On Saturday, we were able to escape the vortex and actually get out on a Real Bike Ride! It was International Women's Day, and the guy who runs a bike shop up in Schuylerville hosted an International Women's Day 100k brevet. People who are in charge of brevets are known as Regional Brevet Authorities, or RBA's.
Last year, a bunch of the different randonneuring groups across the country hosted rides, but in the ride report for the Adirondack Ultra Cycling group, the RBA noted they did not manage to have any women participating.
I couldn't participate last year because the 100k took place on a Friday, and I had to show up for work. But that made me more determined to participate this year, particularly since the brevet was on a Saturday when I don't necessarily have to work.
This was a small group - 6 of us started, but then the RBA got some phone calls that made him decide to bail out early and head back to the shop. We wound up riding for a bit with the guy dressed in green, but spent most of the ride getting to know the guy putting on his glove in this photo, S, who was happy to ride at our somewhat mellow pace and who happened to be from Troy.
After years and years of being the only person in the Albany area doing brevets, I am so thrilled at the prospect of having other local randonneurs; S said he has another friend who is also interested in brevets and potentially the next Paris-Brest-Paris. It sounds like they have both done a decent amount of bike touring and climbing of big hills, so they should be pretty well-prepared for randonneuring.
It was a windy day, but the skies were mostly clear, so it wasn't miserably cold, just chilly.
It was interesting to note where we saw open and flowing bodies of water, and what was still iced over, like Saratoga Lake:
We did see two guys portaging an interesting-looking canoe near one creek. It looked big and plastic and like it had slogans painted on the side. They gave us a cheer! On the drive home, we saw sections of the Hudson River/Champlain Canal that still had a bunch of icebergs and massive flocks of Canada geese, but other sections with open water. Varying spring conditions.
Meanwhile, on the drive to the starting line,![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
scrottie noticed a sign advertising "Shenanigan Shakes," and he thought that was hilarious, because most likely there are some laws about calling springtime mint beverages "Shamrock Shakes" and that was someone's idea of a good alternative.
I thought it sounded like something worth trying out:
A 50-50 mixture of chocolate milk and the mint stuff wasn't *too* cloyingly sweet, at least while in the middle of a long bike ride.
The halfway-point stop was at the Tang Museum, on Skidmore's campus.
We took a couple minutes to check out two of the exhibits. There was a Dada piece in the elevator:
It was rather ho-hum. There was also an exhibit called a field of bloom and hum, about a whole lot of things, focused on queer history. I regret that we couldn't stay longer to see more of what was there; what we saw was really compelling and intimate.
The only moment of serious adventure was about 1/2 mile from the finish, where we had to cross a field of ice:
Made it!
It felt SO GOOD to get out and ride.
Last year, a bunch of the different randonneuring groups across the country hosted rides, but in the ride report for the Adirondack Ultra Cycling group, the RBA noted they did not manage to have any women participating.
I couldn't participate last year because the 100k took place on a Friday, and I had to show up for work. But that made me more determined to participate this year, particularly since the brevet was on a Saturday when I don't necessarily have to work.
This was a small group - 6 of us started, but then the RBA got some phone calls that made him decide to bail out early and head back to the shop. We wound up riding for a bit with the guy dressed in green, but spent most of the ride getting to know the guy putting on his glove in this photo, S, who was happy to ride at our somewhat mellow pace and who happened to be from Troy.
After years and years of being the only person in the Albany area doing brevets, I am so thrilled at the prospect of having other local randonneurs; S said he has another friend who is also interested in brevets and potentially the next Paris-Brest-Paris. It sounds like they have both done a decent amount of bike touring and climbing of big hills, so they should be pretty well-prepared for randonneuring.
It was a windy day, but the skies were mostly clear, so it wasn't miserably cold, just chilly.
It was interesting to note where we saw open and flowing bodies of water, and what was still iced over, like Saratoga Lake:
We did see two guys portaging an interesting-looking canoe near one creek. It looked big and plastic and like it had slogans painted on the side. They gave us a cheer! On the drive home, we saw sections of the Hudson River/Champlain Canal that still had a bunch of icebergs and massive flocks of Canada geese, but other sections with open water. Varying spring conditions.
Meanwhile, on the drive to the starting line,
scrottie noticed a sign advertising "Shenanigan Shakes," and he thought that was hilarious, because most likely there are some laws about calling springtime mint beverages "Shamrock Shakes" and that was someone's idea of a good alternative.I thought it sounded like something worth trying out:
A 50-50 mixture of chocolate milk and the mint stuff wasn't *too* cloyingly sweet, at least while in the middle of a long bike ride.
The halfway-point stop was at the Tang Museum, on Skidmore's campus.
We took a couple minutes to check out two of the exhibits. There was a Dada piece in the elevator:
It was rather ho-hum. There was also an exhibit called a field of bloom and hum, about a whole lot of things, focused on queer history. I regret that we couldn't stay longer to see more of what was there; what we saw was really compelling and intimate.
The only moment of serious adventure was about 1/2 mile from the finish, where we had to cross a field of ice:
Made it!
It felt SO GOOD to get out and ride.
