Lumberton 400k: Proving Cambria Bike wrong

 

When I lived in upstate NY, and was just getting started with group rides, I once had some guy give me advice in the middle of a paceline. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the advice had to do with his opinion (shared by others, I’m sure) that my saddle height was wrong. So, at full speed, he rides up along side me and yells to me “your saddle height is wrong! It’s supposed to be 0.883 x your inseam length in centimeters!” Since I didn’t have a handy paper and pencil to record his helpful advice, I decided to simply ignore him.

 

Rollout

I think that in randonneuring, more so than in almost any other cycling niche, there is respect for the concept that all of us out there are doing what works for us. Between the steel frames, various combinations of bags (or none at all), fenders (or not), aerobars (or not), etc (or not), we all seem to have gravitated to our own unique set-up. As such, I hear almost no unsolicited advice being spewed out on the road when I’m with randonneurs.

Wes and John Ende

 Wes and John Ende 

(Mike offers John his "prescription vest" in exchange for John's sunglasses)

.

Mike D. and Lin  

(Lin, I'm sorry, but this angle makes riding a 'bent look stranger than ever)

However, if you’re going to ride together with a group for 12+ hours, odds are you’re going to HAVE to talk some, even if it has nothing to do with cycling

Mike D and Joel

Enter Joel and Henry and another bit of learning on my part.

The lead group, as I peeled off the front

 Mary F.

Road closed?

I may have had better rides in terms of how I felt or how well I did, but I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so hard and had so much fun.

 Joel's broken aerobars

 Joel and Henry at Sunset beach

 Me and Joel

Sunset beach

I mean, what else can you say when, with temps dropping and all of us sniffing and snorting from runny noses in a paceline at midnight, Joel casually asks, “Henry, do you have a tissue?”

Just a great stretch of road

 

Back and forth across the borders

I don’t tend to talk much on rides. I apologize if it seems that I’m being aloof or something. It really stems from my previously stated dislike for other riders “sharing” their expertise with me when I neither want to hear it nor need to hear it. Plus, the hidden message in such one-sided conversations is rather apparent and I simply DO NOT want to be one of those types.

Heading over New Bridge. leaving sunset Beach

But after this ride, I find that I really do need to improve my rando conversation skills.

At the finish

Unfortunately, since Joel and Henry can fall back on 20 years of rando experience and friendship for their conversations, it may just take me a while to get better with this. Also, I don't really have much snappy repartee when I'm gasping for breath, while trying to hold a wheel.

Thank you to Joel and Henry for a TERRIFIC 400k