This season and last season

From what I've read, traditional randonneuring practice is to plan the year out in December, and begin training at around the same time. Obviously, what I do this season should be based somewhat around what happened last season, so I'll do a brief overview of 2007.

I returned from a 4 month study abroad in Ankara, Turkey in early January and immediately began riding after doing none while out of the country. I had a great time and will write a post about it sometime, but not tonight.

While in Turkey I stumbled upon the idea of randonneuring online and decided to give it a try. I built up a Surly Cross-Check with a mountain triple and 12-27, did some riding with my ex-rugby playing friend and tried my first 200k. Well, it was also my first 100k, and first imperial century. As you might expect, 126 miles and 9,000' of climbing destroyed my knees and took me off the bike for quite a while. When I did return, so did the knee pain in the form of IT band pain

Throughout the spring I would take time off, try riding again to some degree of success and the knee pain would return. While doing this I built up the fantastic ride I have now, after getting an astonishing deal from a friend on the frameset. I was apprehensive, but it worked out and I was able to complete a very flat night time 200k in late July with only mild knee pain. This was probably because the effort was very low in a paceline on the flats of southern NJ. Then in August, I made an attempt at a 150+ mile ride to my parents house, but a stick in the spokes put that to a hault at mile 80. Honestly I doubt I would have completed it without the stick, the ride was hilly and I hadn't paced myself very well and my knees were complaining.

In early September I was involved in an accident with a minivan, and while structurally sound the muscles in my shoulders developed severe knots. This prevented me from putting weight on the handlebars for more than a month, so the longest rides I did were the 2 miles to school. Oddly enough, I credit this break with allowing my knees to recuperate as I have yet to have the serious problems of last spring and summer.

In the Fall I realized my knees were better and began to slowly increase my rides. I used the fair weather we've had to a great advantage and worked on hill training and speed work in December and January. The idea is to raise the amount of power I am able to put out for very long periods of time, so I can raise my average speed and spend fewer hours on the bike or ride longer.

Now we're approaching mid February and I have a solid plan for the season based on the last few months of solid riding, or about 1,200 miles in 2.5 months.

Saturday March 23rd (rain date is the 24th) I will complete the 150 miles to my parents house. Two mechanic friends (one of whom sold me my frame and fork) have expressed interest in riding with me to Baltimore and parting ways after 90-100 miles to meet up with friends. At this point I don't put much faith in what people say, as everyone seems unable to put their commitments to where their mouth is.

Saturday April 12th Eastern PA 200k - This ride depends on my ability to get to the start point, I may be able to hitch a ride with someone from Philly. It promises more than an extra 2,000' over climbing over last years Princeton ride, so I'd imagine it will prepare me quite well for this years.

Saturday April 19th The Princeton Classic 200k - Keeping with the theme of completing last years failings, I will complete the death march that destroyed me a year ago in infinitely better shape and shave 90 minutes off my time to make the ride in 10 and 1/2 hours, for an over all average of 12.0 mph. Considering that an extra 1,000' of climbing has been added to the course this year, it will be an excellent challenge. My good friend Ben wants to do this with me and we've been riding a good amount together on weekends, but I'm not relying on his presence.

Saturday May 17th - The Princeton 300k is an extra 61 miles added to the 200 just to keep in interesting. It passes very close to where I grew up in NJ and comes close to entering New York State. This will be my toughest ride of the season.

June 21st - The NJ 400k is a break from the climbing and largely a flat course. The night riding should be fun, especially with my budget lighting system.

July - Bike tour in Italy for 4-5 weeks. I've been planning this adventure for a long time and am taking my second term of Italian. After Turkey I realized how important language is in traveling, so I will be somewhat prepared.

August 10th - NYC 300 - This is another climbing route out of NYC instead of Princeton. It sounds beautiful and will make a great late summer brevet.

I'm tempted to add in the PA 400 the week after the Princeton 300, but I'm worried that may be over doing it and still have many commitments in school to take care of.

Also missing is a planned ride to Connecticut to visit my aunts, uncles and grandmother. I may use the NYC 300 to scout possible roads to take, so that may have to wait until late August.

I suppose I'll finish this post off with my distance future ambitions:

2009 - Complete a full Super Randonneur series consisting of a 200, 300, 400 and 600.
2010 - Full SR Series with the addition of a 1000k and 1200k.
2011 - Paris Brest Paris