Biking Chicago, Michigan & Paris – For Hundreds Of Miles!

Some of our guests take their bikes around town, but this latest guest has broken world records around the great lakes, taken his bike to Paris, and tells us all about randonneuring!

Read their written interview at:
https://chiwho.bike/interviews/83

0:00 His Specialized Roubaix
0:51 Paris-Brest-Paris The Ride Around France
1:31 Getting Started Commuting, Then Going Further
2:45 Randonneuring
4:48 Biking Long Every Week
6:40 Long Rides From Chicago
9:56 Antagonism From Drivers
11:33 Biking In Bad Weather
14:29 Getting Started Riding Further
16:08 You Can Do It – Just Start!

This week we talked to a man who’s taken his bike hundreds of miles around lakes and across France and told us about Randineering. Take a listen. So first of all, thank you so much for joining me on Chicago and two bike. Uh what is this bike? Is it your bike? And can you tell me a little bit about it? Sure. This is my Specialized Rube. Had this since 2018. This bike has taken me on quite a number of adventures. I did the Race Across America. I took four world records around the Great Lakes, including Lake Michigan here, Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and Lake Hiron. Still have one left. Uh, and I’ve taken this overseas a number of times. I’ve done Paris Press Paris uh two times on this machine. So, 1,200 kilometers in 52 hours. Wow. Uh, on this machine. So, it’s it’s taking good care of me. Okay. That’s fabulous. And what is the event that you mentioned for folks who might not be as aware of the uh the scene that you’re rolling in? Sure. So Paris breast Paris uh is as it sounds from the city of Paris to the city of breast and back. The city of breast is on the Atlantic coast uh of France. It is 1,200 kilometers uh in terms of the full distance and there’s a time limit. You have to complete the course in 90 hours or less. Uh this has been going on since the 1890s. Uh so older than the tour to France. It’s the oldest continually uh It’s the oldest continuously operating bike event in the world. Wow. Wow. That is super cool. And how long have you been biking and what got you into it? So, I’ve I mean, I learned how to bike as a kid like all of us do and you know, got a car and you kind of fall out of love with biking for a little bit. Um but uh when I got a job downtown, I lived too close to to take the train and it was too annoying to take the bus, but too far to walk. So, I started riding my bike and one thing kind of led to another. Yeah. Yeah. That’s amazing. And how long ago was that? Uh, that was probably like maybe 17 18 years ago. I was a bike commuter and uh I remember I did my first long ride which was 100 kilometers or about 60 miles to the Three Floyd’s Brewery and back and I did that on a fixie and my knee swelled up to the size of a grapefruit. And I immediately sold that bike, went to a bike shop, they told me like, “Oh, if you want to get into long distance, like let’s have you look at it and an endurance bike.” And uh like it wasn’t this machine, but it’s always been specialized bikes and you know, they’re kind of built to go long and for the last 18 plus years, every year I just take that challenge a little bit further. Yeah. And we were talking a bit before about rand randering. Randineering. Yeah. Yeah. Can you tell us a bit about that because I think that’s a pretty unique uh bike experience that you have. How did you get into that? What is it? You know, tell the people a bit about it. So, years ago, I I kept doing 24-hour bicycle races and 400 mile races and people always asked me about the Race Across America, and I wasn’t quite ready for that at that point in time. And then they told me about Paris Press Paris and what Randineering was. I fell into a YouTube rabbit hole. I learned about, you know, the event takes place every four years. You have to qualify to to go to it. It’s actually a huge event. It’s six, seven, 8,000 people from around the world go to Paris for this event. It’s almost like October Fest with bikes. Uh maybe minus minus the drinking. There’s some drinking, but not that much drinking. Um so I learned about the qualifications and did uh the first Grand Rand uh in Minnesota. A grand rand is a 1200 kilometer event. Uh, and it could be an out and back, it could be a oneway, it could be a loop. Uh, so I rode from Minneapolis to Madison and back effectively. Uh, and since then I’ve probably accumulated almost 40,000 kilometers, uh, in different randering events all over this country, all over the world, uh, just exploring. And so randineering is really about long distance cycling, uh, where you’re just challenging yourself. It’s non-competitive. So, it’s not like we’re racing to see who can complete this distance further. It’s just whether or not you can complete that distance. So, uh Sarah Rice and I, we co-founded Chicago Randonurs in 2024. And I think we’re the uh we’re the third largest randering club in the US, maybe 140 plus members, and everyone’s challenging themselves to see how far they can go, what are they capable of, you know, what will you find across that next horizon? And uh yeah, we’re really proud of what we built and we’re looking forward to, you know, inviting more folks to take that challenge with us. Absolutely. That is beautiful. Well, back to the topic of, you know, your bike and maybe maybe more city stuff. What do you use your bike for kind of on a day-to-day basis? What does that look like with a bike like this? uh a bike like this. I mean, not that there was a point in time, like before I had kids, I was riding, you know, four or five times a week, always on the lakefront trail trying to get in 20 miles one way or or, you know, on the south loop or 15 on the North Loop or, you know, 38 for the whole thing. And then, you know, you have kids and all of a sudden you start packing in longer rides but fewer rides. Mhm. So, I’d say, and this isn’t meant to be like a humble brag or or any like, you know, sick brag or anything, but like I don’t know if I do anything on this bike less than like 60 miles to be honest. Um and more commonly like just every weekend it’s a century or a double metric which is 125 kilo or miles or 200 kilometers and then you know the standard distances in randering is 200k 300k 400k 600k and one of the things that I’ve really enjoyed learning how to do because we live in Chicago like we are a transportation hub where you could take a train in any direction you know from Union Station. So, I started doing one-way rides where I’d see if I could bike on this machine all the way to Cincinnati or to Cleveland uh or, you know, to um uh Minnesota, St. Louis and then just take the train home. Um so, like those are some of the adventures I’ve started taking on on this machine. Um and yeah, if you give me enough time, like I will come up with some idea of some ridiculous thing to challenge myself with. And uh that’s kind of how I keep things interesting and fresh. Mhm. Yeah. And I mean I’m sure this question might not apply to more your recent experiences, but I’m sure in the past, you know, what do you like about biking in Chicago specifically? What makes it special for you? Um well, it’s weird, right? So if you think about other places where cycling is, you know, really popular, San Francisco, Seattle, uh, Boulder, Denver, like we don’t have mountains, you know, we don’t have the ocean, you know, we don’t have, you know, some of those like epic landscapes, but, you know, we do have seasons. Mhm. So like the way you like experience Lake Michigan is very different like right now versus sorry uh you know is very different. So now I tend to ride year rounds. Um not always on on this machine but I think one of my favorite events is the the festive 500. So, it’s um there’s a concept come up by uh by Rafa where they challenge you to ride 500 kilometers between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. And because I’m a sicko, I go full sicko mode and I try to do it in a single shot. Okay. No matter what the weather is and like every year it’s been a different adventure, a different challenge. So, one year I did Chicago to Detroit. Uh, and it was rainy and wet, which is all fine and good until it freezes and turns into black ice. So, you know, wiped out on the way to Detroit, still made it. But, you know, that was one adventure. The next year was St. Louis and it was really warm and that was because there’s a 20 mph headwind for 300 miles. So, it took me over 30 hours and like I left in the morning, went through the first night, went through the next day, and then it was already night again before I finally finished that just because of the wind. And I’m sitting there like falling asleep on the bike. Uh because there’s nothing on Route 66, by the way. It is just it is just like flat fields and like maybe an overpass every three miles. Um, then after that was Cincinnati. That rain the whole time. Uh, last year I did Cleveland. That was 600 kilometers. That rain to the point where like I actually did like go into a motel at 3:00 in the morning just to take like a blow dryer to my clothes and just try to dry off. Of course, it didn’t stop raining and I was like wet within five minutes of uh finishing that course. Um, this year is going to be Louisville. So, like I plan to sometime after Christmas see if I can get all the way to Kentucky and finish at the Louisville Slugger uh like baseball bat museum uh and then enjoy probably a bourbon or two cuz you’re in Kentucky. What what else are you going to do when you get there? Yeah. But um but yeah, like I ride in Chicago, but I almost like try to see like how to ride out of Chicago and connect, you know, the urban energy and what we have here and like the beautiful lakefront path. Like I think in most cities you go 20 miles and it’s a completely different experience. Here you have to go maybe a little bit further, but you know what is it like to bike all the way to Indianapolis or all the way to Milwaukee or you know St. Louis? Um like that’s the challenge I enjoy the most. Yeah, absolutely. Cool. Um and yeah, I mean I have to ask it. What do you dislike about biking? again, maybe not as late, but I’m sure still you’ve experienced a lot of different street infrastructure and especially over 18 years, a lot of changes into our biking infrastructure and all that. Well, I I don’t think it’s going to be specific to Chicago. I think this is something that most cyclists, you know, can identify with. I mean, I don’t want to make it antagonistic with car traffic and and other people, but, you know, as we advocate for, you know, safer roads and safer conditions, uh, folks, you know, see that as antagonistic and it’s very much, you know, not in my backyard. Don’t you dare put that ballard there. People, you know, parking in bike lanes and it’s I don’t know like I I don’t enjoy like the animosity uh on that front. So, Um, sometimes it’s good to just get out of the city where there’s less humanity and and you could bike in the middle of the road because there’s not a car, you know, in sight. You know, with Rain the Dearing, I mean, you you tend to find yourself on roads that people don’t expect you on expect you on. You’re biking, you know, all through the night and that brings all sorts of different challenges, but uh there is something peaceful about being in the middle of the road at 3 in the morning and you haven’t seen a car for an hour. It’s not necessarily something that you get in Chicago at 5:00 PM trying to bike home on the lakefront path. Yeah. Yeah, that absolutely makes sense. I mean, it’s, you know, a a dense environment with all sorts of different people on all sorts of modes of transit. It’s going to be different than when you, you know, you’re out in the middle of a middle of an empty road. Maybe two more questions here. Um, I know the answer to this one, so I think it’ll be a fun one. Do you bike in the winter and in the rain? And if so, how? Because I think that’s a thing that people really get intimidated by or turned off by. What does that look like for you? How do you prepare for that when you’re doing a ride in December? Well, a buddy of mine would always say, “Hey, you’re not made of sugar. You’re not going to melt, you know. Um, when it comes to winter or when it comes to rain, like there’s no bad conditions. It’s just bad gear, right?” And I don’t want to make it sound like, oh, you need to go out and buy a $300 Goreex jacket or anything like that. Um, what’s interesting is like the what what you see on my bike right now is basically what it looks like loaded up. I travel very light. My philosophy is go light, go fast, go far, right? I’m always going to go far. I mean, other people can, you know, you could you can pack your bike with different different things and you can go at different speeds, but the idea is to see how far you can go, right? So, um, like I don’t overpack. I tend to just figure it out on the go. So, like it’s uh I don’t think I’m selling it to anyone right now, but like, you know, if it gets cold, buy a garbage bag, right? You know, if uh if you need another layer, like, you know, figure it out. I’ve I’ve bought t-shirts from gas stations just to get a little bit more warmth, you know? Okay, your headlight died. Cool. I bought a flashlight and, you know, some electrical tape. like you you can figure it out. You just whatever problems you’re dealing with like we’re resourceful. Figure it out. It shouldn’t be an excuse to not not keep going. Yeah. So like with randering uh when we throw an event like it’s rain or shine. So um you know people figure it out like will it be a little bit miserable? Sure. But we’ll still do it. We’ll still figure it out and you know we’re just a little bit stronger uh once we get that notch on our belt. Absolutely. And it’s, you know, I feel like what you’re saying is it’s not necessarily having the right gear, but part of it’s just the mindset of like you can do it. I think you said something before of like you’re stronger than you think. Yeah. That kind of approach, it sounds like. Yeah. I think most people would be surprised what they’re capable of. They just need something to chase. Uh maybe the support to go and try try something uh and challenge themselves. Um I believe you’ll you’ll discover strength around every corner that you didn’t think you had. You just have to have enough confidence to to get out of bed and and try. Um it’s it’s almost like the scientific method. You do a little bit, you know, a little experiment. Maybe it doesn’t work out the way you want, but then you apply what you’ve learned and you try it a little bit differently. Um so, what do you eat? What do you wear? You know, how do you fuel? Uh how do you uh how do you pack? How do you take care of your bike? Uh stuff happens. We’ll figure it out. Yeah. I love that. Cool. Maybe a last question here. What would you say to someone who’s curious about we’ll say biking in Chicago or Rainineering? Either one, but maybe is kind of afraid to start. You know, that can be a really intimidating thing for folks if they’ve just, you know, they’ve had a bike in their basement for a while. What do you do to encourage people who, you know, maybe are a little more nervous? Sure. Uh, with randonering and and long distance, a lot of people are always like, “Oh, I don’t have the right bike or I don’t have the right gear.” The best bike for re engineering is the bike that you have, you know, uh maybe you do don’t want to do 100k or 60 miles or whatever. Like you could start small, but uh just get out there, talk to some folks. Um you no one no one’s one sitting there going like, “Oh, look, look at this guy, right?” You know, we’re we’re all after the same thing. We’re trying to be the best versions of ourselves, and the only way you can, you know, grow and figure that out is by getting out of bed. So, um, you know, don’t be intimidated, you know, like we’re, uh, like one thing that’s specific to engineering, uh, and less so versus other groups. I’m not trying to compare groups, you know, come as you are. Uh, there’s something that we refer to as allure libre, which in French means like freestyle. You want to go fast, go fast. You want to take your time, take your time. You know, you want to have pan earbags, you know, and be fully loaded, cool. You want to do it on a fat bike, great. Like, there’s no right way or wrong way to do it. It’s just ride. So, that that ideally and and you know, hopefully is something that we can all get behind. Yeah, that is beautiful. Well, cool. I think those are all the questions I have. Is there anything else you want to say to the people? Anything that we didn’t mention? Uh, I think one thing that I like to point out a lot is, you know, we’re limited by not our capabilities, but our imagination. So, like don’t don’t think you can’t do it, right? You know that, you know, the saying like whether you think you can or think you can’t, like you’re right. Like, forget that. Like, just just take small steps. Like everything you need to take your first step, like you have. So, just take that first step, then take the second step. Don’t overthink it. Just get out there and ride. Yeah, absolutely. Beautiful. Well, thank you so much for joining me on Chicagoans who bike. Thanks for watching that interview. Subscribe to see more conversations with Chicagoans biking around their city dropping every other week.