Since randonneuring is unsupported, long-distance bike riding, it is appropriate to show up with whatever you would normally take on a long solo bike ride. That way, if you run into trouble, you don't have to slow someone else down to help you. Just take what you'd normally take and wear what you'd normally wear and eat what you'd normally eat on a long ride. No guarantees of course, but chances are you'll find someone who rides at a compatible pace who you can chat with to help the miles go by. In my experience, randonneurs are welcoming and helpful to newcomers. And there are all sorts of different "styles" of randonneuring bikes, some people ride carbon-fiber racing bikes with narrow tires while others ride metal bikes, some with narrow tires, some with wide. I've been riding on 650Bx42 Hetres for the last little while. The Grand Bois 700x32's are a very nice, fast tire, but possibly slightly more flat-prone than something like your Marathon Supremes, though I've gotten flats with both. I'd much prefer to ride on a fast tire and fix the occasional flat than to ride on a sluggish tire that is "flat proof". But based on your comments, it seems like you really don't like handling flats, so then that would gravitate toward using a "flat proof" tire.
Nick On Tuesday, March 6, 2012 12:09:17 PM UTC-5, Smitty-A-Go-Go wrote: > > I'm thinking of riding in a 100k populaire in a couple weeks. I know it's > not a tremendous distance but it'll be my first rando event and my longest > ride ever. > > I plan to do it on my Hilsen... I've got the necessary reflectors, lights > (battery), fenders, and a small sackville saddle bag + front trunk sack to > carry stuff. > > I've got 40mm Marathon Supremes on there now. I imagine I'd be the only > one with 40mm tires. Not that that's a deal breaker but I've been > contemplating getting a set of faster tires and this seems like as good a > reason as any to make a purchase. What sort of tires do people normally > ride on such an event? I love all the Schwalbes I've had and am tempted to > get Kojaks out of brand loyalty. I was also eyeing the 32mm Grand Bois > Cypress on Jan's site. As far as I can tell Jan is the rando guy and I > can't imagine he'd sell crappy tires. > > What sort of foods do people eat? I'd rather avoid things in the power goo > and protein pudding food group. I went for a ride with some roadie types a > few weeks ago and brought dates as my snack. I was keeping up ok before I > ate the dates but the dates sat heavy in my belly and I became a slug. > > How extensive of a tool kit do people generally bring on a ride like this? > I generally carry more tools than I've ever really needed on the road. > Flats are really my only stop-me-in-my-tracks roadside repair I've had to > deal with. I'm tempted to minimize the tool kit but don't want to go too > small. > > I realize the ride is short enough that I could probably get by doing > business as usual and get through it but thought I'd solicit advice from > those who have gone before. Perhaps I could appear more sophisticated than > I really am. Any thoughts or advice... food, tire, tool, or otherwise... > would > be appreciated. > > Oh yeah, FWIW... the ride is the OR Randonneurs Brewpub > Popularie<http://www.orrandonneurs.org/rba/2012/Brewpub/Brewpub_Info.html> > > Thanks, Smitty > > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/vSlDIt_MocgJ. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@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.
