring. Cyclists - who, in this discipline, may be referred to as randonneurs - follow a designated but unmarked route (usually 200km to 1400km), passing through check-point controls, and must complete the course within specified time limits. These limits, while challenging, still allow the ride to be completed at a comfortable pace - there is no requirement to cycle at racing speeds or employ road bicycle racing strategies."  

Couldn't have said it better myself.

In order to qualify for PBP,one must ride a brevet series in the same year as PBP.  PBP is run once every four years.  A series consists of 4 rides with accompanying time limits:

• 200K - 13.5 hours
• 300K - 20 hours
• 400K - 27 hours
• 600K - 40 hours

I hope to ride a complete series this year not only for preparation, but the more brevet kilometers you ride this year, the earlier you can register for PBP next year.  Apparantly, due to the large number of people who register for PBP, Audax Club Parisien (the group that puts the whole thing on) is limiting the number of people who can register.  So, the sooner you can register, the better your chances are for getting in.

So, why am I trying to do this craziness?

Well..., maybe it has something to do with watching "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat" at the beginning of Wide World of Sports every week when I was a kid.




Maybe it's because I like the challenge.
Maybe it's because I want to take a trip to Paris with Jane.
Maybe it's because I like to ride my bike (or at least I do now).
Maybe it's because I want to brag that I did it.

It's probably all of these things plus a few more.  We'll just have to see if I can actually do it.