STEEKER

Are there any good randonneuring books out there or would it be better to just get all the information off the internet. thanks

thebulls

The guide that you get when you join Randonneurs USA (www.rusa.org) is excellent. The book "The Complete Book of Long Distance Cycling" is also useful, but less randonneuring-specific. Info from the internet is also often highly useful, e.g. https://www.machka.net/ and https://www.blayleys.com/index.htm and many of the club-specific websites.

There are at least as many ways to successfully ride brevets as there are randonneurs. You'll find out what works for you as you ride more brevets.

For me, each new brevet is a new experience in learning. That's two dozen brevets, covering 7000+km, including a 1200k. Maybe eventually it'll become old hat, but I think I'm far from that point. I think nutrition is the toughest issue in randonneuring. What works for one person doesn't work for another; and what works on one brevet does not necessarily work on the next.

Paul L.

RUSA website has many links to websites. The RUSA handbook itself is a goldmine.

Hmmm, lets see, if one of us were to write a book though we could select from the following titles:

How I learned to quit worrying and love the But Lube.
1001 things to yell aimlessly into the wind.
Night Rider, one mans quest for the perfect light.
1001 things to call the RBA halfway through a tough Brevet (but not to their face)
1001 uses for Highway garbage and garbage bags.
Who is this Charly Horse, and what does he have to do with electrolytes?
What to do when your bike bites back.
How to keep a dog from gnawing off your leg in a sleep deprived stupor.
Halucinations I have had.
The tired old man and the mountain.

Machka 

My website (see sig line) has a Links page which has links to all sorts of different randonneuring organizations as well as other long distance events and information.

I've found the Ultra-cycling site to be a very valuable resource: https://www.ultracycling.com/ It has lots of good articles on all sorts of different aspects of long distance cycling.

Here in Canada, the Randonneuring site I refer to most often is the BC Randonneurs: https://www.randonneurs.bc.ca/

The UK has an interesting site: https://www.audax.uk.net/index2.htm

As does Australia: https://www.audax.org.au/

STEEKER

Excellent !
Thanks for the replies, I'll start training after I buy my new bike ,,

Marcello

Besides the excellent RUSA handbook and the Complete Book of Long-Distance Cycling that have been mentioned earlier, there are two other books on endurance riding that I founda few months ago in the used book section of the Powells bookstore.

Bicycling Magazine's Long-Distance Cycling

Published in 1993, this 118 page books seems to be a collection of short articles on long-distance cycling. Because of that, the book lacks structure. Some chapters are interesting. I found the chapter on hand positions quite good. I thought that there were three hand positions for a standard road handlebar, but the book describes pros and cons of seven positions. i used many of them on my long distance rides last year. Also interesting is the chapter on the 1991 PBP (but then I am a ride report junkie). Other chapters are too short or too dated. Overall, an interesting addition to my collection for the $4.95 I paid.

Simon Doughty, The long distance cyclists' handbook

Published in 2001, this is an excellent book on endurance riding. The author is a coach and has crewed on RAAM, and covers a lot of ground that is not the Burke/Pavelka book. The chapter on training, for example, covers the essential elements of what you would find on other books specifically on training for cycling, and it explains things without assuming that you know all the HR zones and all the terminology of training. The author's RAAM experience add to the book, whare he gives information on LD racing that may not be relevant for us slowpoke randonneurs, but that is still quite interesting. Overall, my favorite book on LD cycling.

STEEKER

I picked up ( Simon Doughty, The long distance cyclists' handbook) on break at work tonight , llot's of stuff inthere and I have been poking through Machka's site.. thinking about taking ensure (dinner stuff in a can ) when out on long bike rides , seems like a good idea.

STEEKER

the book said that crazy glue could be used on small cut's on the tires, any one try that ??

Marcello

The same book also suggests stuffing the tire with grass and turning it into a solid tire, should everything else fail. I haven't tried that method either, yet. And hopefully I won't. I carry the adhesive section cut out of some USPS Express mail tyvek envelopes, and they work quite well for small cuts in a tire.

bmike

Assuming you can find some grass at 2am when your tire is shredded, and that you have enough time to pack it solid before the next control closes. Odd advice. Wonder how practical it is. How much grass can one pack into a tire, and is it enough to prevent rim damage? Would you be better off riding on the rim? Weird.

LWaB

Yes, it is practical advice
Yes, you need a lot of grass (brown is better than green)
Yes, it is better than riding on the rim...

Machka 

I took an "emergency repair" course (aimed mainly toward mtn bikers off in the bush somewhere) a few years ago, and they suggested the grass technique too. In fact, the instructor had used it in an emergency repair situation, and it got him back home all right.

Another suggestion he made was to cut the tube at the point of the puncture and tie off the ends, replace the tube in the tire, stuff the gap with a wad of grass, and fill the tube (stuffing and filling as necessary until it was reasonably rideable. He says it makes for a bumpy ride, but can get a person to a place where a more permanent repair could take place.

bmike

Have you done it?
Maybe this should be on Mythbusters...

Are we talking lawn grass? Field grass? Or grassland grass?
Curious. I'll file that away - and hope never to have to use it.

Machka 

Like I mentioned above, my instructor has used it, and the grass used was field grass (or grassland grass), whatever you'd find beside a mtn bike trail in Manitoba. Long, strong grass that can be braided, packed, wound together, wadded up, or whatever would be convenient. It's quite a well-known repair option where I come from!!

danimal123

The cut and tie method is way better than tossing the entire tube and using grass for 100% of the packing material. At least by cutting and tying, you stil have about 90-95% of the rim protected by the tube, and only a small percentace packed w/ grass.

It's a lot easier, too, than getting the entire tire/rim tightly packed w/ grass.

LWaB

But it isn't much good when your pump breaks while fixing a flat

When I used the cut and tie method, I didn't put any extra packing in there. An inflated tube tends to expand to fill the space (but not completely).

LWaB

He did the Brindisi-Calais Diagonale brevet in 1984 and was a significant force in organising the 2005 Edinburgh-London brevet. Some people might not know that Simon got collected by a car a few months back and he now has some serious problems (talking, walking, getting out of hospital, etc).