David Roderick - 5/14/2018

The weather is finally beginning to cooperate, allowing us to get out and get needed miles completed. We completed our Spring 2018 300K and flèche. It’s time for what some riders view as the toughest ride in the series, the 400K.

Our 300K was a success, and as I often say, “it is not a good ride unless there is a story.” The big story from the 300K was the 80 plus miles of tailwind inbound the second half of the ride. That in itself is worth mentioning, but there is another side to it. Eve Hush and J. Andrew Clayton completed the same route as a pre-ride with 80 plus miles of 20 mph headwind inbound, and then manned controls for the scheduled event all day long. Pictures are available. The Co-MVP’s for the 2019 300K are certainly Eve and Andrew.

David and Lucy Buzzee also hosted another successful flèche. It is my opinion that the best preparation for the 400K brevet is to ride a team flèche. If a rider has not ridden at night before, the safest place to learn is the team flèche. The distance is nearly the same, and there is safety in numbers. This year’s flèche almost did not happen. When the deadline for ACP certification submission came. David did not have a date certain. Since RUSA membership numbers are now at the 12,000 plus level, David’s RUSA #14 helped him get the 2019 flèche on the calendar. Lucy once again allowed a bunch of smelly cyclists to fill their home. We will be putting our calendar dates for 2019 together shortly, and will make sure we have a date certain.

Next up: The Ohio Randonneurs 2018 400K. Ted Meisky and David Miller combined their efforts across an IHOP breakfast table to create this year’s route. Let’s crank it up.