David Roderick - 12/1/2014

Well the 2014 brevet season is winding down, except for those of working on your R-12 or P-12 qualifications by riding permanents. Good luck on your efforts, and be safe out there on the roads. I had a good time this year despite some setbacks and tragedies. Thank you for helping me through my first year as Ohio’s RBA. I learned a lot, and have much more to learn. I hope to constantly find ways to improve our brevets.

We have submitted our dates and rides for next year. They appear on the RUSA calendar. All the rides will be submitted as ACP rides. All of the routes are new routes, and must be submitted to RUSA for approval along with their cue sheets. I am trying to put the finishing touches on the routes. We’ve already had to redirect some of the routes that we had originally planned. They are a work in progress. Those of you that want the cues now will just have to wait until they have been approved. I can at least share with you that they will start at Cyclist Connection in Canal Winchester and head for the Hocking Hills. It is a Paris-Brest-Paris year, which is the original ride that randonneuring sprung from. That being the case, I will include more hills, and less bike path. The routes will still be “out and backs”. I know that not all of you are aiming for PBP, but I feel an obligation to try to prepare the riders that are, for what I consider the grandest amateur ride available. Our ACP brevets are offered to any RUSA members and riders both here in Ohio and from outside the state. We had a rider from Randonneurs Ontario this past season. For those of you hoping to secure your R5000 award, and others looking for a longer brevet for training or simply a challenge, we will be offering an ACP 1000K in July. It will be part of the Coast to Coast series weekend, and can be ridden as shorter 200 and 300K brevets or ridden straight through for 1000K. It will cover a route from Cleveland to Cincinnati and back. It will be a flatter offering than our spring series.

RUSA was kind enough to send members the latest edition of the handbook. I applaud their effort for such a grand undertaking. Some rules and interpretations of the rules have been updated since the last printing. Remember that RUSA, like Ohio Randonneurs, is a volunteer organization. A number of people like you and I, people you’ve ridden with on brevets, have put forth a great deal of effort to keep RUSA going and growing. Appreciate their efforts next time you’re pedaling around. Volunteers were what made the Ohio Series a success this year. I hope that some of you can appreciate the friendly smile at controls, the help with minor repairs, and even the occasional SAG back to the start. We need more volunteers next year. If we can share the tasks with more people, any one volunteer’s time and effort can be reduced. I thought that David Miller was going to open a second residence at Russell’s Point. Remember that if you volunteer, I will waive your registration fee at any of the rides, and offer you the opportunity to pre-ride the route in good weather. I try to avoid rain when scheduling the pre-ride.

For those of you that are riding permanents to qualify for awards, you might be well advised to read the new and updated handbook to make sure you are abiding by the rules, especially when the RBA happens to be in the parking lot at the start of your ride. I have an obligation to report any failure of riders who are not abiding by the rules. The owners of the routes should seriously consider the rules when administrating their permanents. You are randonneurs, not just weekend warriors. Let’s not water down the serious efforts you and other randonneurs put forth to qualify for National and International awards.

I was recently in North Carolina attempting a 300k put on by Tony Goodnight. He does an excellent job as an RBA, and offers more brevets than I can count. At the first or second control, a rider recognized my Ohio Randonneurs jersey and struck up a conversation with me. He said he had talked to me on the phone earlier in the season. I had no idea who it was, partially from his wearing all his cycling gear, and also because I was more interested in getting in and out of the control in a timely fashion. I asked when he had talked to me, for I really didn’t remember, and he said he had called me after the 200K in Ohio in the Spring. I searched my memory and realized it was Mike Dayton, the President of RUSA, who had called me a few short hours after Joe Giampapa’s death. That day in North Carolina, he was just another cyclist on the ride I was doing. We’re just cyclists trying to push ourselves a little further. When I rode Boston-Montreal-Boston in 2001, a car followed me the last few miles to one of the controls with its flashers on. When I would stop it would stop too at a distance. I didn’t know who it was either. I figured I had broken some rule and that I was in trouble. After I stopped a third time I went back to the car to find it was driven by a French couple. I don’t speak French. When I got to the control, I found out it was the President of the whole organization……….ACP……and his wife. They didn’t know how to get to the control, so they followed me. We’re all just cyclists, but we have to play by the rules in order to elevate our accomplishments. Don’t lower the bar. Be safe out on the roads. I want to see you in the Spring.