All in all, I think the brevet went extremely well. I honestly felt pretty good at the end of the ride, and whereas before a ride longer than the 200km seemed intimidating, I can now see myself taking on the next big hurdle, the 300km (185 miles) ride on February 2nd. (And yes, I do realize how crazy riding that far sounds but that’s why I like it!) I felt less fatigued and less sore after riding 200km than after doing, say, a 10-mile hike or 6 miles of backpacking, which, for one thing, speaks to the beautiful mechanical efficiency of the bicycle.

What Worked

So clearly I was doing something right. As far as “training” goes, I didn’t really do too much beyond what I normally do. I bike commute daily, about 7 miles each way, splitting my time about 50/50 between the road bike I took on the brevet and my track bike. To supplement my commute, I did a couple of longer rides, one metric century, and a few 30-milers, along with the usual collection of Midnight Ridazz-style night rides. I think that anyone who does a regular commute should be able to finish a century or a 200km without too much difficulty. This isn’t a race so one just needs to know how to pace themselves and keep spinning at a comfortable speed.

What worked fantastically for me was my eating and drinking regimen. In the past, when doing really long rides I’d get both fatigued and ravenously hungry. This wasn’t a problem this time around and was probably due to a combination of eating and hydrating well in the days leading up to the ride as well as during the ride. On the ride, I snacked on whatever they had at the controls. While in the saddle, one of my water bottles was filled with Perpetuem, which was the first time I had used it or really any fancy-pants sport concoctions. It seemed to do its job exceedingly well as the only other thing I munched on was a sack of fruit and nut trail mix that I kept in my handlebar bag’s rear-facing pockets.

Speaking of my handlebar bag, it and my saddlebag are recent acquisitions from Acorn Bags, a husband and wife outfit cranking out handmade bags in Gardena and selling them on eBay. The bags are absolutely gorgeous, receiving many compliments on the ride, and are very well made. Even better, they’re a great value when compared to similar offerings from Rivendell, Carradice, Velo Orange, or Gilles Berthoud.

What Didn’t Work

My primary complaint was that I ended up packing too much. I had gotten into my head that randonneuring is supposed to be all about self-sufficiency and being prepared for anything be it mechanical troubles or adverse weather conditions, which is essentially true. That’s the purist spirit. However, this ride was more lax than that, which was great as it added to the supportive air of the event. There were ample snacks and water at each of the controls, and a roving SAG vehicle was available for any mechanical issues that may have popped up. I ended up making hardly a dent in the snacks that I brought myself.

Then there was the weather. Weather.com said there was a 10% chance of rain in the morning so I figured better safe than sorry and brought along my rain paints and an extra pair of gloves. I don’t know what I was worried about. This is southern California, after all. A 10% chance of rain means that there will be no rain. A look outside my window could have confirmed that and this isn’t the type of region where sudden weather changes sweep in without warning.

The other thing I would’ve done differently would be to acclimate myself to my bike shorts earlier. I don’t normally where padded bike shorts as I find my Brooks saddle is generally comfortable enough on its own. For this ride, since it was of a significantly longer distance than any other ride I’d done, I thought it prudent to wear the only pair of bike shorts that I own, which I bid on one day on a whim off of ebay when I thought “hmm… maybe I should have a pair of bike shorts.” I think prior to the brevet, I had only worn these on a couple of Midnight Ridazz rides underneath my Swrve knickers and the mileage of the average Midnight Ridazz ride is nothing compared to a brevet; it’s often times comparable to my daily commute. This brevet was then the real introduction between my bum and my bike shorts. Unfortunately for the first 90 miles or so, we really weren’t getting along well. But around the century mark, things started to fall into place. I don’t know if this is due to me finally getting used to the shorts, or to my body learning to ignore the pain I was feeling all around. At any rate, I think I could’ve benefited from breaking myself into the attire beforehand.

What Really Didn’t Work Out

The stupidest thing I did didn’t even happen on the ride. I had made tentative plans earlier in the week to hang out with my friend and soon-to-be groomslady, Emily, that evening. When I got home I was still feeling really good so I took a nice hot bath, scarfed down a slice of banana bread, and hopped back on the bike and headed out to meet up with her at the Dresden. There was a considerable line at the door, which was pretty unusual as I’ve never seen that happen, so we opted to head to my absolute favorite neighborhood bar, the Tiki Ti. The Tiki Ti is a small shack of a place and one of the few establishments that allows smoking indoors. As a result, there isn’t much oxygen in the bar. This, combined with sudden pangs of hunger, are what probably led me to fainting within five minutes of entering.

The doorman was quick to help me up, asking Emily, “How much did he have to drink?” To which she responded, “Nothing! Like a sip of my drink! But he rode like a hundred fifty miles on bicycle today.” They helped me outside where the cold fresh air and a bottle of water got me back to my senses. The doorman was totally cool, emphasizing, as he puffed his cigar, that he just wants to make sure that everybody’s having a good time and enjoying themselves. People fall over all the time in the Tiki Ti (they have extremely potent drinks), but it’s not usually under my circumstances. At any rate, as soon as I was collected, Emily insisted that I eat something so we headed to The Kitchen (my favorite neighborhood restaurant) where I scarfed down a bowl of mac ‘n’ cheese.

So the lesson learned here: RECOVERY is crucial. For the 300km ride coming up, I will be sure to spend the day after with a stack of movies and probably an entire pizza or something.

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