The Twelfth Day of Randonneurmas: A Listening Ear

Randonneuring: It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. The best part about the journey? All the stories a randonneur collects!

We noted in an earlier post that randonneurs love telling stories about their rides almost as much as riding the rides. But what good are stories if they are not shared with anyone? That’s why we’ve made this year’s Twelfth Day of Randonneurmas gift a listening ear.

A listening ear costs nothing, except for the moments of your life you will never get back. However, best not to look at it that way. See it as getting to know your special randonneur someone just that much better. If you are concerned about the time your gift might take, you may always set your own boundaries through the use of a stopwatch, the minutes remaining before your favorite television show starts, the time left before you have to take the clothes out of the dryer, or some other method. That way, you give your listening ear freely, but within whatever time you feel you have to give.

Randonneurs are not professional cyclists. They are people motivated to ride for a variety of reasons. What is the reason your randonneur rides? What are his or her stories? It’s through sharing the tales of ourselves that we create greater intimacy and understanding of each other. Truly, a listening ear is a great gift.

Happy Randonneurmas, everyone!

The Eleventh Day of Randonneurmas: Cycling T-Shirts

Randonneuring: It’s not just what we do; it’s who we are.  But randonneurs can’t walk around in cycling gear ALL the time. When we step out of our cycling clothing, what becomes of us?  We recede into the scenery of everyday life and no one has any inkling of our alternate identity as randonneur superstars.

It doesn’t have to be that way.  All a randonneur needs is a little something to wear off the bike to identify him or her by their true alter-ego.  One of the best ways to accomplish this is through a cycling T-shirt.

Shops like TwinSix, DirtRag, and Terry Cycling all carry “fashion T’s” for the cyclist. Even when a loved one is out of his or her riding costume, he or she is still identifiable as part of the riding community.  They are very hip, too, and randonneurs can always stand a hipness boost.

T-shirts can be layered or worn alone.  They are perfect post-ride garb, fit easily into a pannier or Carradice and they require no ironing!  Most of all, when a randonneur loved one walks around town, toodles around the shopping mall, or is forced to take the wheel of a motorized vehicle, onlookers will know that he or she is more than ordinary.  They are a cyclist!

Tomorrow: the best gift of all.

The Tenth Day of Randonneurmas: Ixon IQ Headlight

We’re in the home stretch now with Christmas Day just a week away. This is also the time of year when daylight is so short and bike lights are essential for long distance riding.

Many of us started randonneuring with adequate lights and over time came to realize that to see well on downhills we needed more illumination. The problem is that the most powerful lights, including superbright mountain biking lights and generator-powered systems, cost $400 or more.

Fortunately, the engineers at Busch & Muller of Germany have been improving their less expensive battery-powered bike lights by leaps and bounds. MG and I are very pleased with the Ixon IQ, which runs on four AA batteries and puts out a powerful, concentrated white light that is as bright as my old Niterider systems. It can be purchased alone or with rechargeable batteries and a charger that allows one to simply plug it in at home.

B&M Ixon IQ, ready for action

I prefer to use my own batteries and an inexpensive fast charger. The Ixon IQ runs for five hours or more on high-capacity Maha Powerex 2700mah NiMh batteries available from Amazon and elsewhere. (These batteries are also excellent in GPS units).

The Ixon IQ is not cheap, at $120 from Peter White Cycles, but it represents a tremendous value and a great middle ground between “be seen” lights and generator systems. I like being able to move it from bike to bike and reload it with fresh batteries on the road. If your randonneur is still making do with inexpensive lights, give them one of these and they’ll be so glad when the sun goes down.

Tomorrow: letting people know you love to ride.

Ninth Day of Randonneurmas: RUSA Membership

Randonneuring depends on Randonneurs USA, or RUSA, our national sanctioning body that certifies our beloved brevet rides and keep track of successful completions.

RUSA Membership -- A great gift all year

To ride RUSA-sanctioned brevets one must be a member. Why not give your favorite randonneur a RUSA membership renewal or extension this holiday season? At only $20 per year, it’s a gift they will be glad to have every time they ride a brevet or permanent. They also get the award-winning quarterly American Randonneur magazine, expertly edited by TDR buddy Mike Dayton.

If there ever was a foolproof gift, you can’t go wrong here. While you’re there, consider getting them something reflective at the RUSA online store (you’ll have to look up their member number on the site to order).

Tomorrow: A real headlight for real randonneurs.

Eighth Day of Randonneurmas: Yummy ‘Sports Food’

One of the great benefits of randonneuring — besides the camaraderie, the sights and the fresh air — is the opportunity for massive calorie consumption. Eat like a teenager!

While MG and I do our best to load up at the small town diners and stores along the way, we and most of our fellow riders carry some kind of sports food with us, just in case a caloric emergency arises.

“Sports food” — the whole idea sounds a little weird. We shy away from the outer reaches of the genre, such as food replacement drinks. Our choice is to carry pocket snacks that are as close to candy and candy bars as possible but could still be considered healthy. Let’s not kid ourselves, though. This stuff is made not to melt in your pocket and to be sweet enough to get you past that looming bonk. If Jelly Belly Watermelon “Extreme” Sport Beans with Caffeine get you down the road, why stop eating them?

Snacks! Snacks! Snacks!

Surprise that hungry randonneur in your life by checking out what they stuff in their pockets and get more of the same for their stocking. They will thank you the next time they are ravenous and a long way from the next food stop.

Tomorrow: something they will need every time they ride a brevet.

Seventh Day of Randonneurmas: Knog Lights

Randonneurs obsess about lighting. I mean, we really think a lot about the subject. Show me a randonneur with a few years of brevets under their belt and I’ll bet money they have a “lights box” in a closet somewhere with old lights gathering dust.

For all that, once every so often we get caught out at dusk trying to get home without our main lights. That’s where the Knog Frog comes in so handy. This $15 little LED light wraps around handlebars or most any part of the bike and puts out just enough light to get you seen by drivers and pedestrians. Or, you can run it in flash mode with your main light to add an eye-catching pulse that’s in vogue these days.

Knog Frog wraps easily around handlebars

Blue LED version

Eye-catching from the side

They can also be used as cue sheet lights. MG likes the version with the blue LED for that purpose — she finds the blue is easier on the eyes at night. Knogs come in a bunch of festive colors and fit nicely in a stocking. How can you go wrong with one of these little guys?

Tomorrow: taking care of your randonneur’s palate.

The Sixth Day of Randonneurmas: Patches

Randonneurs have opportunities to traverse some amazing parts of the country, including national and state parks.  Many parks offer embroidered patches and other memorabilia.  Help your randonneur recall one of his or her epic rides with a patch from one of the places he or she has traversed!  Even if you have not been to the area yourself, you can find these patches from the comfort of your own home via the Internet highway at sites like:  www.eParks.com.

Patches, Recalling Times of Yore

Patches are not only eye-catching; they also have great utility.  They can be sewn or ironed onto Carradice or other bags for fellow randonneurs to see and admire.  Sew them onto a t-shirt for days about town!  Cover up holes in your clothing with a patch!  OR place them in a desk drawer alongside all those randonneur medals collected (purchased) over the years.

You may have to do a bit of sleuthing about the places your randonneur has been.  That won’t be hard.  Randonneurs LOVE talking about their rides almost as much as they like riding the rides.  And ride descriptions can often be found on local club websites.

Every time your randonneur sees the patch you gave him or her for Randonneurmas, he or she will remember two things: 1. traveling through the area the patch represents; and 2. YOU.

Patches are economical, yet attractive– a small piece of art everyone can appreciate!  Proceeds often benefit the parks.  Patches are a simple and sweet way to say “Happy Randonneurmas, I love you!”

Fifth Day of Randonneurmas: Velo Orange

Buying the right gift for a cyclist can be a challenge. Fortunately, it’s easy to make them happy if you just buy anything from Annapolis, Md.-based Velo Orange.

Owners Chris and Annette have steadily built up the Velo Orange brand of high-quality, beautiful components that any cyclist should be glad to put on their bikes. I am also impressed with their dedication to affordability. In these tough times, when Shimano, SRAM and Campagnolo have decided to raise prices through the ceiling, Chris and Annette deserve a lot of credit for offering lower-cost alternatives that are as good or better than the big companies.

I’m particularly taken with the VO seatpost, which we use on a number of our bikes, VO stems, and VO headsets. We have the threadless headest and stem on our tandem. Watch for a VO crankset one of these days.

(Images courtesy of VO).

Tomorrow: Souvenirs of happy days on the road.

Fourth Day of Randonneurmas: Bicycle Times

Last year we put in a plug for Dirt Rag, the longtime MTB magazine that devotes more than a few pages to long distance riding and touring. This year the editors launched a companion, Bicycle Times, that is devoted to road riding, commuting and utility cycling.

Two of our favorites: Velo Orange and Rivendell

Bikes and riding, not racing.

Lights and Rain Jackets, evergreen topics for randonneurs

If you ride your bike(s) for all kinds of purposes, then Bicycle Times is a keeper. It profiles fun bikes and gear, much of it applicable to that next rainy 200K. The upcoming issue, No. 5, will include reviews centered around long-distance ride comfort and a primer on fenders — perfect randonneur reading.

Tomorrow: Where everything is good.

Third Day of Randonneurmas: Yehuda Moon!

Rick Smith’s delightful, gently offbeat Yehuda Moon & the Kickstand Cyclery strip is a daily treat. Rick deftly and humorously illustrates the overlapping social circles that make up bike riding. He also offers telling insights into the frictions between cyclists and the car-bound.

Right now, Yehuda’s in a bad spot after getting run off the road by a driver who previously crossed paths with our hero.

Rick publishes YM independently and we can all help keep this strip going strong by donating directly to Rick or by buying Yehuda Moon merchandise. Why not drop a hint to your loved ones that a Yehuda Moon coffee mug or a book of reprints would make a terrific holiday gift?

Here are two stylish Yehuda mugs as shown by our professional models.

One for Coffee, One for Pencils

Good for Righties

And for Lefties

You’ll find those items and more at the YM store, including T-shirts, dog bowls, and a Yehuda-branded Flip Mino video camera.

Tomorrow: More good reading.

The Second Day of Randonneurmas: The Bike Lesson

We dedicate today’s post to Branson Kimball, North Carolina randonneur and more importantly, new dad. Congratulations, Branson, and don’t forget to put this one on your wish list!

The Second Day of Randonneurmas features an item that everyone can love and learn from! It’s Stan and Jan Berenstain’s tale of The Bike Lesson, which takes us on an adventure of all the do’s and don’ts of bicycle riding.

Why should a randonneur take interest in this story, you might ask. It’s a kids’ story! Further, randonneurs already know all there is to know about bike riding. Randonneurs should write these stories, not receive them as holiday gifts.

Not so fast! The Bike Lesson is a perfect Randonneurmas gift for many reasons.

1.  Randonneurs can always benefit from brushing up on cycling safety.
2.  The story includes helpful visual aids.
3.  It is a short story, meaning a thoughtful gift that won’t encroach on a randonneur’s riding time.
4.  When finished reading this tale, your special randonneur someone can share it with the little ones during story time, bedtime, or any other time. Everybody wins!

Page detail from The Bike Lesson

For a sneak preview of The Bike Lesson, see the following link, and/or investigate for purchase at your favorite bookstore: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6J-vtzNuU0.

For tomorrow: A gift that keeps a good thing going.

The 12 Days of Randonneurmas 2009

Where has the year gone? Here we are again in the holiday season. It’s time to think about those stocking stuffers that will warm the heart of the randonneur in your life.

This year, in keeping with the times, TDR will focus on gifts that won’t put a dent in your household budget.

A Tiny Tandem

Ready for Fenders

Left Arm not Included

We start these very special 12 days with bicycling ornaments. You see them in catalogs and in bike and outdoor stores. Humble though they may be, an ornament brings joy and good memories every year.

Tomorrow: Some lighthearted reading for grownups and kids alike.

Wintry Mix — Very Nice

This week the weather was the big story. MG and I planned to ride one hilly century this weekend and possibly ride again the second day. Mom Nature put a wrinkle in our plans by sending us our first snowstorm of the season on Saturday. Scratch the Saturday ride and rethink Sunday riding plans.

Sunday morning was inviting, bright, clear and crisp. MG and I decided to venture out anyway around 9 a.m. and see how far we could get from the city (where we had no accumulation) towards Poolesville, Md. for lunch at Bassett’s Restaurant. Along the way we met up with buddy Andrea M., who also wanted to get in a few hours of riding.

Capital Crescent Trail turned icy

Andrea, MG, Michael, Jane in Poolesville

At the Holiday Street Festival in Georgetown

The rest of the photos from the ride are here.

We tried to ride out of town on the Capital Crescent Trail and to our dismay found lengthy ice patches once the trail turned away from the Potomac River. We hiked the bike to an exit onto surface streets, where the sun had already cleared most of the snow. For the rest of the ride out to Poolesville we encountered lots of wet runoff but only patches of slushy ice here and there that we rode through.

We swept up Andrea in Glen Echo and to our delight Michael R. and his friend Jane drove up to us outside Poolesville and joined us for lunch. We love impromptu sit-downs with our riding friends, whether they are riding or not.

We got back after 72 miles, early enough in the afternoon to clean the bike, enjoy a late lunch and take a sweet, sweet Sunday afternoon nap. Satisfying, quite.

The Ride Report from Hell

RandoBoy takes on 1200K storytelling in his latest post, The Ride Report From Hell.

Thanks, Robert, I needed a good long, tears-down-my-face laugh. And thanks for the nod to MG.

Chuck and Crista’s Training and Touring Rides Blog

Looking for a century ride in the mid-Atlantic area? Crista Borras and Chuck Wood lead informal century rides most weekends, often on both days. Crista is a route-maker extraordinaire, as most anyone who has been on a ride of hers can verify. The rides are absolutely free, the cue sheets impeccable, and she includes shortcuts for those who don’t want to cover the entire distance.

Crista usually posts her ride announcements on Wednesday or Thursday, sometimes Friday if the forecast is uncertain. Check out the latest each week at their blog, Chuck and Crista Training and Touring Rides.

MG and I have been riding with C&C for five years now, and I rode with them on my own for another seven years before that. Thanks Crista for all the great memories and the great times to come.

Back to Back: My Aching Legs

MG and I have decided to ride more miles this winter in anticipation of all those brevets we guess we’ll need to qualify for PBP. What better way to kick off this plan than by riding an almost pancake flat 200K, followed by a hilly century the next day?

There is nothing like back-to-backs to build endurance. The first couple are not so easy, I have to admit. My legs felt like concrete at work on Monday. It’s a good tired, right?

The weekend started at the D.C. Randonneurs Flatbread 200K on Saturday in Centreville, Md. just east of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. A forecast calling for mild temperatures and a little drizzle, at most, brought out 43 riders, including six tandem teams.

We rarely see these guys after the start

Chip and Jim, sweeping the course

See more photos from Saturday’s brevet at my Flickr page. Bill Beck has also posted results at the DCR results page.

On most brevets, I like to ride with the front group until the first hills, and then let them go as we settle down to our normal pace. Saturday there were no hills, and we picked up a little tailwind, which let us stay with the speedsters all the way to the first control and then again for awhile to the second control. For average randonneurs such as ourselves, it was fun to ride at 19+ m.p.h. average for 60 miles.

We found the going a lot slower on the return because of a headwind and from not eating enough food. We failed to pack sandwiches and there are few places to get fast food in that part of Maryland and Delaware. Gas station snacks work only so well.

We rode mostly solo the last 40 miles and finished before 4 p.m., which is on the faster side for us these days. Many thanks to Chip Adams and helpers for a great event.

It was so fun to ride with everybody, especially Ron and Barb Anderson, who came down from Pennsylvania.

Sunday we somehow got ourselves suited up and out the door for Crista Borras’ rolling Union Bridge Century, despite feeling pretty tired and a little toxic. We started from a park 10 miles into the ride, which gave us an extra half-hour of much-enjoyed sleep. Another shortcut during the ride brought us to a total of 78 miles. It was the right distance, because our energy faded after lunch. The temperatures were in the 70s with light winds, and only the falling leaves reminded us that we were riding in November.

See a few photos from the ride here.

Waiting for our friends to arrive at lunch

Jeff, Mike, Chuck, Crista and Michael

Here’s a map of the Flatbread 200K route:

View Larger Map

Congrats to the RUSA Election Winners

Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the RUSA board election. I came very close but fell just short with a third-place finish behind Jennifer Wise and Cecil Reniche-Smith in the race for two seats. John Lee Ellis, running unopposed, was re-elected as RBA liaison.

Jennifer won going away with 239 votes, Cecil and I polled in the low 100s; she outran me by 12 votes. Greg Olmstead and Phyllis Hamilton polled in the 40s.

Assuming everyone voted for two, that’s a turnout of about 293 voters among the 2,349 active members, for an estimated turnout of 12.5 percent.

Congratulations to Jennifer, Cecil and John Lee. I hope to get another chance to run; in the meantime, I plan to continue volunteering for RUSA and for D.C. Randonneurs. See you out there!

Election Night!

Thanks to everyone who voted for me in the RUSA election. If you read this the evening of Oct. 15, you still have time to vote. Click over to the RUSA elections page and email your vote in tonight. Remember to pick two!

MG Occasional Thursday: You’ll Never Get Anywhere With That Little Light.

Today was the first of the fall days where I left my office with dark descending. It took me back to the times when I had just started commuting (on my fixed gear which I sold six months later as I determined I was a danger to myself), and the uncertainty I faced with riding in the darkness.

For my first evening commute endeavors I purchased a clunky light from a store named Performance that had the wattage of a small votive candle and constantly fell off my bike at every bump in the road. (I live in DC, and I can assure you the potholes and bumps are plentiful!) I never wore reflective gear and was certain that because I was keenly aware of my existence and the streetlights sort of lit up the street that everyone saw me. Ha ha ha ha! What was I thinking???

Fortunately, I soon fell in with what a friend of mine calls the “Army of Randonneur Experts,” and I was able to kick that sad light to the curb, upgrade my luminosity factor, and invest in reflective sashes and ankle bands. It may not be sexy to commuters, but lighting and reflective gear are essential to the sexy lifestyle we randonneurs all seek to lead.

Photo by Bill Beck

Nowadays, as I wander around town, I check out the lighting (or lack thereof) of my fellows commuters and feel just so proud that I have the Army of Randonneur Experts to advise me.

On brevets, frequent chatter about E3’s, LED’s, Dinotte headlights and taillights, and many others abound. One little battery light? You’ve got to be kidding me! You’ll never get anywhere with that little light! No, you need this light, powered by your generator hub and bright as the light of a thousand suns! YES, that’s what you need. I’ve noticed that taillights don’t generate (ha ha) the same sort of buzz, but everybody has one (or ten or twenty), and I am witness to seeing someone be pulled over during a brevet for not having a working taillight.

This level of concern does not permeate the commuting scene. It continuously perplexes me that people think they can see anything on the road when using a quickly strobing tiny blinky light. A randonneur would never stand for that! I’m astounded that people ride around sans lights and with maybe a reflector or two. I appreciate the devotion randonneurs have to adequate lighting. Sometimes this devotion may seem to delve into an obsession, but at least people make the effort to stand out in the darkness.

Photo by Felkerino

As I see it, the only down side of randonneur lighting is that it makes taking early morning and evening photos trickier. How many photos do we all have of little lights riding off into the darkness, and photos of our reflective sashes leaping off the frame as we stand dimly lit behind them? Ed has created the “randonneur salute” in hopes of partially addressing the latter photographic nuisance. Riders cover up the reflective sash with their arms extended across it and smile broadly for the camera (or whatever you can muster at 4 a.m., or 11 p.m., or… you get the idea).

Randonneur Salute by Felkerino

Thanks, Army of Randonneur Experts. It’s because of all of you that I am more visible on the local roads and making even greater strides in achieving that sexy randonneur lifestyle of mine.

Iron Cross VII Quick Report

UPDATE: I added my GPS track to MotionBased. It came out a little shorter than actual distance. See it Here. I also uploaded a map of the course below the post.

I just got back from the Iron Cross VII cyclocross/expedition race in the Michaux State Forest. Bright sun and trees bursting with red and orange leaves made for a perfect fall day. This was my second year at IC, and I posted the same time as last year, a barely-sub-six-hour 5:50 for 62.5 miles.

The “Death Spiral” Start

Powerlines Hike. I Only Fell Down Twice.

All Done. New Socks!

See photos by me from the course and scores of shots from the start & finish by MG at my Iron Cross VII Flickr page.

I don’t ride singletrack more than once or twice a year, and this is my only race of the year, so I know that I’m mostly there for the challenge and scenery. The course features miles of difficult singletrack with big rocks, roots, creek crossings and unrideable hikes up steep inclines. Overall, riders are either crawling up long grades — think Shippensburg Road — or careening downward on sketchy gravel and winding singletrack. The granny gear and big ring got a good workout.

After flailing through the singletrack last year on a cyclocross bike with 32mm tires, this year I went to the other end of the rubber spectrum and rode my rigid Rawland dSogn 650b mountain bike with 58mm Pacenti Neo-Moto tires — and a sprung Brooks Flyer saddle. There were only a few of us out there with big tires, and just one other bike with a sprung saddle.

This combination did not make me any faster, but I stayed on the bike for most of the singletrack and enjoyed the course much more. The tires rolled well enough on pavement and gripped like mad on dirt hardpack, while letting me plow over rocks and roots most of the time. I had a blast flying down the gravel roads, knowing I could bomb over the rocky bumps.

All that said, I’m beat. This is a tough ride for a non-racer. By mile 50, I was starting to wonder what I was thinking when I entered. The satisfaction at the end, however, is not unlike the feeling of finishing a super-hilly brevet. And, finishers get wool socks!

Thanks to Yellow Breeches racing and all the volunteers for another fine edition. See you next year!

View Larger Map

RUSA Election Week, And a Pitch for Your Vote

Less than one week remains in the 2009 RUSA board of directors election. Yours truly –hey, me, Ed Felker, not MG! — is running for one of two open seats this year.

Voting is as easy as turning in your control card. Check out the candidate biographies at the RUSA web site and then send an email to Edward Robinson with your name, member number and your votes.

You really can’t go wrong with any of the candidates. If you value experience, however, you should vote for Jennifer Wise. She helped found RUSA at a time when American randonneuring was at a crossroads and needed fresh leadership, and continues to keep RUSA strong and innovative. Jennifer gets my vote.

That leaves the rest of us. I offer myself as a candidate who has been a randonneur since 1996 and a volunteer for the D.C. Randonneurs and RUSA. I was processing R5000 applications Wednesday evening and realized how many friends I’ve made in this sport and how many great rides we’ve all enjoyed together. The growth in interest in randonneuring in RUSA’s first 11 years is just astounding. I want to help that trend continue.

It helps to have been there in the 90s when RUSA was born to see how much a vibrant, responsive national organization can keep the wheels turning. The newsletter, the online store, the fast processing of results — it all happens because RUSA has such dedicated volunteers. I can assure you I’ll do everything I can to keep RUSA humming right along.

My personal interest is to see RUSA offer some kind of formal recognition to clubs. That’s an idea that has to be discussed with the rest of the board, but I think the clubs are the heart of this sport and we should try to give them all the support they need.

Thanks for reading, and whoever you support, don’t forget to vote by next Thursday, Oct. 15. Your voice is important!

Endless Mountains 6×200K Week Fall 2010

Fresh off an epic inaugural Endless Mountains 1240K, which saw more than half the field withdraw from the hilly course because they fell behind the control windows in cold rain or otherwise were unable to continue, Pennsylvania Randonneurs RBA Tom Rosenbaurer has re-packaged the event into something quite attractive. Next year it will be presented in September as a supported six-day, ACP 200K brevet series. I expect this event will sell out quickly.

See more about it at Tom’s PA Randonneurs site.

Endless Mountains 1240K Updates

TDR wakes up from a post-summer slumber to post this link to the Endless Mountains 1240K in Pennsylvania and New York state. MG and I are following closely. Looks like everyone is in great shape at the end of the first day.

Follow updates at the EM1240K blog. Thanks to organizer Tom Rosenbauer for keep us up to date on our buddies.

Three Days and a Switch to Hiking

Our grand dreams of honeymoon tandem touring all the way down Skyline Drive and the Blue Ridge Parkway came to a loud end on Tuesday morning. MG’s bottom bracket — a Phil Wood, no less — gave out a loud crack as we neared the top of the climb from Wintergreen Resort back to the parkway after staying the night before. It had been making some noises and we were planning to get it checked out up the road in Lexington, but we came up about 30 miles short.

We jumped off and pushed the bike up to the parking area, and it was clear there was no way to ride on. The crankset wobbbled when MG tried to pedal and the bracket made hideous noises.

Two bike shops, one pickup truck rental and six hours later and we were in no better shape. The first shop in Waynesboro gave its mechanic the day off on Tuesday, and the other in Harrisonburg hemmed and hawed and finally told us they wouldn’t touch it until Wednesday.

Meanwhile I tried to get the crank off and rounded the self-extractor bolt. It was mostly out and could have been removed, but then we’d need an exact replacement to re-install the crank because it was a part specific to the crank due to a previous shop stripping the threads.

We were beyond tired at this point and concerned about our honeymoon slipping away hanging around in Harrisonburg, so we dashed back to D.C. with the tandem, grabbed our hiking shoes and other gear, and drove back with the rental and our car to Waynesboro the very next morning. We changed our hotel reservations to match our new schedule, got a hiking guide book and have been driving and hiking ever since.

All in all, it may have turned out for the better. There is something romantic about a bike tour, but possibly not honeymoon-romantic, what with all the hours in the saddle, getting up early, and sticking to a timetable and seeing only a little strip of pavement the whole way. We were pretty bushed after just three days of riding — Skyline Drive was harder than we expected.

Since getting back on the parkway we’ve had a grand time driving two or three hours every day and getting in some big hikes — 10-12 miles with massive elevation changes of 1,000 feet or more. There is incredible hiking right off the parkway. So far we’ve hiked at the Peaks of Otter area, Rocky Knob, and Bluff Mountain, and our legs are as tired as if we rode a hilly century every day (without panniers!).

Tomorrow we’re going to hike Mt. Mitchell if the weather permits and then finish up with a night at the Pisgah Inn. Our interest in tandem touring the parkway is as great as ever, though. We’ll be back sometime next year for some riding on the BRP.

Photos to come when we get back. Right now we’re off to dinner here in Little Switzerland in North Carolina at our humble Skyline Village Inn motel. Cheers!

MG Thursday: Randonneur Dreams Coming True

Photo by CDD Photography (c)

Greetings, all. I know I haven’t written in a month of Thursdays, but please know I was taking care of important randonneur business. I couldn’t let my tandem captain get away so last month I married him.

Now my randonneur dreams can all come true, with my randonneur spouse by my side. I thought life was good when I first met the randonneuring community. Then I thought life got a little better as my bike stable grew and my wool collection flourished. But a randonneur spouse?  That’s the icing on the cake!

Photo by CDD Photography (c)

Spare Tubus rack laying around the house? Act fast, it can be yours. See a Carradice in your home that looks like it would go perfectly on your bike? Just “borrow” it. Dying to go riding at 4 a.m.? So is your randonneur spouse! And really, who needs a dining room? Just put all your bikes in there and eat off the coffee table.

Of course, it isn’t always paradise in the randonneur home. When it’s your Tubus rack that “goes missing” on your partner’s bike, it isn’t always that exciting. Just ask Ed. And keeping the bike stable allocation somewhat “fair” and manageable can also be a challenge. We don’t want our whole place covered in bikes now, do we? Overall, though, it’s a pretty good setup.

Initially, my randonneur spouse and I had visions of completing a 1200K as our honeymoon. But honeymoon and 1200K don’t really ring synonymous with me and we shifted gears, opting for a bike tour of the Blue Ridge Parkway instead. Thanks to our friends who encouraged and helped us in that pursuit! Now my dreams of a bike tour honeymoon with my randonneur spouse can also come true!

Photo by CDD Photography (c)