The Art of the Impossible

A Rookie’s Take on Randonneuring

Randonneuring is a form of long distance, self-supported endurance cycling. Randonneurs (and female randonneuse) ride 200–1,000 kilometer “brevets” and 1,200 kilometer “grande randonnées” with prescribed time limits. These events are not races and a randonneur competes only with himself, the course, and the clock.

Those may have registered as big numbers, but the challenge can be hard to comprehend without an intuitive sense of the metric system and a lot of time on bicycles. 1,200 kilometers is about 750 miles, or nearly the distance from New York to Chicago. The 90-hour time limit of a grande randonnèe is long enough to drive a car from New York to San Francisco and back without speeding. These are long rides.

“It truly feels like we are getting away with something.”

So what? Are randonneurs merely out there to log “epic” rides and gloat about their accomplishments? In my experience, they are not. There is certainly a sense of personal pride and accomplishment to be earned through randonneuring, but the sport is obscure enough to carry little social currency, and most randonneurs would shy away from spending it even if they could.

For me, the allure of randonneuring is its sheer audacity. In a country where most people are beholden to internal combustion engines to get beyond their driveways, cycling long distances without regard for road conditions, weather, or daylight is an act of defiance. It challenges common conceptions of what is possible and also happens to be quite fun. It truly feels like we are getting away with something.

“Ride reports have become a genre unto themselves and the best move beyond inside jokes among riders to serve as personal invitations for the aspiring or intrigued.”

With that I introduce this collection of ride reports. I will start with an account of my first brevet series, which I completed in 2014 under the auspices of the New England Randonneurs. Ride reports have become a genre unto themselves and the best move beyond inside jokes among riders to serve as personal invitations for the aspiring or intrigued. I would not have had this extraordinary experience if not for hours of reading the accounts of randonneurs before me, and it is my hope that we can build a collection here to tempt and welcome more of you onto the roads.

Yes, you. I believe that anyone can succeed as a randonneur provided that (1) you enjoy it and (2) you are determined to finish. I put myself to the test this year and was pleased with the results on both counts. Read about it here and consider joining for your first brevet!