From: pamela@keps.kodak.com (Pamela Blalock)
Subject: Re: Randonneur's
Organization: Kodak Electronic Printing Systems
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 05:18:57 GMT

In article <01010064.l1oo7q@titipu.resun.com> ed@titipu.resun.com (Edward Reid) writes:
>pamela@keps.kodak.com (Pamela Blalock) writes:
>> Loosely translated randonneur means adventurer
>
>That's a very loose, and rather romantic, translation.  Based on available
>reference materials, I would say that an adventurer is often a randonneur,
>but that the word randonneur implies nothing about adventure.

Well, I suppose that I'm a romantic, because it was the adventure that
first attracted me to this type of riding, and it's the adventure that
keeps me doing it again and again.

There are certainly several distinct types of riders participating.
There are those, like Ed Pavelka, an editor for Bicycling, who rode
PBP in 1991, and wrote an article that made PBP sound as appealing as
a root canal, by describing a miserable race of sleep deprivation, for
which he set a blistering pace, and rarely looked around!

Then there are the riders who returned with stories of beautiful
French countryside, friendly french hosts, cheering children, and new
found cycling friends from all over the world. The stories I heard
from these riders made me, a programmer, who likes to ride a bike,
want to join in the adventure. The clinical definition just wouldn't
do that for me!

You don't have to be the strongest or fastest. The "race" is only
against your own perceived limitations. It can be a far more difficult
challenge than competing with another rider.

I first read the adventurer description in an International
Randonneurs newsletter in 1986, and have always begun any description
of the type of riding I do with that word.

One of the defining moments for my 1991 PBP ride was when a French 
woman approached me at a checkpoint a little over halfway through
the event. I was wearing a festive red, white and blue jersey with
USA prominently displayed. She was carrying a bag of crepes that
she had made to offer to American riders, who had traveled so far
to take part in this ride. With my little understanding of French 
and her great command of English, we shared a moment that for me
made the pain of climbing the long hill into the checkpoint fade
into the delicious flavor of those crepes. 

Later that day, or maybe it was the next, on a rather hilly segment of
the route, riders were greated by young children offering water,
fruit, and encouragement to every single rider that passed by. They
were at the tops of hills, at the bottoms of hills and in between.
They wanted to touch every rider that passed, regardless of the riders
postion in the event. We wanted to stop and talk to everyone, but 
then, we never would have made it home. 

On a dark lonely stretch of road, in the middle of the night, our 
french hosts, were there offering a hand, a bed, a shower, water, 
or simply "bon route MADAM!" Yes, it was romantic, and it's the
romance that will make me return again and again. And it's the
romance that I try to share with other potential adventurers.

But now for anyone I may have confused, I'll include most of an
article from the 1989 Journal of the International Randonneurs. (For
more info write IR, c/o Konski Engineers, 727 N. Salina St, Syracuse,
NY 13208 - but be forewarned that they are a bit unorganized this
year)

All mispellings are mine (it's late:)

Beginning of quoted article

A randonneur is a bicyclist whose riding is more a style of cycling
than a type defined solely by competition. Randonneuring is a
refinement or a hybrid of racing and touring, a long distance
reliability trial, or a time test. It derives from the French word
"randonee:" a run, outing or ramble. Randonneurs are sometimes thought
of as 'freelancers' who are competing, not necessarily against other
riders, but against themselves over a long route and under specific
time constraints.

...

The nature of the randonneur is that he or she will proceed on the
brevet in any weather, through cold rains or scrotching heat, and will
endure as a matter of course, mechanical breakdown, injury,
inconvenience, or getting lost. 

...

A brevet of any length demands resolve, skills, concentration,
patience, assidious preparation, endurance (both physical and
mental), and an equanimity of mind that may be severely tested by
events in which a rider is on the roads for anything from seven to
ninety hours. Though most randonneurs tend to ride in groups of two or
three, or at times in as many as ten or more, some prefer or are
forced to ride the whole brevet alone, and may only see another rider
at a control. Essentially self-sufficient, carrying minimum tools and
gear, riders may stop for food and water at controls which are often
situated near restaurants or foodstores. Some randonneurs (coureurs)
further the concept of individual self-sufficiency by carrying with
them in panniers or a musette bag, everything they will need for the
duration of the brevet.

Randonneurs are amatuers, who, unlike professionals in one day road
races or the Tour de France, must prevail often without sleep, without
the certainty of meals, and wholly without assistance. One might say
that the randeonneur is a long-distance bicycle artist, who rides only
with his own self-power. His goal is to travel "farther, faster, and
with less energy"

End of quoted article.

Those that read Ed Pavelka's account of PBP last year in Bicycling may
recall that he said most of the US riders didn't look like athletes. 
He never was able to grasp what about the event made programmers, like
me, spend all the time preparing and qualifying, all the money on 
equipment and airfare, and our precious vacation time to do the event.

The answer is not found in a clinical definition. It's romance!

-- 
Pamela Blalock                                              pamela@keps.com
KEPS, 164 Lexington Road                                    11 down, 1 to go!
Billerica, MA 01821-3984   
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.rides