38 optimistic randonneurs headed out on Saturday, 4/21, to cruise the Caffeine Express 109km Populaire. RBA Rob Welsh had his umbrella ready to ward off the rain, but unfortunately it didn’t work for long. By 10, the sprinkles started and the weather continued to deteriorate for the rest of the day. However, 36 of our riders did complete the ride, all of them in great spirits. Riders were well prepared for the weather and made it a fun ride, especially those riders with fenders.
The St. Louis Park start on Minnetonka Blvd is turning out to be a great location for many riders. We had several people ride to the ride, including a group organized by Tim Rand who put in a TCBC Ride-to-the-Ride from The Midtown Greenway Freewheel. We even had a couple of groupies (Jim Joy and Patrick Morford ) ride out to say hi and wish us well.
The Than Do restaurant was our host for many of the riders at the finish, offering a warm place to relax for a bite after a good day’s ride. Thanks also to Erik’s Bike Shop for handling populaire cards for some of the early finishers. A special thanks to Jerry Hofmann for collecting the early finisher cards and for a great finishing time, along with Rolv Slungaard.
For those that did drive to the ride: Randonneuring 101 hint - bring your street clothes to change into after the ride – especially if the weather might be nasty. It really feels good to get dry and have clean, warm clothes on.
Congratulations to our several new randonneurs on the completion of their first rando event this Saturday, or back on March 31. Our two Populaire events garnered over 80 riders, despite some cool and wet spring weather, so we are looking forward to a strong turnout for our next event, the Cry Me a River 200k on May 5th, also in St. Louis Park.
Please pre-register on the Mn Rando web site. If you create a Mn Rando login id, you can see all the registered riders for a particular brevet and it will prefill many of the fields for you when you register for an event.
Rob Welsh Minnesota RBA TCBC Ride Leader
At the End of the Ride
| Ride results have been posted to the RUSA site, the TCBC mileage credit will take a few days. New riders are highlighted. | |
| Rider Name | Time |
| Alayna Davis* | 5:17 |
| Bob Kingsley | 5:38 |
| Brett Thunstrom | 6:20 |
| Bruce R. Siegfried* | 4:36 |
| Craig Futterer | 4:56 |
| Dan Nelson | 5:17 |
| Dave Glebus* | 8:15 |
| Dave Lamberton* | 4:12 |
| Ed Hassler | 6:20 |
| Glenn Okan* | 4:30 |
| Greg Barkley | 4:06 |
| Greg Keyport* | 4:58 |
| Jane Skorina* | 5:30 |
| Jerry Hofmann | 3:54 |
| Henry Mullin* | 41 miles |
| Kameron Davis* | 5:17 |
| Karen May* | 5:14 |
| Kathy Mulier | 8:15 |
| Kelly Hines | 4:15 |
| Linda Thunstrom | 6:20 |
| Lisa Kingsley | 5:38 |
| Loren Schomaker | 8:15 |
| Pete May* | 5:14 |
| Renee Schepers | 6:20 |
| Rich Mueller* | 4:23 |
| Richard Miller | 4:35 |
| Rob Welsh | 4:30 |
| Rolv Slungaard* | 3:54 |
| Sadaf Syeda | 41 miles |
| Stacie Blaskowski* | 4:12 |
| steve anderson | 6:15 |
| Steven Gerber* | 4:58 |
| Tim Rand* | 5:54 |
| William L Johnson | 4:06 |
| Mike Ruedy | 4:20 |
| Tiffany Foley | 5:17 |
| James Foley | 5:17 |
| Melanie Pidgeon | 4:12 |