Finally.. first 200k brevet
 

Well, it took a while but I finally did my first small brevet yesterday and am pretty happy about it.

I've been wanting to try the rando thing since last winter but a recurrent knee issue kept me from pushing it. Completed a couple of tours this summer and realized the knee was "good enough" so I plotted a 200k course and set off on my converted 26" mtb.

It went mostly well though I had to nurse a sore knee tendon the last 40k or so (not even the suspect knee at that), otherwise I worked through the usual discomfort periods for butt and hands.

Total time 11:55



https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4383/...456704c8_b.jpgz20882859_10155104703709833_8075246327526564505_n by dc460, on Flickr

nice, where are you located? That's a nice picture

I live in the Fraser Valley just east of Vancouver Canada.
This ride was out from my place to Hope via Harrison lake and back. The pic is on the Dewdney Bridge at about km 170.

Congrats, HP. I was a touring cyclist when I got "introduced" to long-distance riding by my then-ride partner who nonchalantly asked me one day "Have you heard of a thing called Paris-Brest-Paris?" That was back in 2002.

Things have ebbed and flowed since. Hopefully, we are in the flowing sequence again now.

We' ve done a century from Chilliwack to Hope and back and then further west and back. And Harrison Lake is one of my favourite spots in the Fraser Valley.

That's a big ride, quite the accomplishment!

btw, I grew up in Langley. You live in a beautiful part of the world.

Thanks. Yes, the Fraser Valley is pretty well located for access to some great day riding and an hour away from the doorway to three good mountain routes (four if you count the Whistler route). Also only a 60km ride to ferries that take one to Vancouver Island and several Gulf islands.

Rowan, reading about yours and Machka's exploits are part of what have got me interested in it :)

Welcome to the club! I think you'll find that this rando business is a whole different kettle of fish from any other kind of cycling.

Oh yeah. I'm already looking to do my next one following an established brevet course from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler and back in a week or two :)

Congrats!

What do you mean by "so I plotted a 200k course and set off"?

Did you submit a route to BCR and get it approved as an official BC perm before riding?
Or did U do an informal route?
I heartily approve, either way.
Just curious

Congrats! My longstanding battle with knee pain has prevented me from attempting more than 160k. It's good to hear you were able to overcome your own knee issues to get to 200k.

I was going to mention that there has to be a bureaucracy involved to make it a "brevet" -- which means certificate. A ride is more properly called a "randonnée," but almost nobody does.

I do!! Although randonnee technically has its origins in long walks.

A brevet is the stamp attached to the brevet card after ratification (or homologation) of the card/ride.

well, it apparently means "excursion." I was watching a French movie where they were at a hostel in the mountains and one character explains to another that hostel is there for "randonneurs" -- hikers. I always tell people that randonneur means "getting lost" in French.

Informal course of my own. I suppose one would say randonee?

I've looked on the BC website a lot to learn more about it but wanted to get myself up to speed (so to speak) before joining anything official. I'm not much of a group player that way in any case. I find I like to challenge myself but dislike any sort of competitive vibe around people (if that makes sense). It's why I also tour alone. I really like to just run my own little race in my own little world but use the template of randonees as a measuring stick (time/distance).

The next course I want to follow for example, is a 200k run up the sea to sky hwy from Horseshoe Bay to Whistler return but the official course listed on the website starts in West Van at a Mall where you can't park long term (at least that's what I read) so I am starting at the Ferry terminal where I can just park n pay and not worry. The original course probably works great for the people who live near by or have it figured out but I don't want to risk having my car towed. I think it knocks off a couple of Km's which I'll just add on somewhere else. So I can't submit for a stamp or whatever but I don't really care at this point. I just want to know if I did the same basic course in the proscribed time.

you are at speed already, it seems like to me. Time allowed for 200k is 13 1/2 hours. There is a pretty wide range of ability among randonneurs, so nobody will expect you to keep up. I usually ride by myself for much of a ride.

Yes, that is one of the beauties of randonneuring. You can (must) ride your own ride.

Yes, there are those who ride with others, Machka and I do, but the vast majority are on the road alone. Some maybe one a kilometre or mile apart, so there is some security in the knowledge that there is company or help nearby.

Of course, there events where there is just one starter. In Australia, we have permanents, which are on established routes with a brevet card (which you print out yourself).

You can effectively ride them at any time you wish, without or without a ride partner, and at any pace better than the standard 15km/h.

Good thing you didn't go all the way to Spuzzum. It's beyond hope.

I though it meant "too dumb to know when to quit."

Next step: connect with BC Randonneurs and do one of their official rides. Very active group centered in Vancouver.

I would refer to that as an informal ride, perhaps "just riding around" (JRA), which is not an insult but an acknowledgement that the ride was a fun, just-because ride.

My first 200k was an informal group ride (click here to be bored).
An advantage of doing that was I knew I could complete the 200 brevet when I did one six months later.
But I didn't learn for-sure that I could do series until getting through a rough spot on my first 300 (click-here).

A "champion" RUSA JRA cyclist is "Dr. Codfish (click here for a story, if I can find it).
Btw, if you look up "Dr. C's" rando results, you'll find that he's done some interesting stuff.


Drop the fast-crew off your front wheel. (Apparently I am somewhat known for that as that line was attributed to me two or three years ago in an article in "American Randonneur", but I think I got it from someone else.) My oft-rando ride partner, Bob, usually says "just let them go." We've dropped the fast-crew off our front wheels less than three miles into a 600k brevet.

I've done many 200-km rides solo.
I've done more with just one or two (or maybe three) ride partners.
Some that stayed with me the entire ride; some that rode off when the mood hit them.

All can be fun.
They can also be a struggle.

Edited due to mix up in terminology

Congratulations on your accomplishment! While minor, there is a distinction between a brevet and just riding around. Neither one is better or worse, but they are different. If I ride a 200k brevet, the results get submitted to RUSA and anyone who's interested can look up my rides and my times. If I complete enough events, it qualifies me for certain RUSA awards and distinctions. If I do a 200k training ride, there's no record of that anywhere so it’s JRA. Nothing pejorative about that at all.

Regarding the competitiveness of Randonneurs, I’m confident that the ones you encounter at your pace will be among the friendliest, and most encouraging people you could ever meet anywhere.

Ah, I see. JRA being a term used by rando's to describe a training ride/putting in mileage not sactioned as an official race/event. That makes sense.

To me it sounded like a suggestion that what was done was not really worth considering much.

But I see it's a term that has a certain context within the activity.

Sorry for the mix up skiffrun :)

I think it's pretty neat that you did 200k, whatever it is you want to call it. I have 10 permanent routes now, so I could get "credit" for my rides, but sometimes I just go out and ride them. I do have trouble talking myself into doing 200k unless it's official though. For one thing, almost all of my rides go past my house at some point in the middle.

I specialize in dropping people off the front. It's one of my more finely honed skills.

Oh goodness no! The very first 200km ride I did was with the guy I mentioned earlier who casually mentioned this ride in France called PBP. We did Launceston to Hobart (which effectively is from the northern part of the island of Tasmania to the southern part). It didn't count officially for anything, but it was the longest ride I had ever done at that stage, and it was sort of iconic because it was between Tasmania's two biggest cities. It's still as important in my ride memories as any other.