The Dean passes 10,000K...

The Dean of Tar Heel randonneuring...

It was our honor to ride yesterday with Dean, our resident physiologist and all-round great guy, as he surpassed his annual goal of 10,000K.

The 208K Lake Loop was a fitting venue to crown Dean's 2010 riding season -- Dean did his very first permanent on that course back on February 23, 2007. Since then, Dean has been one of the quiet leaders of the NC randonneurs, both as a rider and as an enthusiastic permanent route owner. On any given weekend, you'll find Dean and his army of recruits out on one of his Eastern NC routes.

Dean has been the model of consistency in chipping away at his 10,000K goal. Texas RBA Dan Driscoll, the leader of Texas' infamous big mileage K-Hounds, once told me that you don't have to rack up the big events, like 1000Ks or 600Ks, to hit the 10,000K mark. Dean proved that point, clicking off the kilometers 100K and 200K at a time. I count 67 completed events for Dean in 2010, with lots of 100Ks and 200Ks on his scorecard.

Many of you know Dean for his highly regarded posts on RTP about randonneuring nutrition and fitness. Dean teaches physiology at a local college and knows what he is talking about. Search for phun physiology and you'll find his posts. He received international recognition this year when Checkpoint, the publication of Audax Australia, picked up this RTP post. Yesterday we presented Dean with a copy of the publication that has his article. 

Dean has a natural intellectual curiosity and you'll also find posts about other subjects that pique his interest. While RTP is mostly a cycling blog, one of the pages that gets the most traffic, especially this time of year, is Dean's post about the wooly worm. It's worth a look for the classic Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs video of Wooly Bully.

Here are Martin, Dean and Jerry just moments after Dean crossed the 10,000K mark for the year, near the VA-NC border.

Yesterday's ride was the perfect day to marvel at just how wrong the weathermen can be. They'd call for sunny skies and a zero percent chance of precipitation. Instead, we had at least four hours of on-again, off-again rain, with a rainbow as we crossed Kerr Dam. But  the cool temps and morning showers had no effect on our spirits. It was another fine day out on the bikes.

Our sincere congratulations to Dean. We're lucky to count him as an NC Randonneur.