Next up: Golden Gate 1000k

Now that I've completed a Super Randonneur series I have just one more big ride on my agenda for the year. That's not to say that I won't be doing other brevets, but at this point there's only one that I'm definitely committed to riding. Any others beyond that will be on a more ad hoc basis--if I happen to be free that weekend and the route looks interesting... if not, no big deal. The big ride yet to come is the San Francisco Randonneur's Golden Gate 1000k. I'm really looking forward to this ride. This will be my first US brevet organized by a club other than SIR. I'm excited to ride through some new terrain with a new group of randonneurs. This will also be my first 1000k, and 1000k is the only brevet distance I've never done. I suspect it will be a lot like riding a 1200k, but still it will be nice to be able to say I've done them all. Plus, if you do all the different types of randonneuring events within two years, you can get a really cool trinket.

RUSA Cup[

Since I rode the SR series this spring on my single-speed Trek, it seemed obvious to me that that's the bike I would use for the Golden Gate 1000k too. But that was before I had really looked into the route (Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3). The route starts from downtown San Jose and immediately spends the first 25 miles climbing over 4,000 ft to the summit of Mt. Hamilton (home of Lick Observatory). That's a brutal climb on a single-speed. Maybe I could make it to the summit of Mt. Hamilton, but I'm afraid I wouldn't have much left for the remaining 600 miles of the ride (which also have a few ups and downs). Since the idea is to have fun and ride with other people, I've decided to ride a bike with those new-fangled "derailleur" things on it. I've been told the derailleurs and "gears" make going up hill nearly effortless.



So, it's time to dig my Velo Orange Randonneur out from the basement where it's been sitting behind the Christmas tree ornaments and 1990s bank statements. To be honest I did ride it once back in February, but just once. Out of nearly 4,000 miles I've ridden so far this year, all but about 100 of those miles were on my humble, devoted, always-eager-to-please, single-speed Trek.

Which brings up a source of a little bit of anxiety for the GG 1000k. It's sort of like getting a new bike two weeks before riding 1000k. Rule number one of randonneuring is you never change anything about your bike immediately before a big ride (or maybe that's rule number two, rule number one having something to do with being discreet about where you stop to pee). The VO Rando and I have a history together, but it's been a while. The fit is pretty different from the Trek, and I haven't had the spring SR series to make sure I've got all of the mechanical bits properly lubed, adjusted, tightened, lock-tited, duct-taped and zip-tied. Oh yeah, I also got a new saddle for it since the one that was on it before gave me saddle sores on PBP, and the corollary to rule number one (or is it two?) is "especially don't mess with the saddle!" So, I guess I'll set to riding the heck out of the VO over the next couple of weeks to try to sort out any issues and get acquainted again.