NC Randonneur Year-End Party

Branson has just posted the latest info on the NC Randonneuers year-end gala. Not to be missed. Click on the screen grab of his site for details and to sign up....

Bicycle Flash Mob

Jeff M of DC-Rand always posts interesting links, like this flashmob in Brussels. Enjoy...

Follow-Up on Death of Summerfield Cyclist

In August I posted an editorial from the Greensboro News-Record lamenting the relatively light sentence for a woman who struck and killed a Summerfield cyclist. The woman apparently turned around to where the accident happened before driving off. She received a 14-month sentence and will begin serving it this month.

The woman, Grayson Dawson, has now spoken publicly for the first time. Her version is certainly more sympathetic than the cold hard facts. Decide for yourself whether her story is credible. The real problem with her story is that she cannot recall what happened because she claims to have had a black-out caused by a combination of anti-seizure, antidepressant and pain medications.

After leaving a relative's home, she went "totally blank.”

Her attorney, Locke Clifford, was apparently able to fill in the blanks for her:

Dawson leaves her daughter’s house heading north to Eden. She falls asleep at the wheel — Clifford blames this on heavy medication — and veers into the other lane, hitting Sherman head-on. Dawson is on several anti-seizure and antidepressant medications, which combined with pain medication can increase the risk of sleepiness, according to drug label warnings.

She turns around, thinking she hit a deer. She can’t find anything, Clifford says, because Sherman has been thrown 40 feet from the road and his bike, split in two, lay 17 feet away in the growing dusk.

Dawson resumes her trip home.

“Since she didn’t see what she’d hit, she assumed it was a deer,” Clifford says.

She said she didn’t know something was wrong until two days later, when police and sheriff’s deputies swarmed her property, cordoning off the area around her damaged SUV.

“I had not watched the news. I didn’t know anything about a cyclist being killed on the road I had driven,” she says. “I was so sure I had hit a deer.”

Here's the link to the News-Record story.

I sent a note to my state senator, Josh Stein, requesting that he look into sentencing in cases like this.

Note: Vance's note below refers to other moving violations Dawson has had. They don't help her much on the sympathy front. From the earlier News-Record article:

Court records show that Dawson has charges pending from June 2007 of failure to appear in court on charges of driving with no operator’s license, having no insurance, speeding and driving the wrong way on a two-lane road.

She pleaded guilty in July 2003 to driving without an operator’s license; she paid fines and court costs. Dawson also was charged with driving left of center but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of improper equipment.

Joey vs the General

You may have seen that General Johnson, a member of the beach music band Chairman of the Board, recently died. I had no idea he'd once teamed up with my favorite rock star Joey Ramone until I saw this link from riding buddy Chip... Enjoy these two versions of Rockaway Beach...

2010 NC Randonneurs Year-End Ride + Party

Please save Saturday, November 20 for the annual NC Randonneur party.


We're celebrating a record-making year for our sport in North Carolina at Natty Greene's Loft in Greensboro, which also hosted last year's event. The event will feature a 200K permanent, a 100K permanent populaire and of course, a party. 


Branson will have more details here soon. Here's Dean's write-up from one of last year's rides.

5 Questions with.. Raleigh RBA Alan Johnson

Everybody knows Alan. Locally, regionally, nationally- rarely will you meet someone that hasn't ridden with Al. In addition to being the Raleigh NC Regional Brevet Administrator for several years, he's been riding brevets and local centuries long before that. But how well do we know him, especially newer riders? Hopefully, this next installment of "5 Questions with.." will reveal something about this beer-brewing, Super Randonneur you didn't know before.

1- Let's begin with an easy one.. how did you get started riding brevets?

I started riding bicycles in 1980 to commute the five miles to work and then started riding 20 miles by myself on weekends. I joined NCBC in the fall and started doing the club rides. The first club ride turned out to be 75 miles. The next weekend I rode the fall century and met another rider with a patch from a triple century. I thought the century was a challenge and could not imagine doing 300 miles. Four years later I would do twice that distance and have fun doing it.

I rode my first 200K in 1983 and helped out with the other brevets that first year. Jim and Kathie Mulligan where the first RBAs for North Carolina and after PBP, they held a party for the riders and volunteers. I was intrigued by the rider's stories that first year and decided that randonneuring was for me. In 1984 I rode my first SR Series including a 1000K from Murphy to Manteo. Back then the brevets mostly followed North Carolina Bike Routes 1 and 2 with minor changes as needed. Jim and Kathie would make up route books with hand-drawn maps and typed cue sheets. There were no computers or internet to help out then.

We were still learning how to ride brevets and what to eat and carry to make it through. The available lighting systems were minimal so we often cobbled them together with Radio Shack parts, heavy six volt lantern batteries and bike lights. It wasn't uncommon for the lights to fail and we tried to stay together to share the light we did have.

There were six of us on the first 1000K leaving Murphy. Three riders had full support crews with them including one woman using it as a training ride for RAMM. We separated going through the mountains and one rider dropped out after the first 100 miles. I caught up with Gilbert Anderson, Steve Knight and another rider near Marion. Steve and I stopped in Hickory but found out that a convention had all the hotel rooms filled. We finally stopped at a Howard Johnson's where the night clerk offered us a roll away bed in the store room for a few hours sleep. We spent the second night at my house and left early for Manteo finally rolling in to the finish 65 hours after leaving Murphy. Four of us completed the 1000K and Steve and I were the only ones to finish unsupported.

After finishing the 1000K, I knew I could do PBP and it was only a matter of time until circumstances would allow me to do it.

2- Since you brought up PBP, when did you ride it, and what about it is drawing you back for 2011?

I rode PBP with about nine other local riders in 1991, which was also

the centennial year. That was the first year in which the financing,

training and time came together to allow me to go. I had two goals when I went.

The first was to finish and the other was to have fun doing it. I completed

both goals. The best thing for me was the people cheering us along the way.

Some people would have places set up to give us food and only want to know

where we came from in return. There were times when I would get depressed

during the ride but would then think about the next control coming up and the

people who would be there and I would perk back up. Coming into the

control at Villaines la Juhel, the street was packed with spectators cheering

the riders. As I approached the crowd parted and allowed me to ride through

like you see in the mountain stages of the Tour de France.

My goal is to go back next year if everything works out for me.

3- Long-time randonneurs from neighboring states have told me they remember coming to Raleigh to ride brevets in the 1980s, with riders numbering in the dozens. Do you think randonneuring in North Carolina is growing, or is it on a plateau?

I think randonneuring is growing in North Carolina. In the 80's we were one of the few places on the east coast to organize brevets and we drew randonneurs from New England to Florida. Often the majority of riders were from out of state. As the popularity of brevets increased, the number of RBA's in other states increased and there were fewer riders from out of state. In the 90's and early 2000's there would often be ten or less riders on our brevets but now we see 30 to 40 riders on all distances and have many more brevets listed. There are currently over 100 randonneurs in North Carolina belonging to RUSA. High Point RBA Tony Goodnight has been a big help with bringing in more riders with all of his rides in the western part of the state and has helped to complement the rides I put on here, as well as providing more variety to the rides available. There is a lot of enthusiasm shown by the randonneurs, involvement from RBA Tony and RUSA VP and newsletter editor Mike Dayton, all the North Carolina permanent owners and of course, the volunteers who help out on the brevets.

4- What did it feel like to complete another Super Randonneur series this year, your first since a car/bike accident several years ago.

It was great to finally do it after all this time. I have done the 200K and 300K brevets several times but had to quit on the 400K brevets the two or three times I've tried since the accident. This year I was finally able to finish the 400K but was ready to quit several times on the 600K pre-ride. Fortunately Mike, Jerry, Joel and Carol (from DC Randonneurs) kept encouraging me on and helped me finish. I was planning to buy the medals this year but Mike and Jerry surprised me with them at the 600K start the next weekend. This is what makes randonneuring great.

5- Last question: randonneur or not, famous or not, alive or not.. if there's just one cyclist you could ride a brevet with- who would it be and why?

Of course, Lance (Armstrong) is an obvious choice since his comeback from cancer is an inspiration to everyone. Reading his book helped encourage me in my recovery from the accident eight years ago. It would also be fun to ride with Charles Terront and compare the changes in cycling from the first PBP to now. It is hard though to beat the group I rode the 600K with this year and the encouragement they gave me to continue on and finish.

Elizabethtown Lock and Dam: by car.

A few months ago while riding Dean's Tarheel 200 Permanent, a friendly fellow at the turn-around control told me about the lock and dam in Elizabethtown just a "short ride" away. Turns out a short ride is more like 35 miles round trip, so I filed that fact away for a later date. I became fascinated with these engineering marvels during a long, albeit shortened thanks to Katrina, bicycle tour down the Mississippi in 2005. The three locks on the Cape Fear aren't nearly as large as those on the Mississippi but they're pretty cool anyway although there is some controversy on whether they should be removed to allow a more natural flow of water for fish and wildlife.

When Tony's 600 went through the town last weekend, I looked up and downstream when we crossed the Cape Fear but saw no signs of a dam, so while driving home from the beach yesterday, I stopped at a cafe on the corner of Poplar and Broad Streets and found out the dam is about three miles downstream off Broad Street. Branson remembers Butler family picnics at the little park adjacent to the dam. Below is a short movie of the lock and dam and the park. The final image is a funny prayer found in the cafe.

600K Video / Oct 9-10 2010

Pick your song -- the HD version has a song from iMovie; for the lower res version I used Google's audioswap...

Old Roads

When Tony's 300K / 600K route brought us by this intersection last weekend, it made me smile. My mom was born and raised on Greens Bridge Road, and I spent many happy summers there on the farm as a boy. My sister, cousins and I would ride our bikes all the way from Grandma and Pa's to this signpost, and heeding the stern warnings from our grandparents about not getting out on "the Highway," we'd turn back, giddy with pushing the limits, exploring the world. It was nearly 2 miles round trip for us. This weekend, I giddily made the signpost at mile 130-something, with many more to go. Golden memories of my grandmother and grandfather, the farm, a simpler time, warmed me in the late-afternoon light.

Bittersweet.

And the Winner Is....

Here in North Carolina, we sometimes make sport out of the county lines with friendly sprints. After riding buddy Jerry handsomely kicked my butt on an early duel, I decided to retire and become team videographer. I caught this contest as we neared the Tar Heel coast. That's Joel doing his patented victory salute...

Gentlemen, Mark Cavendish called...He wants his training tape back....

Maria's the Name....

....of our latest SR recipient... The third (or fourth?) time proved to be the charm for Maria. She reeled in the big tuna on this weekend's 600K out of Lumberton, hosted by High Point RBA Tony Goodnight. Our sincere congratulations.

How did it feel to get 'er done? "It was a big bowlful of awesome," she said at the ride's finish.

Branson did "5 Questions with Maria" in August... Note that she listed finishing a 600K as one of her goals. Mission accomplished!

Here's a little video of Maria waving to the camera on a picture perfect weather day....

Coffee Table Talk...

Continuing the music thread, your quotes for the day...

"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." — Steve Earle 

"I've met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve could get anywhere near his coffee table." — Townes Van Zandt.

Need a bike connection? Okay, Eric Ambel has played guitar for Steve Earle. He rides fixed gear and often takes a bike with him on tour.....

Live from the Tower Circle Motel....

Riding buddy and rock star Chip Robinson of Backsliders fame has pointed me to lots of great music. In a recent Facebook post, he mentioned Crooked Fingers, so I looked em up. One of the members is Eric Bachmann. He has a long history of playing in Triangle bands, including Archers of Loaf.

All good, but what really caught my eye was that in 2006 he recorded a solo record at the Tower Circle Motel in Buxton, out on Hatteras Island. It's an old motel with a 1950s look that for years was run by Jack and Mary Gray. My buddy Brian and I often rent a room there for weekend surfing trips to the Lighthouse. And it's where Maxi and I spent our honeymoon night.

Here's my favorite song from Eric Bachmann's TCM record....Enjoy...

Icing on the (Cup) Cakes

Maxi, my sweetie and the love of my life, knew Saturday's 200K would be a milestone ride, and she showed up at the finish with these cupcakes and a tray of brownies. Thanks, lover!

I wasn't feeling all that special Saturday, riding fixed gear with a head cold and legs still heavy from the previous week's 1000K. Thankfully, I got towed home over the final 20 miles by two talented young riders, Ian (Adrian's son; seated in the photo) and Moshe. When I see guys like this out riding the long distances, I know the future of our sport is indeed bright. It was my honor to finish with them.

A tip of the hat to Dan Driscoll, the Dallas RBA and the informal leader of Texas' K-Hounds, who got several of the Tarheel riders interested in a 10,000K annual goal. If you look through the results, you'll have no trouble spotting the other two riders, who each have more than 8,000K so far this year.

I'm indebted to Dan's gentle nudge, and l'm also indebted to all of the folks I shared so many great kilometers with. Couldn't have done it without you. And wouldn't have wanted to do it without you.

Cheers!

Natchez Trace 1000K Video

Music by Andy Church and used with permission. Find his songs from "Sleeping in the Van" on  iTunes or check his website....video shot and edited on iPhone 4...