Treat yourself to the best - The PA Randonneurs Water Gap 300k

On Saturday morning, the sound of the alarm clock ringing at 1:45 a.m., set off a heated discussion in my brain. 

Right brain - "Oh man it's early."

Left brain-  "The 300K starts at 4:00, I have to leave by 2:15"

Right brain - "It's still too early, sleep for ten more minutes."

Left brain - "Gotta get up."

Right brain - "I've only slept for a few hours."

Left brain - "It's good training for a long brevet."

Right brain - "I can't train to not sleep!"

Left brain - "Gotta get up."

Right brain - "Oh, man it's early."

 The whole conversation took place in the seconds it took find and disarm the clock. Then I looked out the window. The soft yellow light of the almostbutnotquite full "super moon" gave an ethereal glow to a scattered layer of thin clouds. Night air, slightly cool, drifted in from the window. Wow. Then Right brain and Left brain reached the same conclusion: This would be a good night to start a ride. That ended the debate. I dressed, packed the last few items into the minivan and headed off to start.

Friday Writings for Randos - On the strength of all convictions and the stamina of love

{Friday Writings for Randos - A weekly 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 week it's:

ON THE STRENGTH OF ALL CONVICTIONS 

AND THE STAMINA OF LOVE

by Jenifer Michael Hecht

Sabina

Today, I sat through the opening statements of a murder trial. Sabina, the young woman whose life ended in an act of senseless brutality, was the daughter of my friend, a friend to my children, a child who was as welcome in my home as any member of my family.

Listening to an opening statement in a murder trial is not like listening to a eulogy. At a trial, death, not life, is the focus, and Sabina was so full of life.

Life is short, precious and fragile. Enjoy it. Live it. Treasure it.

Friday Writings for Randos - INSIGHT

{Friday Writings for Randos - A weekly 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 week it's:

INSIGHT

 by Mairi MacInnes

We plunged down from the summit

      over the slither of scree

till the path jackknifed

      over clints round a baldish moor

and across cloughs sets in its side

      and welded fields, a hundred of them,

with thorns embedded, and into iron 

      woods, faintly aromatic, on a precipice

harboured in boulders taller than Stonehenge,

Friday Writings for Randos - Rule 9

{Friday Writings for Randos - A weekly 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 week it's:

Rule #9

a cup of coffee and a ditch nap

The New York Times ran an article on how to use coffee to get the most out of a roadside nap. Coffee and a ditch nap? Hmm Sounds useful. Here's a link: coffee nap.

One day's journey into night: an account from the 2012 PA Fleche

The 2012 Pennsylvania Fleche took place the weekend of April 14.

Time is a challenge of the Fleche. A Fleche takes 24 hours to ride. You ride it straight through and, with the possible exception of a few stolen moments of closed eye bliss, you ride it without sleep.

T.S. Eliot called April the cruelest month. In Pennsylvania, April lives up to his description. April can bring cold, rain, thunder, lightning, hail or heat. Sometimes, all on the same day. April all too often breaks its promise of showers and flowers. If you are going to ride for 24 hours straight in April, you pack for contingencies.