As you can see, I’ve put TDR on a little hiatus for the past two weeks — but I have a good reason. MG and I are currently in the middle of a good solid block of rest before tackling the Endless Mountains 1000K next Thursday.
That not only means scaling back our rides to commuting and coffee jaunts, but also trying to get a lot of sleep, eat well, and get caught up on home and family time.
MG has written about what I call the “quiet period” before a major randonnee over at her blog, Chasing Mailboxes.
The idea is to calm down, bank energy and build motivation. It’s not all that easy, but I’ve found that taking it easy for a three weeks or so pays big dividends in terms of fresh legs and a more positive attitude when the event begins.
We also have put College Park Bicycles to work helping us get the tandem in order. The bike was ready for help after we completed 1,500K of hilly riding between the D.C. Randonneurs 600K back in early June and our last long outing in late July. Something about all that standing climbing puts a real hurt on our wheels, despite riding big 700×32 Paselas and staying on good pavement.
Anyway, more about the maintenance side tomorrow! For now, we’ll leave you with the fact that we managed to again force a Phil Wood product into noisy complaint and send one of Velocity’s toughest rims to an early demise.
Right now I’m in southern Illinois with daughter DF visiting my mom and sister for a week. Life in a town of a few hundred people, with no traffic lights, no grocery store, and corn stretching in every direction certainly forces one to slow down. That’s a good thing. We came to visit two years ago before PBP and it was very restful before that whopper of a trip.
We send our best wishes to TDR buddy Nick Bull, who starts the Seattle International Randonneurs 1000K on Thursday! Plus, a belated “we missed you” to the DCR’s who rode and volunteered at the club’s ACP 200K in Warrenton, Va. last Saturday. RBA Bill Beck’s report is below.
17 riders showed up in Warrenton for the summer running of the Old Rag 200K. The weather was about the best that could be hoped for in Virginia in August – overcast with temperatures mostly in the 70s. The route is one of the prettiest that DC Randonneurs rides, and it was nice to see it in summer since we usually see it only in April. Every one of the starters finished, and all in less than 11 hours.
Thanks to Roger Hillas for organizing the ride and providing a yummy selection of food at the start and finish. Thanks also to Kelly Smith who helped with rider checkin at the finish. And a special thanks to Chip Adams for volunteering at the start, finish, AND secret control on his wedding anniversary!
Preliminary results are now posted at http://www.dcrand.org/dcr/results.php?page=display-results&year=2010. A GPS track is at http://connect.garmin.com/activity/44774711. My photos are posted at http://www.flickr.com/photos/wabeck/sets/72157624607959429/.
Our next ride is the Civil War Tour on September 18. (http://dcrand.org/blog/2010/08/17/civil-war-tour-200k-september-18-2010/).
Good luck to all of the DC Randonneurs riding 1000Ks over the next couple of weeks! It looks like that includes:
Nick Bull at the Seattle Summer 1000K on August 19.
Dan Blumenfeld, Bob Casciato, Gary Dean, Ed Felker, Scott Gater, Mary Gersema, Lane Giardina, and Bill Olsen at the PA 1000K on August 26.
John and Nancy Guth and George Moore at the NC 1000K on Sept 3.
Bill
The Daily Randonneur 