[ORRando] New Year's Brevet

[Marcello Napolitano]

Our first New Year's Day 200k brevet was a success. We had 18 riders 
starting on a cloudy and very cold Saturday from my house in Hillsboro. 
The roads were dry, but there was one patch of ice on Spring Hill Road 
that saw a few riders fall, but no injuries, luckily. Right after the 
secret control a few miles later, one of the riders had a rear 
derailleur break in two, and that was the only DNF for the day. A lovely 
tailwind helped the riders towards Dallas, and I saw all the riders in 
good spirits in Perrydale, where I was offering hot cocoa and cookies. 
The headwind on the way back canceled out the effect of the slightly 
higher temperatures, and of the occasional patch of sunshine. As the 
riders approached Hillsboro after sunset, the temperature dropped 
sharply again. After navigating a couple of turns that had incorrect 
street signs in the last few miles, they all found their way back to my 
house, where they warmed themselves back to life, using bowls of chili 
and mugs of hot tea as hand warmers. Most of the riders were doing very 
well at the end, but a few of them were pretty wiped, not surprising 
after spending 10-12 hours riding at temperatures right around freezing. 
And I suspect that some of them did what I did on my pre-ride a week 
before, when I did not drink or eat nearly as much as I should have.

I love riding brevet, but I have to say that it is a special treat to be 
able to organize one, and see all the riders at the start, along the 
course, and at the end, and enjoy the conversation and the camaraderie.

I have seen three ride reports so far:

Cecil: http://formerlyfloyd.blogspot.com/2011/01/1-on-1-1-11.html
Lynne: http://lynnerides.blogspot.com/2011/01/new-years-brevet-2011.html 
(with links to pictures on flickr)
Tomas: http://tomasquinones.com/2011/01/02/starting-big-in-2011/

Thanks to all who participated, and a happy new rando year to all of you.

-- 
Marcello Napolitano
marcello at napolitano.com