Notices
Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling Do you enjoy centuries, double centuries, brevets, randonnees, and 24-hour time trials? Share ride reports, and exchange training, equipment, and nutrition information specific to long distance cycling. This isn't for tours, this is for endurance events cycling

2020 Randonnees

Old 03-04-20, 02:03 PM
  #51  
antimonysarah
Senior Member
 
antimonysarah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Medford, MA
Posts: 654

Bikes: Nishiki Bel-Air, Brompton P6L, Seven Resolute SLX, Co-motion Divide, Xtracycle RFA

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 76 Post(s)
Liked 66 Times in 33 Posts
Originally Posted by David in Maine
Thanks for the info! Looks like my plan is to do the series at the Berkshire Brevets in Westfield! 200k on 3/29--better get training!

David
Also, if you have any questions about the Boston-based series (and Vermont rides), feel free to ask me -- we've got a 200k the day before on the 28th, and a full ACP series. Plus a bunch of RUSA-accredited rides, with more coming that haven't been scheduled yet.

If you want the shiny medals, events must be ACP-accredited; RUSA will list on the website if you did a full super randonneur series with RUSA rides, but doesn't have any fun swag.

I've heard lots of great things about the Nova Scotia rides; one day maybe I'll make it up to one. (Did make it up there to tour the Cabot Trail a couple years ago, but haven't done any brevets.)

Sarah (aka the newly-elected NER RBA)
antimonysarah is offline  
Old 03-04-20, 04:05 PM
  #52  
David in Maine
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2017
Location: Maine, USA
Posts: 87
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 30 Post(s)
Liked 57 Times in 39 Posts
Thanks, Sarah

I've done a couple of NER 200k rides and have enjoyed the experience! I will check out your schedule!

Best,

David
David in Maine is offline  
Likes For David in Maine:
Old 03-26-20, 02:31 AM
  #53  
Raemoe
Junior Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Stockholm
Posts: 8

Bikes: 1985 Nishiki

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 2 Times in 2 Posts
I'm new to randonneuring, but I have the 315 km Vätternundan booked for June. I suspect it will soon be cancelled due to the coronavirus as it involves 5000 riders from all over the place. So, I started looking for other events.

I found that a local Randonneur club has an introduction session in May, and I went out yesterday with the intent to do my first metric century in preparation for the meet. It was my first non-commute ride of the year, and my previous longest distance was a 26 km commute. I did not have great confidence that I would make it through the full century ride, so I planned my route along the commuter rails to provide bail-outs at several points. I filled my bottles, strapped on a backpack with maintenance tools, extra clothes, and my lock, and set off past noon. I didn't realize quite how poorly planned the ride was until I was out there: navigation was a nightmare as I was relying on voice instructions from google maps, and I made a ton of wrong turns and had to stop to take out my phone all the time. I had brought no food, and my repair kit was absolute garbage, which I found out when I ran a pinch flat at 30 km and it took about 30 minutes to get going again due to bad tyre levers and my shoddy mini-pump. I ran on low pressure the rest of the way. I made it to the half-way bail out point at 50 km after 2 hours of actual riding and called it a day - sun was setting a hour or two later, and if I ran another flat I'd be stuck in the dark without adequate light.

I learned a lot. First, I need to get a better tool kit and get the weight off of my back - the backpack was killing my shoulders and bum. I also need a bike mount for my navigation solution, and I need to bring food and additional water. I should also consider changing the gearing - 1-28T and 52/42 is heavy uphill. This reads like a miserable experience, I'm sure, but it built experience that I wanted and I'm excited to go out again!

Last edited by Raemoe; 03-26-20 at 02:34 AM.
Raemoe is offline  
Old 03-26-20, 04:33 AM
  #54  
atwl77
Kamen Rider
Thread Starter
 
atwl77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071

Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times in 164 Posts
Sounds a lot like the first time I did my very first solo 100km, barely a month after I started picking up cycling. Camelbak with 3L reservoir, rain jacket, spare clothes, a lunch box with sandwiches, Google Maps feeding me turn instructions via Bluetooth earphones... basically a ton of unnecessary things for what amounts to a "short morning ride" .

But it was a good learning experience... the more you ride, and the further you ride, the more you get a sense of just what's needed and when... and one day you get to look back at those times and wonder what the heck were you even thinking back then.
atwl77 is offline  
Likes For atwl77:
Old 03-26-20, 08:31 AM
  #55  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
It took me a while to learn how to eat on a longer ride when I started randonneuring. I did a lot of longer rides as a teenager, but I also dragged myself home in a sorry state a number of times. On my first 200k, I pretty much survived on gatoraide, but it turns out too much of that upsets my stomach, so the last 30 miles was pretty dire. Fortunately it was relatively flat. This is an ongoing experiment of one for many of us. I'm glad I did a number of 200km rides before I did anything longer.
unterhausen is offline  
Old 04-12-20, 08:35 AM
  #56  
atwl77
Kamen Rider
Thread Starter
 
atwl77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071

Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times in 164 Posts
My local audax club has come up with the idea to make indoor cycling challenges that count as permanents. They have several challenges which vary by distance and cutoff time: https://audaxmalaysia.com/2020/04/11...out-challenge/

A bit on the fence about this one. On one hand, having no particular restrictions makes this very "gameable". For example, on Zwift I'd pick the flat Tempus Fugit route, use a time trial bike with my fastest wheels and rack up KMs. On a turbo trainer or rollers, I'd set it to the lowest resistance, pick the heaviest gear I can comfortably spin, and likewise rack up KMs. A more formalized system would be something like enforcing a particular platform (e.g. Zwift) with a set route or cue sheet to follow.

However, on the other hand, I suppose they didn't enforce anything in particular to make this a more all-inclusive form of challenge that everyone can participate in, as long as they had something at home (rollers, dumb trainer, smart trainer). Also I suppose if the goal is to give people more motivation to ride inside, this works pretty well.

Though some of these challenges are timed to occur in the middle of the weekday where people may have more limited time. I'm working from home too, so my weekday time is very limited as well. I suppose I might take a gander and maybe participate in one of the weekend ones, like maybe the 150km and 180km rides.
atwl77 is offline  
Old 04-12-20, 09:28 AM
  #57  
kingston 
Jedi Master
 
kingston's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Lake Forest, IL
Posts: 3,724

Bikes: https://stinkston.blogspot.com/p/my-bikes.html

Mentioned: 42 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1759 Post(s)
Liked 488 Times in 313 Posts
Originally Posted by atwl77
A bit on the fence about this one.
I support anything that motivates people to stay in shape. Are you not allowed to ride outside at all?
kingston is offline  
Old 04-12-20, 09:40 AM
  #58  
atwl77
Kamen Rider
Thread Starter
 
atwl77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071

Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times in 164 Posts
Originally Posted by kingston
Are you not allowed to ride outside at all?
Yeah, no one is supposed to be outside unless they have a pressing reason to be out (working for an essential business, buying essential goods/grocery, etc).
atwl77 is offline  
Old 04-12-20, 10:01 AM
  #59  
kingston 
Jedi Master
 
kingston's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Lake Forest, IL
Posts: 3,724

Bikes: https://stinkston.blogspot.com/p/my-bikes.html

Mentioned: 42 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1759 Post(s)
Liked 488 Times in 313 Posts
Originally Posted by atwl77
Yeah, no one is supposed to be outside unless they have a pressing reason to be out (working for an essential business, buying essential goods/grocery, etc).
That's rough. We're still able to ride outside where I am. Good thing, 90 minutes is about my max on the rollers. They're running RAAM in Zwift this year.
kingston is offline  
Old 04-12-20, 11:18 AM
  #60  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
Some riders did an indoor fleche in France. That's hardcore
unterhausen is offline  
Old 04-12-20, 05:28 PM
  #61  
rhm
multimodal commuter
 
rhm's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: NJ, NYC, LI
Posts: 19,852

Bikes: 1940s Fothergill, 1959 Allegro Special, 1963? Claud Butler Olympic Sprint, Lambert 'Clubman', 1974 Fuji "the Ace", 1976 Holdsworth 650b conversion rando bike, 1983 Trek 720 tourer, 1984 Counterpoint Opus II, 1993 Basso Gap, 2010 Downtube 8h, and...

Mentioned: 584 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 1908 Post(s)
Liked 574 Times in 339 Posts
Originally Posted by unterhausen
Some riders did an indoor fleche in France. That's hardcore
Huh. "hardcore" is putting it kindly and, even so, I call foul. For the full fleche experience I would expect the team to set up their trainers outside, at safe distance from one another, but where they could at least see one another and shout encouragement as needed. Without the full progression of 24 hours of light changes, temperature changes, rain, etc, and that last two hours of rest before the final push, it just wouldn't be a fleche. Count me out!
__________________
www.rhmsaddles.com.
rhm is offline  
Old 04-12-20, 08:13 PM
  #62  
atwl77
Kamen Rider
Thread Starter
 
atwl77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071

Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times in 164 Posts
To me, an indoor fleche is practically equivalent to doing a 24-hour challenge, but with a group, and finishing at the same point together. A 24h indoor session is already no joke by itself, but then coordinating it with several others whom are potentially not even living in the same state and/or country? That's pretty amazing.

And in France their lockdown sounds pretty strict, so that they can still get to do an indoor fleche together is great for them: https://www.thelocal.fr/20200324/exp...onavirus-rules
atwl77 is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 07:20 AM
  #63  
atwl77
Kamen Rider
Thread Starter
 
atwl77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071

Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times in 164 Posts
Originally Posted by kingston
They're running RAAM in Zwift this year.
Looks like they're going to run the event on Fulgaz. Details are still emerging, but at this point I think its too much for me to stomach. Even 231km on Zwift yesterday was already quite a mental challenge.
atwl77 is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 08:53 AM
  #64  
clasher
Senior Member
 
clasher's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 2,737
Mentioned: 16 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 229 Post(s)
Liked 147 Times in 102 Posts
I've taken to zwift ever since I figured out how to run it on my ipad with a 4iiii heart monitor to hook up my old stuff... then I went ahead and got a kickr so I'm doing about half my regular riding on it... brutally honest with the weight/height and it seems to be comparable work to riding outside... my time up Alpe du Zwift was pretty close to my time up Whiteface Mountain, which is similar to Alpe D'Huez. Longest ride so far was the Über Pretzel, took me around 6 hours of riding... I took a few breaks but kept them shorter than I would in person since it's pretty easy to eat real food and ride a trainer.

There's heaps of people with poorly calibrated trainers and outright cheaters but it's not like they are fooling anyone but themselves, if someone wants to run their bike with an electric drill to "win" a virtual challenge badge that's fine by me. I think if the zwift stuff brings folks into the rando fold that's cool. I hope to try a 200km on zwift at some point, there are occasionally organized longer distance rides and they are easy to crank out on the flat courses in big groups. The zpower website does a good job of catching outliers and it seems that's where the more serious folks go for standings and whatnot.

I am going to try and ride what would have been this year's first ride in my town, but going to have gear up like I'm riding a 600 with the extra supplies I'll bring so I can't just kind of plug along without stopping for a sit-down meal. I have also thought about doing urban laps since there is so little traffic on the secondary streets in my town now it would be kind of fun.
clasher is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 09:51 AM
  #65  
atwl77
Kamen Rider
Thread Starter
 
atwl77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071

Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times in 164 Posts
Originally Posted by clasher
I hope to try a 200km on zwift at some point, there are occasionally organized longer distance rides and they are easy to crank out on the flat courses in big groups.
I think they have a weekly group ride on Sundays, 12 noon on my local time (+8gmt). They do laps around the flat course, targetting approx 5 hours ride time.
atwl77 is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 10:39 AM
  #66  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
I was trying to figure out how to join the "randonneurs who zwift" without facebook, and it doesn't look that easy. They are doing a couple of rides per day. If you are on FB, search for that and ask to join the group. Or PM me here.
unterhausen is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 12:10 PM
  #67  
antimonysarah
Senior Member
 
antimonysarah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Medford, MA
Posts: 654

Bikes: Nishiki Bel-Air, Brompton P6L, Seven Resolute SLX, Co-motion Divide, Xtracycle RFA

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 76 Post(s)
Liked 66 Times in 33 Posts
Originally Posted by unterhausen
I was trying to figure out how to join the "randonneurs who zwift" without facebook, and it doesn't look that easy. They are doing a couple of rides per day. If you are on FB, search for that and ask to join the group. Or PM me here.
I'm in it, so I can relay instructions/help as well. The thing is that right now, Zwift doesn't have club support (though they're working on it and have said as much), so the meetups are being coordinated by individuals posting and then inviting people to a personal meetup, so you have to have the organizers list you as a friend and invite you. And the initial organizer preferred facebook, so FB it was.

I wasn't on zwift before this, but was able to get my exercise bike to talk to it, so I've been going to the saturday meetups and having fun. (And my exercise bike is the only one with a power meter, so while it's a dumb bike -- no incline control -- it does reflect real power. Which means I can lose D races honestly. Hah.) It starts to become uncomfortable around the 2-hour mark, though, so I'm not planning any rando-length rides there. Plus, I can get more accomplished doing intervals indoors in a short period.
antimonysarah is offline  
Likes For antimonysarah:
Old 04-13-20, 01:34 PM
  #68  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
I haven't convinced myself to spend the money on zwift, trainer road is expensive enough as it is, and a lot more useful. OTOH, I think that I probably could tolerate longer rides on zwift. I have a lot of trouble doing 20 minute intervals on TR. I don't know if I believe that anything longer that 2 hours is really useful. One of the projects on my short list is a rocker plate for my trainer to make it a little less debilitating to ride for a long time. Trainer road will let you go month by month. Not sure if zwift will let you do that, anyone know?
unterhausen is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 02:05 PM
  #69  
antimonysarah
Senior Member
 
antimonysarah's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Medford, MA
Posts: 654

Bikes: Nishiki Bel-Air, Brompton P6L, Seven Resolute SLX, Co-motion Divide, Xtracycle RFA

Mentioned: 8 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 76 Post(s)
Liked 66 Times in 33 Posts
Originally Posted by unterhausen
I haven't convinced myself to spend the money on zwift, trainer road is expensive enough as it is, and a lot more useful. OTOH, I think that I probably could tolerate longer rides on zwift. I have a lot of trouble doing 20 minute intervals on TR. I don't know if I believe that anything longer that 2 hours is really useful. One of the projects on my short list is a rocker plate for my trainer to make it a little less debilitating to ride for a long time. Trainer road will let you go month by month. Not sure if zwift will let you do that, anyone know?
Yeah, my peleton app subscription is now money down the drain, because I won't do that and zwift, and I haven't bothered suspending/cancelling it, but as far as I can tell you can start and stop Zwift. It will automatically re-up, so you have to intentionally stop it, but your account sticks around. I think a lot of folks cancel it in the summer and restart in fall, usually. But my gym membership was suspended until the gym reopens, and that cost more, so I'm not going over budget.

A better setup including a rocker plate would probably make me more comfortable for longer rides, but I don't really want to *do* longer rides indoors. Also I'd have to completely replace my setup, which otherwise does just fine. )And the saddle is a compromise between me and my spouse, because we share the exercise bike.) I used to occasionally do 3-ish hour ones while listening to a football game, but I'd get off for stretch breaks, and now I've gotten tired enough of the NFL to stop wanting to listen to games.
antimonysarah is offline  
Likes For antimonysarah:
Old 04-13-20, 04:22 PM
  #70  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
I got interested in the rocker plate because of tailbone problems doing rides < an hour. I'm not convinced I will be able to do longer rides, I think my longest ride ever on my trainer was 2 hours, but that's definitely a rarity.
unterhausen is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 06:48 PM
  #71  
clasher
Senior Member
 
clasher's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 2,737
Mentioned: 16 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 229 Post(s)
Liked 147 Times in 102 Posts
I'm going to build a rocker plate soon, I just need to find enough scrap plywood to set it up.
clasher is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 06:51 PM
  #72  
unterhausen
Randomhead
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Happy Valley, Pennsylvania
Posts: 24,364
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 4 Post(s)
Liked 3,664 Times in 2,497 Posts
I have the same problem. I have some really nice Baltic birch plywood, but it's slated for projects. I need to get up in the attic and scavenge a piece from a shelf that's up there.
unterhausen is offline  
Old 04-13-20, 08:48 PM
  #73  
atwl77
Kamen Rider
Thread Starter
 
atwl77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071

Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times in 164 Posts
Originally Posted by unterhausen
Not sure if zwift will let you do that, anyone know?
I hear what some people do is subscribe with credit card, then cancel so that their subscription only lasts a month. Then they can do it again the next month, if they decide to continue.

But personally, I feel that Zwift is only useful if you are into the social aspects, i.e. the group rides, events and races. And possibly for some ultracycling attempts like 24h challenges and vEveresting. For structured training purposes, Trainerroad and The Sufferfest are much better at this.
atwl77 is offline  
Old 04-14-20, 06:43 AM
  #74  
clasher
Senior Member
 
clasher's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Kitchener, ON
Posts: 2,737
Mentioned: 16 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 229 Post(s)
Liked 147 Times in 102 Posts
I'm pretty sure people run their TR workouts through zwift so they have something to look at. I gave the zwift workouts a quick look but they don't seem to offer much compared to TR but without any events I don't have motivation to follow a strict plan like that and am enjoyed the "just riding around" aspect by following the different routes they have...
clasher is offline  
Old 04-14-20, 08:40 AM
  #75  
atwl77
Kamen Rider
Thread Starter
 
atwl77's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: KL, MY
Posts: 1,071

Bikes: Fuji Transonic Elite, Marechal Soul Ultimate, Dahon Dash Altena

Mentioned: 11 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 351 Post(s)
Liked 277 Times in 164 Posts
When I do my The Sufferfest workouts I have Netflix on to keep me focused.
atwl77 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.