I’m signed up for the Point Reyes brevet with the San Francisco Randonneurs next weekend. This was, for a while, a cause of a certain amount of bellyaching. See, I’d put off registering for the brevet for a while for various reasons… and then I saw the email saying that all of the 150 slots had been filled. I freaked out, asked to be added to the waiting list, got #1, and got an email yesterday saying that I was part of the main roster.
I’ve never done a full 200km brevet on my new road bike yet, so this will be a bit of an experiment. For the most part, I’m at the same level of fitness or better as I was last year… and last year I did it on a mountain bike… so I’m not expecting too many problems.
On the other hand, I logged a max speed of 38.7 mph going over cattleguards, and I don’t think my road bike is up for that.
Either way, the best way to follow my progress, complete with geotags, is my twitter feed.
My plan goes something like this:
- Gear to bring or verify is brought:
Trunk bag:- Space Blanket
- Tire Baggie: tire boot, spare tube, patch kit, CO2 inflater, CO2 canisters
- Park pump
- First aid: bandages, ointments, wound wash
- Battery-powered battery charger with extra Lithium batteries and plug
- Camera in ziploc bag
- Jacket
- Rain pants + rain jacket + balaclava + extra gloves in drybag
- 14 gel packets, 6 shot blocks
- Baggie with ibuprofen
- Pen
- Spare tube
- Multitool
- Tire levers
- Both water bottles
- Garmin
- Route sheet
- Tool kit and heavy spares and bike floor pump.
- Post-ride bag with Gu Rocks, sweat pants, boxers, sweatshirt, t-shirt.
- During the ride
- Have fun
- Eat every 45 minutes
- Don't take the ibuprofen unless I really need it
- Charge the Garmin at the beginning
- Stay reasonably dry because hypothermia sucks
- Stick with a pack when possible but don't put in a J-shaped effort
- Don't stop till I reach the Point Reyes visitor center to refill water.