California Randonneuring Seminar

[Nanci]

This came through on the Randon list- if anyone is interested:

Hi Gang--
With the timely re-launching of Randon (thanks, Joe!), perhaps this will be
of interest of folks who hadn't heard about it yet...


The Santa Cruz Randonneurs and the Davis Bike Club are hosting a seminar on
randonneuring next month. We have 83 randonneurs and randonneuses signed up
so far and room for about 40 more--but you do need to register if you want
to attend. So, if you're an aspiring first-time PBP rider, and can travel to
Davis, California in mid-January (Saturday of the MLK, Jr. weekend), this
might be of interest...


http://pages.prodigy.net/scrandonneurs/seminar.html


Bonne Route!
Bill Bryant

[snapdragen]

I liked the link to Velocio's Seven Commandments of Cycling:

1. Make your stops short and infrequent so as not to lose your drive.
2. Eat lightly and often. Eat before getting hungry, drink before you are thirsty.
3. Never ride until you are so tired that you cannot eat or sleep.
4. Put on extra clothing before you're cold, and take it off before you're hot.
Don't be afraid of exposing your skin to the sun, air, and rain.
5. Don't drink wine, eat meat, or smoke---at least during the ride.
6. Never rush things. Ride within yourself, particularly during the first few hours of a ride when you feel strong and are tempted to force the pace.
7. Never pedal out of vanity, don't be a show-off.

Good advice for non-randonneurs too!

[SadieKate]

From Bill Bryant, when I asked about the ride without attending the seminar.

No worries, you can ride Sunday without any problem. The DBC has decided to not host an official populaire (darn it!), but we’ll do the route over Cantelowe Road in the Vaca hills. It’ll be mostly flat getting to and from the hills, so lots of opportunities to chat as we roll along if that is desired, or I’m sure there will be some speedy riders up front if that is more what you’re looking for. Total length will be about 100 kms (or more likely, about 110 kms.) I’ll bet there are going to be various groups of all speeds. So, no registration needed, just write back in a week or so and I’ll try to pin down the exact start location and time. I’ll also get that posted on Randon.
Regards,
Bill

Of course, I really wanted to do this ride as a populaire just for the heck of it. Confound my friends and loved ones with a new term. I could lead this ride blindfolded. Good thing is, jo, since there is no official course, we could make Steady Eddy's a rest stop.

[Trekhawk]

From Bill Bryant, when I asked about the ride without attending the seminar.

No worries, you can ride Sunday without any problem. The DBC has decided to not host an official populaire (darn it!), but we’ll do the route over Cantelowe Road in the Vaca hills. It’ll be mostly flat getting to and from the hills, so lots of opportunities to chat as we roll along if that is desired, or I’m sure there will be some speedy riders up front if that is more what you’re looking for. Total length will be about 100 kms (or more likely, about 110 kms.) I’ll bet there are going to be various groups of all speeds. So, no registration needed, just write back in a week or so and I’ll try to pin down the exact start location and time. I’ll also get that posted on Randon.
Regards,
Bill

Of course, I really wanted to do this ride as a populaire just for the heck of it. Confound my friends and loved ones with a new term. I could lead this ride blindfolded. Good thing is, jo, since there is no official course, we could make Steady Eddy's a rest stop.

Oohh this ride is sounding better all the time. I love it when Jo navigates us to a stop like that.

[SadieKate]

We've got a lot of discussion going on bikejournal about this ride, so hop over there for the "who's going" answers.

Unofficial 100 km Brevet Populare
January 14, Sunday, 8:30 am
T3/P3-6/61 mi (100K)

The day following the PBP seminar we will host an unofficial Brevet Populaire. No controls, no brevet cards. Everyone is welcome; you don’t have to be a brevet rider. This will be an opportunity to ask questions about brevets in an informal setting and/ or simply get in a nice ride with friends. Ride starts from the Starbuck’s in West Davis. The route will go out Putah Creek Rd to Pleasants Vy Road over Cantelow and Steiger Hill, back along Pleasants Vy Rd and returns along Putah Creek Rd to the start. No Sag. Bring sufficient food and water for 60 miles. Rains cancels.

Starbuck's map

[SadieKate]

Don't know whether to post this here or on today's ride report thread. Maillotpois, her SIL, the Bobs, TrekHawk, Mr SK, 3 folks from bikejournal and I collected for what jobob renamed the UnPopulaire since it didn't have official RUSA sanction. California has been hit with very cold temps for our area so we all had some trepidation about getting on our bikes. Here's the report I posted in BikeJournal. Jo took a cool pic and posted it over there also.

Bad news when the local university weather equipment is reporting 22F when you leave the house. Good news when MaillotPois calls and says "We’re here. It’s 26F." Hey, it’s going to be a balmy day!

Bad news when those with water in opaque bottles end up lugging around ice cubes for most of the day. Good news that most of us nailed the perfect clothing combos. A few opportunities for improvement but unanimous agreement that our Amici Veloci thermal jackets from Voler were perfect for the day (and stylish, of course).

Good news that the weather warmed into the 40s. Bad news is the wind hit 18 mph from the north so brutal head or crosswinds for the last 30 miles and some serious wind chill.

GRAND news is that a bunch of folks made new friends, spent time with old friends, got in lots of laughing, survived unusually cold temperatures for California weenies – and ate fudge*, of course.

*I've promised to supply locally-made world class fudge for a couple of rides that haven't panned out. This time it did. Maillotpois appeared to be in paroxysms at one point as it was inhaled.