Hi all,
First off, I've been lurking for a few days, and I'd like to give a thank you to all of you guys, especially Machka (your website rocks!) for the vast wealth of information that is available at my fingertips thanks to the hard work of others.
I've been into long distance trail-running (I can do 20-25 miles comfortably) for the past year, and have trained to that end, and used my bicycles for leisure (and commuting).
I recently injured my knee and my doc says that I shouldn't run for two months, but that cycling is OK. I've become sort of addicted to the ~12 hours per week that I poured into running, and was in a depressional funk about it. Then I found a series of brevets near me, read up on what brevets are, and it seems just like just the answer I need.
So I'm really "untrained" for cycling. I ride for pleasure all the time but no structured workouts. 35-50 miles (fixed gear) is a comfortable Sunday ride. I have the endurance (from running), but the quads are just not there.
One thing that I liked about the trail/ultramarathon running community is the attitude and friendliness of the people. Now I don't want to start a fight or anything, but the only group ride experience that I have is with road racers, and my experience with them was exactly the opposite. I got into road biking a few years ago and basically everyone turned their nose up at me (presumably because I was rather fat at the time), and it kind of left a bad taste in my mouth as far as group rides goes. I am getting a different vibe from the randonneuring crowd, though, much similar to the ultrarunning community.
Do I need a $5k bike like most of you guys have? Obviously, I won't want to use my fixed gear. But I also have this rig:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kponds/179293294/ (that's these bars:
http://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...All%20Products ). I hope it won't feel out of place. It's widely geared and set up for long rides, but is not exactly light and sporty like you guys bikes. I already have night riding gear too.
So anyway, I'm just looking for some carrot at the end of the stick that will provide me with ungodly hours of stress-relieving cardiovascular exercise, friendly non-elitist camraderie, and adventure. Oh, and I don't want to spend oodles of money either
Is randonneuring what I'm looking for?
I assume that training goes a bit like what I'm used to with trail running: an hour or two four days during the week, medium-long on saturday, and extra-long on sunday? This sound good?
Do you think I'd be in shape to do a 100k populaire in two weeks?
Thanks!