Domestique to a Brand New Randonneuse

The greatest blog post ever written was almost ready to be published when I added one more link and lost the whole thing! Darn auto-save! I've tried to rewrite it, but it's not as good. What follows is the 2nd attempt... 

I met Constance Winters about 18 months ago on a Thursday morning ladies rides from Ride Studio Cafe. I was made aware of her very popular blog a few months prior and had become a fan. Constance is actually a pseudonym, and since she introduced herself with her real name, I didn't make the connection right away. But as we were riding along, I realized that I was in the presence of a celebrity, and suddenly blurted out, "Are you Lovely Bicycle?" To which she shyly replied, yes. We continued riding and chatting until we got back to RSC. Finding we had some common interests, we decided to get together again for more rides.

Constance initially cycled purely for transportation. Her blog focused heavily on bikes and clothes and such for the utilitarian cyclist. But she had also started to explore the realm of cycling for fun and sport, and was starting to do more and longer recreational rides.

We met a few times over the next few months for rides, including this one. I was quite surprised when I read that post, as I had recalled that she was smiling throughout the ride. Maybe she was just gritting her teeth. Fortunately, despite that less than stellar ride report, she continued to join me for more rides, including some with dirt roads and challenging climbs. And we soon developed a warm friendship.

Over the spring and summer, Constance completed many longer and more challenging recreational rides, including an overnight ride, and a few dirt road events. She also volunteered to work on the local 600km brevet, where she was seemingly inspired to consider riding some of these long and rule-riddled rides that we call randonnees.

This year, she planned to take part in the first ride of the New England Randonneur's calendar, a 100km populaire. She seemed a bit concerned about the overall distance, since she would have to add about half again as much distance riding to and from the start. I felt confident she could do it. In the meantime I was planning to my own Haystack Permanent a few weeks prior to the NER ride, and invited folks to join me. Constance and half a dozen folks did exactly that. She rode to and from the start, and completed the entire ride within the time limit and with a smile on her face - really. I checked for gritted teeth this time. The next week, Ride Studio Cafe had a rando-seaon kickoff ride and party, and Constance again did the ride, plus riding to and from the start. And then a couple of weeks later knocked off the NER populaire.

I'm not quite sure when she began to consider the 200km brevet. But since she already had done multiple 100km rides plus bonus miles to and from, it wouldn't be a big leap to do the 200km. However the route is based on one of my own routes and is scenic, which is another way of saying it's very hilly. It would be a challenge, but I had every confidence she would complete the ride. I sometimes joke that brevets bring out the stubborn people - the people who just stick to it and get it done. I knew she wouldn't give up.

Anyway a few days prior to the brevet, she joined my Tuesday RSC ride, saying if it went well she'd do the 200km brevet. As part of my cunning plan to get her addicted to randonneuring, I stuck with her that day to ensure she had a good ride.  At the end of the ride, we bumped into our friend Emily O'Brien back at the studio, and learned she would be away for the weekend so would miss the brevet. I was sad as I'd been hoping to ride with Emily. Emily and I have done a few rides together this spring and we are riding at a very similar pace these days. Upon hearing Emily would be away, Constance said "Ride with me." And while I knew she was kidding, I ashamed to say that I laughed it off, due to our differences in speed.

On the way home, I replayed a conversation I'd had recently with some female racers regarding getting more women into the sport. My response had been, "Just ride with them." Not every training ride has to be full-on. In fact, not every race has to be full-on. If you want to grow the sport, take the time to ride with the new gals and show them the ropes. A little nurturing goes a long way.

Well what a hypocrite I am.

I got home and fired off an email to Constance. "Let's plan to ride the 200km together." She immediately responded that she was only kidding and never expected me to ride with her on a timed event given our speed differences. I responded that it was about a fun-time not a fast-time. With 13.5 hours allowed, we would have no problem officially completing the event. Everyone gets the same credit, regardless of finishing in 7 hours or 13.

The one caveat was that I was leaving the next day to go to NC. I had sold my father's house had planned to go down to sign papers. But my father also has some on-going health issues and I'd need to go to a few doctor's appointments too. I wasn't sure if I'd actually be back in time. As luck would have it, I caught a flight late Friday. I didn't get a lot of sleep, but I did make it to the ride start.

I bumped into a bunch of old friends and we chatted briefly. Then I spotted Constance. She seemed more subdued than usual, but she was ready to ride. We headed out in a small crowd, that soon thinned down to 4 as we started up the first notable climb. I rode along chatting with another rider. When we reached the top, I stopped to adjust some clothing and wait for Constance, while the others pressed on. When she reached the top, she told me to go on, that she really didn't expect to ride with me. I told her she was stuck with me for the day. 

 

While I had every confidence that she could complete the ride, I know from my own experience how nice it is to have company. The time and miles just pass faster when you aren't so focused on the ride!

 

I also vowed to myself not to get separated like that again. I have an advantage on the climbs, not due to strength, but the gearing on my bike. I have a compact double, with 50/34 chainrings and a massive cassette, ranging from 12-36. This gives me a wide range of gears, including a low one that's less than 1 to 1. I may not use that gear often, but it's good to have when I need or want it. My philosophy, which I must credit to Fear Rothar, is "Better Looking at it than For it." This applies to gears, clothes, tools, etc. With my low-low gear, I can always just shift down and spin along beside. It's not like when I'm riding fixed and have to maintain momentum to get up the hills.

Constance has a low gear of 34X29, not nearly as low as mine. And I know she prefers a high cadence. We talked about how to get lower gears with her preferred shifters, and hopefully she can get this worked out.

Down to just the two of us, and on quieter roads, we did the next climb side by side, rolling along at a good pace. Maybe she felt she was on fire, but something reminded her that she had left a pair of bike shorts in the oven, and she'd need to stop to phone home. I was laughing so hard when she made the call, that I'm not sure if she gave basting instructions or just said they were done and time to come out!

The terrain for the next while was quite gentle, and we made good time and enjoyed the sight of lovely apple blossoms and other signs of spring - finally! Then we started up the first really big climb. I joked that it was the Pommes Frites climb, as we were going up Tater Road. Maybe I still had that vision of shorts baking away in the oven. We did this climb, side by side, again with me spinning away in a low gear. I know this route in my sleep, and was able to tell Constance where the gradient would ease off and start back up and where the best views are. Next thing we knew we were flying down into the first control in New Boston, seeing a few folks on the little bit of overlap on the return leg.

I headed into the store where I bought a delicious home-baked chocolate muffin, a cookie and an iced coffee. Constance checked out the food table at the control and told me she couldn't eat anything sweet or crunchy or with bread. Hmmm, I thought, what does that leave? A short while later she came out of the store with two bun-less hotdogs with a little relish on top. As long as it's appetizing to you, I say eat whatever you want on these rides! Just head out at digestive pace, so it stays down.

We continued chatting away about anything and everything as we rode, and I think Constance barely noticed the next climb. Near the top, I pointed out a feature on her GPS, that displays the predicted route profile and shows where you are. She was quite surprised we'd just climbed something big. I use this feature mainly to know when to put warm clothes back on for a descent in unknown terrain. But for this route, I didn't need the GPS. I knew we had a fun swoopy descent down into Purgatory (Falls).

The next climb is the toughest on the route. I had noticed earlier when looking through the cue sheet, that the organizer had eliminated the reward of the view above Paradise Farm, presumably to shorten the ride (my route is a bit over 200km). I had no intention of missing the reward of Paradise after descending into Purgatory, so I told Constance I would ride all the way to the top and swing back around and meet her at the info control on the lower road. It was a lovely clear sunny day and the 360 degree view was amazing. The Monadnock range to the north just glistened. Hopefully this part of the route will get put back in next year.

Next up was a very fast descent into Wilton and then a long gentle climb that would take us to the highpoint on the route in Temple. The store there would serve as an unmanned control. Constance asked if this store had similar fare to the one in New Boston. I told her of one ride where I lunched on hohos and bottle Frappucino after finding the pickings slim. This time I was in better luck and found some good cheddar cheese and a drink. See, I don't really live on hohos and coffee alone! My main other source of nutrients on this day was coming from Probars, my favorite on the bike snacks. Constance found a frozen hamburger and a microwave.

We saw a couple of riders here and I warned them about the rough roads for the next 10 miles. The road leaving Temple has always been a bit bumpy, but this winter took its toll and it was even more so. Still it was dead quiet and had some nice views. Neither of us took many photos on the ride, but we did both stop to get a shot of the dam/waterfall in Greenville before heading up the next climb to the "wow" view. Years ago, Fear Rothar and I were returning from a day of x-c skiing, when we stumbled upon this view. We decided that we would design a ride around this view, and that ride eventually became the 200km. The second year that the route was used, it was arrowed and someone painted "wow" on the road. So ever since then, this has been known as the "wow" view. It lived up to expectations on this day. We rolled along the ridge, until Constance could take it no longer and just had to take a photo. This ride must have been torture for her without a proper camera. She loves to take photos, and I've heard her say many times is that her goal is to get strong enough to be able to stop and take photos on these events. We actually stayed for a while watching a stunt plane do loops that would have made me toss my lunch!

After "wow", it was another quick descent and the final big climb up to Parker's Maple Sugar Barn. Sadly Parker's is not an official control, but it probably wouldn't be such a good idea to linger over a pancake breakfast at this stage of the ride. We continued on past the mini-lighthouse and covered bridges at the bottom of the hill and to the penultimate control in Brookline.

Now we were on the home stretch. More nice views and rolling hills and apple blossoms followed. Constance continued to smile and we continued to talk. We took occasional breaks to stretch, but she was still keeping up a brisk pace, and smiling. We took a quick break 15 miles from the finish, and as we started back up, I paraphrased one of Sir Edmund Hilary's well known quotes. Not this one: "It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves." But this one: "Well, George, we knocked the bastard off." when I suggested we were within striking distance and could "knock the bastard off."

The next few miles flew by. I don't think my companion's tires even touched the ground. She was floating on a cloud. Every mile marked a new longest ride for her, and the reality was that she was about to become an official randonneuse. I think she could have eaten a banana sideways, given that ear to ear grin.

We arrived back at Hanscom to applause, and I managed to snap a photo on my phone of Constance with her completed card. What a rewarding day. I am so proud to have helped make the day fun and to witness as Constance truly got hooked and reeled in to the world on randonneuring. There's no turning back now!

Do you want the sport to grow? Nurture it. You will be rewarded!