2009 Recap

December 2009

A summary of the 2009 results for the Eastern PA region has been posted at:http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/Results2009.pdf

Congratulations on all those hard-earned brevets -- collectively, we officially tallied 107,880 Km in completed brevets. Those results pushed the Eastern PA region to over 1000 points in the RUSA standings, one of only a handful of regions to do so. Thank you for clipping in and being a part of that success. But of course, none of those brevets would've been possible, if not for all the volunteers who stepped up and helped out:
- Ron & Barbara Anderson (1000k overnight)
- Eric Bower (600k overnight)
- Rick Carpenter (R-12 organizer, 200k BBQ, 300k preride)
- Jim Logan (1000k overnight)
- Bill Olsen (1000k)
- Brian Mazur (200k BBQ)
- Andrew Mead (R-12 organizer)
- George Metzler (R-12 controle)
- Nate Morgenstern (200k BBQ)
- Curtis Palmer (R-12)
- Juan Salazar (300k)
- Grazie Salazar (300k)
- Paul Scearce (1000k)
- Mordecai Silver (600k overnight)
- Bill Slabonik (R-12, 400k, 600k overnight)

And I doubt if there would've been any EM1240 finishers, without the top-notch team of volunteers who provided vital support in keeping everybody as safe as possible:
- Ron & Barb Anderson (jersey design, Hallstead overnight, Lamar overnight, sweep)
- Andy Brenner (could not participate due to an injury)
- Eric Bower (Quakertown)- Janice Chernekoff (Pine Grove overnight, sweep)
- Kyle Chu (Lamar, Waterville, Pine Grove, Quakertown)
- Laurent Chambard (Pine Grove overnight, sweep)
- Mary Crawley (marking, Quakertown)
- John Dennis (Selinsgrove)- Bill Fischer (marking)
- John Fuco (marking)
- Matt Farrell (Danielsville, Fox Gap, Blairstown)
- Lane Giardina (preride, Lamar, sweep, Quakertown)
- Eric Keller (marking, Lamar overnight, Jo Hays, sweep)
- Andrew Mead (marking, Middle Creek, New Holland, sweep)
- George Metzler (blog, sweep)
- Christine Newman (Quakertown, Danielsville, Blairstown, Raymondskill)
- Chris Nadovich (reserve)
- Maile Neel (planning, preride, Lamar overnight, Jo Hays, Pine Grove, sweep, Quakertown)
- Chris Roth (bags, Quakertown, Hallstead, Lamar, Pine Grove overnights)
- Katie Raschdorf (Pine Grove overnight)- Bill Slabonik (Selinsgrove, New Holland, sweep)
- Hugo & Gloria Safar (Carbondale)
- Juan Salazar (blog, Hallstead overnight)
- John Fessenden (marking)
- Keith Spangler (Selinsgrove, New Holland, sweep)
- Paul Scearce (marking, sweep)- Steve Scheetz (sweep)
- George Winkert (sweep, Selinsgrove)
- Len Zawodniak (Lamar, Waterville, sweep)

One of the best things about being an RBA is seeing how riders work their way towards the impressive goals they set for themselves. This year, a number of riders completed many notable accomplishments -- too many to list completely -- but some selected ones I'd like to share with you include:

- James Romer and Joe Carbone who both persevered and recorded their first official PA finish, after coming up a bit short on previous attempts.

- Daniel Aaron, Rick Carpenter, Judson Hand, Guy Harris, Eric Keller, Kate Marshall, Craig Martek, William Olsen, and Juan Salazar are all Eastern PA Super Randonneurs -- Well Done!

- Several riders completed their R-12 series. Of note, David Zion came all the way down from Boston to bookend his R-12 series with January's cold ride and December's epic cold and snowy ride. But it wasn't all cold and wet for Dave this year in PA; he also rode the Hawk's Nest 200k this past summer (one of his all-time favorite 200's, he tells me). I'd have to agree with Dave that the Hawk's Nest 200k is one of my favorite courses as well. We'll be running it again next summer, but you can also ride it as a permanent, administered by Bill Olsen (who also completed an R-12 series with a streak of 14 months of PA events). And Guy Harris not only completed an R-12 series with a streak of 13 months of PA events, the last 12 were on a fixed-gear … amazing!

- Juan Salazar rode his first brevet in November of 2008. By December, he had set his sights on riding the Shenandoah 1200k in 2009 -- that gave him just about 6 months to work his way up through the longer brevets. It typically takes several years to properly get ready for the 'Big One.' But with Rick Carpenter as his mentor, Juan figured it all out in record time.

- On the PA1000k, Rick Carpenter set a new course record that I think will be very hard to beat. Patrick O'Donnell, riding his very first PA brevet, also turned in an excellent result on a very challenging course. DC area riders, Chip Adams and George Winkert both completed their R5000 awards with the PA1000k -- although George made it a bit exciting by reaching a couple of controles just at the closing time.

- The Endless Mountains 1240k proved to be a very difficult ride to finish; only 22 of the 48 starters were able to be recognized as official finishers. Notable among the finishers however, were Judson Hand and Jim Logan who found redemption on the Endless Mountains after previously coming up a bit short other randonnees. Another notable finisher was Bill Olsen, who completed his 5th 1200k in 2009 (along with the S1200, GRR, GA, and LC). And although not an official finisher, Michael Anderson made it to the EM finish under his own power, making the time cut-offs to all the controles except for the very last one.

I hope you too, not only have memorable accomplishments for 2009 but have started mapping out your goals for 2010 -- if so, please drop me note and let me know of your plans. And I hope your plans next year will include joining us again on the Eastern PA series. The first R-12 event is on January 2. And new for 2010, the Endless Mountains will be offered as a 6-day tour, with a 200k ACP brevet each day. If you are planning to ride PBP in 2011, there will be many opportunities to help improve your chances of making it on the roster, including a complete SR series and 1000k. The complete Eastern PA schedule for 2010 has been posted at:http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/Schedule2010.html

Regards,

-Tom RosenbauerEastern PA RBA