Randonneuring

I've been getting some questions in comments, e-mail and in real life about what exactly this "200k Permanent" stuff is. The name of the sport is Randonneuring. Randonneurs USA is the sanctioning body here in the US. Randonnées take several shapes depending on the organizers, but there are two main flavors: Audax and Allure Libre.

I don't know much about Audax other than it's a group effort where everyone tries to stick together at exactly the same speed, but Allure Libre seems more common in the US. That's where everyone is on their own personal ride. Even though everyone participating is hitting the same places, it's not a competition. Sure, a rider might see someone ahead and take chase, but there is no first place or last place. Randonnée roughly translates to "ramble": The goal is to complete the course from end to end in the time alotted. There's only those who complete and those who do not.

Controls
To make sure no short cuts are taken, controls are put into place. These checkpoints can be staffed by event organizers, they can be a store that you get a time-stamped reciept from, or they can be information controls where, for example, you are asked to answer a question that can only be answered if you're right there. "What's the mile marker on the side of the road?" "According to the sign, how far is it to Joplin?" On some events, a "secret" control is also added, which you may not know about ahead of time.

These controls have an "open" time and a "close" time. If you hammer it and get there too early, you'll find yourself waiting. If you slack off or just can't keep a decent pace, you risk arriving at the control too late and timing out.

Randonees
Usually, randonneurs talk about Brevets. Some may use "randonee" and "brevet" interchangeably, but brevets are just one type of randonee.

A Populaire is a casual ride of less than 200km, often around 100-150km. These are often used for training and recruiting others to the sport of randonneuring. It's not really a sanctioned ride, but the event coordinator might draft up a cue sheet and set up controls like you'd find on a permanent.

Brevets are organized events that are always 200 kilometers (120 miles or so) or longer. Accomplished randonneurs will often participate in the Super Randonneur series: 200k, 300k, 400k and 600k. Upon successful completion of this series in a season, you get a Super Randonneur award. You're also then qualified to ride in a 1200k event such as the Paris-Brest-Paris.

The two events I've participared in so far are called Permanents. Permanent routes can be 200k or longer. These are standing routes that RUSA has certified which can be ridden at any time, provided that a permanent coordinator knows you're doing it and all agreed-upon paperwork has been completed. My local permanent coordinator (Spencer Klaassen) completed a nearly-3000-kilometer permanent route (Pony Express Permanent) with another local man. CommuterDude has some coverage and links about that one.

Regardless, each participant carries a route cue sheet and a card onto which timestamps are logged.

Rules
The full rules for RUSA-sanctioned events are found on the RUSA web site, but in general, they stress self-sufficient riding. Some rules that might seem offputting to "normal" road cyclists that are used to club-sponsored "centuries" and longer charity rides like the MS-150:

• You're supposed to ride as if you're alone. Drafting, getting road-side service or nourishment from someone and things of that nature can get you disqualified.
• You can stop at shops or stores for yourself, but not for someone else.
• If you leave the route (on purpose: to get food, or on accident: wrong turn) you must go back to that same spot to re-enter the route.
  
• You're allowed to get outside help at a control. You can call a friend to bring you a new wheel or some tools, for example.
  

I'm slowly getting hooked on the idea of randonneuring. I'd eventually like to do self-supported touring, and I don't have a whole lot of interest in high-speed competitive cycling sports. From what I've seen so far, you find a lot of commuters and tourers that are into Rando.

If this kind of thing interests you, look for a local RUSA chapter. If you're near Kansas City, I can get you in contact with the people you should know. I'd like to ride with you (or maybe 2 miles behind you?) on my next 200k!

200k Attempt - Part Two

Lansing came and went with a few nice downhills that I knew I'd loathe on the way back. The fascinating architecture on the Veterans Administration's Lansing Campus -- and the old Governor's House would provide a little visual and mental stimulus after seeing nothing but brown fields, barren after harvest, and hearing nothing but buffeting wind.

Winds out of the Northwest were being attenuated by trees and structures as we transitioned into Leavenworth, which sits just on the back door of Lansing. I tried to get a few good shots of the various correctional facilities, but I just didn't have my mind on the camera today. A westward slog into the baleful headwind would take us up to K-92 to cross the Missouri River. We finally get a slight downhill and a decent tail wind for the next few miles.


Some of the expansion joints on this bridge were treacherous enough to eat a wheel.


This was our third checkpoint: an Information Control where a photograph containing the information needed, or your initials and a date stamp (and the information needed hand-written) serve as proof on the honor system that you made it to this control. Note, the windbreaker over my panniers has been drying out since QuikTrip when I changed windbreakers. I'd eventually soak through the second one by the time we got to Weston, but this one had dried out. My panniers look stuffed, but there's just stuff sitting in the bottom of them, poofing them out. I should have probably tightened the straps up and folded stuff instead of rolling it, but I doubt any of this would have saved me today.


I got no pictures from Weston MO other than the ones I already posted. This was coming back through Leavenworth.


Yes, I did just GLOSS OVER everything on the trip between this railroad shack, Weston, and back to Leavenworth (save for the photos I posted live from the road) - Maybe someday I'll get back to that. There were some good times, and some of the worst suffering of the whole trip I'm leaving out.

Once Keith and I got back onto the VA campus again, I was certain that I was jeopardizing his success. I told him to do what he had to do. Drop me and don't look back. Don't stop. Don't worry. Just get to QuikTrip as fast as he could, get his card signed then call me.

A while down the road, I found myself off course. I could get back on course. I knew where I was, but there was no way I was hitting QuikTrip in time. I was more drained at 82 miles than I was at the end of the 134-mile Permanent I had completed. I didn't have 40 more miles in me. The climb from Holliday to Midland, the one from Midland to 95th... Those alone would do me in. I couldn't even get back home on my own power.

Defeated, I called my wife to pick me up, then rode to the nearest highway where it'd be easy to find me. Then, my phone started acting up. It would reboot whenever it recieved an incoming call. This was frustrating my wife who was trying to get clear directions. Fortunately I realized what was going on and called her back.

Shortly after she picked me up, it was 2:56 and my phone rebooted. There's only one person it could be: Keith... and 2:56 is a mere 4 minutes from the Control closure at QuikTrip. I called Keith. Indeed, it was him, and he'd made it by almost as narrow a margin as I had thought. This confirms that even had I not gotten off course, the 200k was simply not in the cards for me today.

Post-Mortem:
When things go wrong, I analyze them. Where I come from, we call it a Post-Mortem. In forensics, post-mortem exams are things like autopsy and the like, to determine the cause of death. In IT (and other project-centered groups), it's much the same. Take it apart and see where the failure occurred. Here's the obvious list:

• Endurance. I had more than 750 miles under my belt in the 30 days prior to the last 200k. I had 300 miles under my belt in the 30 days prior to this one.
• Hydration. Drinking was nearly intolerable between the temperature and flavor of my drinks this time.
• Inexperience. I've never done more than 30 miles below 40 degrees before. It requires a lot more attention to balancing clothing and riding effort to stay warm. I was over-packed and under-prepared.

Having said that, I learned a lot on the road today that I will directly and immediately apply to my daily commute, and I wouldn't consider the ride a failure. My goal was to put some serious miles on the bike today to help me make the year-end goal of 5,000 miles a little easier to attain. Like ripping an adhesive bandage off quickly, I put myself through a lot of pain today. Because of that, I am now within 250 miles of my goal: That's only about 10 miles per day for the rest of the month. It's not getting any warmer outside, but I think I'm in striking distance!

Oh yeah. Why am I writing this tonight? I spent a lot of time on the brink of bonk, and a lot of time with my heart rate pegged into the 170s for sustained periods of time. I'm still working on getting re-hydrated. My heart still hasn't settled down. I'm wicked tired but my body's doing things that make it impossible to sleep. So here I am.

200k Attempt - Part One

It went kind of like this:

I had 2600 last night. Usually, this keeps me out until 11pm or midnight. Not last night. I got home around 8:00PM and started preparing stuff: Making PB sandwiches, charging batteries, checking the forecast, dumping out the panniers and packing them with what I wanted to carry along. That kind of stuff. I also had to do a load of laundry so I could take a spare base layer with me in case I started to soak through one. Charging batteries and laundry kept me up until about 10:00. I got to sleep around 10:30.

I could have gone with one pannier, but decided to balance the bike. With me in pannier #1:

• All the tools I carry on my commute: CO2 inflater and 4 spare carts, inner tube, patches, tire levers, multi-tool, Zogics CitraWipes
• A pair of two-year-old, never-used Hot Hands chemical warmers
• Five half-PB sandwiches (folded over with PB)
• A small bag of assorted crackers
  

Pannier 2:

• 32-ounce flask of Grape Gatorade - BLECH! I hate this flavor. Never again.
• Dry clothes: windbreaker, wicking long t-shirt & long johns, cycling shorts, gloves, socks

Since I moved the tools to the pannier, I re-purposed my Trek SideLoader wedge as a camera carrier for my small point-and-shoot, and had a Polar Bottle (water) and stainless bottle (coffee) in the bottle cages.

I could have traveled a bit lighter. I didn't touch the spare gloves, shorts, or base-layer. I didn't need all the sandwiches, we ate a hearty meal in Weston. Two or three would have been fine. While I didn't use any of my tools, I would not do this without them.

I woke up at 3:30 - A solid 5 hours of sleep. Not bad considering that's about all I get in a normal day and I had gotten almost TWICE that Thursday-into-Friday trying to kill off my sinus bug. 3 days worth of sleep in 2 days is a good thing.

At 3:30, the National Weather Service site was showing hourly stats from 3:00. Temps near 40. Wind out of the southwest. PERFECT! At 4:20, I took my bike down to the Explorer. My wife rode with me to Control #1 (7-11 in Olathe) and left with the truck when c-Dawg showed up. At this time, temps had fallen into the mid-30s and the wind had gone from stiff southwest to light variable. We dawdled until 5:00 sharp, then raided 7-11 to get our permanent route sheet signed and a date-stamped reciept.

Variable winds continued until we hit Renner. Then, we had a NW wind that was probably gusting to 15 MPH or so. It was enough to make stretches of Renner seem deceptively steep. I pointed out a house to c'Dude that I think is a decoy on Meritex property. Its windows were open despite being near freezing outside, and there's always a light on in what you'd think is the living room. ALWAYS. I'm pretty sure it was built on top of a vertical mine elevator, as it's sitting directly on top of a re-purposed limestone mine-turned-office/warehouse complex: The same complex the Lenexa Midnight ride goes through.

Miles tick by and we ride through a rat-maze of roundabouts, then get stopped just south of Shawnee Mission Park in the cool of pre-dawn, noticing how the whispy cirrus clouds emit pink hues against a sapphire sky while we wait for our turn at the traffic light. A dive down Renner towards Midland made me recall with certain fondness the way Meyer Blvd banks and descends westward from Research Medical Center. After some slogging, I'm greeted with another merry downhill run, one which would send my bike coasting upwards of 40 MPH without any input on the cranks, dumping us out onto Holliday Drive. The clouds are moving in.

Squarely a North wind now: evaporative cooling off of the Kaw River would send chills through my pants and into my legs. The biting, sub-freezing blast was also working its way through my shoes and wool socks.

This was a long exposure I took at a landscaping place. That's how dark it was out here. I had to crank up the levels just to get any detail out of it. It was here that I'd rip open the chemical warmers and add a layer of socks to my feet. It would take almost 20 miles for my toes to feel normal again.


Shortly after that, we encountered a few more cyclists out enjoying the (relatively) nice December weather. It ended up being Badger (whom I've ridden with quite a few times) and Pat, a friend of his. They rode near and beside us for the better part of 15 miles, making conversation. By "us", I mean c'Dude. I was already starting to slow down a bit. We eventually made it to Control #2, QuikTrip, about 33 miles in.


We wove our way through some of KCK's residential turf and slogged a hill on Georgia Ave. that I'd probably give a firm 17% grade if you asked me to guess. A little beagle followed me up the hill slowly, and gave playful chase to us as we veered northward and took off toward the rollers of Wyandotte Lake Park.

This was how I spent most of my ride: In No-Man's-Land, A good 1/4 to 2 miles behind Keith.


At some point, riding through the terrain shown above, 10 miles started to feel like 30, and I started to lose track of time. On up-hills, my legs were becoming useless hunks of meat. I was approaching Bonk from dehydration, lack of electrolyte and lack of fuel. My water -- nearly freezing -- would sting my teeth after it hit my chapped lips, then sink to the very pit of my stomach with that lumpy ache like you get when you accidentally swallow an ice cube. My Gatorade was a wretched flavor that tasted like Grape Big League Chew. What little remained of my coffee was cold. I had no desire to drink, regardless how badly I knew I needed it. Perhaps 45 miles in, I'm already questioning if I have 80 more miles left in my legs today.

Keith would stop just to make sure I was still alive back there. Give me some pointers. Wait while I pinched my nose and tried to suck down as much Haterade as I could while munching on sandwiches and c-store junk food. It was here, on the curvy, shoulderless backroads somewhere near Bonner Springs and Lansing that I knew I was going to severely hinder Keith's chance at the R-12.

Read on for Part 2 or check out my mobile posts from the road.

200k Permanent Ride Report - Part 1 - Photos

I've finally gotten a little bit of sleep, but I still feel a bit hazy. I'm not going to jump to conclusions about the Randonneuring Lifestyle just yet. If you backed me into a corner right now and made me comment on it, I'd probably say "What was I thinking?! How do Rando's get any kind of a kick out of this suffering?!" - All natural reactions when you consider my current physical conditions:

• Sunburned to hell
• Knees aching
• Feet cramping
• Left hand still partially numb six hours after riding
• Butt still sore
• Nips are raw from shirt buffeting
  
• Arms, legs, abs, neck and back are stiff
• Still tired. Very Tired.

I do, however, have the clarity of mind to make a few suggestions to myself if I choose to embark on another ride that's a century or longer:

• SLEEP MOAR, Newbtard. For real.
• Wear. Sunscreen.
• Multiple hand positions: good idea. Flat bars are not your friend.
• Chafing sucks. Pick up some chamois butt'r and/or something for the nips.
  

Oh, and for the record, no one should ever mutter phrases out loud such as the following while on a distance ride (we were both guilty):

• The wind is calm
• We're making pretty good time
• It's nice that there's not much traffic out here
• etc...

Interesting things seen:

• A squished armadillo 5 miles south of Pleasanton, KS
• A 2-cent increase in fuel prices at Casey's between our two visits (only a few hours apart)
  
• The La Cygne, KS Coal-fired power plant
• An old man who thought c'Dude and I were just about the strangest humanoids in existance
  
• A trailer hauling crushed cars that lost TWO trailer tires at the same time

Without further delay, here's a Photo dump. Check out the whole album for more. I uploaded some 60 photos or so of today's adventures. There's no way I'm posting them all here.


3:30 AM at the first control checkpoint.


Awesome, hazy, foggy sunrise


La Cygne Power plant


Foggy, twisty descent


3.91 per gallon at Casey's


... a few hours later on the return trip...


Old steel bridge


The Dude


Riding on the shoulder of US-69 for a few miles.



Check out the rear driver's side wheels on this trailer.


Parked at the Pleasanton Control checkpoint


Steep grades are fun! When descending...


See?


Blue Skies.


137.0 miles.



Random Tunage:
Paul Van Dyk - Out There And Back
Flobots - Handlebars (I'm not one for much rap or R&B but the lyrics are geeky and catchy)