Last year, I took my first stab at the Errandonnee Challenge, a 12-day event during which participants perform 12 errands in at least 7 different categories by bicycle, logging a cumulative total of at least 30 miles. It’s brought to us by Mary of Chasing Mailboxes, the same shero who keeps us pedaling in the Fall with Coffeeneuring. For those of us unlikely to take up randonneuring, it’s a great way to embrace the sport in a manner that easily fits into our everyday lives. No need to train for hundreds of miles, nor to stay awake all night. Precisely because I use my bike for commuting and errands on a regular basis, I seriously underestimated the challenge last year. This time around, I was able to up my game a wee bit, by applying a few lessons learned.
Of course, last year, the Errandonneur-in-Chief had mercifully granted us two weekends within the dates of the challenge. I remember being grateful for that since I was committed to the Seattle Bike Show during the opening weekend and, ironically, being a vendor at that event means I have to use a motorized vehicle to haul my pop up shop supplies to and from the venue, with no free time to sneak off and ride a bicycle. (It has been a sad realization that starting a side business related to my passion for urban cycling has been a major destroyer of opportunities to ride my bicycle.) I also remember that my sons were home for Spring break during the 2016 Errandonnee, and cheerfully tagged along for some of the rides.
Even with the bonus weekend, I ended up scrambling to fill my control card last year. For 2017, I knew better. I was going to be organized!
The announcement of the event dates came a little late this year, perhaps owing to the Errandonneur-in-Chief having a life to live and all that. It appears the scheduling of the event may have been simply a matter of practical considerations. The event was announced on March 15th, with the dates set for March 20th-31st. In other words, just in time to end before the grand international #30daysofbiking, which always runs from April 1st to 30th.
No problem, even with just one weekend in there. Oh, except my darling husband had just very thoughtfully booked a trip for us to Seattle that weekend. That should pose no problem, though. There are bicycles in Seattle! Except the point of the weekend was to visit family and spend some time together while hubby is on Spring break and before he heads off to Cuba (again). Well, it’s only a weekend. I still have plenty of other days during which to complete the challenge, and besides, this year I’m organized!
To make sure I wouldn’t end up in a pickle, I carried a note card with me. On one side of the card, I kept a running list of errands I could think of that needed to be done. As each errand was completed, I added it to a numbered list on the other side, and made a note of the categories under which that errand might fall. I also noted my mileage there, as I’m well aware that most of my errands are quite short in distance. I then looked at my calendar, and figured out which days would work for which errands.
Last year, I got my mileage in with my weekend recreational ride to Griffith Park, but that wasn’t going to be possilbe this year. I decided to use my need for mileage as a motivator to follow through on a maybe-someday-I’ll-check-it-out idea of going to a DraftLA Meet Up scheduled for March 30th at a bike shop in Burbank. The Draft Meet Up are a new series of gatherings organized by People for Bikes to bring cyclists, advocacy groups and bike industry people together in a social setting.
The rules of the Errandonnee (because it wouldn’t be an errandonnee without rules) require no more than two errands in each of the nine categories, and at least seven different categories must be included. There is no minimum mileage for each trip, but the total over the event must be at least 30. For each errand, a photo must be taken to show that the errand was taken by bike. Finally, for each errand, the participant is to share one observation or something that they learned from that outing.
The nine categories can involve overlapping activities. That is, some activities could qualify under more than one category. I find that useful, when my very organized planning starts to go awry. Here are the nine:
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Personal Care
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Personal Business
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You carried WHAT on your bike?!
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Arts and Entertainment
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Non-Store Errand
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Social Call (includes restaurants, coffee, and other social activities)
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Work or Volunteering, School
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Store
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Wild Card
Now, I can’t seem to approach something like this without invoking a theme. This year has been a heavy-hearted one. My mother died suddenly in October, and I am still processing this grief. She was a big fan of my bike adventures, an enthusiastic supporter of my Bikie Girl Bloomers, and loved to follow along as I posted photos and stories on Facebook. She wasn’t a cyclist herself, but encouraged my love of it, and even got me doing my first bike tour, Ride the Rockies, back in 1986. When Mom would call me, she’d always begin the call with, “So where are you now?” She’d say she just couldn’t keep track of my travels and whatever was on my schedule. Since her passing, I have felt her presence with me, and find that I particularly enjoy wearing something of hers as a way to enhance that feeling that she is riding along and enjoying my adventures with me. So I decided that I would include in my report the item of hers I wore each day of the event to honor her memory. Plus, I have to include in my report the bloomers I’m wearing that day, because, that’s my thing.
And, with all that ado, drum roll please, here is my “control card”:
Control No. 1: Commuting to the office
Date: March 20, 2017
Category: Work
Destination: Office
Remembering Mom by wearing: A pretty purple scarf she brought back from India, back when she was Director of Development for a charity hospital in Vellore.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: Blue Bandana
Mileage: 3.3 (because I took the scenic route through Hancock Park)
Observation/Lesson: Riding through the wide, tree-lined streets, past the grand historic homes of Hancock Park makes me feel like I’m riding through a movie – it’s too idyllic to be real. Surely everyone would bike to work if they could do it this way!
Control No. 2: Mailing a small package
Date: March 20, 2017
Category: Non-Store Errand
Destination: Mailbox
Remembering Mom by wearing: A pretty purple scarf she brought back from India, back when she was Director of Development for a charity hospital in Vellore.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: Blue Bandana
Mileage: 1
Observation/Lesson: I wasn’t sure if my package would be delivered. Doesn’t the USPS have some rule about requiring packages be left at the counter of the post office or something? I was happy to see confirmation that my package did make it to its destination.
Control No. 3: Attempt to deposit check at the ATM
Date: March 21, 2017
Category: Personal Business
Destination: ATM at Western/Wilshire
Remembering Mom by wearing: Her raincoat. I found this white raincoat in her closet. It looked so pristine, as if it had never been worn. Might she have received it as a gift? Was it new? Now that I know white is a color associated with the suffragette movement, it feels rather special. It’s a nice lightweight coat very suitable for the kind of light rain we get here in Los Angeles (when we’re not in a drought).
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: PinkaDot Black Bloomers
Mileage: 1
Observation/Lesson: Normally, I get mildly annoyed when I receive a check that is for an amount just a nudge above the limit for mobile deposits. This time I was thrilled to find myself tasked with an unexpected errand, just at the right time! The errand resulted in disappointment, however, when I discovered that the ATM was “not accepting deposits at this time”. I get that sometimes an ATM can’t dispense cash, but hadn’t realized that sometimes they can’t accept deposits. So my errand was a fail, but the Errandonneur-in-Chief informed that it still counts. Phew!
Control No. 4: Taking documents to be notarized
Date: March 21, 2017
Category: Non-Store Errand
Destination: Wilshire Shipping Center
Remembering Mom by wearing: Same raincoat.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: PinkaDot Black Bloomers
Mileage: 0.2 (That’s what Strava says, but most of the distance was getting out of the parking structure; Wilshire Shipping Center is in the building just across the street from my office building!)
Observation/Lesson: Some businesses are so good-natured about letting customers bring their bikes inside. There were no bike racks near the entrance, but they waved me in with my bike!
Control No. 5: Commuting home in the rain
Category: Work
Destination: Home
Remembering Mom by wearing: Same raincoat – going for a triple today.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: PinkaDot Black Bloomers
Mileage: 1
Observation/Lesson: Riding in the rain gives me a small sense of legitimacy in the Errnadonnee. I read about others biking their errands in foul weather, and it makes me feel a tiny bit guilty. We have it so easy with our gentle weather here in Southern California. But it’s only a small sense of legitimacy today, as the rain is quite light and manageable. Just enough to justify the raincoat.
Control No. 6: Second attempt to deposit my check at the ATM
Date: March 23, 2017
Category: Personal Business
Destination: That same ATM
Remembering Mom by wearing: Another scarf from her colorful collection. This one is a pretty batik of jewel tones.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: Hot Pink Zebra Stripe Bloomers
Mileage: 1.3 (stopping on the way to the office)
Observation/Lesson: Today my deposit was accepted! And I am getting better at managing the challenge of getting my bike inside the ATM cage with its rather heavy door.
Control No. 7: Mammogram
Category: Personal Care
Destination: Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center
Remembering Mom by wearing: Same scarf with the pretty batik of jewel tones.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: Hot Pink Zebra Stripe Bloomers
Mileage: 5.3
Observation/Lesson: I didn’t know why I had been putting off the mammogram that was more than a year overdue until I saw the announcement of the 2017 Errandonee. I just needed something to make me get excited about taking time away from work to run an errand!
Control No. 8: Materials Delivery
Date: March 23, 2017
Category: Wild Card
Destination: The home/office of my production manager for Bikie Girl Bloomers, where I delivered two spools of quarter-inch elastic and two bags of garment labels (leftover from prior productions) to be used in the new styles of bloomers.
Remembering Mom by wearing: Same day, same scarf with the pretty batik of jewel tones (another triple errand day).
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: Hot Pink Zebra Stripe Bloomers
Mileage: 6.8
Observation/Lesson: I don’t understand what Google Maps thinks is a bikeable street. There were a few stretches on this route where I felt the sidewalk was my only safe place to ride, and I don’t normally think it’s wise to bike on the sidewalks. Fortunately, most of the ride was quite pleasant, as urban cycling goes.
Control No. 9: Grocery Store
Category: Store
Destination: Ralph’s
Remembering Mom by wearing: Her red earrings that look great with the beautiful red blouse my sister gave me during our visit to Seattle.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: Red Hot Aqua Dot
Mileage: 2.1
Observation/Lesson: I was feeling so refreshed from an enjoyable weekend out of town, I was actually excited to plan dinner and run to the store for fresh ingredients. I bought some salmon to bake in parchment paper. If you haven’t tried cooking salmon this way, you are really missing out!
Control No. 10: Dry Cleaning Drop Off
Date: March 29, 2017
Category: You Carried What on Your Bicycle?
Destination: Rutley’s Cleaners
Remembering Mom by wearing: Her fuzzy purple jacket.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: Groovy Tie Dye Bloomers
Mileage: 1.2 (stopping on the way to the office)
Observation/Lesson: This was another errand that had been put off for months, apparently waiting for Errandonnee season. I don’t have that much clothing that requires dry cleaning, so I tend to let it pile up. This was about six month’s worth: 4 jackets, one pair of slacks, two blouses, and a scarf. I piled them into a bundle, laid them over the rear rack with as much of the bulk in the pannier basket, and bungee cords holding the bundle in place. It was quite a lopsided load, and the bike would easily fall over when parked, but I only had to go 4 blocks. The hard part was taking a picture. I had to lean the front wheel against a building to keep the bike upright.
Control No. 11: Draft Meet-Up with People for Bikes
Date: March 30, 2017
Category: Social Call
Destination: Pure Cycles in Burbank
Remembering Mom by wearing: Her other red earrings.
Bike: Specialized Dolce Comp
Bloomers: Blue Bandana Bloomers
Mileage: 17.7 (biking miles; multi-modal trip – train miles excluded)
Observation/Lesson: Noticed the big, beautiful Centennial Fountain across from the entrance to Griffith Park. I must have ridden past it dozens of times on my way to the park without noticing it. This time I was on the fountain side of the street, waiting to continue straight across toward the river path entrance (instead of turning left into the park).
Control No. 12: Grocery Store
Date: March 31, 2017
Category: Store
Destination: Ralph’s
Remembering Mom by wearing: Her shoes.
Bike: Gazelle Tour Populaire
Bloomers: Sapphire, a test sample from the upcoming Jeweltones Collection
Mileage: 1.3 (stopping on the way home from the office)
Observation/Lesson: It’s tough to stick to my carrying capacity when shopping for a party I’m hosting. Thank goodness for bungee cords!
That gives me a total of 8 categories, and 42.2 miles! I have proudly earned my patch!
WeLove2Bike! 