Learning to Say No

Some lessons are harder to learn than others. With randonneuring, this is especially true. Giving up on a ride seems to conjure a special feeling of failure. It’s an endurance activity after all. “This too will pass,” we tell ourselves to make it through the especially dark times. With age and experience, though, I've learned that there are two pretty good reasons to quit: safety and family. The trouble is that both require making decisions that are seldom black and white; there is always considerable grey involved.

Since randonneurs throw care to the wind simply to participate in this crazy sport, we are generally a group of people with our priorities a bit out of whack. Suffering is a necessary feature of the activity as is a certain amount of risk and personal sacrifice. Cycling at night, cycling in all sorts of weather, cycling with precious little sleep, the list goes on and on. Seasoned (and wise) riders learn to separate the safety risks worth taking from those that are not. Since endurance cycling also generally involves countless hours away from family, randonneurs also risk alienating those closest to them while pursuing their passion. 

This week I learned this lesson again as I decided to end my sixth attempt at the Festive 500 Challenge. The challenge, sponsored annually since 2010 by the British cycling apparel company Rapha, draws thousands of riders from around the world with a premise that is really quite simple: log a minimum of 500 kilometers between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve ~ no matter what. Riders who complete the challenge successfully get a patch as well as a feeling of satisfaction and perhaps even some bragging rights.

I first completed the Festive 500 in 2011 as I was recovering from a serious crash and logging monthly 200K rides in search of my first R-12 award. The timing seemed perfect. With school on break and a new year on the horizon, what better way to launch the training season ahead? Armed with this goal, I completed the Challenge five times in as many years and even found myself one of ten finalists in a grand prize competition that awarded a Trek Madone to the rider with the best story of the endeavor that first year. Despite not winning the bike, I was hooked and the Festive 500 has become a part of my annual riding plan ever since.

This year I mapped out a path to success that carefully considered the long-range weather forecast as well as a complex schedule of holiday gatherings, but despite my careful planning, I simply could not see sacrificing the 20+ hours with family needed to complete the 310 miles. With my daughter home for just a few weeks as she prepares for a semester in Southern Africa and my son recently accepted into his dream college in Minnesota, I'm starting to realize (with an empty nest on the horizon) how important it is to savor the nest while it's full. A challenge that once served as a chance to reconnect with the self amidst a swirl of work and family demands, now seemed like a terribly selfish activity at a time of increasingly rare family proximity.

There is still plenty of time to jump-start my training for 2017. But the clock is ticking on this all-too-short time we have together as a family. While I’m disappointed that I’ll not be adding a sixth patch to my collection, I’ve already built some memories that I would have missed out on if I had chosen to spend the day pedaling through the cold winds of winter. So while I could certainly have shoehorned the training hours into the week, the risk was too great that I would miss out on something more meaningful and fleeting. I don’t regret my decision one bit.

As 2015 Ends: My Festive 500 Recap

For the fifth year in a row, I've rung in the New Year by participating in a global cycling challenge sponsored by Rapha known as the "Festive 500." The premise is simple, log a minimum of 500 kilometers between Christmas and New Year's Eves and post evidence of your progress on Strava, Instagram, Twitter, etc. This year over 61,000 riders signed on (or at least clicked the "join challenge" button on Strava) yet fewer than 10,000 completed the challenge successfully.

As with most endurance training, it wasn't the distance on the bike that made the challenge so difficult, but rather finding the time to log the miles. Fortunately, my work schedule is very light at this time of year, but with my daughter home from college and various houseguests and holiday parties to contend with this week, I wasn't sure that a full day in the saddle would go over so well. As a result, I planned to get out for medium-sized rides over the course of five or six days. Unfortunately, I didn't follow the classic randonneuring strategy of front-loading my riding distance as a precaution against the unexpected. As a result, when a curveball arrived to derail my plans, I found myself with 250 kilometers left to ride in the final two days. Luckily, the weather (thanks to climate change and El Nino) cooperated so we were blessed with mild temperatures for most of the week and I was able to complete the challenge without too much difficulty.

What I really love about the timing of this challenge is that it falls after a time of rest and recovery just as planning for the year ahead begins in earnest. Reflecting on the past year and planning for the one to come are best done sitting in the saddle of a bicycle, so most of my hours on the bike this week involved remembering the highlights of 2015 and fantasizing about what the future holds. 2015 was an incredible year. Work and family could not be better and I was finally able to conquer a major life goal by completing Paris-Brest-Paris and thereby symbolically and fully returning to randonneuring following my 2010 accident. I have exciting plans for the year ahead and am very grateful that 2016 has finally arrived. 

Keep the rubber side down.

2015 Begins! The Festive 500 Season Opener

While I still need to sit down to design a detailed training plan for 2015, I do know that it will begin with volume. I also know that 2015 starts for me on December 24 with Rapha's annual Festive 500 Challenge. This will be my fourth time completing the challenge and each year I've found it to be a remarkably exciting way to kickstart the season ahead. In 2011, I was even a finalist in the competition for the Trek Madone 6.9. I completed the challenge in 2012 and 2013 as well, but my wrap-up posts were apparently a bit less comprehensive. You can see my individual Festive 500 posts by searching with the keyword Festive 500 in the search bar to the right.

Admittedly, riding 500 kilometers in one week is not a huge deal for the experienced randonneur. What makes this challenge so special, though, are two things. First, it comes at a particularly dark and cold time of the year. The weather around the winter solstice in the Northeast can be pretty grim, yet marshaling the discipline to complete this challenge despite the elements (while thinking of the warmer and brighter times ahead) is downright uplifting. 

The second reason the Festive 500 is so amazing is because of just how, well, festive it is. Over the past several years there have been tens of thousands of participants from around the globe joined together with a single purpose: to ride at least 500K in nine days. Sure there are the young guns in the southern hemisphere whose goal is to climb the leaderboard with thousands of kilometers, but most folks seem to be just scraping by in hopes of finishing. I've made friends I keep to this day through the Festive 500. How cool is that?

The Festive 500 rules really encourage community as all participants must upload their GPS tracks to Strava in order for them to be applied to their challenge total. While on Strava, it's easy to follow other riders and read posts about their accomplishments and setbacks along the way. Lots of folks also post updates to Twitter and Facebook so it really feels like a global event unfolding in real time across thousands upon thousands of miles. While I may look down my nose at participants in the southern hemisphere, it's nice to read about what they're up to if only as a foil to my own suffering.

So join me, whatever 2015 holds in store for you. Log onto Strava today to register. It's free. With 9 days until the start, there are already 34,012 other riders in the mix. All mileage logged between December 24 and 31 counts. And, if you finish, you earn a patch. Sounds almost like randonneuring, right?

The Festive 500: There's No Place Like Home

The Festive 500, like all good long rides, was a bit like life in microcosm. There was joy, there was disappointment. There was anger, there was humor. There were parts that exceeded my expectations and parts that fell short. There were the plans and there were the modifications to the plans.

All in all, this challenge provided me with just the kick in the pants I needed to jumpstart the new season. It felt great to ride longer, harder and farther than I would have without the peer pressure involved with 30,000 other nuts trying to ride at least 500 kilometers over the course of eight winter days. It does a body good to go a bit too far, especially where training is concerned. I'm proud to have completed this challenge for a third year in a row. Would I have liked to have ridden 1500 kilometers like some other lunies? Sure, but I'm glad I have a family that needs and wants me around.

Over the course of eight days, I saw some beautiful houses, but my favorite by far is the one I live in myself. There's no greater feeling, after a long, cold ride, than returning to your own warm, cozy home.

Happy New Year!

The Festive 500: Recovery Ride to Slabsides

While Gilded Age robber barons were erecting massive estates along the Hudson River and throwing parties that cost more than most people earned in a year, a quiet man named John Burroughs (who also built a lovely home on the west side of the Hudson) snuck up to this rustic cabin and wrote some of the most influential works on environmentalism to date. I could not think of a better site to visit on my recovery day than Slabsides, which sits high on a rocky outcrop about a mile from my own house. Burroughs is not very well known these days, but he was one of the most highly regarded writers of his generation. His influence on others such as John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt was significant. Legend has it that TR sailed the official presidential yacht up the Hudson and walked up the hill to meet Burroughs at this cabin, irritating Frederick Vanderbilt right across the river to no end.

Today's recovery ride reminded me of that wonderful feeling that comes from riding too far. After several months in which I rode about 100 miles per week, five days filled with 270 miles creates a feeling that is both pleasing and hard to describe. Onward ho!

The Festive 500: Olana Century Edition

I made a few more stops in my quest to visit the major Hudson Valley estates during this year's Festive 500 Challenge. Today's weather was a huge improvement, so I chose to celebrate by riding a full century that began and ended at my doorstep. In between, I rode up the west side of the river until Catskill where I crossed at the Rip Van Winkle Bridge and then found my way back home on the east side of the river crossing on the Walkway once again. This path placed me in the neighborhood of both Thomas Cole's Cedar Grove and his student Frederic Church's famed Olana masterpiece. Not surprisingly, both of these pioneering landscape artists of the Hudson River School chose to live in houses with spectacular views of the river as well as of the Catskill Mountains.

Olana sits amid 250 acres at the top of an imposing hill just south of the town of Hudson. Cedar Grove, on the other hand, is a much simpler affair right on the edge of town across the river in Catskill.

The third stop on my journey today was Clermont, an estate once owned by Robert Livingston who was issued a patent by the British crown granting him the privileges of manor lord over 160,000 acres from the river to what is now Massachusetts. It's hard to imagine how feudal life was in this region before the Revolutionary War, but it was.

As for riding, it was a great workout on a glorious day and my legs are definitely feeling the results of 400 kilometers ridden over four days, but that's what base training is all about, isn't it?

The Festive 500: Montgomery Place Ramble

Ah, what a difference 10F and a little bit of sunshine makes. After a dismal ride yesterday, I bounced back today with a 50-mile ramble through some lovely countryside along River Road in Dutchess County north of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge.

Like many Hudson Valley estates, the grounds at Montgomery Place are free and open to the public year-round, while the mansion itself is open for tours during the spring and summer months for a fee.

Just north of Montgomery Place is Bard College, which boasts one of the nicest college campuses in the country. It feels a bit like entering a magical land filled with gorgeous building both old and new, all of which appear completely in their element. The Fischer Center, for example, designed by Frank Gehry, is a remarkable performance space both inside and out.

Snow. Cold. Wind. Dark. Flat tire. The Not-Feeling-So-Festive 50.

Caught in a snow squall, fingers numb, glasses fogged, energy sapped, crunching along at 2/3 my average rolling speed, today's ride was decidedly not as festive as the one I took Tuesday. While I clocked in at 50 miles on both days, today's loop was filled with reasons NOT to ride rather than the other way round. I rolled into the town of New Paltz after covering 34 fairly desolate miles of apple orchards and I could take the discomfort no longer. I popped into the public restroom at the Water Street Market to warm my extremities and to call home to explain my delay. The break breathed new life into my legs, but halfway home I popped a tube and suffered through a sub-zero change on the side of the road. I'm sure tomorrow will be better. It has to be!

The Festive 500: Christmas Eve Edition

I decided to kick off the first day of the 2013 Rapha Festive 500 Challenge with a 50-mile loop from my house hugging the Hudson River. This enabled me to cross the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge to the north and the Walkway Over the Hudson to the south and take in several of the area's majestic mansions along the way.

As you might imagine, each of these homes affords an exceptional view of the Hudson and most take in the Catskill Mountains beyond as well. The photo above is the view the guests to the Wilderstein home would have enjoyed as they got out of their cars and climbed the stairs to the front door.

The grounds at the Mills Mansion, otherwise known as the Staatsburgh State Historic Site, are open to the public throughout the winter so locals can enjoy sledding down the wicked hill from the house to the river.

The Vanderbilt Mansion, immediately across the river from my house, is maintained by the National Park Service and open to visitors year-round.

The final home on my Festive 500 tour this morning was FDR's home in Hyde Park, which boast his presidential library in addition to his private residence as well as some interesting sculptures. The one below is made from a section of the Berlin Wall.

The robber barons were onto something. The Hudson Valley is truly breathtaking and serene, but the homes they left behind add a significant level of charm and beauty as well and these four homes are only the start.

Rapha's Festive 500 is (Almost) Here!

It's hard to believe that it's been a year. After two successful attempts, Rapha's Festive 500 Challenge has become a fixture in my winter calendar, a way to welcome in the longer days while logging essential base miles for the season ahead. In fact, it's hard to remember the days before this event was available as a way to ring in the New Year and provide a boost to the coming season. What's more, finishers get a PATCH (!) and this year, the opportunity to purchase a finisher's t-shirt.

Beginning on December 24 and running through 11:59 on December 31, thousands of cyclists from around the world will attempt to log at least 500 kilometers on their bikes. While it's a bit frustrating to read ride reports from Southern California and Australia - and no, indoor miles don't count - snow and ice be damned, it's time to get out and ride.

For a review of my previous attempts you can read here (2011) and here (2012). In 2011, I was part of the final 10 finishers in the Facebook grand prize competition. Sadly, the Trek Madone went to a nice guy from Sweden.

Are you with me? Sign up on Strava today. On Tuesday we ride.

Catskill Climbfest 208K (Rapha Rising Edition)

When I first heard about Strava's Rapha Rising Challenge, I immediately thought of the Catskill Climbfest, my favorite local 200K permanent. It's a route that's packed with climbing and peaceful mountain roads, many of which are shaded and cooled by mountain springs and waterfalls. To commemorate the climbing done this week by ProTour riders in the TdF, Strava and Rapha have teamed up to challenge hacks like us to amass 7235 meters (or 23,736 feet) of climbing between July 14 and July 21.

There's pretty much water everywhere in the Catskills. In fact, the majority of NYC's drinking water is pumped down from reservoirs like the Ashokan here. Roads often ride alongside rivers or creeks that have cut through the mountains over thousands of years to make "cloves" and valleys. 

This section of road through Peekamoose Valley is shielded from sun on both sides by mountains and further cooled by a spring-fed river and countless waterfalls. Every so often, I was treated to a gust of cool air as if walking into an air conditioned room.

It's a wonder what water has done to shape the Catskills.

In fact, today, I was forced into a pedestrian detour as road crews had completely demolished a section of road compromised and degraded by Hurricane Irene. That's right, Irene, not Sandy. This road has been down to one lane since August 2011.

All told, it was a slow but steady solo ride. I was finished in 9-1/2 hours with 129 miles and lunch in the bank. Most importantly, I logged 2303 meters (7555 feet) of climbing towards my weekly total. As riders upload their activity, I've dropped to 1025th place. Now, I thought I had a pretty good start, but it looks like I need to get out there for some more climbing tomorrow!

Rapha's Festive 500: And the Winners Are?

The folks at Rapha Central have again selected a fine collection of winners for this year's Festive 500 competition. The short film (above) is my favorite and makes me want to either run out and buy a GoPro camera or get on my bike and ride (or both).

The other submissions collected on the Rapha site are also entertaining and, taken together, reflect the vast global diversity that made up this year's contest. Take a look, you'll see what I mean.

Festive 500: New Year's Eve Edition (Stage 6)

500 kilometers in 8 days. To a seasoned randonneur, it barely sounds like a challenge. Believe me, though, the riding was the easiest part of the Rapha Festive 500. Despite sick children, family commitments and snowstorms, I made it: just under the wire. 500 kilometers, done and dusted. 

The best part of today's ride? I began with a plan to ride a 200km permanent route, but after 70 miles or so, I decided to change tack, cross the River at a different location and weave together a bunch of familiar roads into a 190 kilometer ride. As much as I like having a plan, the looseness of today's ride was liberating and connected me to the joy that cycling brings to my life. Good to switch things up from time to time, to keep the sense of adventure fresh.

Today's ride: 190 kms. 

Festive 50 total: 501 kms.

Festive 500: Flat Tire Edition (Stage 5)

Flat tires are never welcome events, but changing a tire in 25F weather is particularly unpleasant. In this case, my old Michelin tire was so rigid and hard to remove from the rim that I thought two tire levers might not be enough to get the job done. A task that typically takes 5-10 minutes stretched to 30. On the positive side, not one but two people stopped to see if I needed a hand, one going so far as inviting me to use his workshop. I have decided to immediately stop denigrating all people who drive pick-up trucks: some are apparently quite nice.

Riding rarely feels quite as good as it does immediately after fixing a flat and this was certainly the case today. I took off with renewed spring in my legs and enjoyed the crisp morning . . . until it began to snow. I like snow just as much as the next guy, but on a bike, it's not my favorite condition. As snow began to blanket the roads, I was unable to spot the black ice and slush I'd been avoiding up to that point. As a result, my speed fell even lower, yet I was glad to log another 38 miles towards the Festive 500 before the full strength of the storm arrived.

Today's ride: 61km
Festive 500 total: 310km

Festive 500: Black Ice Edition (Stage 4)

Clearly, the person who thinks this bridge path has been cleared of snow is not a cyclist. This was just one of the many spots I had to portage my bike on today's Festive 500 ride as a result of leftover snow and ice along the route. Honestly, the black ice on several of the roadways was far more concerning, but I kept an eagle eye on the surfaces and made out just fine. The defensive cycling routine wreaked havoc on my time today, though.

I decided to ride my commuter bike today since it holds up better against road salt than my Indy Fab. I do wish I could run wider tires, if not studded snows on this baby, but sadly, there is barely clearance for the 25mm Conti GP4000s I have on there now.

I designed a lovely route today that kept me on main roads with generally large, clear shoulders and gave me the pleasure of a double river crossing: once on the Rhinecliff Bridge (above) and the other on the Mid-Hudson Bridge (top) since the Walkway Over the Hudson was closed due to icy conditions. With just three days remaining and 252 kilometers to ride, it's time to get busy!

Today's ride: 101km.

Festive 500 total: 248km.

The Festive 500: Christmas Edition (Stage 2)

The roads were a bit slick this morning after a light snow fell over night creating a White Christmas for families throughout the Hudson Valley. By time I got out, the snows had mostly melted, but the salt and sand remained on road surfaces, so I chose to ride my commuter rather than my nicer steel bike

At just 27kms, today's ride was a small drop in the #festive500 bucket. Tomorrow does not look a whole lot better as I need to shoot down to Laguardia Airport in the middle of the day to pick up my daughter's friend who will be staying with us for the week. So with two days behind me, I'm 94kms closer to my goal.

Today's ride: 27km.

Festive 500 total: 94km.

The Rapha Festive 500: At Dawn We Ride! (Stage 1)

It's that time of year again. As the days slowly lengthen and 2013 peeks it's head around the corner, it's time to begin base training in earnest and the Rapha Festive 500 is just the incentive I need to get off the couch and ride, ride, ride.

This morning, I set an alarm and suited up while enjoying a hot cup of coffee and rolled out just as the sun was rising over the Hudson River for my first Festive 500 ride of the season. Let me tell you, I was wearing at least one layer too few this morning. 20F is COLD! But as they say, if it were easy, it wouldn't be a challenge, now would it?

Last year was a hoot. One of ten final contestants in the final Facebook vote for a new Trek Madone, it was thrilling to the final end. Needless to say, I did not wind up with the Trek, but it was exciting nonetheless. This year, the Festive 500 has over 12,000 starters. It will be interesting to see how many make it to the finish.

Participants log rides on Strava, which is a bit more complex for me than I'd like since my Garmin eTrex Vista HCx is not one of the supported devices and I need to upload my tracks to ridewithgps before uploading them to Strava. Despite the added steps, it's actually pretty fun to follow the thousands of other riders from around the world enjoying this "festive" challenge.

It was a modest start with only 67km logged on day one. Too much going on today for a longer ride. The local forecast has a likely snow storm making it's way into the Hudson Valley by Thursday, so this could be interesting. It's not too late to sign on. Complete rules can be found here.

Today's ride: 67km.

Festive 500 total: 67km.

The 2011 Rapha Festive 500 is finally over!

The 2011 Rapha Festive 500 is finally over! While I didn't win a fancy new bike, placing 4th out of 970 finishers and 3030 starters due to the warm tailwinds of support from my friends and family was amazing and heartwarming. What would I do with another fancy new bike anyway? That's just gluttony. After all, I didn't enter the Festive 500 to win a prize, but rather to challenge myself to ride 500 kilometers between Christmas and New Year's Day. It was a great way to ring in the New Year leaving 18 months of recovery behind me. Thanks so much to everyone who spread the word and lent a hand in this exciting journey. I can't wait until next year.

Rapha's Festive 500: I'd Love Your VOTE!

Well, it certainly was a ride to redemption for me and it turns out that my blog posts and photos were selected as contest finalists by the Rapha staff from among the 950 finishers and 3030 participants who successfully completed the Festive 500! Now, the voting begins. Please go to Rapha's Facebook page at this link and "LIKE" my photo and story. Voting ends on January 27, 2012. Spread the word!

Here's the photo they chose for the site.

The grand prize is a Trek Madone 6.9 pictured below. WOW! It just looks so darned light doesn't it? You may say I need another bike like I need a hole in the head, and you'd be right (sort of). While I love my two Indy Fab Club Racers, neither one is nearly as light or as fast as this beauty. Of course, in addition to the grand prize, four other lucky winners will be walking (riding?) away with treats and one can only hope the booty involves some choice Rapha gear.