Yeah I took a typhoid vaccine that is giving me all the side effects. It feels like someone punched me and I have a world class stomach ache.
But today was pretty lousy all together. In fact, I’ll call it
Miguel’s no good very bad brevet
had to take the pills on an empty stomach which meant I couldn’t eat a bowl of cereal - I do this before most rides because I know how my body reacts
So, ride is in newberg, basically 30 miles from my house-ish. I missed the turn and added 10 miles to the drive. It’s ok, I still arrived 15 minutes early
As I was putting on my shoe covers the right zipper broke. FINE, I wanted to A/B these anyway, so off I go looking like I forgot a shoe cover.
Then I sign into the 300 list, scratched out and signed up for 200. RBA tells me that because I volunteer my club dues will be refunded via PayPal. Awesome.
I get a small coffee and a butter croissant that came in plastic and I feel my tummy grumble. Great. So now I’m in line for the bathroom and I’ve got a quick case of the trots. Awesome. Great fuckin start to 120 miles on the bike.
Nothing takes as much time as putting your bibs back over your base and then your jerz and jacket over that and the hi viz vest
So I missed the start by long enough to miss the faster-than-slow guys. Dammit.
And then I forgot to hit “start” on the garmin so I’m going to have to guess at controles.
Yeah it was chilly mid 30s freedom this morning so my right foot was cold.
35kms to the first control and a couple fast slow guys are straggling so I hop on with this guy I’ve seen around the last few years, has a sw8 af nobilette fop chariot, showroom condition. Simplex shifters, mafac non aero levers and raid(?) brakes, 6700 dangler, 650b, hammered honjos, fugn beaut. So we rode together for the next 15kms and out of nowhere this car honks, buzzes and swerved in front of us. He lives near where we were and reassured me that “drivers like that are not the norm”
I get dropped and get to the next control alone. I start climbing the hill section of the first 100k. I’m having a tough time - I put on some lil b and some new riders of the purple sage and some sleep and I just can’t get a groove. My head is pounding, my stomach hurts and my muscles all feel like they’ve been punched, this is a ~15km section, this should be easy!
I get to the top and start the early descent - I txt my wife to tell her that I’m not going to finish.
This is the 2nd brevet I’ve dnfd in 6 years
Damn.
Shit happens tho.
[quote=kmcdon]Damn.
Shit happens tho.[/quote]
chin up mig, my dnf excuse was much less good
Yeah, shit happens. Whatever it’s just riding bikes
“Rando” fail this weekend.
Had a 160-mile ride from Richmond to DC planned with some friends. The route was solid and I was excited a week out. The weather here was looking not ideal for that kind of day but far from awful and we had logistics pretty dialed.
Friday this insane wind started up in the mid-Atlantic knocking over trees and taking out power. The shop lost power late in the day which was the first thing to go wrong. Nothing crazy but it just kind of threw me out of sorts and led to mistake #1. Pizza for dinner. Between chaos at the shop and other things, a proper dinner was just not in the cards.
Woke up at 5 the next morning and started getting ready. My friends were starting about 2 miles from my house and I literally live on bike Rt 1. so I said fuck it, and was going to meet them on the road at 6:15. It was cold (expected) and still VERY windy (not as expected). I at a reasonable breakfast drank coffee and pooped but felt a little off. Not sick, but just off. Wasn’t my usual self, able to eat twice the normal size breakfast.
Kitted up and met the crew on the road.
Five of us planned to do the full distance with two others just rolling the first 15 miles for the hell of it. Our route was north/northwest for the first 130 miles which just happened to coincide with the direction of the headwind. Fun.
Hoping to start feeling better soon I mentally committed to not pulling for a while and just sat on the back of the group. Two guys peeled off at Ashland as we hit the leg where Bike rt 1 and 76 merge for a bit. Despite my poor state and miserable headwind, I was enjoying the route. A bit north of Ashland Rr 1 forks right onto roads that I had actually never ridden before despite countless rides this direction. The sun was out and everything except my hands was warm so I just kept on.
At store stop one, about 3 hours in, I finally ate some fig bars but realized I definitely was not eating enough food. For whatever reason, cold weather really dampens my appetite and the bad vibes seemed to be collecting in my gut. Three more hours of headwind (someone said an average of 14mph but gusts near 30) over rolling terrain. A slow, steady staircase climb up to the southern edge of the Appomattox river basin before a lazy descent into Fredericksburg. Fred has nice bike paths and a somewhat ok taco and soup place we made a lunch stop at. We sat down, warmed up and ate. 1 can of coke, good. Two tamales and a small bowl of soup felt good and filled me up but at the same time felt like not enough. Pooped in a warm and clean bathroom, good. I was starting to feel better it seemed.
We kitted up and rolled out. Fredericksburg is right on the Appomattox and as we left town we began the roughly 8-mile climb out of the river basin. The average grade is only about 1% with peaks around 4% but the northwest direction and now noticeable lack of trees meant for a slow and demoralizing grind. It was about now I realized I had become the anchor of the group. I was starting to get gapped on every hill and it was taking longer and longer to claw my way back to them.
My legs were getting more and more tired and at around 90 miles, grinding along at 4mph halfway up one of the countless little hills in the Piedmont my legs finally said “no more”. I caught up with the rest of the guys who were waiting for me about 1 mile up the road and told them of my plans to abort. I knew where I was and I knew I was roughly 20 to 30 miles from my parent’s house.
They rolled on and I started my death march “home”. I actually caught them one more time at a planned store stop 10 miles from my destination, documented things with a few more selfies, and said goodbye for real this time.
I turned into the first real tailwind of the ride and made my way home. My decision to stuff some underwear and some shorts into my bag proved the right call. I took a shower, dried off, and sat in a recliner while I awaited my wife to complete the drive from Richmond to rescue me.
All in all, it was about 113 miles of a near-constant headwind for me. The other guys trudged on for another 25 or no north before turning east and getting a bit of respite from the wind to complete the remainder of the 160-mile journey. I was disappointed to DNF, but happy I wasn’t holding them back anymore.
On the bright side I got to see some roads I had never seen before and two days later, I feel energized to get my ass in gear for the season.
Not the best way to spend a birthday. Not the worst.
I hate headwinds so much. No other conditions are as effective in deterring me from going on a long ride.
wind is a killer, doesn’t sound like a failure tho so much as a change of plan. Good job!
pizza is my pre-rando dinner of choice.
it puts the pepp in your step?
Pizza is great midride too. On a few of the ORR 400s there’s a stop at 300 and I’ve called ahead to order a pizza 30 mins before arrival.
Pro tip: learn the map and order your pizza ahead
I didn’t DNF my 200. In fact it was my quickest of all time, 7:17. Perfect weather and i managed to hang with the fastbros all day. The roads were dry so i took my plastic bike. I almost went out with no bag but thought better of it at the last minute. this made me happy as i gradually filled my porcelain rocket with bike clothes.
I did a 200k yesterday on my ALAN
was either a 25° inversion or a light headwind the whole way, but no flats was a big success (I was on tubulars!)
this new guy rode with my lead group the whole way, his first brevet: https://www.strava.com/activities/1458329991
a friend of mine intentionally started an hour late because he didn’t want to get up so fuckin early, and rode a solo TT a half-hour faster than us: https://www.strava.com/activities/1458228111
Anybody in PNW/etc want to join a slow SIR flèche from Portland?
RandoNewbQ: I know PBP registration dates are based upon distance you’ve completed previous year…but I can’t find any record of it actually “selling out” recently. Any ideas what distance I should set my goal for this season to give myself the option of qualifying next year?
600 or 1000 at least
600 / 1000 to have a shot to register, or in terms of my required fitness? re: fitness planned to complete 400 or 600 this season.
Not sure if the same everywhere, but the brevet calendar here (in Germany) is really Spring heavy. Most orgs have their 600 in the books my mid June. In Berlin the 1200 is like 2 weeks after the 600…unfortunately i’m not sure this will match my fitness curve
Reason I asked: getting a late start to distance riding this season. Did first 100k of the year last weekend. Could see myself attempting a 200k in a few weeks, but by that point the clubs will be up to the 400k mark.
[UPDATE] just found a 600km on September 1 in Hamburg which seems much more feasible. Is there a reason more orgs don’t do fall events?
- there are/have been caps per country for registration. im not sure how many germans are allowed but with some googlin you could probably figure it out.
- registration is done by most distance first, that is, people that have done 1200 get to register before 1000/600/400/etc.
- Earlier registration means you get to select your start time. this may not mean a lot to you? depends on how you ride and what your goals are - 5pm start vs 10pm start vs 7am start vs 11am start.
spring season vs summer season. lots of clubs only have a spring season. here in randoparadise PNW we have brevets basically from Feb-Nov. I don’t want to tell you that you can do anything that you put your mind to but rando is easy, you just have to do it. there are some major mental hurdles and working through sleep deprivation but you can do it if you want to. note that for PBP registration your events have to be ACP (audax club parisenne) sanctioned.
i’ve done basically 1x100 this year and lots of 50km rides. the only training that will help you is more mileage. ride your bike all the time if you want to train. though, i did a bunch of 8/9pm start 100km perms the hot summer nights before pbp2015 - it really helped me “get comfortable” with riding fast at dusk/dark.
ride as much as you can
you are stronger than you think
but you can always train more and it will help
also where are you in germany?
Appreciate the detailed reply
I’m in Berlin. The local spring season sold out in 1 day so i’ll be travelling around a bit to try to complete sanctioned events.
Goal is finishing so was just going to pick 90 hour (night start) and not leave any time on the table…unless someone makes a good argument for 84 hour morning start (like sleeping the night before!).
Which group did you ride with in 2015?
Thanks. Most concerned about increasing mileage while working out some knee discomfort that popped up again this week around 70km mark. After awhile I stopped and stretched a bit, kept riding. I suspect it is related to hip flexibility because i’ve been riding flat pedals, but something to deal with nonetheless.
To your mental/sleep point, hoping sleep deprivation from having 2 toddlers translates 
[quote=NOVELTYNAME]
i’ve done basically 1x100 this year and lots of 50km rides. the only training that will help you is more mileage. ride your bike all the time if you want to train. though, i did a bunch of 8/9pm start 100km perms the hot summer nights before pbp2015 - it really helped me “get comfortable” with riding fast at dusk/dark.[/quote]
I generally commute daily by bike (15k) and was planning to get in one “longer” (50-100k) ride every week. Each month hoped to replace one of the long rides with a brevet distance (ideally sanctioned)…which is why I was asking about realistic target to aim for.
Good tip about throwing in some regular night riding too.