And another grand day out! That SFR club really has their act together, looks like another great event!
On 9/15/13, Cyclofiend Jim <cyclofi...@earthlink.net> wrote: > Capped off a fine birthday week by joining about a 100 new and old > randonneurs on the 2013 SF Randonneurs Fall Populaire. Starting in San > Fransisco's Crissy Field, we headed north over the Golden Gate Bridge, > hopped over a hill or two and looped out around China Camp Village before > heading westward (back into a mild headwind and increasing fog) to the most > > distant control at Nicasio. Then headed back through the San Geronimo > Valley to Fairfax and the obscure but direct route back to San Francisco. > Course was about 70 miles, punctuated by appropriate stops for controls and > > caloric intake. > > Had spent a too-long chunk of Friday running down some technical anomalies > on the Quickbeam. The chain was too worn to trust for the course and after > > removing it, I realized what a thought was a bent guard ring proved to be a > > more ingrained issue. I'm still not completely sure of the cause, but the > whole arm/spider has a bit of a wobble to it. The working theory had been > a bent BB spindle, found that the same arm wiggled no matter which bicycle > it was mounted on (had stripped off the cranks from the > waiting-for-Brooks-to-finally-call-me-back-so-I-can-deal-with-the-broken-rails > > Hilsen, assuming I'd be swapping the BB over). Cursed and pondered and > decided to clean up the Hilsen and swap over the saddle from the QB. And > the Hilsen ended up in a nicely stripped down mode - with the recently > cleaned and rewaxed Baggins Banana Bag attached, it would hold my ritual > two-tubes-two-patch-kits offering for any brevet ride, as well as > appropriate gear for a mild, mid-September ride. So, all that remained was > > getting up, getting the dogs walked and fed, and hightailing it into the > city for the ride. > > Which pretty much is where I started - sipping strong coffee from a thermos > > cup as riders gathered in the fog on the generally unpopulated East Beach > at Crissy Field. I'd arrived past some significant parking infrastructure > - mobile gates and grates and cones and hi-viz folks with flags and > flashlights. No, the Populaire does not typically generate that much > traffic, but they've been racing these sail-driven projectiles within yards > > of the shore over the past couple weeks, and in another few hours, parking > would become absolutely nonexistent. > > Signed in and got my card. Realized I had absoutely nothing to write with > - DOH! - so I would be relying on the kindness of others to supply a pen at > > the Nicasio Info Control. After returning the coffee rental, I saw that a > larger pack had amassed, and RBA (Regional Brevet Administrator) Rob Hawks > welcomed the new riders (about half the group) and led us in our pledge > "not to do anything stupid" before sending us out on the course. Just > about that time, I darned near stepped on ride buddy JimG (yojimg.net) and > we greeted one another warmly. He was anticpating the inaugural ride on > his Box Dog Bikes Pelican. > > Of course, we immediately got separated as everyone picked up their bikes > and wove their way to the road. I had decided to under-do things for the > first bits, as I wasn't sure how I'd feel. For some reason, the switch > from fixed-gear (the Quickbeam) to a many-geared-coastable setup can mean a > > very clunky first ride, as I overdo it in the big gears and feel a loss of > momentum when climbing. And I also realized it was probably my longest > ride of the year so far. At least I'd managed a couple of 50+ rides on the > > QB, even though some of the steeper climbs were prone to cussing and > stopping. > > Rolled up to the bridge with a variety of SF Jerseyed folks and > well-appointed rigs. Counted at least 3 or 4 Hilsens without even looking > for them. Coughed and woke up and worked my way over the span and down > into Sausalito with a minimum of extra effort. Seemed to just make every > yellow light on Bridgeway, which put me alone along the Mill Valley Bike > Path to the base of the first hill. But as the light turned green JimG and > > a gang of folks joined me. The Camino Alto hill kind of worked out the > kinks, and I found some comfort climbing seated, which is not generally an > option afforded by riding fixed. Then buzzed down the descent while > thanking the density of my bones. Caught up to the JimG group and promptly > > lost them on the climb to San Rafael, but by then I was feeling pretty good > > on the bike, almost like someone had flipped a switch. As we headed around > > China Camp to the first control, I managed to tack onto a triplet-led > (y'know, like a tandem but built for three) train and boogied along > happily. Fell back in with JimG and we found a mutually compatible pace, > so we rolled to the first control, had RBA Rob sign/timestamp our cards and > > headed onward. > > As we pressed slightly uphill and upwind in Lucas Valley, JimG admitted he > hadn't eaten anything for a while (turned out to be dinner or breakfast, > so... yeah.) We deli-stopped and stretched out, chatted with a rider (whose > > name I forgot) on a custom ~75 cm frame and watched a few pods of riders > work their way up the valley. The chairs were in the warm sun, blocked > from the cool wind by the building, and it was tempting just to enjoy the > warm offerings of the morning. But, we figured the miles wouldn't ride > themselves, and remounted after a 15 minute break for food and drink. > > Climbed to Big Rock Ridge and collected a couple of other riders, then > spread out once again on the long steady down valley run to Nicasio. At > the store, the randonneurs had arrived, ordering sandwiches, buying drinks > and seeking the answer to the Information Control question. Yes. I did > have to borrow a pen. > > Since the weather was still overcast and windily cool, we set off again. > JimG still seemed at a bit of caloric deficit but we plugged along, picking > > up a few riders and benefitting from the energy as our group swelled and > other riders joined us from behind. The climb out of Nicasio to the San > Geronimo valley spread us out again, but we swelled back up to 8-10 riders > as we enjoyed the now-tailwind towards the White's Hill descent to > Fairfax. > > The sun greeted us in town, and JimG and I peeled off to honor the siren > song of Java Hut. Strong coffee and gooey pastries awaited. But, even > better, they had broadened their offerings of late to include breakfast > burritos. Mmmmmm. Potato, egg, black beans for me and the simple > cheese/egg muffin for JimG. Such caloric density perked him up (as did the > > iced coffee) and we hummed our way back to the start. Got to help with a > small roadside repair (rattling fender) for another SFR member. Met a few > new randonneurs on the final miles to the last climb up from Sausalito and > then went by everyone in the world who seemed to have shoehorned themselves > > to a vantage point to watch the sailboat race. Dodging a few errant > pedestrians and the expected rental bike erraticness, we dropped to the > final control, were greeted with cheers and had always-smiling Carlos D. > log in our return and verify our cards. > > Done, we found plates of food and fine camaraderie! And I was happy to > feel much better than I thought I would. > > My photos here: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclofiend/sets/72157635540840952/ > > More photos (including a couple group members!) courtesy of Deb Ford - > http://goo.gl/H8UBBL <http://goo.gl/H8UBBL> > > Rough Route Map - http://ridewithgps.com/routes/1798411 > > - Jim / cyclofiend.com > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > -- Cheers, David "it isn't a contest. Just enjoy the ride." - Seth Vidal -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. 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