NJ Hightstown 400k - Flat is fast but it ain't easy

Let me start by stating the obvious: 400 kilometers is a long ass distance to pedal a bicycle. It's about the distance from New York City to Washington, D.C. People won't even drive that kind of distance unless they have a good reason. 400 kilometers would make a good distance for a bike tour vacation over several to five days. However, to pedal a bike that far in one ride, straight through, and end up right back where you started seems fundamentally irrational - an act not derived from reason but fueled by an implacable desire for the extra ordinary - irrational like art, obsession and passion. Fully embracing the obvious and the irrational, I rode the NJ Randonneurs 400k on Saturday May 28.

Three weeks ago, I rode the PA Randonneurs climb filled 400K. The New Jersey 400k promised flatness and speed. Turns out flat and fast has its challenges too . . .

 

Blue Mountain 400k - One Spring Day

click to view

In the days before the ride, I  kept checking three weather sites to make sure, but each site showed the same forecast - a full cartoon sun, complete with happy spoke rays - clear dry skies, a high near 70 degrees and a low near 50. A beautiful Spring day, almost perfect weather to ride a bike all day and all night. No excuse there. Had the forecast called for anything less, I just might have bailed before I started. 

PA Blue Mountain 400k . My first completed 400k in pictures - still too tired to write the report . . .

(click on a picture for full size image)

Spring in central Pennsylvania

Images from an unfinished fleche

The fleche invitation came by email and with a warning that proved prophetic:

 "... the weather typically sucks. I've ridden in both snow and rain. The one year I skipped, it was beautiful but this year, because I'm riding, it's pretty much guaranteed to be crap again."

The mystery of the self-balancing bicycle.

A video on the discovery that the self balancing of a bicycle does not depend on trail or gyroscopic torque.


click for link

I always thought there was some magic involved. . .

Next up - 2011 PA Randonneurs 300k

Randonneuring, like many endurance sports, shares the quality of having events that sound like the result of a late night drinking session during which a bunch of athletes came up with a difficult challenge with arbitrary rules and then came up with a grandiose title to confer upon those who completed the challenge according to the arbitrary rules.  I imagine that those who came up with the Randonneuring events, being French, drank wine, probably a nice local red, accompanied by a well prepared meal.

In the spirit of this tradition, the Audax Club Parisien (click for glossary link), which approves Randonneuring events for the world, has two international awards: the Super Randonneur and the Randonneur 5000.

To earn the Super Randonneur award, a rider must complete, in one season, rides of 200k (125 miles), 300k (186 miles), 400k (250 miles), and 600k (375 miles) and ride them within specified time limits. I didn't get the "Super" award last year, so that sounds like a good goal for this season.  

In the process of completing my R12, I rode a 200K that will count toward the award. One down, three to go. For my 300K, I rode with the Pa Randonneurs.

Exceeding limits

Brevets tend to have their way of making people humble - Laurent Chambard

This is not a ride report. In May 2010, I rode my second Randonneuring event - a 300 km brevet. If you really want to know about the course and terrain, you will have to read another account. If you are looking for direction as to how to prepare, or what to expect, I have nothing to offer, other than my mistakes. I cannot give you an objective report, even though I vividly remember the details of that day in my heart and in my mind's eye. This is more like a confession, or perhaps, an admission of loss and of hubris, even in the appearance of success. 

It's taken me a while to tell the story of that day, and the events that followed, because I am still reluctant to discuss, even in a semi-anonymous blog, the burden it placed on me for every event after. Telling this story means sharing the reality of what it meant to push beyond my limits. But this year would not have been the same without that ride so, perhaps, the story needs telling. Because if this blog is meant to be an account of my experiences, then this ride is an essential part of the accounting. But be warned - I may delete this post any day. Denial is a seductive temptress.