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| Paris-Vers |
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Avant & Apres PBP
One of the best things about PBP is Paris. I should preface this by saying I spent a week in Paris back in 1993; it was enjoyable, but still the least favorite overseas vacation of my single, scuffling days. The highlight of that trip was seeing Jim Morrison's grave; yes- I'm a Doors fan. My sister keeps reminding me of 1973 when my dorm-mates said "them Doors have got to close" in response to 2/3rds of my record collection then being Doors albums. Forward to 2007. With my francophile wife, I truly see what all the fuss is about with this city. It is a city of light (especially at night!) and we found it romantic, magical and photogenic. Geri is already plotting the 2011 trip.
Monday, October 8, 2007
Post PBP
The results are officially in and I had 10 minutes to spare. I'll take it, even though if you're going to be marginal, might as well have really cut it close. I was grateful for a mechanical-and-accident free PBP. But this and remembering what my mountaineering friends always warn about- the real risks come on the descent- made me wary about riding on returning from France. Sure enough, I had 7 flat tires and 2 crashes in September. One gave me empathy for two friends that had rib fractures this summer- no fractures for me though, just painful breathing for 2 weeks. The next one gave me more gluteal mass than 3 years of cycling had generated before that. The good news is I could think of these two incidents as a good bone density challenge. And the opportunity to buy a new helmet. I'm using my wife's helmet until the latest&greatest comes out.
Common sense inference for so many mishaps is- I'm tired. In response, I've cut down on my mileage. September being about 60% of peak mileage. Diminished motivation from fatigue, fear from negative stimulus and deferred grown-up obligations are also factors in September's figures. But, greed for all the things I love about bicyling, is the yang to the yin. An R12 trinket is the newest excuse for prolonging the brevet season.
Luckily September and October's brevets were in Bend and Bingen. As the season goes on, photo-ops provide additional, needed incentives.
I had no trouble talking my wife into a weekend in Bend. Sunny, mild temperature (a treat for us west of the Cascades folk), great scenery and a pretty benign route prepared by Scott Peterson made for a great brevet. Scott seemed mildly remorsful of having such a reasonable brevet- 3K instead of the 10K climbing option. Hopefully, OR Randonneurs will have more events in the Bend area.
John Kramer advertised good weather, less climbing, Friday festivities and a Beer festival on Saturday as additional inducements to doing the Bingen Bikefest. Knows which buttons to push, eh? In addition, the Gorge is one of the prettiest places I know of. I also oughta know by now though, that any ride including the Gorge is going to be work, regardless of how it's dressed up by JK.
Silly me, I told my wife I'd be back by 16:30. At 17:00 I called her to let her know it would be more like 19:30. That made for 6 trips across the toll bridge for Geri and subsequent wine/dine for atonement.
This still leaves what to do for Nov. and Dec. At this time, I'm very much inclined to local permanents. Given that our esteemed RBA, Susan France, has referred to our little group as a herd of cats, let's see how many of us can agree to a time, date and route.
Common sense inference for so many mishaps is- I'm tired. In response, I've cut down on my mileage. September being about 60% of peak mileage. Diminished motivation from fatigue, fear from negative stimulus and deferred grown-up obligations are also factors in September's figures. But, greed for all the things I love about bicyling, is the yang to the yin. An R12 trinket is the newest excuse for prolonging the brevet season.
Luckily September and October's brevets were in Bend and Bingen. As the season goes on, photo-ops provide additional, needed incentives.
I had no trouble talking my wife into a weekend in Bend. Sunny, mild temperature (a treat for us west of the Cascades folk), great scenery and a pretty benign route prepared by Scott Peterson made for a great brevet. Scott seemed mildly remorsful of having such a reasonable brevet- 3K instead of the 10K climbing option. Hopefully, OR Randonneurs will have more events in the Bend area.
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| Bend 200K |
John Kramer advertised good weather, less climbing, Friday festivities and a Beer festival on Saturday as additional inducements to doing the Bingen Bikefest. Knows which buttons to push, eh? In addition, the Gorge is one of the prettiest places I know of. I also oughta know by now though, that any ride including the Gorge is going to be work, regardless of how it's dressed up by JK.
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| Bingen Bikenfest |
This still leaves what to do for Nov. and Dec. At this time, I'm very much inclined to local permanents. Given that our esteemed RBA, Susan France, has referred to our little group as a herd of cats, let's see how many of us can agree to a time, date and route.
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