The Surly Randonneur

An eventful brevet by all accounts. Well done on t...

2012-01-23T20:17:23.470-08:00

An eventful brevet by all accounts. Well done on the time!

BTW Happy Time in Thailand has a solution for chasing dogs; not exactly political correct but.

Andrew

Glad you had a nice ride. Good luck with the R12! ...

2011-03-09T06:42:39.974-08:00

Glad you had a nice ride. Good luck with the R12! Go Surly!....=-)

Very interesting,it makes a nice read and the Vide...

2011-03-09T05:16:44.457-08:00

Very interesting,it makes a nice read and the Video's were excellent .

I was getting exhausted just by reading your account of the trip.One thing you said you lowered the Tyre Pressure,would that not make it more harder to Pedal going up those Hills depending of course on what sort of Tyres you had on the Bike.

Must be semi Sporting Tyres to have a pressure of 115psi.

What was the Weather like,I suppose it was very hot being California. In Ireland you do not have to worry about the Heat or being Dehydrated so much at this time of year. Rather you could get Frostbite in your Toes if your feet were not covered by good Stockings.

Great write ... not too detailed and the mix of ph...

2011-02-18T00:05:10.227-08:00

Great write ... not too detailed and the mix of photos and texts works well. That Ferrari sounds a bit cheap :).

Very cool post. I've ridden most of those road...

2011-02-16T23:48:09.357-08:00

Very cool post. I've ridden most of those roads, except for I-5. I'd rather ride camp pendleton any day.

I rode GP4000's once. After a miserable day r...

2011-01-18T22:01:34.114-08:00

I rode GP4000's once. After a miserable day repairing flat after flat I came home and put Gatorskins on, I have 4 sets of wheels for my 2 road bikes, all have Gatorskins now. Love `em. No flats on STP, no flats on Race Across Oregon, no flats on FC 508. I'm sold

Nice report and nice ride Mark - always good to se...

2011-01-18T17:42:19.851-08:00

Nice report and nice ride Mark - always good to see another post from you.

Great Job Mark! A couple of points. You should...

2011-01-18T06:24:58.857-08:00

Great Job Mark!

A couple of points. You should almost never have to replace chainrings or cassettes. Your chain should be replaced every 2,000- 3,000 miles. Chains are cheaper and disposable.

Gatorskins are good GP4000s are better for puncture resistance, rolling resistance and wet/dry grip. They will be available in 25's although I guess you like 28's.

Great job spending less time in the controls that's important so that you don't feel the overall fatigue of being "on the bike" that much longer. Also great job loosing 17lbs Let's make it an even 20lbs lol!

Thanks so much for sharing your ride & for sto...

2010-09-29T18:07:53.015-07:00

Thanks so much for sharing your ride & for stopping by Dudley's! We've posted your blog on www.facebook.com/dudleysbakery - hope to see you again sometime soon!
- Shana, for Dudley's Bakery

Two observations: 1. They should definitely rename...

2010-09-26T22:50:00.139-07:00

Two observations: 1. They should definitely rename Dudley's to "The Cornucopia of Carbohydrates" - all royalties going to you of course. 2. If you had placed a blob of dough in a pan on the back of your bike, you could have spared yourself a long ride. 109 degrees!!! Are you nuts??

Thanks for the beating, sir. I'm looking forwa...

2010-09-19T12:45:36.262-07:00

Thanks for the beating, sir. I'm looking forward to more at Mt. Palomar in 2 weeks.

Great scenery and cool camera. Too bad it doesn&#...

2010-09-18T19:32:16.821-07:00

Great scenery and cool camera. Too bad it doesn't record people or the smart-alec commentary that goes along with hikes like that.

Tamia, Yes, I only put HEED powder in the lowest ...

2010-07-16T19:01:35.951-07:00

Tamia,

Yes, I only put HEED powder in the lowest bottle. The bottle on the seat tube is HEED with water, the bottle on the down tube is plain water.

-- Mark

What a novel way to lube your chain, Mark, with ge...

2010-07-12T12:11:50.810-07:00

What a novel way to lube your chain, Mark, with gel!

The HEED... you carry only powder in the lower bottle, do I get that right? Sounds like a good idea. And so is double-wrapping the HBs. Thanks for mentioning those. Congrats on the successful ride, and thanks for the great write-up.

Great to find another LHT rider out on the brevet ...

2010-07-12T11:48:14.835-07:00

Great to find another LHT rider out on the brevet circuit. Looking forward to more ideas from your experiences.
Keith

Great to finally meet you in person Mark. Hopeful...

2010-07-11T23:27:30.240-07:00

Great to finally meet you in person Mark. Hopefully I'll see you on the 300.

Entertaining write-up, and a great ride Mark. You&...

2010-07-11T20:51:11.018-07:00

Entertaining write-up, and a great ride Mark. You've got quite a thoughtful set-up on your Surly now as well.

Sorry I didn't introduce myself at the start - I'm the guy cut off to the right your first photo above. Maybe I'll see you on the 300?

I ended up in the same boat...it's really nice...

2010-05-28T18:27:31.399-07:00

I ended up in the same boat...it's really nice to walk from the bedroom into your office, but I missed my daily commute.

Use the time you saved not commuting to ride your bike and run some errands during the day.

=-)

Vik
www.thelazyrando.com

since you asked for training suggestions: Tue/Th...

2010-05-23T14:28:08.794-07:00

since you asked for training suggestions:
Tue/Thu/Sat - 30 min. run, pushups, pullups
Mon/Wed - 2 hr ride
Fri - 3 hour ride. Every 2-3 weeks, skip the Friday ride and do a 4-5 hour Saturday morning ride instead of running that day.

How about adding some double centuries to the sche...

2010-05-21T20:44:54.193-07:00

How about adding some double centuries to the schedule? Start with the Grand Tour lowland June 26

Get a California Triple Crown to go with your SR!

You are a better man than I. I decided to stop in...

2010-02-10T10:24:36.998-08:00

You are a better man than I. I decided to stop in Ramona because I knew I wasn't getting any warmer and my feet were starting to cramp more and more with every pedal stroke. My knees were beginning to moan and my stomach began hurting more and more. I just didn't even want to eat anything because I felt it was coming back up. I called Dennis to let him know that I was abandoning the ride. Another rando I was rididng with, in only his 2nd brevet, also called it quits and his son picked us both up delivered us back to the start.

Are you riding in the 400K?

Jaime

(delurking) That sounds like a rough time, but ho...

2010-02-09T07:54:01.377-08:00

(delurking)

That sounds like a rough time, but how great that you found the silver lining -- shaving 2 hours off your previous time is impressive. (And good that you had the presence of mind to know when to stop.)
How many layers did you have on? And were you happy with the IQ Cyo R's brightness and projection on the descents?

Sorry for the DNF but congrats on the accomplishme...

2010-02-07T21:28:15.286-08:00

Sorry for the DNF but congrats on the accomplishments! I was out for a long ride in the rain yesterday as well, it was gnarly... but there's only one way to know how you'll handle stuff like that, and it's by doing it. You have a great blog and I always enjoy your updates.

Steve Lange
RUSA #5454
Santa Barbara, CA
Surly Cross-Check

Looks like fun. We've just started a randonne...

2010-01-21T04:31:54.930-08:00

Looks like fun. We've just started a randonneuring community here in Southern Illinois. http://lerandos.weebly.com/

Maybe I'll see you on the road.
Miles

Congrats on your finish! (I second the positive c...

2010-01-11T07:14:43.623-08:00

Congrats on your finish! (I second the positive comments about the IQ Cyo R light.)

Our inaugural 200km for the year (on Jan 2) was about 50 degrees colder than yours (see Mike Dayton's ride report here: http://ncrandonneur.blogspot.com/2010/01/salisbury-200k-arctic-edition.html)

-- here's hoping that the February ones will be a little balmier!