The youth of old age

On less than a day's notice Rick, Christine, and Janice responded to my email by agreeing to join me on a 100K ride that visits locations used as stops on the underground railroad in south Jersey. 

Rick later sent an email that reminded us all that, 10 years ago, to the day, the four of us rode together on a 200K south Jersey route and he sent us a link to this blogpost about that ride. He called it our 10th anniversary. 

Thoughts on training for London-Edinburgh-London 1500KM: Endurance

I am registered to ride London Edinburgh London. It is a 1520 KM ride along the coast of the United Kingdom and we have 125 hours to finish it. To put it another way, we'll be riding 944.48 miles in 5.2 days - that's about 185 miles a day.

LEL will be the longest event I've taken on to date. It's about 300K longer than Paris Brest Paris. The weather is infamous for rain and wind. The terrain is noted for its climbing. The distance is more than I typically ride in a month. To put it another  way, this will be a challenge. 

One Sunday in Late September

Five things I can see:

• Red granite shining in morning sunlight 
• Cobalt blue sky
• Trees growing amidst plots
• The shadow of a steeple 
• My mother’s name carved in stone

After the shutdown: Renaissance Athlete.

What a long strange year. My mom passed away in September 2019 after months of a steady, rapid decline in health. Then, in early 2020, while still getting my mind around the reality of living in a world without her, the world itself took a turn for the worse as the coronavirus literally went viral, spreading rapidly around the world, shutting down business, separating people, limiting travel, creating social distance. Social upheaval: protests, political chaos, erupted. It seemed like the fabric of society itself was being stretched thin. The virus is not quite done yet but, it seems, I hope, that the worst of it is behind us. Emerging from the shut down brought on by the coronavirus -Covid-19- and the world is a different place. There is so much to unpack; it's going to take a while.

PBP 2019 - A home movie

Part One: https://youtu.be/vV0lKIQP-U8

Part Two: https://youtu.be/JQ5JXZyEAxI

On the final day of PBP 2019

Thursday morning on the final day of PBP. I am on the way to Rambouillet. The sun is rising over golden French fields. I am one of several riders who find themselves together at this place at this time. We are climbing yet another long but gentle rise.

"Are you happy?" 

The question comes from the clear, almost musical London accent of a man's voice.

A few thoughts on the 2019 NJ Pinelands 300K

Finish the Damn Ride

Finish the Damn Ride is an "unwritten" ethos of Randonneurring. Sure there are caveats, safety comes first but, if you can safely continue, that ethos  can lead to some inspirational results. 

Randonneur

Ride like a child.

Bridging the gap

Winter

In the winter of 2017, I stepped away from long bike rides to get stronger. Following a consistent routine of ever heavier squats, deadlifts, overhead presses, bench pressing, and chin-ups required time to recover. So I set aside long rides in the cold for shorter, intense sessions under the unforgiving steel bar. Each session was a simple pass/fail test of will and growing strength: either I lifted or I failed.

February

By February 2018, the sessions had paid off. I found myself stronger than I had been in decades. Truth be told, physically, I am far more suited to strength training than Randonneuring. This kind of training may be the polar opposite of the endurance needed for Randonneuring, but I knew that when I took the step back to rebuild and rebalance. Yet, in the process, I had let months pass without my riding a 200K or even a 100K,

But as the days grew longer, I found myself questioning the wisdom of taking that much time off the bike. Before this break, for eight years I had maintained a streak of monthly 200K rides in part because the prospect of starting over to regain that necessary endurance intimidated me. The first go around to build it, to put it mildly, challenged me. Now, I found myself older, stronger, more experienced, but basically having to start again. 

{"I found myself" - what a strange expression. When you think about it, it becomes complex, hard to explain. Who is the  "I"? What is the "myself" that was found?  How did "I" lose "myself" and what is it about that moment of the discovery that leads to the expression "finding yourself? But I digress, let's return to Spring 2018 ...}

Happiness

Things things don't always happen when we think they should. Sometimes they happen in their own time. Sometimes they seem impossible.

Million Meters of Milk - 1000 Kilometers in Wisconsin

"While the world spins underfoot, we start another day with wild hearts and fierce desire"*

Michele, the Great Lake Randonneurs' Regional Brevet Administrator, described the Million Meters of Milk as a 1000k where all riders would receive the same experience whether they were first finisher or lantern rouge.

New Holland 200K

It was a hot afternoon. Even now, sitting in the house as the last light of the June sunset languidly eases into the horizon, my body radiates heat. It's as if the afternoon sun soaked deep into my flesh the way summer heat soaks into asphalt and concrete and then lingers before it finally releases into cooler evening air.

The morning started off cooler. We met just before dawn. The New Holland 200K is the last 200K of the Pennsylvania 600K that started the day before. Some of the 600K riders who arrived in the night would start at 5:00 am with those of us just riding the 200K.

Muscle memory

It's easy to love from a distance.

The Rides of March bike challenge 2017

The month long March riding challenge is back and starts March 1, 2017. Let's get ready to PEDAL!!! 

   FOUR WAYS TO WIN

• "A" TEAM = 60 minutes a day  for 30 days
• "B" TEAM = 30 minutes a day for 30 days
• 24 HOUR TIME TRIAL=  60 minutes a day for 24 days
• 12 HOUR TIME TRIAL =  30 minutes a day for 24 days

Rules: Ride 24 or 30 days in March for at least a half hour EACH day (you get one day off!).

• Stationary bikes, rollers and trainers count! So does riding outside!
• Track the number of days and minutes per day.
• The riding minutes start fresh each day (no carryover from a prior day)
• The Ides of March makeup special (ride an extra day's time - two half hours or two hours) and get credit for both!)

All who successfully complete the challenge and notify me will get listed in the Iron Rider blog (First name, last initial.)

Join the conversation on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/954089274601626/

So who's in?

First Friday Writing for Randos: Live to Fight Another Day

{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

A Man's Life

Live To Fight Another Day

By Mark Jenkins 

We went out for breakfast, a great heap of eggs and bacon, and talked about kids and guilt and climbing and Asia. About loss and lessons. We talked straight into the afternoon. We left the cafe and went to his house in the country and sat for hours drinking tea in a living room filled with mementos from Nepal. I told him about my own shadows of Everest. And Guy told me how, in 1995, he guided a client up, Doug Hansen, to the south summit of Everest before making the decision to pull the plug. Hansen died with Hall the following year.

It was a painful subject, and we quickly moved on. But the conversation circled back. It had to. Guy Cotter had spent his entire adulthood trying to determine when to push on and when to turn around. One of his best friends had died on the crux of the dilemma. His wisdom was hard won.
 

First Friday writing for Randos: Embrace struggle

{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 

Life Lessons From the Guy Who Just Ran the Appalachian Trail Faster Than Anyone

By Brad Stulberg

Beat and broken down? Focus on what you can control.

Midway through the hike, my shin, which was an area of concern heading into this, blew up on me. It was really bad. I remember thinking to myself, “This could be over.” But I knew if I let that thought occupy my mind for too long, the attempt would be over. So rather than ruminate on the condition of my shin, I focused on what was in front of me, all the things I could do that were within my control like icing, taking anti-inflammatory meds, adjusting the pace, and eating more since I was moving slower. This not only helped me physically but also mentally, because it kept my mind occupied with productive and not destructive thoughts.

Low points are a part of long-ass hikes and low points are a part of life. But low points are just that — points. You’ve got to remind yourself things don’t always get worse and you can almost always make them better.

First Friday Writings for Randos: "Let go of expectations palm up"

{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 a re-post from Facebook. Amy Grumprecht, the author, wrote this while riding across the United States to raise money to support MS research. This is one of her daily posts from the road . . 

 "Let go of expectations palm up"

by Amy Grumprecht

Day 50, Suwannee River State Park to Olena State Park, north of High Springs, FL, 70 miles of uninspired cycling.

I have a friend with whom I once rode 150 miles up in the foothills and height of land of Western ME. She appeared to be moving along fine all day yet was missing her spark. At mile 100, she announced that she "felt better now." After 100 miles. After turning over the pedals and not feeling that great. For 100 miles. Some people wouldn't drive 100 miles if they didn't "feel great." She taught me the basic tenet that if I can turn the pedals over, everything else would eventually change. I just had to hold out and keep going at a steady pace. Drop a piece of wood in the stream, eventually it will float downstream, different but the same.

A good place to be (notes from the Boston 600K)

It is the middle of a sunny Saturday afternoon in July.

I am on an audacious New England adventure, riding my bike up yet another hill, in temperatures well over 90 degrees.

The sun relentlessly beats down on the sun sleeves that protect my arms and the white wicking skully cap that protects my head.

My short sleeve, green plaid bike shirt is unbuttoned to my belly so that passing breezes can lift the sweaty fabric and cool my back.Fortunately, after weeks of summer bike commuting, I've acclimated to the heat and humidity and actually enjoy the hot weather.

On the descents, the wind cools and refreshes. I soar through the curves of the rolling hills having earned these moments of flight.

This is my life today, any for most of tomorrow, because this is a 600K in July.  

Spirited rides (or revisting the hierarchy of needs)

"Abraham Maslow (1943) stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs. 

When one need is fulfilled a person seeks to fulfill the next one, and so on." Link

Maybe Maslow was wrong. If you're so inclined, hear me out on this one.

At this point in my life, at the tail-end of middle age (almost halfway to a century), I am acutely aware that I am fortunate. No. That's not right. I am acutely aware that I am blessed. I am blessed  to be able to satisfy the first four psychological needs that Maslow identified. My biological and physiological needs, for air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sleep are pretty much a given.  A nice house in a nice neighborhood give me protection from the elements, security, order, law, stability, freedom from fear.  I enjoy love and belongingness in the form of friendship, intimacy, affection and love. My career provides some of the esteem needs such as achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect from others. So according to the theory, I should be working on Self-Actualization - realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

But this past weekend, I find myself once again returning to this sport and once again randonneurring takes me back to the basic needs. It is a place where breath (air), food, drink, shelter, warmth and sleep are no longer a given. Where I face the elements, vulnerability, and, yes, even fear.

I do keep the sense of love and belongingness. These are tools that I carry that as surely as I carry the things I need to survive. 

Maybe I jumped into the deep end of this discussion too soon. There's a back story. Forgive me. You weren't there. Let me fill you in on that before we come back to this. 

Advice for a new randonneur

What advice would I give to a new Randonneur? 

Probably some of these gems that I've picked up along the way . . . 

 
Dan A.:  Ride your own ride.

Rick C.:  Greet people along the way.

Chris N.(from NJ):  Take pictures

Chris N.(From PA): A burst of slow can  salvage a ride.

Joe K.:  Challenge yourself