Randonneur bike riding on NPR

A chance to give the public another look on riding bikes on the road, no need to worship the speed kings of the Tour de France. Look inward and see what one is capable of, without drugs.

Randonneurs Are In It For The Ride, Not The Race- on NPR.com

Brown Bilenky

On a 200km brevette this weekend, I met up with a rider friend of mine and it was the first time I have seen his new bike.
This Bilenky was built as the ultimate randonneuring bicycle. The rider has logged many miles and had gone through numerous bikes contemplating what his ideal bike would be. This is what he came up with. 650b wheels, barend shifters, non-aero brake levers, numerous braze-on eyelets for racks and lowriders, and S&S couplers. One funny braze-on is for the number plate for his PBP placard, he was unable to attend this year, but there is always 2015.
I really like the brown and orange color scheme.

 "This machine goes further" is a Woody Guthrie reference

My PBP tool kit

After many years of wrenching on bikes and thousands of miles riding, this is the mini-toolkit I have come up with for randonneuring and for Paris Brest Paris. 568 grams total, about 1lb and 6oz, not too bad.
(2) cables- one shifter and one brake- 38g
tire lever- 13g
Allen hex wrench set- 75g
spoke wrench- 17g
multitool set(chain tool, 8/9/10 wrenches, little pliers)- 161g
bag of various nuts/bolts/zipties/chain master link, spare taillight batteries- 58g
Y socket wrench (8mm/9mm/10mm)
*crank tools(ta extractor and campy crank bolt tool)-143g


*Normally I don't carry the Campagnolo crank bolt wrench and TA crank arm extractor, but I do have to take off a crank to fit my Hanford in the S&S suitcase for travel, so I thought it would be best to bring the crank bolt wrench, and while I'm bringing that, I might as well bring the TA extractor, as anything is possible and it is a unique tool.

My Hanford all ready for PBP

I took my Hanford out for one of the last rides in the US before PBP, and even with a overly stocked front handlebar bag, the bike always performs flawlessly. I am now meticulously scrutinizing what will go in the handlebar bag and debating on a small rear saddle bag. I have been deciding on what tools to bring, how many inner tubes(i think I decided on 3), and I think I finally decided on arm and leg warmers, no tights.

I decided not to use a dropbag(a service offered to bring a bag to a certain checkpoint) because I feel it is a little against the spirit of self-sustained riding. This has left me with a dilemma, because I need to bring 2 spare pairs of shorts and a few pairs of socks. It might sound like a luxury, but nothing feels better than a fresh pair of shorts after riding in the same pair for 24-35 hours. I don't want to cram the clothing in the handlebar bag, and my only seat bag is way too big and I know if I had the space, I would probably start to fill it up. So I will look around work for something that might work.

I'm also thinking about posting the contents of my handlebar bag, so other randoneurs can compare. I know that I am probably bringing more tools than the average rider, but at the same time, I usually offer my services to help others if I can and the tools assist me with that.

600km post ride report

Well 4 years makes a world of difference. When I rode my last 600km, it was a qualifying ride for the 2007 PBP, and I did the ride with the New Jersey Randonneurs bike club and most of the ride was located in South New Jersey and was ridiculously flat compared to the terrain between Paris and Brest. Even with it's lack of challenging climbs, I limped across the finish line and it took a couple days of recovery before I was not in pain walking on stairs.

This year I have really made a concerted effort in training- not only with my riding but eating well and stretching. After riding 370 miles I felt great, I could have ridden many more miles. That is such an amazing feeling. As a matter of fact, even after the ride over the weekend, 3 days later, I went for a run. I am now convinced that I will succeed in France and will not be too wiped out after doing it.

I'm contemplating writing a detailed ride report, with some of the challenges in doing such distances, and commonly asked questions people ask me- what does one think about while riding a bike for 30+ hours. We'll see.

300k in Virginia last Saturday

It was an ideal day for riding on the April 21st, and Virginia was beautiful. We started the ride with less than ideal conditions though, after taking the long way there, 5 hours of driving, rather than 3. I think I ate a Snickers candy bar for dinner. To top all that, we only slept about 3 hours.

With all of that working against us, the ride started well, at a brisk 5am. Our Schmidt lights and hubs were more than sufficient for the darker than night back roads. It was my first night ride with my current setup and I was really pleased.

As day broke, we could see the landscape and knew it was going to be a very enjoyable ride. Rolling countrysides and plenty of cows to moo at and horses to neigh with.

My riding buddies were fellow Philadelphians Pat and Cecile on a custom Bilenky tandem. They borrowed an ill-fitting tandem a few weeks before to ride the 200k in Eastern Pennsylvania and decided that a tandem was the best way to go to get to Paris. Their tandem for this ride was not even painted, just primered with Bilenky written on it with magic marker! No mechanical problems for either bikes, my Jack Taylor is excellent for longer distances. No pictures of my bike yet, or me, as I am the cameraman.

The route was all rolling hills, nothing compared to the climbs we encountered on the 200k. We finished a little before 10pm, getting another chance to try out our bomb-proof lighting setups and our navigational skills at night. I was left with a slightly sore knee and some irregular sunburn patches from the irregular applications of sunblock I used. Other than that, the ride was perfect, not one missed turn(a few slight overshoots, but we always caught them), no mechanicals, food was excellent, enough water and an abundance of waving Virginians, leaving my bell ringing thumb well exercised!