Support Your Local RBA!

[Robert Leone]

Dear Randons:
Hello! I'd the opportunity to ride a couple of the worker's rides for
200 KMs this year, and help out with the record keeping and post ride
relaxation this year. It's a blast.
As the designated "snail" of the area (even the guys on Surly Long Haul
Truckers are faster) this gives me an opportunity to see what the "fast
folk" are riding -- except for David. Whatever bike he's on you can't
tell what it is because almost all the decals are covered by yellow
reflective stickers. And if anyone's worried about the route and
"toughness," I can tell them "I test rode it a week ago, and I found it
doable" and warn them Mission in Escondido has four or five 7-11s but
only one of them is the register slip control -- the one having a sale
on 1.5 liter waters!
I'm one of those "living car-free" types and I'm still saving up for a
big cargo bike, so I can't really stock and run a refreshment control,
aid point or drive SAG, but helping at the start and being there at the
finish for a few hours while the others are out manning other controls
and generally getting on with the rest of lives in between shifts is a
help for the riders.
Support Your Local RBA!

Robert Leone

[Greg Merritt]

   As the designated "snail" of the area (even the guys on Surly Long Haul
Truckers are faster)

Hey man, are you talkin' smack about my bike? ;)

I find it funny to hear the "weight weenies" poke fun at my LHT.  When I rode a *slightly* lighter steel-frame racer-y bike, nobody said anything -- even though I used to weigh 40 pounds more myself.

What was that line?  Oh yeah -- "It's gotta be the shoes!" :)  

-Greg

[Mark Schoonover]

On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 5:25 AM, Robert Leone <rob_...@earthlink.net> wrote:

Dear Randons:

   
       As the designated "snail" of the area (even the guys on Surly Long Haul
Truckers are faster)

Actually, Robert forgot he finished before me on the first 200K of 2009. Nothing due to my LHT, other than being geographically challenged! It's funny, people only know be by my Surly! :) Robert would like me to upgrade my wheelset to something "faster", I guess only to cement his position as lantern rouge...



Mark Schoonover, CMDBA
http://surlyrando.blogspot.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/markschoonover
http://marksitblog.blogspot.com
Cell: 619-368-0099 :: Fax: 619-374-3130

[Robert Leone]

Dear Randons:
Mark doesn't mention he'd come in behind me on the 2009 Rainbow 200 KM
only because a) I slipped into the bathroom at teh Rainbow control
before he did -- and the door sticks, so it's actually a longer delay
maker than it would seem, b) he'd a flat to fix in the dark and c) he
got SO lost on the last two miles (involving some non-intuitive turns
and twists on the campus of the University of California at San Diego,
uncomfortably near three hospitals and past the earthquake simulator
building that's built atop an active fault line) folks were asking HIM
for directions to the basketball game. If you toss out that single data
point, I think I'm 0-4 in Brevets and populaire finishes ahead of Mark.
Although, that said, I have a very vague recollection of us finishing
at the same time (in a group of four) on nasty 106 km populaire that
featured dense urban traffic, 6,000+ feet of climbing and both register
and question controls. I think a couple of folks rode that on single
speeds....