The Utah Randonneur

I set off from my hotel in Scottsdale with what I thought was plenty of time to get to the start of this ride. However, even with GPS in my car, a smartphone and a destination in mind, I kind of got lost. What kind of randonneur am I if I can’t even find the start of an event? I finally arrived about 5 minutes before the ride started and by the time I was ready to ride all the other riders had gone.

Finally underway in the early light I could not see any blinky lights ahead of me. I started out with a brisk pace, hoping to catch up to some other riders eventually, however it did not take as long as I thought until I caught up to a couple of riders who were bringing up the rear. It would be impolite to just ride on by so I chatted a bit with some riders as I caught them. First, Doug from Nevada and then Susan (our esteemed leader), then I saw Carlton and of course the members of the Extreme Picnicing Society. I knew that the faster riders were long gone though and I wouldn’t see them again. Then, to my great surprise, when I pulled into the Circle K in Eloy I found my good friend Steve still there at the Control!

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Okay, I’m back for another one in SoCal, this time a 300 km jaunt around Orange County and the surrounds. It retraces some of the 200 km route from last month but adds a big inland section before returning to the coast. A quick glance at the map told me that I would be riding some familair and friendly roads. That would turn out not to be entirely true, and there were a few other surprises waiting for me too!

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