I had a pretty good year!

I started out with the goal, not to say the intention, of riding all twelve on the PA Randonneur clubs monthly brevets. February did not work out, so I ended the year having done eleven of them, but only ten on a row (you get the "R12" award for doing twelve in a row). The fun of the R12 is that you end up riding in all kinds of weather. They actually had to run the January one twice, because it was snowing so heavily the first time, they had to cancel the ride before the riders got half way done! Here's a photo from this month's ride:


I should add that it's hard for me to do these brevets, since most of them start and end 30 to 50 miles from home, and I don't have a car. So I have to mooch a ride from someone. Fortunately I found a willing driver who lives less than ten miles away. Not a forum member, otherwise I'd give him a shout out. I did have to borrow my wife's car a couple times, though.

In April I led a team of four riders on a flèche, a 24 hour ride with a minimum distance of 360 km. Initially my team was made up of all guys familiar to this forum, including [MENTION=384048]greg3rd48[/MENTION] (who joined me for several other brevets this year), but owing to scheduling issues &c I ended up needing a couple more volunteers, who turned out to be relatively serious cyclists . I really enjoy the "team" aspect of the event; the only goal is to finish. No brownie points for speed, pain and suffering, extra hills. If the team finishes the ride, the riders are given credit for riding 360 km (even if they rode more) in 24 hours (even if they finished in less time). The pre-dawn hours of an April morning can be very cold indeed, especially if you now have to bide your time, having ridden too fast during the daylight hours!

With the brevets for March (200km), April (300km), May (400km) and June (600km) I completed a "Super Randonneur Series," which was definitely a milestone for me. The 600 took us up to Hawk's Nest on the Delaware River (NY on the left, PA on the right):


In August I took a couple days of from work so I could throw my old Trek 720 touring bike under a bus down to Greenville SC where I did a three day tour, lots of climbing, ending up at a lake on the campus of Furman University to watch the total solar eclipse before riding back to Greenville to catch a bus home. Here's me and my bike at a scenic overlook somewhere near the NC-SC border:


And then we had that French Fender Day tour, already mentioned by [MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] and [MENTION=45088]nlerner[/MENTION], which was a lot of fun. If you look closely at the photo Mark posted above, you an see me sitting with [MENTION=358081]Sir_Name[/MENTION] and [MENTION=384048]greg3rd48[/MENTION], just a little left of center. Here's an obligatory selfie from Montauk Point (note the lighthouse!):


All together I rode about 5500 miles. Too many flat tires, of course, but not as many as in previous years.

As for equipment, I had a few projects in the fire that still aren't ready for prime time. The year started with me waiting to get my Holdsworth back from Portland where I'd sent it for the Gugificazione, after which it served me well for most of my riding. Even though I have a dedicated commuter bike, I found myself commuting on the Holdsworth a lot, partly because it was near the door of the bike shed, and partly because I had to make sure it was ready for the next big ride. Even after Gugificazione it went through several changes over the course of the year...

And I plan to make further changes (I have to persuade [MENTION=381793]gugie[/MENTION] to make me a minimalist rear rack in the constructeur style).

I did some interesting saddle restorations this year as well. The last saddle I finished this year was rhm#200, so I suppose that's another milestone.