Cap'n's bLog

I can't tell you how many miles I've spent following those broad shoulders.  For nearly every challenging ride that I've done over the past 15 years there has been one constant, sucking Dayton's wheel.  He's got a big motor and pushes through the wind.  I tell jokes and keep us on course.  We're a tandem team that forgot to fasten the couplers. In February 2016 that changed in the time of a pedal stroke.  While riding a 200k permanent midday in Johnston County four NC randonneurs were plowed down by a 1992 Crown Victoria.  Mike Dayton hit the windshield and sustained life changing injuries.  He spent time in a coma and was ventilator dependent for a week.  His recovery continues today and the reminders are all around in his house.  Dots and a stick are taped to the walls and lines are on the floor for balancing and vision exercises.  He now wears corrective glasses so that he doesn't see two of everything.  He and Kelly have bee...

Team Randbros I don’t think they see many cyclists in the Bluegrass Barbecue in Cowpens South Carolina but it’s safe to say they know how to squelch a hunger. Team Randbros' swagger had developed a stumble in the mid day heat of upstate SC. We needed food. We needed drink. We needed it now. As I was opening the menu I asked the waitress about their specialty. “Whole Tater,” came her reply and became our mantra as to a man we all went Whole Tater! A box baked regulation football sized potato served as the base of this edible mountain but that was just the start. It had a stick of butter, a modicum of sour cream, cheese, 1/2 pound of pulled pork barbecue and a drowning of barbecue sauce. One may question the ramifications of such a dietary choice 85 miles into a 229 mile bicycle ride but we weren’t asking questions. We sought only answers, and the unanimous answer was Whole Tater!  Randbos were not half tater although in hindsight perhaps the lesser spud would have sat more gen...