hoppin on on the brevet wagon - Chicago Randonneurs Barrington 200k

[Brent Knepper]

hey friends, from seeing folks sharing east coast and west coast brevet ride reports in the rbw/ibob/650b ecosystem, I'd like to share yesterday's ride as the Chicago area finally has a rando organization!

yesterday's 200k ride was an out n back from Barrington, IL to Darien, WI- the ultimate destination being one of many locations known as Wisconsin's Official State Cultural Centers: a Kwik Trip gas station

I was on my crust malocchio with 38s, flat pedals, and a berthoud saddle I'm struggling to break in. it fits me really well and I'm also so comfy on this bike for hella long rides

this is the new chirando's 4th event of the season and while my other riding friends have said the earlier events have had tremendous turn outs, yesterday's Barrington event had an impressive 14 people I think? it's impressive for two reasons:

1. doin century rides all over the Chicago area and I maybe get 1000ft of elevation for the whole deal, its flat here. the Barrington brevet is ~4400 ft total, so this may be a bit intimidating for riders who have no opportunities to practice climbing

2. the lead, buried in this third paragraph, but-- the forecast had strong winds all day, incl. 40mph gusts and in the worst possible direction. midwestern riders are familiar with constant wind, it's kinda like climbing but you never get to descend :-/ the friends I was planning to ride who are resilient riders bailed solely because of the wind

and with that, 14 or so silly people met up at one gas station to ride to another gas station with a few gas stations as controls. that's the midwest for ya baby! overnight rain kept the roads wet for the ride start and get just enough grit on everyone's chains but the wind (gonna mention wind a lot so settle in) and sun dried out the roads and humidified the air in the first hour. groups formed based on pace and familiarity. I didn't know anyone so I bopped around between groups at first, sayin hi, but settled in with some kind and conversational grav dads who were interested in keeping the pace fast n fun

I wore a shirt with ducks on it, running shorts, and chacos. first 30ish miles we kept it in the low 20s through the rolling hills and out into the flat farmland. I had assumed based off wind direction there'd be a slight tailwind most of the way north, and I wanted to conserve my energy for the second half where I feared it would be 60 miles of pushing into a gnarly headwind. well the tailwinds mostly never found us, instead the first half was more core strength focused in leaning against the crosswinds

there was exactly one point where the glory of a full blast midwestern tail wind came, along Queen Anne Rd heading north Hebron, IL. 15 or so miles of just effortless 28-29mph pedaling as we got closer and closer to The Basketball

alas dear reader, that municipal basketball was also the harbinger of changing wind. I'm not from the midwest and I get super demoralized by headwinds. they're so boring to ride against. I tapered down and fell away from the fast folks, fearful that I needed to save my energy for the remaining 70 miles. two seasoned rando riders with various kit/bike swag from big rides including PBP caught up to me for a while, and once we were at the Kwik Trip mecca other groups reconvened. KT being kinda like a buc-ees or sheetz, we were able to eat real food and get better drinks. gallon jugs of water were collectively bought and shared. a few people made a couple rounds at the free sample table inside giving away pizza slices. it's the best part of long rides- just eating pure garbage in a desperate quest for salt and calories with elation instead of guilt

just as I was rolling out and another group was rolling in, I realized my rear tube had a slow leak, so I bid farewell to my morning new friends to throw a new tube in and joined this later group of riders. it's something I like about rando rides: if you'd like company, there's company to be found. leave dropping to the roadie culture, I suppose, solidarity is more fun anyway :)

and solidarity was desperately needed because jfc the wind the rest of the day was mean. this being an out and back, that amazing cruise north on Queen Anne was now bad. ruff gusts, the four of us barely keeping it at 10mph, just for hours and hours. along the route is the Kikkoman factory and I fantasized about all the wonderful sodium in a bottle of their shoyu

so, I dunno, we did that for like five hours. control stops were a relief to get all the non-shoyu sodium off our faces, reapply sunscreen, and mix other sodium into our bidons. with a different forecast, there's beauty to appreciate on this route from the pastoral lens, the rolling hills, and the small town quaintness. unfortunately, my head was tucked down looking at my front tire for most of that. maybe next time I can enjoy more of it!

rolling back into Barrington around 7pm had our 4 person group's total time like right at 11 hours. the faster folks had taken their extra free time to get a big table at a pizza place around the corner. big "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs" vibes to have such celebration and comfort available as more riders rolled in :):)

I'm don't tend to align with the type 2 celebration of suffering that a lot of cycling focuses on, though I can see how that experience lets some folks connect with themselves and find value in their pursuits. I have been doing silly long rides most of my adult life, but as tours and camping and less-than-sanctioned gravel events, and enjoy being so present in the moment, my body and thoughts, and in a shared effort with others during those experiences. but while I want to acknowledge how much the wind was a stinker part of the day, I also wanna note how much I enjoyed the camaraderie, the way fatigue can make even the lamest jokes funny, and how much enthusiasm everyone had for each other!

here's some photos from along the way:

https://imgur.com/a/kldknKb

and hey thanks for reading,

Brent in chicago

[Adam]

Thanks for the write-up. I'm excited for all the Chirando stuff on the schedule. Haven't made it out there yet but am eyeing the calendar.

Adam in Oak Park

(I think we may have met briefly in Riverside or around there sometime in January? I was riding my Hillborne)

[ian m]

On Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 2:42:54 PM UTC-4 Brent Knepper wrote:

big "from each according to their ability, to each according to their needs" vibes to have such celebration and comfort available as more riders rolled in :):)

From a fellow non-competer,  big fan of the cooperation and solidarity focus of your ride.

[Brent Knepper]

heya Adam! it was nice riding with you for those few miles on that chilly day. still playing around with different brake combos on your homer?

On Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 9:06:24 PM UTC-5 Adam wrote:

Thanks for the write-up. I'm excited for all the Chirando stuff on the schedule. Haven't made it out there yet but am eyeing the calendar.

Adam in Oak Park

(I think we may have met briefly in Riverside or around there sometime in January? I was riding my Hillborne)

thanks Ian, glad to have ya aboard :)

On Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 10:51:08 PM UTC-5 ian m wrote:

From a fellow non-competer,  big fan of the cooperation and solidarity focus of your ride.

and looking back over my post, thanks to anyone for wading through my typos and complete lack of editing

[Toshi Takeuchi]

Congrats on a great ride!  It's hard to ride on a really windy day and not have it be type 2 "fun", but it seems like you had a great ride despite some challenges.

Toshi in Oakland, CA

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bun...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b10e6049-fbfb-48c0-87da-36576fedffe0n%40googlegroups.com.