SFR Populaire Photos

[Cyclofiend Jim]

Got out yesterday on the San Francisco Randonneurs Populaire, a ~71 mile introduction to brevets which the club puts on a couple times a year. There was a pretty decent crowd, with a good percentage of folks who had not ever ridden a brevet before. After an intro and short talk by RBA Rob Hawks, we made our pledge and headed out onto the roads.  Fine weather with enough headwind on the way home to keep things interesting.  Ended up connecting with ride buddy JimG who rolled up just before the start and we covered almost every mile together.  It was a great chance to catch up, see some list members and ogle the hardware.

Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cyclofiend/sets/72157626923504205/

- Jim

[Lee Chae]

I keep following up on Jim's posts (sorry, Jim!). The populaire was a
blast! A lot of Riv eye-candy, as well. It was good to see our Chief
List Dude, as well as other contributors, like Ron Lau and Joe Bunik.
Most of all, it was just plain fun, and my group even made it across
the finish line with two minutes to spare. I highly recommend trying
out the next one in October. SFR puts on a good show and are a
friendly, welcoming bunch. And Rivs with racks and sacks are a perfect
fit here :)

Lots of bike pics here:

http://tinyurl.com/4x5otob

Have a nice end of the weekend, everybody,
Lee
SF, CA

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[Anne Paulson]

I've previously criticized the populaires for being too short, but I
now see I was completely wrong. Beautiful bikes. Looks like a great
time, and I bet it's a relief to spend an entire day without being
told that your bike is too heavy and you ought to buy disposable
wheels.

On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 6:43 AM, Cyclofiend Jim
<cyclo...@earthlink.net> wrote:

> Got out yesterday on the San Francisco Randonneurs Populaire, a ~71 mile
> introduction to brevets which the club puts on a couple times a year.

--
-- Anne Paulson

My hovercraft is full of eels

[Rene Sterental]

How fast do you need to ride to finish it on time? What happens if you don't? I've never done one of these...

René

[CycloFiend]

on 6/26/11 2:55 PM, Rene Sterental at orth...@gmail.com wrote:

How fast do you need to ride to finish it on time? What happens if you don't? I've never done one of these...

Time limit on this ride was 7.5 hours for 115K.   If my math is right, you are looking at about ~9.5 mph.  Bear in mind, that for brevets, the clock never stops, so that average includes breaks, controls, etc.

If you don't finish within the limit, you receive a DNF.  If you come in before the time limit, you are a "Finisher", along with the folks who scorch the course.  It's a little different paradigm than racing, even though there is a time limit.  Essentially, you get credit for completing the ride within the time limit (and "completing", meaning passing through the controls within the time limits and completing whatever requirements those have).  That credit can be used towards qualifying for something like Paris-Brest-Paris (this year is a PBP year), or for R-12 Awards (someone who has completed a 200K each month for twelve consecutive months.)

More here:

http://rusa.org

http://sfrandonneurs.org


- J


--
Jim Edgar
Cyclo...@earthlink.net

Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries - http://www.cyclofiend.com
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"That which is overdesigned, too highly specific, anticipates outcome; the anticipation of outcome guarantees, if not failure, the absence of grace."

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[Rene Sterental]

Thanks for the details. Perhaps at some future time I'll give it a try. 

Sent from my iPad

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[Lee Chae]

Hi Rene. Jim sums it up nicely. I'll chip in by saying that speed on
the bike does not have to be great. But, speed while off the bike is
critical. The saying we came up with in our post-mortem over beers was
"every minute off the bike is a minute you may need to make up while
on the bike."

We did a pretty bad job of limiting our time while off the bike. Part
of it was ignorance where folks didn't know how to gauge how long they
were taking and that the clock is *always* running. Part of it was
inexperience in riders never having ridden the route, having no idea
how much distance was left to be covered at any given moment, and
therefore not knowing when maybe they ought to push themselves.
Finally, part of it was politeness in trying not to rush someone
during stops and giving people a break at the top of climbs, etc.
Throw in a few unexpected problems (losing riders three times in our
case) and some expected issues (flats, including one in which the back
up tube had a hole), and suddenly you realize, uh oh, we've got to
move it!

In hindsight, I should have talked over some details with the crew.
Mostly, I should have let them know that when we stop, everyone is in
charge of taking their own business and getting back on the bike,
ready to roll, asap. Maybe I should have given a time limit to each
stop.

On the other hand, despite it all, we finished in time--maybe with a
generous clock by the SFR folks ;) And, it was quite a memorable
finish! I highly recommend it.

Best,
Lee

[Lee Chae]

Hi Anne. Yeah, it was fun to have all of these bikes on the roadway.
There's a bakery in Point Reyes Station (Bovine Bakery) that, if
you're not familiar with it, is quite the stop for weekend cyclists.
It was great to see so many racked and sacked bikes there, lined up
along with the Cervelos and aerobars and whatnot. It didn't stop one
fella from asking me where my crew rode from, and when I said San
Francisco, he was genuinely curious and asked me if our bikes were
rental bikes. He noted the front bags and cue sheets. That's pretty
good. On a previous ride through that area, another cyclist told me
she thought it was neat that my friend and I rode out there on our
commuter bikes :)

Anyway, it was a load of fun, and my friends who were new to this kind
of riding found it a real thrill, as did I.

Best,
Lee

[Fuz]

Looks like fun.  I'll need a lot of training to get into shape before I even think about joining though.  :(

Maybe one day I can see more fellow riv cult members in person...

[cyclotourist]

Did they ask you how old your bikes were?  :-)

--
Cheers,
David
Redlands, CA

...in terms of recreational cycling there are many riders who would probably benefit more from
improving their taste than from improving their performance. - RTMS

[Rene Sterental]

I'm looking forward to the experience, but am not quite ready yet.
Perhaps in October... Or next year.

Rene

Sent from my iPad

[Anne Paulson]

On Sun, Jun 26, 2011 at 9:29 PM, cyclotourist <cyclot...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Did they ask you how old your bikes were?  :-)
>

If I had a buck for every time I've been asked that, I could afford to
buy one of the new mystery bikes.

[cyclotourist]

I like it, as it handicaps me a bit... "Wow, he's doing pretty good for riding such an old/rental/commuter/etc bike!"

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[William]

I had to miss the Populaire in order to keep my R-12 going.  I did a solo 200k Permanent, and I could have done with a little camaraderie (commiseration).  The Permanent I tackled was called the Mt Hamilton Challenge, and it was indeed a challenge.  I limped in at 13 hours 9 minutes, 27 minutes under the time limit, so I'm a finisher.  6 months into my R12!   

[Ely Rodriguez]

If you are running a little behind schedule, I will wait for you at the finish control and make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and hand you a cold drink as you roll up!

It is always a pleasure to see the riders arriving after a day of beautiful roads and good company.

-Ely

SF Randonneurs Populaire Coordinator

[RonLau]

Let me add this.  Our leader here rode his FIXEDGEAR.

I rode most of the road on my road, camping, towing my son, carbon, rando, fast, slow, hot, cold, rain, sun but have not done this route on fixedgear yet.

SFR will host this again in Oct. but if anyone wants to ride all or most of the route (ie start from Mill Valley), let me know.  I will do it on fixed.