[Pierre]

I was on the San Diego 200km brevet on saturday. A rainy one, unlike what you would expect in southern CA. I was a bit surprised, there was no fast leading group. I stayed with the first group during 20 miles, we were going 16-17mph, then they dropped me on the hills. A good ride overall.

The full ride report with pictures is on
http://www.vision.caltech.edu/pmoreels/Images/Brevet200KFeb04/index.html

Below: 37 riders at the start. Bikes, and even more, seat bags, are quite different from what you see on club rides !

Pierre

 

[Fordy]

Please help me understand

I thought brevet participation required lights and fenders. Is that right or are the rules just relaxed and what should I expect if I wanted to participate in a brevet? Would it be different depending on the sponsering club? Thanks

 

[haiku d'etat]

nope

fenders not required. lights required if riding after dark. riding in dark on a 200k very unlikely.

 

[haiku d'etat]

i have the same carradice/bagman setup

nelson longflap and bagman sport. have also used (once) with a bagman junior. works well, particularly with a brooks saddle (with bag loops). otherwise you can purchase add-on bag loops from wallbike.com or wherever.

i can fit an entire 600k worth of stuff in the nelson longflap, including all food. fwiw.

 

[Trent in WA]

J, what's in your NLF?

i can fit an entire 600k worth of stuff in the nelson longflap, including all food. fwiw.

J,

What's your packing list like? I tend to overpack, but even so it's hard for me to imagine getting a brevet's worth of stuff in a Nelson, particularly if you throw food into the mix.

Trent

 

[Trent in WA]

Depending on the club and location of the brevet, not having fenders is kinda poor form, since it'll make following you in a paceline a muddy mess. Then too, I'm in Seattle.

All my bikes are rain bikes,

Trent

 

[haiku d'etat]

absolutely everything

longflap:

3 tubes
frame pump
co2 inflator
co2 carts
tire levers
cellphone
id
alien multitool
medication
food (how many full packaged of fig newtons?)
gatorade powder
gu, powergel, hammer gel, honey stinger, or something sticky
emergency space blanket
spare batteries
zip ties
a little duct tape
an extra cleat
dark or clear glasses (depending upon what's on my face)
clean/dry jersey
clean/dry socks
thin full-finger gloves
extra outerwear if i'm not wearing it already
mini maglite
assorted +calcium tums in a film canister
a folding tire
chain lube
i cannot remember what else but there was more stuff

along with this stuff i typically ride self-supported long stuff with a 50oz camelbak. plus 32-ounce zefal magnum bottles, dual cateye el300s, 2 rear blinkies on steady, a reflective sam browne belt, 3m reflective tape all over everything, and one computer. i say "one computer" 'cause a guy i rode some of the brevets with last year had two computers. for redundancy.

-J

ps. i used fenders on all but one of the brevets last year. no mudflaps, though. i was in the minority, with them. however, it is a common misconception that they are "required". i had the same idea before reading the rules. don't know where that comes from. maybe the pics.

pps. this year i'll probably ride the 600k with a small seatpack and whatever will fit into my jersey pockets. and no drop bag.

 

[PdxMark]

Great ride report. Thanks.

I'll be riding the Seattle 200k in a few weeks. Your report makes me think I should take my camera.

Does anyone have thoughts on the relative merits of the Bagman frame for Carradice bags relative to the SQR quick-release set-up? I was leaning toward the SQR, but it sounds like folks here lean toward the Bagman.

-Mark

 

[PdxMark]

One other thought... are all bike lanes in San Diego maked by broken lines, rather than solid lines? I hadn't seen that before.

 

[haiku d'etat]

thoughts

i haven't used the SQR (or even seen it on rides), but i'd guess it depends on your riding style and how you handle your personal affects on brevets etc.

though i've just posted slightly to the contrary, usually i'll keep my phone, meds, id, map/cue, and brevet card either in a jersey pocket, or (preferably) tucked into my camelbak aerobak. prevents me from digging for stuff at stops, and i can keep the food & stuff on top in the carradice. with the SQR you could (assumption) remove and carry the bag with you. this would also save you from digging for extra food or clothing (always at the bottom of the bag) in the rain and wind, instead of inside the heated convenience store.

i'm pretty happy with the bagman/carradice combo. only use it this time of year, though, and only on longish rides.

 

[Dorf411]

One other thought... are all bike lanes in San Diego maked by broken lines, rather than solid lines? I hadn't seen that before.

No, not all of them entirely. They are only there during the last 20-50' or so before some right turns which allows cars to move over to the right to make a turn allowing other cars to continue speeding past sharing the lane with out slowing down. It's not really a good thing for cyclist in my experience as cars will get stacked up at the corner then we have to wait or move out into traffic to get by.

 

[Pierre]

Personally I carry a bit less:
- no spare tire (I make sure my tire is not too old to start with if the ride is more than 100 miles long)
- most of the time, only 2 spares and not 3
- no spare jersey but some layers of thermal stuff (coolmax, powerdry...)
- spare pair of socks depends on the wetness of the ride. If wet I take along gore-tex oversocks.
- no CO2 inflator and cartridges.
- no maglite but a small/light LED powered headlight to read route sheet at night.
- no spare cleat.

Extra:
- GPS (now that I have one there's no way I'm going to ride without it on a longer bevet).
- rain jacket
- sometimes gore-tex pants
- if I'm on my own and in no hurry, sleeping bag and sleeping pad.
- a few quarters in case I need to use a pay phone.

Pierre

 

[Pierre]

Reason why I don't have yet the bagman rack

... it takes some space on the rails behind the seatpost. And I like to have my seat quite much forward... Just bought a rack from Andy M from this board, I'll see how it performs

Pierre

 

[6was9]

What happened to your Trek?

BTW you should've done better for her B day flower pix; them flowers look pretty scrubby

 

[Pierre]

Spies everywhere ! Trek's sold

I sort of convinced myself that it was slightly too small (after 5-6000 miles on it), sold the frameset and recycled the components on Merlin. Now I'm waiting for spring to sell the Campy Record 9 that came with the Merlin. Yep, replaced campy 9 by a mix of D/A and Ultegra. Didn't want to deal with tubulars / double chainring / campy high prices to switch to triple, clinchers and maintenance...

The guy who got the Trek frameset is on campus, and he still hasn't built it up after 1.5 month. What a shame !

Those flowers not nice ? Well, she'll have a nice birthday present to compensate

Pierre

 

[6was9]

A real nice present? Oh, okay then...

I sort of convinced myself that it was slightly too small (after 5-6000 miles on it), sold the frameset and recycled the components on Merlin. Now I'm waiting for spring to sell the Campy Record 9 that came with the Merlin. Yep, replaced campy 9 by a mix of D/A and Ultegra. Didn't want to deal with tubulars / double chainring / campy high prices to switch to triple, clinchers and maintenance...

The guy who got the Trek frameset is on campus, and he still hasn't built it up after 1.5 month. What a shame !

Those flowers not nice ? Well, she'll have a nice birthday present to compensate

Pierre

BTW since now you've ridden both what can ya say about the ride qualities sans the fit improvement. Is there any reason why you went to ti from cf or you not particular?

 

[Pierre]

Was looking for a 5900, didn't find. Found Ti instead.

Since I liked the 5200, I was looking for a 5900 'just to see'. Didn't find a used one at a good price, and found this Merlin instead. Good occasion to try Ti ! I've not ridden it long enough to have a good opinion - only ~1000 miles on it - but so far I'm happy to have tried it. This bike's a Ferrari !

To be honest, there's not a huge difference between carbon and Ti. I tend to think that pretty much all very-high-end frames are equivalent, and that most comes from the geometry fit. So since the Merlin frameset is much more expensive, I would say that Trek's frames are a better-value-for-the-price. But as well, there's no cheap and good quality Ti frame, so you have to expect a price difference.

Pierre

 

[6was9]

Well if you have a Ferrari of bikes what more...

Since I liked the 5200, I was looking for a 5900 'just to see'. Didn't find a used one at a good price, and found this Merlin instead. Good occasion to try Ti ! I've not ridden it long enough to have a good opinion - only ~1000 miles on it - but so far I'm happy to have tried it. This bike's a Ferrari !

To be honest, there's not a huge difference between carbon and Ti. I tend to think that pretty much all very-high-end frames are equivalent, and that most comes from the geometry fit. So since the Merlin frameset is much more expensive, I would say that Trek's frames are a better-value-for-the-price. But as well, there's no cheap and good quality Ti frame, so you have to expect a price difference.

Pierre

could you want. Enjoy your rides and keep posting them pix. I think we all appreciate em' especially those of us who has to go thru long winded annual doldrum of freezing winter . I used to hate the idea of LaLa Land but maybe it's the pix here on RBR forum or maybe this winter thing finally broke me but now I often get the urges to be "Going To California."

 

[Trent in WA]

Great ride report. Thanks.

I'll be riding the Seattle 200k in a few weeks. Your report makes me think I should take my camera.

Does anyone have thoughts on the relative merits of the Bagman frame for Carradice bags relative to the SQR quick-release set-up? I was leaning toward the SQR, but it sounds like folks here lean toward the Bagman.

-Mark

Mark,

You're in Seattle? I'll be at the 200K as well. It's a fun ride.

I wouldn't trust the SQR myself. A friend of mine has broken two of them JRA with lightish loads. Were I to use a support, I'd be inclined towards the Bagman. I've used the Nitto Uplift sold by Rivendell and found it works pretty well too.

Trent

 

[PdxMark]

You're in Seattle? I'll be at the 200K as well. It's a fun ride.

Trent,

I'm in Portland, but have a conflict with the Portland 200k, so it's Seattle for me. I'll look for you out there. I hope to be on a new Vanilla by then.

Thanks for the feedback on the SQR. Can't afford to have the thing breaking in the middle of the night in the middle of no-where.

-Mark