Populaires: Training opportunity or gateway drug of randonneuring?

[Robert Leone]

Dear Randos:
Hello! Had a fun lttle spin on a 109 km populaire today. The local RBA said he'd be thinking about adding more populaires as they bring out the new people. Do you consider populars:

a) Great training rides
b) special evnets in their own right
c) a chance to see other, less usual parts of your area on long rides
d)the gateway drub of randonneuring
e) something else (fill in blank______________)
f) all of the above

For me it's mostly c and a.

Robert Leone

Robert Leone, rle...@hotmail.com "Only you can prevent long sig files."

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[Lynne Fitz]

In my case, populaires were d).

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[M-SADLER]

As an AUK member who enjoys evesdropping the randon group you may be
interested in the position in the UK.
IMO Audax UK regard (and promote) shorter rides for (d)
The number of rides validated at 50/100/150 kms each year are about double
the number of rides at the longer distances.
There is some concern about the shorter rides from some members who feel
that these rides are not appropriate to a long distance cycling association.
But they appear to be very popular rides.
AUK membership is steadily increasing each year.

M-SA...@sky.com

-----Original Message-----
On May 11, 9:01 am, Robert Leone <rle...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Randos:
>    Hello! Had a fun lttle spin on a 109 km populaire today. The local RBA
said he'd be thinking about adding more populaires as they bring out the new
people. Do you consider populars:
>
> a) Great training rides
> b) special evnets in their own right
> c) a chance to see other, less usual parts of your area on long rides
> d)the gateway drub of randonneuring
> e) something else (fill in blank______________)
> f) all of the above
>
> For me it's mostly c and a.
>
> Robert Leone
>

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11:12

[Steady As She Goes]

Yes, it was a bit of a drubbing, but it toughens you up.

I've only done D2R2 and it was b) and c) and d).

But I can only define myself as a randonneur very loosely in that I've
completed a couple of short brevets.

[Jim Bronson]

50 K rides? We don't have anything under 100K in the US, and I would
not be in favor of adding anything like that. I did the 62 mile
option at a local charity ride this weekend and the first 21 miles
were hell until the 14, 28 and 42 milers were out of the way. In fact
the 40 mile ride to the start of the charity ride from my house was
much nicer. I wish I could say that was the first time I have had
that experience, but alas it seems to be typical.

I can also see the opposing point of view though that having 50K rides
increases participation. Just this weekend, my sister inquired about
100K populaires. She's a marathon runner who cycles as a sideline; we
did the 62 miler together at the charity ride.

--
I'm doing the Houston-Austin MS150 in 2008. I'll be riding 175 miles
by bicycle! Please consider supporting me in this worthy cause at my
e-donate link: http://www.ms150.org/edon.cfm?id=220459

[John Lee Ellis]

Mostly (d): we schedule a series of (four) populaires in the spring,
to get people thinking about randonneuring and the brevets that are to
follow. They are in the 100km-120km range, the same distance as the
sponsoring club rides at that point. People like riding them for
themselves, but hopefully they raise awareness of randonneuring.

We put multiple on the spring schedule, as snow usually nixes at least
one.

At the end of season, we have more of a "farewell" populaire just for
fun.

-john lee (Colorado)