SF Randonneurs Populaire this Saturday

[Manuel Acosta]

Having been inspired by many people on the forum to ride a Randonneur
event, I'm planning to ride the populaire this Saturday. Anyone else
going? Any advice for someone who hasn't ridden a Randonneur event
before? I'm still kinda worried about the control cards and what not.
More importantly what do I wear? Hopefully I can tag along with
someone who knows what their doing.

-Manny "What sport am I doing again?" Acosta

[Esteban]

Bring a pen.  

Otherwise, have a nice time on the bike, just like always.  

[Lee Chae]

Hi Manny. If you are used to doing 40-mile-plus-type rides, then you have nothing to worry about. Just wear what you normally wear and ride like you normally ride. Eat what you normally eat. To add on to Esteban's advice, also bring a plastic sandwich bag to hold your brevet card, receipts, and the pen. It keeps them together and it'll help with the forecasted rains :)

Have fun!
Lee

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[William]

Manny

I'll find you.  We'll hang out.  It'll be a ball

Bill

On Thursday, March 29, 2012 12:10:06 PM UTC-7, Manuel Acosta wrote:

[Ray Shine]

Bring a rain coat and dry clothes:
http://www.weather.com/weather/weekend/USCA0887

---

From: Manuel Acosta <manueljo...@hotmail.com>
To: RBW Owners Bunch <rbw-owne...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Thu, March 29, 2012 12:10:06 PM
Subject: [RBW] SF Randonneurs Populaire this Saturday

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[jimD]

Manny,
As I read the weather forecast I'd say Splats and fenders may be in order.
Have fun.
Have you dragooned any of your students into this? ;>)
JimD

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[Stephen S]

I am planning to go too. It will be my first time also. I was originally planning to ride on my roadeo but I only have fenders on the rambouillet. I'm not that fast but I'll ride with ya all. Look for the blue rambouillet with ranger tan acorn bags. 

Stephen

[Manuel Acosta]

I'm still trying to egg one of my students into doing this. But he
might be in trouble for riding up Mt.Hamiliton after school. He posted
it about it so I quote:

"Most supidest thing ive EVER doen: so it was late after school today
and i decided to go for a ride next thing i know is that i feel good
and decide to go for longer. I ended up doing Mt.Hamilton in a dark
decent... There was still snow in the summit and all i had was a tank
and t-shirt over it. No beanie no full finger gloves no jacket
nothing! It was dark and i was half was down the decent. Have you guys
head of albino killers in that county?? Well i have and i was cared
out of my mind! Never doing that again! Plus i get home and i get in
trouble."

These kids now a days, I wonder where they get these outragest ideas.
BTW I'll be riding my non-fender college road bike. Look for me in
splats and rain jacket. Stephen and William I'll see you there. 71
miles in the rain sounds fun.
-Manny

[jimD]

Of course the young fellow doesn't mention if he had lights.
I'd bet not.
…hopefully the parents weren't informed that the root cause for this
mis-adventure was Mr. Acosta's 'Venturing' influence?

I'm certain your ride on Saturday won't be a mis-adventure.
Does your camera work in the rain? Cause we'll want 'pictures to prove it happened'.
-JimD

[Adam]

I was planing on joining you Manny but the 1/2 inch of rain and
30-40mph wind gusts in the forecast have me reconsidering.

It'll be tough crew out there to be sure.

Cheers,
Adam

On Mar 29, 12:10 pm, Manuel Acosta <manueljohnaco...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

[William]

I'm going to spend the evening fashioning a mounting plate for my old GoPro.  It's submersible, but I've never actually mounted it to a bike.  It'll be epic

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[William]

Manny

You know how to reach me.  Let me know if you want to exchange mobile phone numbers.  

Bill (aka Bubba)

On Thursday, March 29, 2012 12:10:06 PM UTC-7, Manuel Acosta wrote:

[Lynne Fitz]

In the rando crowd up here in the Great Pacific Northwet, it is
considered bad form to not have fenders and loooooong mudflaps when
the roads are wet. At least, if you want anyone to ride with.

Just sayin,
Lynne F

On Mar 29, 9:04 pm, Manuel Acosta <manueljohnaco...@hotmail.com>
wrote:

[William]

Here's the GoPro base that I fashioned tonight.  I think it looks good to Go(Pro)!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/45758191@N04/6885041140/in/photostream

[Smitty]

Kind of last minute here.... but... have fun out there!

--Smitty

On Thursday, March 29, 2012 12:10:06 PM UTC-7, Manuel Acosta wrote:

[William]

Manny and I hooked up at the start at ~6:15 this morning and did the whole ride together.  Thankfully it was not raining at the start, but it rained on us PLENTY throughout.  Manny rocked the splats and absolutely killed it for his first randonneur event.  Many of the signed up riders were DNS, and a few more bailed in the middle.  Still more that decided to slog it out treated themselves to extra stops with a hot meal, hot beverages etc.  Not me and Manny though.  Stop moving and you get cold!  We were the 2nd and 3rd finishers.  Besides the company, the highlights included some pretty hard core winds.  In the heavy rain descending into Olema the wind was strong enough that both Manny and I complained of the pain of the rain hitting us in the face.  On the Golden Gate Bridge on the return it took some serious effort to not be blown over altogether.  Manny of course can be counted upon to post pictures, to prove it happened.  I took video with my GoPro, and we'll see if any of it is worthy of sharing once I edit it way down. 

[Stephen S]

Awesome report. I'm sorry I wasn't able to ride with you but I'm glad that I didn't slow you down. Ty and myself were the last two finishers at 2:39pm. The wind over the bridge was like a wall.

Stephen

[Stephen S]

And another thing. How did the splats do with all of that rain ? Interested in getting a set if your feet were dry at the first control. 

Stephen

On Saturday, March 31, 2012 4:28:29 PM UTC-7, William wrote:

[William]

LOL!

Everything on everyone was soaked, regardless of equipment.  Manny will tell you himself, but trust me.  I think the term he used to describe his feet was "aquarium"

[Stephen S]

See that is how my shoes felt with no splats =) 

Stephen

[Manuel Acosta]

Cycling is one of the only sports that I know where you don't get gratification of what you've done until you're finished. So true in the sport of Randonneuring. If I had to sum up the Last weekend's even in one word it was wet. So wet in fact that out of the 70ish people that registered for this ride only 40ish actually came out.  That means 30ish people stayed inside because they were smart enough that 50 mph winds and heavy downpours is not ideal bike riding weather. Gladly I met a handful of people on the forum, Stephen and Bill. At least I wasn't the only dumb one trying to ride in the weather  Despite all the rain it was a fairly warm 60 degrees out there. Warm enough that I figured rain pants wouldn't be needed until the first control. Oh how wrong I was. Lucky enough I had Mr.William to show me the ropes of what to do with the brevet card, receipts and controls. Once the rain started coming down it didn't really stop. Figured the rain pants were useless to put on at that point so they stayed in the jersey pocket. Overall I had a great time mostly due to the company I got to ride with. I find it interesting that it only takes one ride to really get to know someone. Having never met Bill in person before I love how with just 71 miles of riding in the rain you can find out so much about someone. We exchanged stories, Bill told me a couple of Filippino jokes, talked about life stuff and made fun of the weather yelling "At least there isn't any lightning!" secretly hoping that our statement wouldn't be ironic. There's always a point in any hard ride where you get one of those WTF moments. My WTF moments was trying following Bill through dirt section of Samuel P Taylor park. At this point the rain was coming down so hard that mini streams were washing along the trail and the wind was blowing so hard that it felt someone was consistently slaping me in the face, and the dirt getting kicked up from my non-fendered bike was getting on the inside of my clothes. My only goal was trying to keep my bike upright and keeping up with Bill. My only thought at the point of the ride was that I wish I was riding a bike with fenders right now. Like any true ride you only get the best of the weather when you're done with the ride. We finish at Chrissy Field with the SF Randonneur volunteurs hosting the post ride picnic complete with coffee and goldfish crackers! Big thanks to Bill who had to deal with me. It was a pleasure to ride despite the weather. I can see why people like doing events like these in good weather. 

Pictures proved that my camera didn't break:

http://flic.kr/s/aHsjyMDFuJ

- Manny " My shoes feel like aquariums!" Acosta 

[William]

The trail through SPTPark was freaking awesome.  That was the highlight for sure, for me, since that was my first >100k on that bike, and that type of trail was exactly why I retired my racing bike(s) to buy that one.  I'm kind of bummed that the next time I rock that trail it probably wont be raining.  

I did make the final determination that a 50t front chainring is just plain stupid for me.  Way overkill.  So on Sunday I pulled off the crankset, BB, front derailer and rear derailer from the bike and updated the drivetrain.  Anybody want a Campy Veloce metal crankset in 50/34?  Now my 2x9 setup is 46/29 in front and 12-27 in back, and I think that'll make that bike even more perfecter.  While the bike was in the workstand, a small puddle of water flowed out the BB when I took it out, and my rear rim still makes a water sloshing sound when I rotate it.  And I had full fenders.