I've found randonneuring to be a happy medium between racing and ... well I don't know what, "serious" riding? When I first started cycling "seriously" (ie every single day I had off work for 8 to 9hrs and early in the morning before work and school) I did do some mountain bike races. It was an interesting experience but not one that sucked me in. It just seemed a bit too nerve wracking. For years I rode with a club (I use that term very loosely) where we would head out for fast short rides and all day slogs on mountain and road bikes every weekend. It was a nice group of people who were fun to ride with, some of whom raced. When I moved to Portland 3yrs ago I stumbled upon randonneuring and love it. My first year my main goal was to just have fun and finish the rides. A 200k requires a bit of "seriousness" even if you're going at a leisurely pace. The second year, this year, I tried to complete my brevets a little faster. I was shooting for R70 times (see http://www.cyclosmontagnards.org/R80Rules.html for details). This did add some pressure but not in the same way racing does. I maintained R70 times for the 200k, 300k and 400k, brevets but the 600k brevet was all about survival (http://randobooks.blogspot.com/ 2009/06/oregon-600km-xtr.html). As for next year, my goals are to complete another super randonneur series and maybe complete a Cyclos Montagnards challenge with my friend Joshua. I probably ride a lot more than serious racers but I would never throw myself in with that lot. I just love cycling. 16+ years of steady cycling and I remain obsessed with getting on my bike and heading out for long adventurous slogs like this one 2 days ago: http://cycles-j-bryant.blogspot.com/2009/12/wilderness-mtn-road.html
Crud, I need to get into work. Time to hop on the bike. --mike -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
