Summer rain - NJ Transit 200k

Summer rain can fall
light and steady 

Filling the cup - New England Populaire

On August 3, 2014, I went to Lexington, MA, (near Boston) to ride a Sunday 100K with the New England Randonneurs. Randos call the scheduled events that are shorter than the 200K (125 mile) minimum distance for a brevet a "Populaire." Although I have done many 100K permanents as training rides, I always thought of Populaires as intro rides for the Rando-curious who want to get a taste of a brevet without going the full distance.
 

Randos that ride every type of event on a RUSA calender in two years or less plus enough other rides to get to 5000K earn an award called the RUSA Cup. The required events are:

• 200k
• 300K
• 400K
• 600K
• 1000K
• 1200K
• A team ride (like a Fleche)
• and a Populaire.

Despite the fact that the Populaire is the shortest event, (or maybe because of that?) the event is actually one of the hardest to complete because most regional calendars offer only one or two a season. In fact, of all the types of events offered in the sport and required for the RUSA Cup, the Populaire was the only type I had not done.

First Friday Writings for Randos: My discipline is audax

{First Friday Writings for Randos - A monthly post that features pieces from other writers that touch some facet of the Randonneuring experience, even if that was not the author's intent. It's stuff that's best read out loud - slowly.} This month it's an excerpt from the Accenssionist blog: 

My discipline is audax, riding long distances over set courses within certain time limits. The time limits are generous, no need to be an athlete to ride audax (although certainly some do.) Instead the challenge is mental, the willingness to stay on the road for twenty hours or more at a stretch, to press on when you are so exhausted that you would fall asleep in seconds were you seated in a chair.