Death of ultracycling great - Jure Robic.

Came across this article in the NY Times:

Jure Robic, a long-distance bicyclist who won the grueling Race Across America five times and whose seemingly endless, sleep-eschewing stamina tested the limits of human endurance, died during a training ride on Friday when he collided with a car on a mountain road in Plavski Rovt, Slovenia, near his home in Jesenice. He was 45.

400K - Bremerton, WA to Pacific City, OR

Exceeding physical limitations comes at a cost. In the late spring, completing a 300k brevet put me in the hospital where specialists had to fix the damage I inflicted on myself when I ignored the cramps, thirst, fatigue and racing heart rate that should have warned me against pushing too hard too long. I returned to riding brevets, but had not gone that far since. The longest one day bike ride in my life had been the 190 miles it took to finish the 300k. This brevet would be 400K. Fear tinged my anticipation.

Night lights

On the last Saturday night of the summer of 2010, I rode through the wilds of the New Jersey Pine Barrens with an Ancien.

I met Len on my first brevet. At that point, I only had the slightest idea what it meant to be a randonneur, and had never heard the term Ancien. Since that day, I've learned a little more. 

She ain't heavy, she's my Surly.

One year ago this weekend, I DNF'd at a local century. After going way off course, I had to call for directions to the closest rest stop, get there, then wait for one of the volunteers, a very nice guy named Bob, to drive me the last 20 miles. I wasn't hurt, didn't have a mechanical. Oh, I had other excuses, a bunch of them, I started the course way too fast, I bonked. I got lost and did a bunch of bonus miles, but inside I knew that, despite all that, I just didn't have it in me to finish that ride that day. I had just quit. It was a long drive back to the start.

My any road, any ride, bike is an olive drab Surly Long Haul Trucker with SKS fenders, a Brooks B17, 40 mm Schwalbe marathons, a VO Campagne handle bar bag up front on a nitto mini rack and a hard leather, former military, binocular case as a seat bag.  For the non bike addicted, just picture a military green bike with thick tires and small squarish luggage looking bags attached front and rear. It looks like it could ride through pretty much anything. It pretty much can. It also looks heavy. It kinda is. Especially when compared to the bikes that are around me when I ride her. I call her Esmeralda.

00:01:00

I began Randoneurring in April, when I completed my first brevet. The Schuylkill to Delaware permanent would be my sixth Randoneurring event in as many months. Although I've already signed up for the 400K from Bremeton, Washington, to Pacific City, Oregon, that's taking place at the end of September, I've never ridden that far before and will be using a rented bike, so I  wanted to have a 200K in the bank, to preserve my Quixotic run at an R-12 award, just in case.