La Tortue

Qualify for PBP.

alexaschwanden

It's fun.

FrenchFit 

Well, I think randonneuring is sort of cool, they have my respect, but if you were really looking for some balance:

1. Self falgellation is not my thing.
2. I don't need anyone's medals.
3. Don't these people have something better to do with their time/lives?
4. I don't like handlebar bags, even Acorns.
5. I don't like driving to events.
6. The women with great butts and skins suits are not randonneurs.
7. Stopping to collect receipts or get my card punched is insulting.
8. You put a Cat 2 climb at the end of an 80 mile ride, really?
9. It is effing dangerous.
10. I ride my ride, not someone else's route.

Homeyba

What an interesting combination of myths and non-reasons. Maybe we should visit these for the benefit of someone new to the sport who might venture through and read it.


1. Self falgellation is not my thing. ?flagellation?? Myth. I don't think I've ever seen anyone whipping themselves with an olive branch on a brevet. If you happen to be in some kind of cycling shape (like 75-80% randoneurs) it isn't any kind of a sufferfest. The sport wouldn't be growing like it has if hurt like that.

2. I don't need anyone's medals. Non-reason. Nothing wrong with that, you don't have to buy them. I stopped buying them after the first year or two.

3. Don't these people have something better to do with their time/lives? Non-reason. Some people think that riding their bike isn't a waste of time. Seems odd to be on a long distance cycling forum with that attitude. In fact, many successful randoneurs ride less than 6,000 miles per year. Are there some out there who have no lives and ride 20k miles a year? Sure, but they are by far the minority.

4. I don't like handlebar bags, even Acorns. Myth. Is there a rule that says you have to have a handlebar bag? I think it's safe to say that bikes with handlebar bags are actually a minority at most brevets though I think they are becoming more popular.

5. I don't like driving to events. Non-reason. You can ride your bike to the starts if you like. I have.

6. The women with great butts and skins suits are not randonneurs. Myth (except the skin suit part). Apparently you've never actually done a brevet.

7. Stopping to collect receipts or get my card punched is insulting. Non-reason Really???? You're grasping here.

8. You put a Cat 2 climb at the end of an 80 mile ride, really? Non-reason. I can name a hundred rides that do that that aren't even brevets. Since most brevets start at 120 miles I'm not sure what your point is. I know a 1200km ride that has a Cat 1 climb 850kms into the ride. Most 1200ks have around 5k-6k of climbing for every 100 miles. Challenging but not outrageous by any means.

9. It is effing dangerous. Myth. Show my your statistics that prove this.

10. I ride my ride, not someone else's route. I would have just stuck with this myself. It's not something you want to do or is beyond you or whatever. No need to make stuff up and inflate my already overinflated ego by telling my how beyond difficult and dangerous my hobby is.

Steamer

Hmm. It doesn't sound like they have your respect.

Have you given the sport a try? If not, perhaps you should. It's only half as evil as you think. (just joking, I'm a rando agnostic...)

StephenH

Some comments on the above:
Start time- brevets are scheduled in advance and have a set start time. Permanents are rides you arrange, with a start time of your choosing (or your buddy's choosing, if someone else is arranging it.) And for me, perms are about 2/3 of the rando mileage I do. It's kind of a moot point, as I'm flexible on start time anyway.
Driving time- If you live in a metropolitan area of any size, have a keen interest in randonneuring, but are hours away from the nearest club, consider starting your own operation in your area. The first step would be to organize some perm routes that are suitable for use as brevets later on. And hopefully, they're good enough routes that folks from the other club will want to come ride them with you. If you just don't like driving to biking events, that'll be pretty limiting unless you just happen to live in a real nest of cyclists.
Women- Our local club is blessed to have a number of vary active ladies in it (several of the highest-mileage rando ladies in the country are in this area.) I really enjoy riding with them. They don't wear skinsuits and they're mostly around my age (40's, 50's), but they are generally very nice & fun people that add a lot to the social aspects of a ride. I understand rando clubs in some other areas are not so lucky. On the last ride I did (yesterday), there were 5 women and 3 guys in the group I was riding with.
Routes & Hazard- many of our rando routes are actually routes formerly used by some of the local bike clubs. The local bike clubs tend to have more urban routes, which in my mind, are the more dangerous, whereas the rando routes tend to be the more rural routes, which are considerably more scenic and safer.

skiffrun

Why am I an randonneur? / Why do I do this rando thing?

Because of days like yesterday.

unterhausen

I think randonneuring is hard enough that I don't actively recruit people to do it. The fact that I do it probably does make people think about doing it themselves. Setting up a couple permanents are definitely on my to-do list.

The funny thing is that for me, 200k is probably the hardest distance. With few exceptions, once I hit 100 miles I'm good to go. When I finally realized that was happening every ride it was very empowering. I remember my first 300k and realizing that I only had 60 miles and feeling like I could ride forever, that will stick with me. The feeling that I rode way the hell out somewhere in the boonies and I'm going to have to ride back under my own power is a little scary, no doubt. But now I have confidence that I can do it.


My history is that I read an article about PBP in Bicycling or Bike World back in the '70s. It stuck with me as something that would be neat to do. I actually was hung up a little about lights. I started randonneuring in 2008 when I realized I was going to have to get in a lot better shape to ride PBP.

I was just looking at the route of the TC1200k. It goes from Greensboro N.C. to up near my childhood home in Virginia and back on the first day. If you had asked me if you could do that in one day when I was racing, I would have thought it was crazy. Now it looks like a difficult day, but doable. I wish I had realized that back then, looks like a great ride.

FrenchFit 

Someone needs a hug?

You got girls with great butts on your brevets? Where the heck are you riding?

Actually, my line about receipts and punches is genuinely felt. Apparently it is assumed you will cheat or can't be trusted to recognize your milestone, hence your ride is invalid unless you can prove you played fair. Personally, I find this a disgusting aspect of randonneuring, the sport has no honor.

bmike

so, you shouldn't answer 'why are you a randonneur' then, as clearly the BS and formality (as you say) are a part of the whole, otherwise you are just riding your bike (or racing, or doing a tri, or touring, or riding an alley cat, or whatever...)

also, most of the things on the list don'r require riding a bike, yet here we are, on bikeforums.

thebulls

Name any human activity where there is no human who has ever cheated. Doesn't exist.

Name any amateur sport (we're talking "sport" here, not "Just Riding My Bike Around") that does not have rules and that does not have an enforcement system for those rules. Similarly, doesn't exist. In fact, the difference between "sport" and "JRMBA" or "Just going for a run" or "Just kicking a ball around in my backyard" or whatever is ... rules. And rules with no enforcement system are not rules. The enforcement system need not be complex, it can be as simple as "It's my ball and I make the rules." But there are always rules and there is always an enforcement system in any sport.

Of course, there's no reason in the world to do anything other than "JRMBA" if that's what you like and if rules are a turn-off. Just don't go around saying that rando is somehow unique in having rules and an enforcement system and that this is somehow insulting to you and means that the sport (and therefore its participants) have no honor.

bmike

the only rule that frenchfit seems to want is 'if you are female you must be attractive (for me) to ride behind'.
seriously?


the whole idea of sport, outside of just screwing around, is to have a common playing field to test oneself against, or against others.
imagine a new rules brevet. start when you want, ride the route you want. ride the distance you want. finish when you want.
sounds like every day can be a brevet, and there are people out there being randonneurs and they don't even know it. like yesterday, when i did a short dirt road loop, and saw all those other people out (without handlebar bags) riding. i bet they were on a brevet!

look at that damned football (soccer)!
why the rectangular field, and those goals? why, it has no honor, when i can just say that i 'scored'.

Steamer

Indeed, however I was addressing Nick's invitiation to answer in the negative. (the PS in his original post).

I took that invite as a recognition that either type of response (yea or nay), can potentially reveal something about the reasons why folks participate in rando.

StephenH

Actually, there is a good bit of the "Honor System" in randonneuring, even with the controls and receipts- which you may not realize if you haven't done it much.

Perhaps a bigger test of character is how you treat your fellow riders, though. If you dismiss them for failure to have attractive butts and wear skin suits, you're pretty much missing the point anyway. If you're actually a strong rider, you should be in front of the group, not behind it.

unterhausen

hate to be pedantic, but everyone can be a randonneur. I was watching a French movie and a child asked an adult why someone built a cabin in the woods. The answer was it was for "randonneurs." In this case, it meant hikers.

Saying that randonneuring has no honor because you have to have your card signed is a little ridiculous. My experience is that there is some room for forgiveness if you screw that up. It does take some time to do, same with keeping on a specific course. I think it's nice to be forced to talk to people along the route.

FrenchFit 

You keep your own score in golf, you call your opponents hits out in tennis, those are two that come to mind immediately. Sure people can cheat, sometimes do cheat, but it's not assumed they will cheat.

Whatever, you don't need to internalize this matter. The OP jokingly asked for the other side of the story, and if you don't like hearing it maybe you should get off the computer, yo.

Steamer

A reaffirming experience? Tell us about it. Stories with pictures get bonus points.

bmike

yo,

chasing a ball around the grass with your buddies is sort of like 'going for a ride', or maybe even 'going for a group ride'.
entering a tournament - that would be more like randonneuring, where, you know, you all agree to play by certain rules, all pay a nominal free, all get put up on a leader board, and its a place where maybe the 1 or 3 other guys with you aren't your buddies, the beer is only in the clubhouse, and people actually do care if you lose a ball to the ducks or kick it around that tree to have a better shot at the green.


maybe we can call it friendoneering or something. then it would be more like weekend golf.
(although i knew many a golfer who were far more competitive and spent far more $$ on their sport than many cyclists i know...)

skiffrun

No photos, but I don't need any bonus points at the moment, anyway.
The reaffirmation is probably meaningless to any other than me, but:
https://irregularveloadventures.blogs...9-km-perm.html

unterhausen

you know you're in trouble when someone says they have "no legs"

skiffrun

Much easier to keep up with Tim when he has "no legs". If he had had "legs", and he and Ian weren't thinking "do nothing to risk ToC", I would never have been able to keep up.

The only time I can remember "catching" Tim was on a 105-km ride when he expressed "I've ridden 450-miles each of the previous three weeks; I think I'm ti-ared."

Homeyba

Na, I'm good.

California mostly but I've ridden all over the world and I don't think California has a monopoly on great butts. I will tell you that unless you are a really good rider all you'll see of some of them is their shapely callipygian disappearing in to the distance.

Don't know what to tell you there. To be honest, if you don't care about the medals and recognition you could just show up at a brevet and ride it. They're on public roads. Nobody is going to stop you.

surreycrv 

I agree with that. I had an interesting chat with fellow riders after a 1200. The discussion turned towards information controls, specifically how they were untimed according to them. I had a problem with that, a control is a control. Yes, there is a fast running clock sometimes , at the discretion of the ride director. But all controls should be notated as to the actual time you arrived. To even think about cheating is to cheat yourself, and to demean the other riders on the same course.

skiffrun

"You keep your own score in golf"
Not really. The only time you keep your own score in golf is when it is equivalent to a bicycle JRA. As soon as it becomes a real competition, your opponent or a judge is keeping your score, or keeping a duplicate score, and if you sign your score-card with a wrong stroke count on it, you are disqualified.

"you call your opponents hits out in tennis"
Again, true if you are engaging in a pick-up match or in the early rounds of small tournaments and organized competitions. However, once the level of the tournament gets a bit more serious, judges make those calls.

Ditto every sport I can think of, including basketball, baseball, softball, soccer, hockey.


That "[t]he OP jokingly asked for the other side of the story" is sorta' true -- I'm not sure I think the word "jokingly" is the right adjective -- but your response did not show anything "joking" in it. It seemed to be nothing but vitriol. Usually I skate over the vitriol-filled posts because the writer seems mostly interested in having "fun" by making others angry. Some people do that in person -- I can think of a cyclist in NC that does that -- but it is easier to do on the big interweb -- no chance anyone will literally bash you over the head. Homey sometimes will virtually bash one over the head on here.


Finally, anyone with the word "French" in their self-chosen handle that complains about rules -- that is a contradiction in terms. Since 1792, the French have been all about "scientific rules"; prior to 1792, the French were overwhelmed with "capricious rules". So ... they've always been about rules.

Embrace your handle.

Homeyba

Do I do that???? I try to be nice. Now I'm sad...