Photos from Check In and Pre-Ride Meeting

All the formalities are done. I'm registered and ready to go. We are starting at 4am so it'll be short night.

We spent today hanging around the hotel and making final preparations for tomorrow's start of the Taste of Carolina. Mark O. and I also had a chance to visit First Flight Bicycles in downtown Statesville. But most of the day was spent waiting for the check-in and pre-ride cookout which is set for later this afternoon.

Preparation Day

Ride Headquarters for the Taste of Carolina 1200k

Countdown to the Taste of Carolina 1200K

On Thursday morning I will start my annual 1200k (750 mile) ride for 2015.  This year I will be riding the Taste of Carolina which starts in Statesville, NC. According to the event website, it looks like the first day will have some serious climbing as spend some time exploring the Appalachian mountains near the VIrginia-North Carolina border. Days 2-4 looks much more manageable assuming the wind doesn't interfere. It looks like we will get at least a brief visit to the Atlantic shore and a very brief foray into South Carolina.  The hurricane that is currently affecting the Carolinas is supposed to move through in the next few hours and the organizer is confident that the ride will be ok to go.

Like my other 1200k's, I expect to post some brief updates here and on Twitter when I can.

The official website is:  http://tc1200.bicycleforlife.org/

The link to the interactive route map is: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/7525863

I will also be using my SPOT tracker so you can get live updates of my progress. The link to my SPOT tracker is located on the upper left of this page.

Paris Brest Paris............by Computer

This year's Paris-Brest-Paris provided me with a very different perspective on randonneuring.  Since finishing PBP in 2011, I had my sights set on a return trip to Paris this year for another pedal through the French countryside.  Unfortunately, life had other ideas and my plans for PBP had to be put on the back burner.

In late 2011 a long-time family friend asked me about PBP and expressed interest in giving it a shot. So over the last four years, Dave and I have worked together to get him prepared to take his shot. Dave was a heck of a student, rarely saying no to a ride regardless of the weather. In this part of Wisconsin, early season weather can be daunting to say the least. A February 100km ride where temperatures never got above the low 20s stands out as one example. Over the four years, Dave built his randonneuring resume, completed two Super Randonneur series and qualified for PBP.

While Dave left for PBP, I settled in to enjoy PBP vicariously. I dialed into Dave's SPOT tracker, Twitter, and the official PBP tracking site. During my 1200K rides and other long brevets, I have always used a SPOT tracker myself. But I really never gave much thought to the experience of the people checking in on the other end. Dave's PBP gave me a whole new perspective.

During most of PBP, the SPOT and Twitter pages were open on my desktop and I checked in often. On Day 3, when Dave and his riding partner were fighting the cut-off times at controls, I was calculating and recalculating those times and checking distances to see if they'd make it. A couple of times, I thought they were done for. Upon reaching Mortagne very close to the cut-off, Dave's SPOT quit working. After a couple of hours without any movement, I assumed he had called it quits.  However, upon waking up, I checked the results page and discovered that somehow they managed to fight through and finish PBP with just over an hour to spare.

My PBP was a ride that I will never forget and can't wait to do again. But sitting at home, staring at a computer screen and stressing over whether a friend would be able to pull it off was actually an interesting way to enjoy the spectacle that is PBP.  Living PBP by computer screen was interesting, but I definitely missed the sights and sounds of the real thing.

PBP is one of the greatest spectacles in amateur cycling and I can't wait to try again in 2019.

BACK IN THE SADDLE

I've spent the past few months pursuing a professional opportunity and ignoring my bike. But now it's time to get back on the bike and finding some new adventures. I'm definitely starting this season in my worst shape in years. It's going to be a slow start but there are some cool rides on the horizon. I recorded my first RUSA kilometers of the year on Saturday by riding the 106 kilometer Northern Light Permanent that winds through the remote marsh county of eastern Jackson County. I saw lots of wildlife including deer, geese and sandhill cranes. It's a modest start--but it is a start.