on 12/27/10 3:51 PM, Anne Paulson at anne.paul...@gmail.com wrote: > I signed up for my first brevet, a 200K along the Pacific on New > Year's Day. I know there are some randonneurs here-- any advice for a > newbie? I've done bike touring and centuries before, but never a > randonee. Given the time of year, I'm expecting quite a bit of time > riding in the dark. As of now, the weather is supposed to be fair, so > I'm planning on taking the non-fendered Roadeo instead of the fendered > Atlantis.
If you haven't come across it, I'd visit the SFRandonneurs.org site and their discussion group as well. If you've done centuries, you probably have a sense of your pace over the 100 miles, and how you felt afterward. I think it's a little easier to get behind, calorically-speaking, on colder weather brevets. In addition to the energy demands, you're body is burning calories to keep you warm as well. There won't be the fully stocked rest stops found on most centuries, so bringing a variety of snacks and food is a good idea. It's strange what starts to taste really bad at about hour 6. I really did a poor job at staying topped off last January - http://ramblings.cyclofiend.com/?p=423 You'll definitely want lighting that allows you to navigate for the last hour or so - you'll probably find that the first 30 minutes are also pretty dark. (There are specific reflector/lighting requirements on brevets - http://rusa.org ) A head lamp is really a good thing - repairs, navigation, etc. I don't think I'd ride a January brevet without fenders. But, then again, the Quickbeam wore fenders all year this year. (And the SFR 200K course goes through plenty of cattle ranches...) To finish, I'll invoke the words of Kent Peterson, which has gotten me through some reasonably low points, "Keep pedaling. It will get better." http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/ hope that helps - let us know how it goes! - Jim -- Jim Edgar cyclofi...@earthlink.net -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
