So with the year 2022, I set a goal to get to my 25th Double Century by the time I complete Carmel Valley Double, at the end of August. That means 5 Double Centuries, with my first one being Camino Real in February.
One great way is to ride brevets, which will build my base miles. I didn’t actually consider doing these, and then someone was surprised I wasn’t doing the upcoming 200k Dillon Beach Brevet. So I figured, this will be good training. Let’s do it!
First, I have to register for the ride. But before I could do that, I had to register with San Francisco Randonneurs. But before I could register with them, I had to register with RUSA (Randonneur USA). So I register with them, pay the $30, so that’s the first step. Next step, go and register with San Francisco Randonneur, but in order to do that, I need my RUSA number. But wait a minute … I paid, and I should have a RUSA number. Well, I had to message one contact, who knows a good contact with RUSA, and then the ball got rolling. Dang, they need to work on their customer service.
I found out the assigning of numbers is a manual process, so there is some lead time to get this. I was on a time crunch though, because I had to get my registration to the event by Wednesday, and it was Tuesday evening. I was eventually able to get my RUSA number Tuesday evening, which then allowed me to register with San Francisco Randonneur. After that, I was able to register for the event, Dillon Beach 200k. Whew, all done, right? Wrong … as part of the process, I have to sign a waiver for the event … online. So that was easy enough, but all through out this process, I had so many emails, I had to create a folder, just for this.
Ok, deep breath … now I am ready to just go on the ride! The one thing we have to do is to provide proof of passage (indication that you made it to 4 control points … beginning, 2 points on the ride, and the end). We had to download an app, which will imprint a Timestamp, and take a picture at the control point. This is in lieu of carrying a RUSA card, and filling it out.
The start of the ride is at Crissy Field, with a really nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge. The starting temperature was not too bad … probably in the mid 40’s, so felt pretty good about that.
I wanted to keep this at a steady pace, and have enough energy for the end of the ride. However, I found myself ahead of most of the group. I got to chat with a bunch of really cool riders, veterans of previous brevets, which includes Kitty, who has done 3 Paris-Brest-Paris brevets, which is really awesome. I rode with her for about the first quarter of the ride. I figured if I just keep at the same pace that she rides at, then I should be in good shape for the rest of the ride.
The ride had a couple of out and backs … each out was a control point. This also gave me a gauge of how far up I was, or how far back I was. It was good to know I was somewhere in the middle, and I also got to see the rest of my group (as I was heading back, they were heading up the hill).
From this point, I pretty much rode with Chris, Tracy, and PV. Before heading to Dillon Beach, we stopped by the General Store to load up on water, and it was a nice place to eat our lunch. Chris and Tracy had rando setups, with a nice big bag on the handlebar. What did they have in there? Well, of course, nice beef bowl to chow down for lunch. Oh so that’s how Randonneuring is done. 🙂
We were there long enough that the rest of the group caught up with us, and we headed up the hill over to Dillon Beach. This is where the chow down really is, and where Dzung and Chuck has a mid-ride IPA re-fueling.
Chris, Tracy, PV and I started heading back first. It was around 1:30 so we figure we should be back to the finish before dark, if all goes well.
At some point, I was wondering where everyone is, as normally, you would see some other randonneurs, but we didn’t see anyone. I thought we were supposed to do an out and back, but we were on Nicosia Valley Road … not a big deal, because I know this area well, and I know we make a left turn on Sir Francis Drake Road. Then, I saw some of our group pass on Sir Francis Drake Road. Oooh … we did make the wrong turn. It’s okay, as we would end up with the same mileage and same climbing. I guess this was the old route, and perhaps Chris was on auto-pilot follow the previous year’s route. Oh well.
By the time we got back to Crissy Fields, it was just turning dark, but at least we got through Sausalito and onto the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset. I made it just before 6 pm, which was kinda my target anyways, so it’s a win win.
That was a fun experience. I know the goal of most randonneur’s is to qualify to do Paris-Brest-Paris, but that’s not my goal. All I have in mind is to train for my doubles. I just haven’t committed to doing multi-day riding, all self-supported. A 200k, or even 300k would be fine, but any more than that is not my idea of fun. I guess it’s all a matter of what you want to get out of it.
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