Limping Home to Randonneur 10,000

26 Oct

In my determination to achieve RRtY - Randonneur Round the Year - I did enough 200km rides to gain the Randonneur 5000 awards in 2021 and 2022. For 2023 my aims were to achieve RRtY 4, 5 and 6 but also to move up to Randonneur 10,000. For me, this was quite a challenge and involved detailed planning and record keeping with a spreadsheet to show all rides planned and completed to get me to 50 rides of 200 km. Shorter rides do not count towards Randonneur 5000 or 10000; allowing for other commitments and rest/ recovery after each 200 km ride, I did fewer shorter rides except on the Glaudax Normandy trip.

The last planned ride was on 25 October 2023 and almost ended in disaster. Read on….

The First 50 km - Corrugated Iron and a Ford

My route took me to the north west of Wokingham and on through lanes to Swallowfield and along The Devil’s Highway. I stopped to take a photo of a barn with a corrugated iron end wall. I’d always thought of corrugated iron as a poor man’s building material, hardly worthy of a second glance, until I read an article in The Economist (December 18th 2021) which described the spread of corrugated iron as representing a revolution which is still playing out. Light and easy to transport, it enabled the first mass production of prefabricated buildings and thereby introduced the flat-pack concept a century before IKEA.

At the end of The Devil’s Highway the road turns sharp right. To the left is a ford, leading to the aptly named Ford Lane. Good luck to anyone trying to drive through that.

Deep ford - this is not the route! — This is not the route!

From here I rode on, past Bramshill Plantation and then on to a route I know well through Barkham towards Sindlesham on the outskirts of Reading.

Cleat Problems

I had to stop for traffic lights somewhere near Barkham and felt that my left shoe was not clipping in quite correctly but I ignored it, thinking that perhaps I had got some dirt in the cleat - nothing serious. How wrong could I be!

Riding through Sindlesham towards Winnersh I had to stop at the traffic lights on the junction with the A329. Moving away, I clipped in and rode on. Shortly, I could see temporary traffic lights ahead at road works and attempted to clip out with my left foot. My foot and shoe moved but the cleat would not release. I started to panic in case the lights turned red which of course they did just as I was approaching the road works. The plastic barriers around the works would not be strong enough to hold me; if I stopped, I would fall off. In more than a bit of a panic, I rode gingerly through the red lights to the bewilderment and - no doubt - the annoyance of motorists who had just started driving slowly through the road works.

I knew that if I could carry on for about 1 km I would reach the car park and cafe at Dinton Pastures where I could lean on a fence or gate while I got off the bike. Yes, in retrospect I should have simply unclipped my right foot and if I ever suffer this problem again, I will.

At Dinton I reached the cafe area and managed to release the Boa connector on my left shoe to get my foot out. I then got off the bike and was left with a shoe attached firmly to the pedal. I could not find a way of releasing the shoe using a multi tool; the only solution appeared to be brute force. I then used my multi tool to remove the cleat, leaving me with the smooth sole of the shoe.

Choices, Choices, None ideal

In theory, I could have phoned the ETA Rescue Service for a taxi to Reading Station, where I could take the Elizabeth Line back to London. But there would be a wait for help to arrive.

Alternatively, I could have tried to ride the 5 km to Twyford Station.

But this was the last planned ride for my Randonneur 10000 and there were few days left to the end of the Audax year (31 October).

No choice, really. It was only about 50 km to a point where I could make a diversion to home to change my shoes and return to the route; this would be just like having to visit a bike shop. I can’t say that it was easy to ride with no cleats!

End of the Ride - Randonneur 10000

The Audax website was not updated until January 2024 to show the complete list of members who had achieved R10000. This was because of a delay in receiving results for PBP - Paris Brest Paris - which earned successful riders 12 points.

In total there were 26 of us. I think I am the only one who did not complete a ride of 300 km or longer. But, in the second half of my 70s, I completed Randonneur 10000 - “never too late”.

Broken Pedal

It wasn’t until my bike went into Cyclefit for a service that I realised that the pedal was damaged. Barna, who assembled the bike back in December 2021, pointed out the issue to me. You can see that part of the carbon has been broken off.

I phoned Garmin Support to arrange for a new left sensing pedal body to be sent to me; it arrived very quickly and I set to work to replace the damaged pedal.

The Garmin website states very clearly "the pedal body is super easy to install without bike shop assistance.” Unless you are a cycle mechanic/ technician, I strongly recommend that you watch the Garmin video on how to overhaul the pedals and also D C Rainmaker’s video on how to convert Vector 3 pedals to Rally SPD-SL.

Most of us will have a conventional pedal wrench and a set of allen/ hex keys. Many of us will have a torque wrench. What I did not have is a Philips PH00 screwdriver or a deep 12mm socket. Ray Maker uses one of those watchmaker’s screwdrivers that most of us have but I found I could not get sufficient grip with it.

Armed with my list, I walked to a small hardware shop that sells everything - absolutely everything except these two items. Walking home, I realised that I might have a screwdriver of the correct size but without the PH00 markings. I found one and successfully removed two tiny screws which I put in a small bowl for safekeeping.

The shopkeeper had helpfully referred me to a nearby car repair service; I walked back to ask for help. The two men on the desk allowed me to use a deep socket to remove the spindle. Wisely, they would not do this for me in case they broke it; they refused any payment because (they said) I had asked if they would help me. They also offered to lend me the deep socket to reassemble the pedal. When I returned later, they were not there but a busy mechanic handed me the socket. I noted that it was a Snap-on tools product and decided to buy one myself.

A quick look at the website gave me the phone number of the local rep; he said that he would be in my area the following day and would sell me the socket I needed. Idly watching a youtube video on bikepacking, I made a call later that afternoon to remind him and ensure that he had my phone number; he replied that he was at his lock up and if I could get there in half an hour, he would sell me the part. He had a 12 mm deep socket on his van, but not for a 3/8 in torque wrench. He went to his store and found what I needed. Although it was £21, I was pleased to pay so that I could finish the job.

“super easy to install” - but only if you have the tools! The image above shows the deep socket; a normal 12 mm socket will not do the job.

Lessons Learned

Check cleat bolts very regularly!

Learn to clip out with either foot.

If you use these pedals and don’t have a deep 12mm socket, buy one (eg on ebay) before you need it.

Clifford French