On Mon, Jan 3, 2011 at 11:10 AM, William <[email protected]> wrote: > Anne > > Thanks for the write up. I'm ramping up for my first 200k brevet on > the 22nd. Several key points for me: > > 1. It's possible, even if it's cold windy and rainy
Absolutely! Wear wool, of course, but you knew that. I like the idea of bringing along an extra pair of socks, even though I didn't end up wearing mine. You'll be fine. Good luck, and have fun. > 2. Be happy how well my bike handles with a largish handlebar bag What bike do you have, and what size? I haven't actually tried a handlebar bag on my Roadeo, but I suspect that part of my dislike of the a bag is because I'm female, with considerably less upper body strength than men. Of course I can still steer the bike if it has a handlebar bag-- I used to captain a tandem, which also requires more muscling of the bike. But I notice the difference between a light front end and a heavier front end. For example, one of my Atlantises has a Nitto front rack, and the other doesn't. Even with no pannier on the rack, I notice an enormous difference in handling. Others, perhaps people who are stronger, wouldn't find a difference. I forgot to mention in my writeup that a friend of mine was also riding the brevet. She's a newer rider, very very strong, but she has been influenced by the racey weight weenie carbon fiber crowd which is far too prevalent in my area, so she rides one of those racey bikes. She had put a handlebar bag on her bike, and she had to abandon because she was unable to control the bike in the headwind. Now, those racey bikes tend to have twitchy handling and are unsuited to...well, unsuited to a lot of things, including wearing handlebar bags. But I suspect that a man with her comparable level of fitness might have been able to wrestle his bike into submission. (She thinks she needs to find another way to carry stuff on her bike for randonees. I think she needs to find a different bike. ;) ) -- -- Anne Paulson My hovercraft is full of eels -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
