Returning to randonneuring in New England

This weekend will mark my official return to randonneuring, the relatively non-competitive style of long distance cycling that has been around since the end of the nineteenth century, tracing its origins to Italy and France.

I got interested in randonneuring events early in graduate school when my girlfriend at the time had a very odd roommate named Mike who had a passion for the sport and had completed the 1200km Paris-Brest-Paris a few years before. Mike was into safety meetings and riding the Marin Headlands on week days. I had way too flexible of a schedule and was often up for ticking off the miles along the Pacific coastline with him while everyone else was at work.

The San Francisco Randonneurs were a wonderful group to ride with and begin to explore California by riding longer and longer distances. I got up to a 300K, about 190 miles. It was a great ride, but also made me question why I wanted to ride such long distances. Why end with sore ankles and a desperate need to get in a hot tub to ease the muscles when we could just stop at 60 miles and have a beer?

I'm a much better cyclist now and ride a more appropriate bike for the work, so I'm looking forward to getting back at it with The New England Randonneurs, a very well-run group based in Boston and Vermont that hosts a variety of rides in both Massachusetts and Vermont, dipping into NY, CT, and NH at various points.

Brevet card. Sometimes it seems that half the fun of randonneuring is receiving actual pieces of paper in the mail that are not a result of failing to turn on e-delivery at my bank.

This Saturday my teammates Hans, Sam, and I will depart Hartford at 6am and aim to make it to downtown Portland, Maine at 6am on Sunday morning--about 226 miles in 24 hours. That's plenty of time to do the ride, but the rules of this event--what randonneurs call a Fleche, modeled after an original, social, Easter ride organized by Velocio in France, requires that you complete the last 20km after hour 22 to discourage rushing to the end and encouraging (requiring really) longer breaks. I really like the idea of riding from the city in which I live to another city, albeit a much hipper one, over the course of a day. I'm lucky that teammates were also up for a Hartford start.

2/3 of our team.

I attempted a Fleche (minimum 360km, must ride it over 24 hrs) in California with three friends, several years ago; we tried to ride from the foothills of the Sierras, through Napa and Sonoma counties, out to the ocean, and home to San Francisco. We didn't make it when one of our team members started to have some knee issues and we were tempted by the prospect of abandoning at Calistoga Hot Springs.

My California Fleche team: Jill, Jade, Kelly, Justin, plus large gold miner (in Auburn, CA)

There are no hot springs between Hartford and Portland, but there are a lot of good places to stop for food and drink. Our first stop will be Chickpea Diner in Worcester for brunch, about 70 miles in, just the first segment of a very big day on the bike. There are five other teams riding different routes to Portland and we'll all get together for some food and a beer on Sunday morning.

Team 'Bash Bish Brothers' will be leaving from the Maple Ave Dunkin' Donuts in the South End this Saturday if you want to come wish us luck and grab a very early donut.

- Justin

I'm riding this VO Pass Hunter I built up this winter. It has been a great bike.

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It is hot

Dario-distorion

It is hot, but I still like to ride a bike. So, I go slow. It seems to work out well. I rode around in a cotton tshirt this evening and I didn't even sweat through it.

And, I had soup for breakfast.

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Giant

I live in the end of Hartford with giant grinders. I try to follow suit by putting giant tires on my bike. A little more than a year ago I bought this lot of a couple dozen (or maybe more) tires. There were a lot of downhill tires, which aren't much use to me because the front fork of my Stumpjumper is the only place with clearance for them. None the less, I really enjoy putting a giant tire on there. For awhile, I had a super tacky 2.5" Maxxis High Roller. It was pretty good, but I knew I could do better. A couple months ago while wasting time on eBay, I spotted 2.8" Bontrager Big Earls at a good price. So, I bought them. I finally took it out yesterday and it's quite the experience. And, it has surprisingly low rolling resistance. However, I think I've met my match in terms of tire width with rim brakes (or at least V-brakes), because under heavy braking, the left arm hits the outside knobbies. Read more!

Critical Mass July 2008 and afterparty

I think there were somewhere around 35 people with a good mix of new faces and regulars as well as everyone in between. Two tandems! One bride with veil. And no flats this time! I really like riding in the parks, though the streets have been fine lately; very few cars beeping horns, no death threats etc. We have been much better about corking intersections by talking to the drivers while blocking side traffic. A smile and explanation works wonders and 99.99% of cars are mad cool with the bicycles riding by in our mass. Critical Mass isn’t a protest…it’s a celebration!

Please y’all, please stay stopped at red lights when we arrive as a group and have to stop! It’s a great chance to regroup the ride and keep the mass together for safety and traffic. Let everyone catch up and redensify the group; no stragglers trying to pass cars to get back to everyone. We all seem to understand keeping the group together when the light turns in the middle, but don’t take off on a red! We have to be responsible for each other and look out for each other as a group. Taking off from a red light during a slow section of traffic will only split the group when the traffic picks up in a few seconds. Please think about this and remember, just because a few take off, you can make a better decision and stay!

Check karma’s post from a few days ago for the play by play. I’m just soapboxing this one and posting lots of eye candy.

By the way, why is it that teenagers in the South End seem to yell much more foul shit at us than any other neighborhood? Why? What is the appropriate response to a porch of kids yelling, “White Power!!!” That happens like every single ride down that way.

Well, here's a few photos to get started. I think I tend to take photos of people I know cuz I am horrible with names and spelling; so gimme a hollerrrr if i butchered yer name or got it wrong or something like that.

There's a crapload more if ya click on READ MORE!


Carole, AmyZ and Lindsey chillin' in the park before the ride.


Franklin Avenue.


I love this photo! ChillWill (me!), my 40 and the always fashionable Mary Lynn! So classy.


Krash felt comfortable leaving his Bianci unlocked in the friendly crowd of bikers. Sucka! About 40 minutes later he had to turn his back and go inside to pee and we quickly moved into action and relocated his bike someplace much safer. It took him a bit to find it, even though it was the shortest tree on the block!


I wish we did this twice a month. Mid-month ice cream ride anyone? yeah baby!

click below for many more photos:





More Franklin Avenue


Ben, brakeless and ahead of the pack in Cedar Hill Cemetary


Critical Wedding!


Find the beer!


Bianca is very safe. She drinks with a helmet. After what happened to Krash's Bianci, i don't blame Bianca for playing it safe!


Cheers mates!


Robin and Steve discussing his warm 40!?!?


Rich is like, "No Fair! i don't smoke!"


We know how to dress in The Beat.








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Critical Mass: Southbound

So while most of us will still be fuming from the post I put up earlier today we can still appreciate the fact that our own (albeit much smaller, yet growing) Critical Mass was celebrated this past Friday with little police fanfare.

The crew met up for the standard pre-ride libations and found the riverfront well flooded...

We sat and watched the river race by full of debris from upstream and waited for it to wash away Will's ride...

After a little while we headed over to the park and gathered our ranks.

Click "Read More" because there is much more after the break!!!

The weather was gorgeous and we looked to have the solid 30+ riders we have averaged the past couple months (tell your friends folks we'd love to see more!)

Joe agrees!


So does Ben!

After everyone was assembled we headed South out of Bushnell Park onto Elm St. and into Pulaski Circle. Its always fun to do things on your bike that people only usually do in cars so it was inevitable that the crew would have a good roundabout in the rotary...

Around...


And around...


And around...

Until we took a quick glimpse at the street signs. Lets see, New York, New Haven, Springfield, no thanks. The Bushnell, Hartford Hospital, and Trinity, yes please.


We headed down Hudson St. Turned onto Jefferson, and then cut across to Maple Ave.

When I first saw this shot I thought Medusa was chasing me but realized through the blurriness that it was only T.J. looking super mean on the tandem.

After rolling down Maple Ave. we turned onto Franklin and made our way through the South End...

Your standard over-the-shoulder-shot (yes mom I wore my helmet)...

And what this? A bike lane?


I do appreciate the attempt but the whole lack of connectivity of Hartford's bikeways is at times frustrating. We headed down Franklin Ave. until we neared the Hartford line where we turned onto Victoria Rd. This little residential street headed straight into Goodwin Park and was lined with people who waved and honked cheerfully as we passed.




After heading down Victoria we cruised through Goodwin Park (check another Hartford Park off the list)...



We promised blurry pics... I think im just moving so fast the camera can't pick it up.

After departing Goodwin Park we turned South on Maple Ave. and headed into Cedar Hill Cemetery.


Its a gorgeous cemetery equal in aesthetics to any of Hartford's parks.

Here is Ben soaking in the views of the pond.


Dead people. Not a bad final resting spot (if your views are in accordance with this belief).

We rode around Cedar Hill for a bit traversing up and down the rolling hills. The living parted from the dead and we cut through Trinity...


and popped out on Broad St...


One of my favorite parts of Critical Mass is getting a bunch of poeple into parts of the city that they might otherwise never get to go to. As such, I loved seeing this picture of the crew at the intersection of Park and Broad...


We headed back towards Bushnell park and caught a glimse of a group taking wedding photos, nice spot!


And finally cruised under our own Arc de triomphe.


Par usual post-ride drinks were held at a local watering hole which always appeals to the anti-auto, biking crowd...

While I cant support their beer choice, I like their argument.

We even caught a glimpse of two Hartford bike cops NOT riding on the sidewalk but rather in the middle of the road, perhaps carrying out their own mini-crit. I think they were jealous.


After a few beers Kenny's bike, which hadn't been locked, took off and climbed into a tree. we were kind enough to throw a u-lock on it so it would attempt any other shenanigans.


He explained that this happens a lot and that we shouldn't worry about it. We tossed back a couple more beers and faded on our individual ways into the night. See you all next month!

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The Scenic Commute

One sunny morning last week I took the East Hartford route to work and cruised the riverfront in between crossing two bridges. This is only slightly longer than my short commute and i get to ride along the river and avoid Wethersfield Avenue's traffic, potholes and prostitutes. Cap Ave, Bushnell Park, Constitution Plaza and over the Founders Bridge and down, around, under the overpass and over the dike, tight hairpin to the left to avoid i84 and yer all downhill to the riverfront. Then its just a sweet ride on the greenway next to all these great, big ‘ol river trees and of course the river itself.


Just after passing under the Founders I saw this massive horse. Freakin’ Huge!


Here’s some beta about President Lincoln, also a towering presence!



South of the boat ramp the trail weaves through trees whilst other hang over the river, trying to stay rooted into the eroding bank.

Two more photos after the jump! read more!






City line. Everything here is so clean and pretty.


A nicer shot of the city. Since none of these pictures were blurry, I thought slightly askew would suffice

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