The Cyclists Club of Paris
Thanks to Jim in Minneapolis, I’ve just joined my first cycle club, the Seattle International Randonneurs! These folks look a bit nuts to me so I’m betting I’ll fit right in and learn a bit about cycling and myself in the process.
Randonneurs typically ride extremely long distances in one go. They ride all night, sleep little, and I suppose, eat a lot. Typically, during the season, you would progressively ride 200k, 300k, 400k, 600k and maybe go for a 1000k or 1200k rides.
Let me put this in perspective: last month I rode a total of 675k. These folks ride that over a weekend.
Unfortunately, it is hard to do club rides with folks in Seattle when you live in Boston so I won’t get to wear a pillbox hat anytime soon. Vic and I’ve just missed the start of the Brevet season. They’ve already moved onto 300k and 400k rides, even here in the Boston area, and we’re certainly not in shape to jump right in. Still, it gives me something to think about with the goal of qualifying for the Paris-Brest-Paris classic in 2007.
The picture is from a book my mother found at a garage sale in Texas called A History of Bicycles. It’s a bit boring and manages to look as though it was printed in 1972 though it’s from 1992 due to the terrible type face. However, the pictures are fantastic!
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2 Comments
Hey thanks for the plug. I like your site and I’ll link you shortly. That ought to increase your hit count by 2 hits per week, minimum.
I’m hoping to do my first brevet series (200, 300, 400, 600K) starting on Saturday with the newly formed Twin Cities Randonneuring club. But fate intervened and gave me a beautiful baby daughter 5 days ago, which was at least 8 days later than expected. Now my wife and the baby are just home from the hospital with the 200K coming on Saturday. Still not sure if I will do it. I doubt I’ll do the whole series this year anyway. I’ve been told that it’s best for beginners to start with the 200, 300, and 400, and to only attempt the 600 if they really feel up to it. I might just end up doing the 300 and 400, but I’m not making any promises.
The Seattle club is sort of famous. Their members include Kent Peterson and Jan Heine, who are well known in the small circle of randonneurs. These two keep webpages that are quite informative.
Kent’s page:
http://www.mile43.com/peterson/rando.html
A 400K ride report from Jan:
http://www.vintagebicyclepress.com/400kstory.html
And another guy whose writing I like, Commuter Dude, has been chronicling his brevet series on a single speed.
http://www.commuterdude.com/
Hello Jim,
Yep, I saw that your first brevet rides were timed with your recent delivery. It makes riding this weekend so audacious! Congrats!
There’s no way I’ll actually get any of the club rides in this year. There is a 200 next weekend in New Jersey and we’ll be down there any way for the bird migration, but I think it would wreck the reason we were going down there. I am not in shape to do a distance any longer than 200 right now and even that would probably make me very unhappy and sore for several days.
The Seattle group starts another series in the late summer, but I’ll still be on the road and doubt that I will arrive in Seattle until the first of October. At the earliest, it has to be next year’s biking goal if I can’t raise the cross-Asia leg money over the winter. I really like the idea of qualifying for the PBP. A summer trip to bike in France would be swell. It is the best place for biking!
I love the old-fashioned sweetness of this and the stamp cards, secret controles, wool jerseys, and camaraderie.
I’ve looked at Kent’s page and will take a look at the other links you’ve sent. Thanks again.
I sure hope that I get some kind of little membership card soon in the mail. I can’t wait to do a 200 so that besides being a bike tourer, I can honestly say I am a Randonneur!
It looks just swell. Thanks again!