I've been curious about randonneuring for a while, so when San Francisco Randonneurs were putting together a 111k populaire as an introduction to what they do I jumped at the chance to give this ancient style of endurance riding a try.
The ride left at 8 in the morning from San Francisco, meaning to get there at least a half hour before ride time I had to leave my house at about 6 30 in the morning. Sometimes I have to wonder about my priorities, sacrificing my Friday night for an endurance ride. The thing is though, when my alarm rings at 5 in the morning, my body is excited and is easy to move out the door. It seems that bike riding is the only thing I actually look forward to when lying in bed.
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| 5:23 and coffee getting fired up. |
I met up at Crissy Field with a group of about eighty or so other riders. The morning was cool, damp, and grey, as San Francisco always is before 9 AM. The riders milled around for a bit until our fearless San Francisco Randonneurs leader Rob set us straight about how this shindig works for all the new folks and reminding the older yokes about the number one rule, don't do stupid things. After this quick pep talk people grabbed the random assortment of steel, aluminum, and carbon bikes and headed out toward that big orange bridge.
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| The gaggle before the ride. |
The ride quickly stretched out. I found some people to pace along with and pass the miles with some light conversation. The miles passed by quickly hopping over Camino Alto, Wolf Grade, and finally through San Rafeal to China Camp to the first control. This stop was a quick one. Being the noob, I had no idea that most of the controls were not stops but a simple signing of the name and then throwing a leg back over the saddle. I raced to gather myself up quickly as the experienced randonneurs started pushing down the road.
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| The mayhem of the sidewalk. |
After control #1 I started to feel comfortable with how this ride was shaping up and caught with some aggressive road riders in the group. I gritted my teeth to their grueling 18 MPH pace. I stuck with them to the climb where we all split apart some, only to meet up again at the bottom in Nicasio, control #2. This stop was a little more of what I expected, as people bought snacks and chatted about the ride so far. The group I rode in with took off without me. I had had enough of punishing myself for the day.
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| Racing from Control 1 |
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| These were the monsters I pushed to keep up with. |
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| My wide tired Surly feels made for these things. |
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| The entirety of the town of Nicasio. |
I finished most of the ride with a 5 year SFR vet, named Jason. We rode into Sausalito together where he shared stories of his 1200k rides and his hopes of his 500 mile Death Valley race he was training for. It's always nice to find these people who are at a place you want to take your ride and get insight on how to get there and what it takes.
I ended up finishing the ride solo as Jason and I split up near the bridge. I clocked in at about 5 hours, the fastest I had ever done 70 miles. I mostly think it's thanks to those guys who carried me over the Lucas Valley climb. I had never pushed such a hard pace for that long. My legs didn't feel too bad as I sat and enjoyed the picnic, now under much sunnier skies than we left in the morning. I'd call Rando Ride #1 a success. Now I need to put my focus on pulling a 200k next.
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