Most of my cycling friends know I’ve spent a lot time for the last five years doing a particular thing compulsively: Riding 100 and 200 kilometer rides. Since 2020, I’ve ridden 947 of these rides, for a total distance of 102,021 kilometers. That is 63,393 miles.
I did this because I learned you can earn AWARDS from Randonneurs USA (RUSA for short) for reaching certain goals. For example, you can earn something called a K-Hound award for riding 10,000 km of official RUSA rides in a calendar year. These rides can include “Permanents,” which are rides you can do by yourself (or other randonneurs), whenever you wish.
Well, the first year I reached this milestone, I saw someone else’s name at the top of the list. I didn’t know who he was, but I looked at his RUSA history and realized he was on another level. In 2021, he rode 50,000 kilometers of RUSA rides. This ended up being 35,846.1 miles recorded on Strava. At the same time, he climbed 3,456,788 feet – more than 1 million meters! These are incomprehensible numbers.
This man is Charlie Martin, and I’ve always wanted to meet him. And, last night, I DID!
The Seattle Randonneurs are hosting a ride that shares a lot of the route I am riding. They started on September 8, at the Seattle Space Needle, and they’re riding more than 1,700 kilometers to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, and they have less than six days to finish. It’s completely unsupported, and they have to follow the route.
I knew they would come through Pacific City last night, and I was trying to keep an eye out for them (using a satellite tracker page), but I needed food, so I was going to duck into a store for a minute. Just as I was getting ready to walk in, I heard someone yell, and turned to see Charlie Martin and two other riders go by. I quickly jumped back on my bike and chased them. Forunately, I’d taken off my panniers, or I would have had no chance. I convinced them to stop for a photo, and they obliged. I was starstruck, and Charlie was really nice! So were the other riders, but I am only a member of the Charlie Martin fan club. 😁
Anyway, I was super happy I got to meet Charlie and grab a photo with him. I would have been really sad if they’d passed me while I was in the store, which I would have discovered a few minutes later.
Today’s ride was pretty mellow. I stopped for photos a few times and had another mediocre “second breakfast” in Lincoln City. It was a little foggy at the start, but it was a little chilly all day.
I ran into what looked like a bike tourist and caught up to him to introduce myself. He said something to me that I didn’t understand and he slowed down, so I slowed down and told him I couldn’t understand what he said. He repeated it: “I don’t hang out with the ‘pink shirt’ crowd.” I thought he was just being homophobic. I just laughed at him and kept going. Later, I saw him waiting at a bus stop (he must have taken a bus and passed me?). I just waved and said, “Hey weirdo!”
I did run into a bike tourist, Art, who lives in Oregon and is doing the Oregon Coast from Astoria and we chatted for a minute.
One really fun thing happened: My friend Mike Upsall is in Oregon celebrating his 55th anniversary, and we met up on the side of the road – they were headed north, and, of course, I was headed south.
Leave a Reply