Me on Dec. 10, eight days after the crash, and on Jan. 31. My big fear as a cyclist has always been that I’d pull out in front of a driver at an intersection who had the right of way. I’ve become very cautious at stop signs as a result. On Dec. 2, the opposite scenario happened at an intersection in rural Montgomery County, Maryland, during a randonneur ride on my single bike. I had the right of way with no stop sign facing me. A driver in a white Dodge Ram pickup truck failed to heed their stop sign and drove right into my path. I had on my bright pink reflective visibility vest and a flashin ..read more

Mary and I signed up for the 2023 Paris-Brest-Paris 1200K randonnee with our tried-and-true “four days” approach from 2011 and 2019 in mind. I’m thrilled to report we had a successful completion, despite additional climbing added to this year’s edition, along with unusually high temperatures and other contingencies that make every PBP unique. The iconic Albert-Louppe pedestrian bridge at Brest We again chose the 84-hour group’s Monday morning start on August 21. Most PBP riders start Sunday evening and have either 90 or 80 hours to finish. Our goal was to reach the finish in about 82 hours wit ..read more

Mary asks each year if entrants in the Coffeeneuring Challenge have a theme. As one of the riders who completed it the first year, I’ve stuck to the original rules as my yearly theme, known now as Classic Coffeeneuring. In short, I complete my rides only on the weekends. This year I added a secondary theme-within-a-theme, which I’ll call the bonus level. Coffeeneuring is the best season of they year, and I decided each ride should combine with some other sublime excitement, in addition to all the energy that fall brings to the Mid-Atlantic region. In this post I’ll cover my first four rides, w ..read more

Every cyclist occupies some kind of niche. Mary and I already part of the small world of endurance tandem riders, and then we further specialize as randonneurs. I’ve been feeling that reality as we prepare for Unbound Gravel this Saturday in Emporia, Kansas, where we will ride the 200 mile race. It’s been a long time coming, as we were supposed to ride the canceled edition in 2020 and then we deferred last year. The Green Apple in gravel mode: no racks, tubeless WTB venture tires. Possibly too much baggage. During our recent brevets in the Washington, D.C. region, our fellow riders asked us wh ..read more

Two years since our last one, Mary and I completed a 600K brevet on May 15 on scenic back roads in central Virginia with the D.C. Randonneurs. True fact: These long hauls don’t get any easier. A rainy start on Saturday. Courtesy Mary This one was the last event to complete our first super randonneur series before the pandemic. It also wrapped up a compressed schedule of a 300K, 400K and this 600K over just four weekends — more on that to come. Frankly, that’s a higher volume than we’re used to, and I definitely paid for it. But our fitness, which improved during the pandemic, came through even ..read more

This weekend Mary and I took a pass on the D.C. Randonneurs’ first 300K event this year and did our own thing. And it turned out pretty cool. Mary has not been able to do a lot of long riding this winter for good reason: She’s working toward another graduate degree at night and on weekends. We thought something shorter would be a good move to get ready for the second DCR 300K coming up later in April. We also knew the cherry blossoms would be blooming along the National Mall area near our home and we wanted to take a spin around Hains Point on Saturday in case it was closed this week due to co ..read more

I’m not one for ride-every-day cycling streaks. I’ve done a few that lasted a few months at most — namely, the Freezing Saddles Challenge run by Bike Arlington (Virginia) from Jan. 1 to March 20. Yet, on Feb. 25th, I completed a year of riding every day outdoors, indoors, or both. It wasn’t a slog. I never hated getting on the bike. In fact, I found the bike to be a source of comfort — a reliable friend in a sad and tumultuous time. Cherry blossoms, March 2020, just as the lockdown began. I had been on an informal streak when things shut down on March 13, 2020 and I just kept going. As of Marc ..read more

Another year (and decade!) comes to an end this week. Like the rest of the internet, I’ve got a best-of list to share. The 12 Days of Randonneuring rundown took a hiatus for 2019, in lieu of this approach. I hope you like it. Unlike the rest of the internet, my list is not confined to gear that was released over the last 12 months. I tend to be a late adopter of things supplanted in the marketplace by newer and probably better. Frankly, I’m often as much interested in the riding and fitness aspects of cycling than the gear, though you wouldn’t know it from the bikes and spares I keep in the Di ..read more

Coffee stops are the best. A bonus visit to Watershed Cafe, Poolesville, Md. on Oct. 12The 2019 Coffeeneuring Challenge arrived just when I needed it. My personal low fuel light came on after Paris-Brest-Paris, and the thought of just going for a bike ride to get coffee sounded perfect. If you’ve somehow ended up here and don’t know about the challenge, read all about it at Mary’s blog Chasing Mailboxes. This year’s rides featured all the joys of fall: cooler temperatures, the trees of the East Coast turning to blazing reds and yellows, and our annual visit to the Philly Bike Expo in early Nov ..read more

We did it. Together!Now that Paris-Brest-Paris 2019 is well in the rearview mirror, I’ve had time to reflect on what we would change and what we’d keep the same when we return in 2023. Put another way, what worked? In the big picture, we had a good ride and just a little drama. We finished well within our chosen time limit, so the goal was met. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement. In reviewing, I have the opportunity here to talk about our equipment, logistics and other choices. Unlike folks who ride single bikes, our PBP experience is complicated/enhanced by our choice of r ..read more