Randonneurs in the NYT

[goonster]

Surprisingly good summary of the sport.

That first photo is pure Showers Pass marketing (deservedly so).

The second photo immortalizes the unmistakeable profile of Bob Olsen, rando-ninja, in the paper of record.

Minor factual error: PBP became a randonneur event in the 1950's, not the 1930's.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by goonster

Surprisingly good summary of the sport.

That first photo is pure Showers Pass marketing (deservedly so).

The second photo immortalizes the unmistakeable profile of Bob Olsen, rando-ninja, in the paper of record.

Minor factual error: PBP became a randonneur event in the 1950's, not the 1930's.

Hey I just road the 400K with The New Jersey group over the Memorial Day Weekend. I didn't realize New Jersey had such beautiful country and I now know why it is called the Garden State. I saw a little more than anticipated as I got good and lost for a while.
I've riden many a Brevet in the conditions pictured. If you want credit and it's raining you ride. But you had better know how to dress and stay warm or you'll end up with A DNF and just sit around eating pastries.

The weather was lousy in 2007 and so many people abandoned it overwhelmed the French support. Thus PBP introduced the quota system. They want riders that are going to finish.

There may be some confusion over the 1930's date. Audax style riding was certainly taking place in the 30's and could be considered Randonneuring.
It is much more formal and structured than allure libre riding. And the Italians make it look majestic.
And it is even a little bit more confusing having two governing bodies,
Unions des Audax (audax) and Audax Club Parisien (allure libre).
But touriste-routiers have always been involved since its beginning.

BTW I heard the Princeton 300K was pretty tough as there was a good deal of climbing.

Very nice to see a little press on this "fringe" sport.

Peace out!!!!!!!!

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by New York Times

“It’s a whole different spirit,” Ms. Pineda later explained. “The kind of people who do these kinds of things are always in a good mood.”

I know some people who always seem to be in a good mood, but I'm not one of them. I try to keep it to myself when I'm going through a low point, but sometimes I can't help it.

What keeps me coming back year after year is the companionship of my fellow randonneurs. They're a great bunch, and I really enjoy sharing miles with them.

[Pete Serotta]

Lars Klove for The New York Times
HAPPY WANDERERS Members of the New Jersey Randonneurs on the road.
By SEAN PATRICK FARRELL
Published: June 3, 2011
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A STEADY rain pelted the New Jersey back roads, and the sun had recently crested over Princeton and was just illuminating a small but hardy group of cyclists setting out on a 125-mile ride. In most cycling circles, the distance would be a major undertaking. For this group, it was a mere tuneup.
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Lars Klove for The New York Times
Many of the members are training for a four-day, 750-mile ride in France in August.
That ride, known as the Princeton 200 for its distance in kilometers, is a brevet, or starting ride for the New Jersey Randonneurs, a group of long-distance cyclists who turn their cranks over as many as 250 miles in a day and work their way up to continuous rides with distances that might make a trucker blanch.

For many, the ultimate goal is a contest called Paris-Brest-Paris, a 750-mile ride across the French countryside that predates the Tour de France and is spoken of in cycling circles simply as P.B.P. Held every four years, P.B.P., which is not a race but more a fast tour, must be completed within 90 hours, or just under four days. In August, thousands of cyclists will line up in Paris to make the journey, but first, they have to build up their mileage with training rides.

“People either fall in love with it or think it’s nuts,” said Jud Hand, a lawyer and the organizer of the Princeton 200 and a shorter 120-kilometer ride held the same day. Mr. Hand fell for the sport a few years ago, drawn by the adventure and scenery the long rides provide.

“You’re not walled in by glass and metal,” he said, comparing a brevet with a long drive.

Even in the rain, the two-lane blacktops of New Jersey took the riders through pastoral farm scenes, here a red barn on a field of green grass, there a one-lane bridge crossing a swollen stream.

Similar scenery lured the earliest randonneurs, a French word that means wanderers, out of the sooty industrial cities of the late 19th century and into the countryside for fresh air and exercise, according to Jan Heine, the editor of Bicycle Quarterly, a cycling journal that often focuses on randonneuring.

“Cyclists have always wondered, ‘How far can I go? What’s over the next hill?’ ” said Mr. Heine, who has completed P.B.P. three times.

P.B.P., which began as a professional race, was eventually superseded as a competition by the Tour de France. In the 1930s randonneurs took over the event, which today is one of the oldest organized rides in the world.

Riders must complete a series of ever-longer rides within set times to qualify for a spot at P.B.P. In 2007, more than 5,000 cyclists left Paris for the Atlantic coast of France. That ride was a brutal mix of wind and rain on top of the usual sleep deprivation and muscle fatigue that accompany a very long weekend on the bike, which is probably why the pelting rain in New Jersey did not seem to bother Grace Pineda, a retiree from TriBeCa, who seemed unfazed by the cold spring rain running in rivulets down her cheeks.

Ms. Pineda completed the 2007 ride as far as Brest before she decided she would rather spend her vacation in France eating pastries than enduring the nasty weather on her bike. (She does not intend to make the 2011 ride.)

Other riders during the 2007 P.B.P. simply succumbed to the saddle time. Neck muscles are known to give out, leaving cyclists with heads as loose as that of a newborn. Saddle sores, blisters, and hand and foot numbness are all possible. The Princeton 120 gave just a taste of the experience: By the time I pulled into the first checkpoint, or contrôle, at about 37 miles, where riders got their time cards stamped and a hot bite to eat, my fingers were so stiff I had trouble holding a spoon. A kind volunteer rummaged in her car and came up with a pair of plastic bread bags, which I happily stuffed my frozen feet into for the journey back to Princeton.

What seems to separate randonneurs from bike-path cruisers is as much mental fortitude as physical stamina. “It’s a whole different spirit,” Ms. Pineda later explained. “The kind of people who do these kinds of things are always in a good mood.”

Dan Aaron, 57, a retired anesthesiologist from Long Beach, N.Y., who was riding the Princeton 200, exemplified the randonneur ethos. Embarking on only his second ride of the year since having a hip replacement three months earlier, he pedaled like a seasoned pro.

“I just enjoy being on the bike,” he said, “There’s something about moving long distances under your own power that appeals to me.”

A few weeks later, he was reporting “a bit of pain” but had just finished a 400-kilometer ride, or about 250 miles, and was gearing up for a 600K. He has P.B.P. in his sights and was hoping for a good finish under the 90-hour limit. Though the events are timed, speed seemed far from the randonneurs’ minds, and many confessed they had become long-distance riders knowing they would never be racers.

“It doesn’t impress people when you tell them that you ride 10 miles per hour,” said Katie Raschdorf, 42, who was training for a 1,200-kilometer ride in Alaska in August. “But if you tell them that you ride 10 miles per hour for 80 hours, it does.”