No Matter How Far You Ride

For me last year's cycling calendar involved a good number of centuries and various other charity rides. This year I am still doing some charity rides and centuries, but I have been adding the longer randonuerring brevets. But one thing I have discovered is that no matter how much you ride, there are always people who ride more.

This week is the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. The 2011 show is in Austin, Texas. If you have a chance to go, then do it. I went last year when the show was in Richmond and really enjoyed it. I just went for the day to the expo. The bicycles, components and accessories were incredible. Even though I was not shopping for a bike, I really enjoyed seeing all the great workmanship. I remember the titanium commuter from Black Sheep Cycles with internal gear hub and a Gates belt drive. It would be perfect for me except that at $8600 I would have to win the lottery to get one and then I wouldn't need it to ride to work.

But really this post is about long rides. After driving 3 hours to Richmond for the show. I was looking around on Saturday and in the early afternoon I ran into some randonnuers I had recently met. They had left Raleigh Friday night and ridden overnight to Richmond. After a nap at a hotel they were enjoying the show. They were taking the train back to Raleigh the next day.

While I move from 100 mile century rides to the 200K (125 mile) brevet rides, I am humbled by 200K being the starting distance. The 2 days I did 200K there were people doing 300K, 400K and 600K rides. In fact I think there were more doing the 600K than the 200K. Many of these people will do a 1200K ride in the summer, either Paris-Bres-Paris or one of the US based rides.

Well I have a long way to go but it is good to have goals.

Location:Division St,Nashville,United States