January 2021 200k/300k Brevets Postponed

The 200k and 300k brevets scheduled for January 16-17, 2021 are postponed. The pandemic is out of control and there is no evidence that it will continue to be anything other than out of control six weeks from now.

While I remain committed to the principle that your safety on these rides is ultimately your responsibility, not mine, I am equally aware of my duties to public safety and public health as an event organizer. There are a finite number of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers and a finite number of paramedics and other first responders who can bring you to them. People get hurt on brevets and over the years a number of riders have required paramedic and hospital services, including in-patient care. We will not organize brevets at a time when doing so risks adding to the historic overburden on our healthcare system and runs the unacceptable risk that you or someone else doesn’t get prompt care or care that they would have otherwise received were we not in the midst of a once-in-a-century public health crisis.

We will reschedule the 200k and 300k if possible, in the Spring if we’re lucky and in the Summer or Fall if we’re not. You’ll still get ACP credit for them: the ACP has been wonderfully flexible with rescheduling because of the realities of the pandemic. Our first event, then, will likely be the March 6 400K. March is hopefully far enough away that the holiday surge of sickness, hospitalizations, and death is waning and that a more responsible, selfless public response to the directions given by healthcare professionals has lessened the public health and safety risks associated with organized cycling events.

No one is more disappointed by this decision than I am. This will be my 17th season riding brevets, which is longer than almost everyone reading this, and I miss our organized events terribly. But doing the right thing isn’t about feeling good or making people happy or giving people what they want. Doing the right thing is usually hard and it makes people upset and disappointed. I share your frustration.

In the meantime, by all means, get outside and ride your bike. If you’re desperate for organized rides and RUSA credit for riding your bike, ride in other regions or ride permanents. Please continue to be smart. Now more than ever, be attentive and mindful of your safety and the safety of anyone you’re riding with or around. Be well, stay safe, and see you on the road.

Paul

Update on 2021 Brevets

Y’all–

You can probably tell from our silence that we remain in the midst of a global pandemic. Here’s where our region stands:

1. The 2021 calendar is available on the RUSA website and it’s also below:

200 — Jan. 16, 2021 (Tavares/Eustis)
300 — Jan. 17, 2021 (Tavares/Eustis)
400 — Mar. 6, 2021 (TBD)
600 — Apr. 17, 2021 (TBD)
100 — June 5, 2021 (San An 100K)
200 — July 23, 2021 (San An Night Ride)
200 — Sept. 11, 2021 (RM Anniversary Ride; St. Petersburg)
1200 — Nov. 4, 2021 (Cracker Swamp)

2.  You’ll notice a couple of things about the calendar. There’s no flèche. There are also no audax brevets. These are my favorite events and they’re also incompatible with a pandemic. I await their riotous, gluttonous return in 2022!

3.  Where’s the registration pages / How firm are these events? These are related questions. Do not expect registration information for the January brevets to be posted until mid-December at the earliest and possibly as late as the end of the year. It’s possible these rides will not be held. They could be rescheduled to the Fall. We simply don’t know now. We could have national/state/local stay-home orders or other circumstances that require cancellation or make it the responsible thing to do. RUSA could require cancellation. I could be sick. Trust that we’ll have the rides if we can and trust that I’ll communicate more information as soon as it’s reasonably responsible to do so. What I don’t want to do is to announce that everything is on!!!11!1! now only to have to pull the plug later and leave folks disappointed, out money, and with their time wasted.

4.  What changes can we expect for the brevets? Specifics will be announced when registrations open and expect that they may change from one ride to the next as circumstances necessitate. I can say with certainty that in January there will be no support or SAG of any kind before/on/after the ride, you will be required to wear a mask at the start/finish and while inside any building, and brevet cards will be replaced with another method of validating your passage through controls.

5.  As for the Cracker Swamp, we’re certainly hoping that we can have it. It’s 11.5 months away, which is like 3 eons in Covid Time. What is certain at this point is that registration will NOT open in February as I’d hoped. I think it’ll be impossible to say what the ride can look like — or, as is most germane to an organizer, cost — in November as soon as February. So if you’re interested in the ride, save the dates but stay flexible otherwise. And don’t sweat it: everyone who wants to ride the Cracker Swamp will be able to.

6.  Stay safe.

Paul
RBA, Central Florida

Events and Permanents Update: Where We Are

Today RUSA announced that it has reopened permanents, effective August 1. All the details are here, and you should study them carefully. The program is totally different than what we’re used to. Consider it a brand new thing; we’re all figuring it out together.

RUSA also announced that brevets remain suspended. There is no plan for resuming brevets; assume brevets will remain suspended for the foreseeable future. RUSA has made no announcement on events, but it’s presumed that they will remain suspended for the foreseeable future. As soon as I have more any information, I’ll share it.

Here are my thoughts on the current state of affairs, in my usual blunt style, but offered in the spirit of keeping both you and our beloved sport alive:

–First, don’t be idiots. The effect of what RUSA did here was to turn every member into an RBA. Anyone can organize a group perm, anytime, on any existing route, with any number of people and you guys are free to provide all the awesome support and post-ride festivities we’re used to. According to RUSA, “[Y]ou may ride a Permanent in a group with other RUSA Members.” Pay your ten bucks, gather up all your friends, and go ride together as much as you like. Same as an event, but you get to pick your riding companions and you don’t have to deal with me. But, with great power comes great responsibility.

To be frank, this is completely idiotic and I disagree with what RUSA did here totally. 40 people on a perm? You’re good. 2 people on a brevet? Nope. So here’s the deal: use common sense, which is tragically in short supply these days. If you guys start organizing large perms, … you’re going to kill the golden goose. Someone, somewhere is going to screw this all up and they’re going to screw it up for everyone and then RUSA will shut it all down again. Please, please, please don’t let it be any of us who is the cause of this going away. Let me be clear: don’t organize group perms, period. If you do, keep it quiet, keep it off the socials/Strava, and keep it to you and one or two other riders.  If you guys organize the massive perms that you’ve done in the past, let’s just say that this isn’t going to last long. Plus, that’s just dumb: Florida is currently an international pariah state for its level of unchecked community spread. Stay safe and don’t carry on as usual, because we’re pretty far from what’s usual and heading in the wrong direction. RUSA’s announcement today doesn’t help at all.

–Second, please don’t cannibalize our region. According to RUSA’s new rules, there are no perm owners and anyone can get any route certified as a permanent. Out of respect, please don’t add any of the Central Florida Randonneurs brevet routes to the perm library. And when, someday, we’re allowed to host events again, please ride them and support them and don’t offer up competing group-ride perms of your own. The effect of RUSA’s new perm program is to let y’all go out and do your own thing, and I know many of you will cherish that, but please reflect on the 149-year history of randonneuring which is brevets, and the connection that brevets have to that history, and that we have a duty to pass that tradition and history on to the next generation. So I hope you value that somewhat and that you’ll help rebuild this region when the time comes for it. It’ll be a long road back.

Third, above all else, be smart and safe. This is just riding bikes. It’s not worth dying for, or causing harm to others. We’ll get through all this and I’m looking forward to seeing you on the flip side.

Take good care,
Paul

Well, That Was Short Lived: July 4 100K Cancelled

RUSA just announced that its “soft-reopen” of brevets for July is on hold in light of the completely terrible, awful, internationally embarrassing CV-19 numbers in the United States. RUSA made the correct decision: RUSA is a national organization and it needs to have its eye on the big picture and to treat and support all RBAs and riders the same. I only wish that our state and national leadership was as sound and fact-based as RUSA’s. I can’t thank RUSA enough for it’s leadership in these tough times and you should, too. We’re lucky to have such responsible, responsive, national leadership.

Short version: the July 4 Pinellas Beaches 100K populaire is officially cancelled. That said, my family and I will still be riding that route starting at 7am sharp. If you want to join us — in a socially distanced, responsible way — then let’s meet at Bay Vista park. Rolling 7am, sharp. No waivers. No ride leader. No RUSA credit. No nothing. But if you want … bring a cooler, some ice, and a growler or two and connect with me after the ride. You won’t be disappointed.

COVID-19 Plan

While we’re all excited to get back to riding, to do this successfully – read: as safely as reasonably possible under the circumstances – there are some changes to how our brevets are organized and ridden in light of the on-going global COVID-19 pandemic.

First, it is all of our responsibility as members of our communities and families and for our own health and for the health and safety of everyone we come into contact with, to know and follow all applicable local laws and guidance concerning public health and the pandemic. This is especially challenging in Florida, where there is an absence of clear, consistent direction from state officials and, as a result, municipalities and counties have enacted varying, sometimes conflicting, ordinances. We all need to recognize this uncertainty and also that national, state, and local rules and guidance can change radically and quickly and that this might determine how – or even whether – a brevet can be run. It is each rider’s duty to exercise good common sense, to stay informed and flexible, and to make decisions not just for themselves, but others, too.

With this in mind, the following rules and procedures will apply to Central Florida Randonneurs brevets:

–Anyone who is sick, thinks they might be sick, thinks they have any symptoms, or thinks they might have been exposed to someone who is sick or someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 needs to not ride and must stay home. And if you’re awaiting a COVID-19 test result, do not ride, regardless of the circumstances that caused you to be tested. Not only is participating in a brevet under any of these circumstances irresponsible for your own health and the health of everyone else you come in contact with, but your doing this might, single-handedly, cause brevets to cease immediately and indefinitely.

–Brevets will be unsupported. There will be no support on the route or at the controls. There will be no event volunteers. SAG will not be provided under any circumstances. Each rider needs to be fully prepared to participate in the brevet without any organized support of any kind, including if they DNF on-route. Riders are reminded that it’s permitted to have your own support/SAG, but that it is forbidden to take support other than at a control. That includes food, water, help with a mechanical, … anything at all. That’s a long-standing RUSA/ACP rule and it remains unchanged in any way, as does the prohibition against “ride alongs.”

Brevets will not have organized social gatherings before, during, or after. As soon as we can reasonably bring these back, we will.

Masks. Riders in Pinellas County must wear masks anytime they enter a building. Note that there are exceptions to this legal requirement and that if wearing a mask indoors is problematic for you for any reason, then it is your responsibility to research the legal exemptions to that requirement and determine whether you think any of them apply to you. Riders must wear masks when checking in for the ride until they depart on the brevet. That’s not Pinellas County’s requirement; it’s mine: No mask, no ride.

Outside Pinellas County, be aware that there are a patchwork of laws and ordinances with various exemptions to indoor mask requirements (or no requirement at all) and that if you choose to enter a building without a mask that you should research whether that is legal. Of course, regardless of what the law requires, each rider must obey all directions from any business owner concerning masks or other conduct in their place of business. Simplify your life: wear a mask.

I’ll also have hand-sanitizer at the check-in, but you are encouraged to bring your own on the ride.

Maintenance of social distance. Riders are expected to maintain six feet of separation from others. Don’t congregate in groups off the bike. Be aware that social distancing is required by law in some of the communities you will pass through unless, for some reason, it’s not possible. Simplify your life: practice six-foot social distancing all the time, everywhere.

Group riding: Riders are discouraged from riding in groups other than with those they live with. How riders ride together – whether at all, how far apart, etc. – is up to the riders. You are all adults and are all expected to communicate with each other on this topic. Of course, if someone asks that you not ride near them, honor their request.

–I will post the RUSA-required waiver on the website in advance of brevets so you can review it at your leisure. You can print and sign yourself, or I’ll have some available at check-in. Same as before: ink signature required; no “electronic” signatures.

–All events are now $10 per event; we’ve still got insurance and over-head, sadly. Payment should be made electronically, by PayPal, prior to the ride start. I’ll take cash – exact change only – or a check at the ride start.

Brevet cards are eliminated for the time-being. You’ll get a brevet card after the fact to memorialize your ride, but they will not be issued at check-in.

Controls; start/finish procedures.  All controls, including the start/finish control, will be “photo” controls: take a photo that shows you and your bike at the control. All controls other than the finish control are untimed. No receipts, no signatures. Just make the overall time-cut and you’re good. At the completion of the ride, you must email me your photos, all in one email (mind the size of the photos or they’ll get bounced). Don’t send them to me one at a time. When you finish, you can go; there’s nothing to sign.

Brevets are now “show and go.” Once you are checked in with me at the start, you can start your ride. Consider a “7AM start” to mean that you can start any time from when I have checked you in up until 7AM, which is when I’ll depart, as I’ll be riding, too. Your official ride time will be your finish time minus your start time. Don’t forget the starting photo!

–If you DNF, you are still required to let me know that, as soon as it’s safe and practical to do so. We want to make sure you’re accounted for and safe!

Changes and new information will be communicated on the website’s page for each event and, if necessary, to registered riders by email.

–What is the plan for making up missed brevets or hosting other brevets?  Depending on the success of this brevet – e.g., how these procedures worked — we will hold the additional calendared event, other than the 600K which will be rescheduled assuming that that’s prudent (it should be).  We’ll also make up the ACP 200 & 300K brevets. (Expect that, additional brevets will be similarly bare-bones, with no overnight support or hotel arrangements; we’ll all be on our own.)

–What about audax brevets? They remain suspended until further notice — through 2021 at a minimum — per the UAF. The audax format is incompatible with pandemic mitigation.

Final words. Let me be blunt: this all sucks. But we’re all in this together. Let’s set a great example for everyone else in how we ride. It’ll keep the lights on here and at RUSA and it’ll give our loved ones and friends confidence that we’re being safe and responsible. Also, if you’re not comfortable with riding yet, or with the reopening, or with any of these procedures, then please don’t ride. No worries; that’s a totally valid call to make. Brevets have been around for almost 150 years. They’ve survived world wars and even a prior pandemic. They’ll still be here next year or whenever. What’s important is ensuring that you will be, too, and that your enthusiasm for randonneuring endures. Key to that is ensuring that you feel safe and comfortable (and that those who love and support you feel that you’re safe and doing the right thing, too). Like all other aspects of an endurance sport, don’t push it. Taking your time and taking things one at a time is almost always the way to get to wherever you want to go. So, see you on the road or on the flip side and, until then, stay safe.

COVID-19 Update: Brevets & Cracker Swamp

All–

Couple of updates:
(1)  Brevets remain postponed nationally through at least the end of June.  We’ll know mid-June about July and going forward. If possible, once we reopen, we’ll make up at least some of the postponed rides from the spring.

(2)   The Cracker Swamp remains on, but as you know, everything is day-to-day. Running the event at all is, obviously, dependent on getting the green light from RUSA to hold events. It’s also dependent on redesigning the event to accommodate what are likely to be significant changes in how we’re used to randonneuring. For example, we’ll have to rethink how to have our legendary end-of-day meals in a safe yet still fun manner. Shared hotel rooms, too, are something that we may not want to do, or that all riders may not want to do but, at the same time, doubling our hotel bill (which is more than 65% of the budget) isn’t possible, either. In short, we don’t know what this will look like but trust we’re thinking about it. If the ride can be held, it will be, but expect that’ll it’ll be … different.

(3)  Permanents! There’s insurance secured for them, so expect their return. There’s no date for this yet — there’s significant logistics work to do in redesigning the program — but I suspect round-about the time brevets reopen, we’ll have perms, too. Stand by for further.

Stay safe,
-Paul

Brevet Season Update: COVID-19

All–

The pressing question is, what’s to happen to our brevet season in light of the uncontrolled spread of a debilitating and perhaps fatal pandemic, especially to the largest demographic in our state? The answer is this: The upcoming UAF 400K (March 28), ACP 600K (April 4), and flèche (April 17) will not be held on those dates and are postponed. It is possible that some or all of these rides may be rescheduled later in the year. Simply put, we’ll have to wait and see. If they can be held, they will be, but they will not be held on the calendared dates.

What about our other events — the 600K audax, the two juniors’ audax series, the June 100K and the July 200K night ride? On those, we’ll wait and see how things play out in the next few weeks before deciding to postpone or cancel them. The registrations are not posted for those event brevets, and they won’t be until we have a better sense of what we’re dealing with in combating this virus. So for now, stay tuned for further.

The Cracker Swamp remains on and I hope — for a lot of reasons, most of them having nothing to do with riding bikes — that it remains that way.

I know this news will be disappointing, and some will question the decision. Brevets are not Major League Baseball or the Rolling Stones, and they’re not even quite like UCI or even USAC races (where there’s a lot of contact). We could take steps to mitigate risk — staggering starts, using info controls — but it’s just not worth it in the grand scheme of things. There’s a lot — A LOT — more important in this world than brevets and right now is a time when we need to take a long view and make a shared sacrifice so that we can reduce not only our own risk, but the risk to everyone we come in contact with every time we leave the house. Safety is the number one priority in organizing a cycling event and, sadly, right now that means not organizing any events so long as the weight of credible, science-based evidence tells us to practice social distancing and radically reduce, and preferably eliminate, nonessential trips outside the home. Brevets are not essential and, thus, the postponement.

This was a tough decision to make and I made it after consulting the recommendations of the CDC, the much-touted Imperial College report and modeling, and the increasing frequency with which communities are legally banning non-essential travel outside the home. I also consulted history. I have a 600-page book, in French, on the history of the first 100 years of audax cycling that for the time periods I was interested in, the First and Second World Wars, also covers the history of the ACP. Brevets were not held for six years during and following the Great War. Six years; think about that. There were a few, literally just several, brevets in Occupied France but, for the most part, randonneuring ceased for a decade during and after the Second War. PBP was not held between 1931 and 1948. What we’re dealing with now is a global emergency, but it is unlikely of the magnitude of disruption our forefathers — and mothers; women participated in the first brevet held after the Great War, 100 years ago — experienced during the first half of the last century. We will get through this, just as they did. Because we’re tough, just like they were. We’re randonneurs. And there will be a second century of brevets with many tales of glory and perseverance and I’ll be there, with you, to continue building our excellent community and write that history. Until then, be safe, be well, take care of yourself and yours, and we’ll ride again together soon.

A bientôt,
Paul

400K Update

All-

The final cue sheet has been posted to the Events page and is also here. The two major changes are that it reflects the start at the IOTG and the deletion of the lunch at the turn-around. That’s now an info control.

Other notes from the workers’ ride: loose gravel and stone on SR 21, both directions — be very careful; it blends in with the road surface!  The Pack n Sack closes at 10pm now, not 11pm. So on the return trip, plan accordingly and stop in Salt Springs to be safe. It’s a long way in, otherwise!  180th/183rd remains rough.
If you arrive tonight, come by the suite before 7pm and I’ll check you in. Otherwise, see you in the AM before the start, which is 5am SHARP. Check in at the suite anytime after 4:30am and before 4:55am.
There are only 10 of us riding; please check the registered riders list. If you’re not coming, please let me know. If you think you’re coming but don’t see your name on that list, then please let me know that, too.
Paul

Cracker Swamp 1200: Details and Registration Info

We’re excited to be hosting the Cracker Swamp 1200K again in 2020. There are some major changes — new hotel! new route! — but what remains the same is a great time riding with great people, great food and beverages, amazing volunteers, and excellent camaraderie all around. Plus some epic swag and medals. Here are the details, which are also found on the event website: http://crackerswamp.org/.

(1)  The ride dates are November 5-8, 2020, out of Tavares, FL. It’s a loop-style 1200 in the traditional format: four distinct days of 400/300/300/200. You’ll return to the start/finish (and your hotel room!) every night, where you’ll be well fed before setting out again the next day.

(2)  Registration opens at 6pm EST on Saturday, February 15, 2020, when the registration link on the event webpage —  http://crackerswamp.org/ — will be live and you can register and pay. Registration closes October 4, 2020.

(3)  The entry fee is $550, which includes FIVE nights’ lodging at the event hotel (Weds. 11/4 check-in through a checkout on Monday, 11/9). That’s the day before the event (we start at 0400 on 11/5) until the day after when most people finish (most riders will finish the afternoon of 11/8). Also included are breakfast and dinner during the ride (e.g., all food at the overnight controls) plus some event SWAG, a finisher’s medal, a pre- and post-ride get-together (including dinner Sunday night), and some other righteous goodies that are TBD. You’re on your own for all travel to/from the start and for all meals/supplies/etc. on the route (other than at the overnight controls). There will be volunteers on the route and some intermediate controls will be staffed, but this is not a fully SAG’ed event: self-sufficiency and resourcefulness are key elements of randonneuring.

(4)  For the hotel, your accommodations will include a shared room, but not a shared bed, at the Comfort Inn & Suites, Tavares-North. You will be assigned a same-gender roommate, but you will have your own bed. (You and a roommate can indicate a desire to share a room on the registration form.) Your room will be assigned at rider-check-in and you’ll have it for the duration of the ride — bring whatever you want and leave it in the room.  No drop bags; you’ll be back at your room 3 times during the event! There is a group rate for those wanting to arrive earlier or stay later at the hotel, not included in the entry fee. Contact me, not the hotel, if interested. Also contact me if you want your own room (e.g., no roommate); there is limited availability for an extra charge.

(5)  The rider cap is 80 riders and will be filled on a first-come, first-served basis. Holding a space on the ride involves completing the online registration form AND receipt of payment. If the rider cap is reached, a wait-list will be established.  We’ll take people from the waitlist in order.

(6)  If you need to cancel, here is the refund policy:
$50 of your registration is nonrefundable
100% remaining balance refundable through March 31, 2020
75% remaining balance refundable through June 30, 2020
50% remaining balance refundable through August 31, 2020
0% remaining balance refundable after August 31, 2020.

If you are waitlisted, your entry fee is fully refundable if you are not offered a spot on the ride or if you cancel your place on the waitlist prior to being offered a spot.

(7)  Qualification requirements: (a) full ACP/RUSA/UAF brevet series in 2020; (b) completion of a 1200K previously; or (3) my permission – e.g., demonstrate that you know what you’re getting into and have the ability and capacity to ride safely and within time. Ultracyclists welcome! You can register for the event before you complete the qualification.

(8)  For registration, know your t-shirt size. You will also need emergency contact information (name, phone number) for someone who is not on the ride. As noted above, you can indicate on the registration form if you have a preferred roommate. This can also be arranged later, if you have a friend/riding companion who signs up later.

(9)  Please note that the entry fee is the same if your plans are to stay at a location other than the event hotel — e.g., no a-la-carte pricing.

(10)  Current RUSA membership is required for all riders. Join here: https://rusa.org/cgi-bin/memberjoin_GF.pl. Renew here: https://rusa.org/cgi-bin/memberrenew_GF.pl. Check your status here: https://rusa.org/cgi-bin/membersearch_GF.pl.

(11)  The route is totally different than 2016, but it is still flat, compared to most brevets in most other parts of the world. It’s less than 10,000 feet of climbing, and none of it is especially steep (11% max) or long. Road surfaces are generally excellent; 23s are fine here. You’ll see both the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, pine forests, orange groves, cypress swamps, live-oak canopied roads, wetlands, and undoubtedly a gator or two, plus tons of bird life, deer, nocturnal critters, and maybe even a bear, fox, or coyote. There are some wild places in Florida, and you’ll visit many of them.

(12)  The weather is generally excellent in November. It can still be hot, humid, and rainy, but typically it is sunny and dry with highs in the 70s-80s and lows in the 50s-60s. It can be windy, especially along the coasts. While tropical storms are uncommon in November, they’re not unheard of: hurricane season ends November 30. In the randonneur spirit, we will ride rain-or-shine, but we’re not going to ride in a hurricane or if one is bearing down on us. We reserve the right to change or cancel the event due to circumstances beyond our control that arise, without liability or refund.  Travel insurance for such eventualities is recommended.

(13)  There is a jersey in the works. It’s different than the 2016 version. It’ll be totally awesome. The cost of the jersey is not included in the entry fee.

(14)  For the love of Pete, man, tell me about the food and beverages!  Everything’ll be homemade. There will be plentiful gluten-free and vegetarian options. There will be beverages, including cider, beer, and wine, all brewed/fermented by yours truly (all of which are GF). And, of course, there will be single malts at the finish. The coffee will be excellent. If you need something else (vegan, dairy-free, whatever), just shoot me an email and we’ll make sure you’re taken care of.

See you in the ‘Swamp.
Paul ROZELLE
RBA, Central Florida Randonneurs

200 / 300 Updates

The 300K workers’ ride did not reveal any significant issues. The construction on A1A is no longer requiring a detour, so you should be able to follow the route as indicated. As always, be careful! The cue sheet is final and is posted on the Events page for that ride.

See you this evening/tomorrow morning,
Paul