A pre-ride of the Water and Wind 300K was conducted on March 21 by Chris
Nadovich and George Retseck, Iwan Barankay on March 26, and Nick Manta on March
27 in addition to partial pre-rides by Iwan a few weeks ago when it was still snowy along the Northern stretches. As a result of these pre-rides, updates were made to the cues. The latest cue
sheet is version 6, and the latest RWGPS route was modified 2023-03-27. Both are
available online. Full information about the event is on the event website.
Monday, March 27, 2023
Water and Wind 300K Brevet pre-ride report
Thursday, March 23, 2023
Parking at Chamounix
Please park cars along Chamounix Drive in front of the Carriage House. Do not park back in the circle by the mansion or on the side alley to the left of the Carriage house. There have been problems with valuables being stolen from cars in these areas. Park on the left side of Chamounix drive within easy view of the front porch of the Carriage house. Park end-in, not parallel to the curb.
Do not leave valuables in your car. There should be nothing visible that might tempt thieves. You can safely leave clothes and other gear inside the Carriage House.
There are other free on-street parking alternatives a short distance away, including along W Ford Rd. These may, or may not, be better. Several commercial parking garages are also nearby.
Monday, March 20, 2023
PBP Webinar
Please join us for a live presentation from Deb Banks, Eric Norris and Bill Green covering the bag drop services offered for PBP 2023. Deb, Eric, Bill (and Mark Behning who will be off riding a 1000km brevet) are all previous PBP finishers and are attending PBP in 2023 just to offer a vital service
to riders.
Following that presentation, Mark Thomas will go over some of the details of what to expect next if you have pre-registered for PBP. This will cover due dates for completing your qualifiers, when you can start to convert to full registration, and what is required to do that. If possible there might be a recap of numbers involved for pre-registrants from the US.
Following Mark's presentation, Deb's Team will have gone over the questions submitted and will read questions and give answers as part of the presentation.
To close out, Mark will also answer any questions submitted.
You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Apr 2, 2023 10:00 AM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Randonneurs USA PBP Prep Seminar #3
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87819782357?pwd=OG53L3VURTQ0K0RXc0NlUU9aY0dkZz09
Passcode: 687481
Or One tap mobile :
+16694449171,,87819782357#,,,,*687481# or
+17193594580,,87819782357#,,,,*687481#
If you can't make it, this presentation will be recorded and put up on
the Youtube channel
<https://www.youtube.com/@robhawks>
where Seminar sessions 1, 1.1, and 2 have been placed.
Concurrent with this seminar, there are a couple/few pre-recorded interviews that will be released of past PBP riders where we delve into their previous riding, how they came to randonneuring, what they did to prepare for their first PBP, what their first PBP experience was like and what advice they got that helped and what they themselves might recommend.
rob hawks
SFR RBA
RUSA Membership Committee
RUSA Brevet Coordinator
RUSA RBA Liaison
Wednesday, March 15, 2023
PBP Pre Registration Update
The ACP has modified the PBP pre-registration process to allow riders with no BRM brevets in 2022 to pre-register. Starting on March 25.
Also the date on which pre-registrations will be cancelled if not converted to full registrations has also changed from June 20 to June 10.
Preregistrations are first open to those who have completed at least one BRM (qualifying ride) in 2022. The preregistration date depends on the longest brevet validated in 2022 and spots are subject to availability at the time of preregistration.
BRM ridden from Nov 01, 2021 to Oct *31*, 2022
Preregistration starts on
- 1000 km or RM 1200+: January 14, 2023
- 600 km: January 28, 2023
- 400 km: February 11, 2023
- 300 km: February 25, 2023
- 200 km: March 11, 2023
- none: March 25, 2023
(at 12 PM French Standard Time => CET, UTC +1)
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Covered Bridges 200K Ride Report
While February's 200K set records for low starting temperatures, the March 4 Covered Bridges 200K had what is believed to be a record number of registered riders. By the time registration closed a few days before the event there were 66 people on the list!
Starting from the 2023 SR Series headquarters, the Chamounix Mansion Hostel, fifty-four riders set off with the sunrise on a blustery morning with hopes of conquering a challenging and scenic course. Fifty-two riders plus six pre-riders made it around the course in good time for a 97% finish rate. Preliminary results have been posted on the website. Please review the results and let us know if something is not quote right. The results will be submitted to RUSA after review and will become official once certified.
Riders preparing for the start. photo by Iwan Barankay |
Photo by Ello Shertzer |
The heavy rains that soaked the area on Friday night were pushed out by strong winds that dogged riders as they made their way to the first control in New Hope, PA. From New Hope it was on to the Tinicum Park control where riders were greeted by RBA Chris Nadovich, who was waiting with a catered brunch to help fuel them up the hills to come. And did they come. Uhlerstown Hill Road, with it's grade approaching 40% in some spots, provided a mid-ride pop that surely will be remembered by the riders.
The course passed by the former Weisel Youth Hostel around mile 80. While not an official control, the Weisel Youth Hostel served as the home base of the PA SR Series for over ten years. Veteran PA Randonneur riders were treated to some familiar faces as they passed by. Tom Rosenbauer (former RBA and founder of PA Randonneurs) and Bill Olsen (who has completed more PA rides and ridden more PA kilometers than any other club member) stationed themselves there to make sure that the riders had enough water and good spirits to make it to the next control.
The penultimate control of Tabora Farms provided the riders with the sustenance needed to make it those final 35 miles back to the hostel, and a trailing well helped as well.
Photo by John Squires |
Event organizer Iwan Barankay positioned himself at the base of the final climb and reported that all the riders were in good spirits as the approached the last little grunt up to the hostel.
Phtots by Iwan Barankay |
There was a feeling of excitement back at Chamounix as riders returned and gathered to swap stories from the road over pizza and refreshments in the Hostel's great room. As mentioned, we had eleven riders complete their first brevet; Jordan Aune, Ritam Chakraborty, Tristan Dahn, Grahm Godbey, Chris Kline, Jacob Klink, Bryce Lackey, Dan Powers, Michael Reali Jr., Kate Sparacio, Jesse Starger. Congratulations to all and we hope to see you back on the road with us again soon.
Thanks to everyone who rode and volunteered. These events wouldn't happen without you. Special thanks to Adam Bowen and Cecilie Gaffney, who managed the breakfast, registration, and official starting duties, and for the rousing pre-ride pep talk by Cecilie. Brad Layman, who was on hand to greet and check in all the riders at their return. Chris Nadovich, Tom Rosenbauer, Bill Olsen, and Ed Bernasky who manned controls and checkpoints aiding riders on their journeys. And, Iwan Barankay for handling the duties of organizing the ride. Our next event, Water & Wind 300K, will be held on April 1, 2023. Event details can be found here. We hope to see you all there.
There is a good collection of photos from the day that can be seen here.
Sean Keesler made a great video of his 200K adventure, which can be seen here.
Bob Dye wrote: