Promoting Randonneuring

[Jake Kassen]

I appreciated the subject of the short promotional video. There's a lot to like about Randonneuring but the "Tourism" aspects are by far my favorite. I ride a bike mostly because it's the best way to see and experience the world.

In terms of getting new people involved in the sport, the most important qualities to me are people who are good cyclists (in the bike handing and mechanical sense) who have the mental fortitude to handle everything that will happen when you ride for 10-40+ hours continuously. Age alone isn't a good predictor of this.

In New England, we are still getting many new riders who learned about us from the long defunct "Lovey Bicycle" blog. Ride reports seem to be one of the best forms of advertising and also preparing people for the events.

IMHO, one of RUSA's problems is just finding events if you're a new rider. The search tools on the RUSA website aren't great for someone who is new to the sport. It's confusing that the name of a region (itself a confusing concept) has little bearing on the places that group actually hosts brevets. That's one of the things I've tried to improve with the search tool at https://rusa.jkassen.org

Jake

[Andrew Nichols]

That tool is indeed very useful Jake, even given that I already know the insider lingo. For sure it's a huge improvement to outsiders.

Ride reports are huge -- it's how I got hooked a few years back. Videos, especially short-form, are always going to be a medium where it's difficult to express ultra-long events, but I'm excited to see the effort; with the right editing it is possible to express some of the emotions inherent in randonneuring. Word of mouth (as in literal mouths, as in talking to another human being face-to-face) is also really useful because you can immediately cut-short the common response of "I can't do that".

The richest audience for all of this outreach are people who *are already riding*, but in a different style/vibe. I have my own ideas about how to do that in a city where 100s of riders go out every weekend for 50+ miles but only ~20 show up for a brevet. Some portion of these riders are future RUSA members!

Andrew

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[Gary DelNero]

It would be interesting to see how some of these future videos could address issues besides distance that might cause cyclists to refrain from our sport:

1. Is it safe to be out, possibly alone, at night in an unknown place with unknown cell coverage?
2. Most rides have NO support, so you are responsible for your own food, water, navigation, and extraction if needed. (That's good to know ahead of time.)
3. You need to know how to maintain your bike, fix a flat, etc and deal with any mechanical issue. (Or stay with or ahead of riders that can help you.)
4. You need to be resourceful, optimistic and friendly, particularly when the weather gets bad. (Yes, we even ride in the rain!)

The challenge of facing adversity is something I find alluring about rando. There's always something new to learn. There are always new goals to consider, either through the awards, a challenging grand brevet, and of course, PBP.

Gary

[Dan Driscoll]

Thank you, Jake…. Very well said !!

I was using your search tool last night, and love it.

I’d like to go back one step.

The step before you try to find rides on RUSA Website.

If you are a non-RUSA member and have never heard of RUSA and you google “Long Rides Near Me”….. you’ll not see anything about Randonneuring…… From a marketing standpoint, we need to fix that.

Currently, in my opinion, declining membership is by far RUSA’s number biggest problem.

DanD

[JinUk SHin]

I assume if we're going to get more hits on the SEO for "Long Rides Near Me" we would need to both up the fresh content that appears on the rusa site (perhaps by making the content from the American Randonneurs magazine searchable and crawlable rather than PDFs) and then having a strong page of links out to the regional sites.  

Given we get such a good amount of content from the magazine, keeping fresh content on the site seems like a reasonable thing.  The challenge would be in getting fresh content to each of the regional sites (I imagine).

I'm no SEO expert though and those are my assumptions from working tangentially with SEO from a number of years ago.   

JinUk

[Andrew Nichols]

> If you are a non-RUSA member and have never heard of RUSA and you google “Long Rides Near Me”….. you’ll not see anything about Randonneuring…… From a marketing standpoint, we need to fix that.

To re-iterate what I said earlier -- maximum impact/effort implies not targeting random googlers (they probably don't mean 200K long when they type "long"), but targeting local non-rando clubs/groups/shops/riders, who don't know there's anything past a century ride but are up for a further/different challenge.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/randonneurs-usa/D69F235B-4431-484D-98D7-EACCFC338B0B%40me.com.

[Josh Zielinski]

Jake,

I had replied via personal response to someone in the other video thread that my main barrier to entry from a sport/community that seems very ideal was just this:  when, where, etc are the events??  

The calendar of 2 local-ish to me groups is not yet updated for fall/winter/next year and as a busy dad I have to kinda try my best to plan ahead of other stuff just keeps jumping in the way.  Maybe old timers in the club just know when rides more or less take place, or don't need to plan ahead so much but it's been the one thing that keeps me from joining in on brevet fun.

The link you shared is awesome for finding permanents and I've considered doing an R-12 type challenge but when it comes down to it if I am riding alone it's easier and preferred to just ride from my door.  I grab permanent routes and piece together some really fun rides though--I suppose my RUSA membership is a token of payment for the hrs of enjoyment I have had riding those routes.

Cheers,

Josh in Oregon 

[Dan Driscoll]

Since the beginning, RBA’s and local members have had the task of recruiting new RUSA members. 

For many RBA’s recruiting can be more time consuming than running events, and they don’t have time for both. 

In addition to local recruiting, which may not be working for some clubs with minimal resources, it might be nice if we had a National Advertising program, to help steer new members in and help RBA’s ? 

DanD 

[Sean Keesler]

Would I be wrong if I guessed that the search term "bikepacking" was eating our lunch?

Has anyone explored getting any RUSA events cross-listed on backpacking.org or partnering with another group like that to ride that wave? If so, how successful was it?

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/randonneurs-usa/95F0F0A8-E3F3-41AE-B58C-AF479F67A2CC%40me.com.

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-- Sean

[Andrew Nichols]

Anecdotally I'm in at least one local interest group that's bikepacking focused, and there is indeed a rando-curious subset. Without a more relaxed set of time limits, it seems hard to truly appeal to that crowd though -- I say that as someone that once opted to hammock-camp instead of hotel-sleep during a 600K.

[Paul G. Rozelle]

Some vignettes on Promoting Randonneuring

I came into randonneuring through conversations with people I met doing other styles of riding. One was Bob Waddell (#1261) who was then the Ohio RBA. We were on a club ride and Bob was wearing a BMB jersey. "What's that?" led to a lot of conversation about randonneuring and, well, here I am 19 years later.

For many years I commuted to work by bike. Walking around the halls of a big law firm in cycling garb was a conversation starter. Some of those conversations led to riding with colleagues after work--many of whom had never ridden or were returning to cycling after years or decades of absence--which evolved into doing club centuries and charity rides together and, 7 years later in 2015, four of us rode (and completed) PBP together. It also led to a lot of professional growth and business opportunities because those things--just like randonneuring--are fundamentally built on personal relationships. 

Although I'm too old and wise for this sort of thing now, I used to race and organize alleycats. (I still do track-standing comps, but forget about the rest of it; I'm too fragile!) I helped organize a 12-hour urban bike race in 2012 and 2013. Three of the participants went on to do a full ACP series; two have done 1200Ks, one completed PBP, and 10+ years later, they all still do brevets.

I ride bikes. My wife and kids ride bikes. We all ride bikes together frequently: just to get coffee, hit up a new restaurant, go to a park, or meet up with friends. Over many years, this has evolved into the whole family riding brevets. 

I enjoy writing and combining that interest with bikes has been a lot of fun over the years. Writing for AR is great, but it's preaching to the choir--further inspiring those who already decided to attend the tent revival. I've had many people tell me that they discovered randonneuring because of something I wrote that was published in a magazine or on the internet for a general cycling audience. Club riders, bike racers, cyclotourists, punk kids on fixed-gear bikes, .... having random strangers get on a plane, travel to our region, and then tell me that they discovered the sport because something I wrote turned them onto it? That's better than any "result" I've ever gotten on the bike!

We had nextdoor neighbors who were triathletes. Sure, I'd occasionally train with them. But we also hung out, enjoyed meals together, and chatted over the fence, so-to-speak, for years. Over time, it was only natural that they'd try a brevet. And that I'd enter my first triathlon, a half-ironman. Ouch! They had no interest in anything longer than 200K, but they volunteered for all four days of the 1200K our region organized in 2016. Now that's a commitment to our sport!

What's the takeaway from all this? One of the big ones, to me, is that there are a ton of people in our lives, many of whom might well be interested in this sort of thing. Friends, family, neighbors, co-workers. It might take years or a decade to "make the sale," but it's really fertile ground because there's already a personal relationship and connection and shared interests and, in my experience, people who find randonneuring this way tend to stick with it. Of course, there are other cyclists who are hopefully already in your life but they're not (yet) randonneurs. If all our riding is only randonneuring, then it's going to be tough(er) to encounter other cyclists who might enjoy our sport. We're all already at the tent revival. So get out there and do other stuff! Riding bikes is just plain fun and doing something other than perms/brevets/ultra-distance/rando-world stuff keeps riding new and fresh and interesting. And you might just ride with and introduce the next RBA, RUSA President, or American Randonnuer award winner to our sport.

Paul ROZELLE, #2955

St. Petersburg, FL

[Dave]

I like Jake's search tool.  Have used it myself several times, and can also see some room for improvement.  But I can't help notice the irony that we are solving the "how do I find routes" problem with a "how do i find the right search tool to find the routes" problem.   Reminds me of competing standards.

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[Emily O'Brien]

Following what Jake said: My first long distance event was the Furnace Creek 508 back in 2005, which I heard about because they introduced a fixed gear category. But what really made me want to go out and do such a thing was reading the ride reports from the riders who rode in that category. That made it sound fun and exciting, and also a bit more like a thing mere mortals can go out and do. Needless to say, I was fairly well hooked. But hearing about it from other riders was what really inspired me to try it. 

Another piece of advice for those who are interested in encouraging new riders: Introduce yourself to new riders when they show up, and help them have a good time. Lots of first-time randonneurs are out for what will be their longest ride ever. If they're only a little slower than you, maybe hang back just a bit and ride with them. Keep them company, show them your favorite gas station snacks, welcome them into your group. That can make the difference between someone who decides that once was enough, and someone who keeps coming back. Many first-time randonneurs have spent lots of time riding alone before, but others have mostly done their longest rides with friends or at other events with other people. Lots of us spend plenty of time riding alone even on brevets with other participants, but many first-timers particularly appreciate having some moral support!

Emily

[Bill Gobie]

On Mon, Oct 2, 2023 at 10:10 AM Josh Zielinski <josh.zi...@gmail.com> wrote:

The calendar of 2 local-ish to me groups is not yet updated for fall/winter/next year and as a busy dad I have to kinda try my best to plan ahead of other stuff just keeps jumping in the way.  Maybe old timers in the club just know when rides more or less take place, or don't need to plan ahead so much but it's been the one thing that keeps me from joining in on brevet fun.

Most RBAs are just now finalizing next year's calendar (for ACP brevets). Perhaps "expect next year's ride schedule to be published by <date>"  could be added to clubs' calendars. 

Bill Gobie

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[Phil Fox]

Just came across the convo but figured I'd add a few thoughts I've been noodling on.

1. We need a better understanding of how our current ridership found randonneuring. 

2. Additionally - we need a better understanding of how our RECENT ridership found randoneuring. 

Without a better understanding of the above - its difficult to come up with a marketing strategy to promote our corner of the cycling world. 

Personally speaking - I came from the ultra community and learned of PBP via word of mouth. Didn't know anyone in the rando world and just signed up for the Coulee in 2018. The event was affordable, interesting, accessible. Importantly for me, it provided a new challenge atop the 24-hour races I was doing beforehand. It was the next evolution in my cycling interests.  During the event - I made made quite a few rookie mistakes, found some new like minded friends to get me onboarded and got hooked. That was the start of my journey. Everyone's will be different. How can we quantify these stories (in addition to sharing our qualitative experiences)? We need both. 

There is a lot of pressure being put on RBA's to recruit and build their own clubs. Collecting more data as to sources of awareness, key drivers, barriers, likes, dislikes can allow for more improved coordination at the national level AND contextualized insights at the local level. 

Just my two cents. 

Phil

#12365

PS, To build on Bill's point above - it would be great to have some coordination on announcing the 2024 season. The same way all the NFL teams announce the next year's schedule on the same day. As the weather is turning south in the Midwest - I'm already scheming what regions / routes I want to prioritize next year. And more importantly -- coordinating with others on what rides they want to do. (e.g., I really need that Fleche do get my SR10000)

Looking forward to seeing what can't miss rides / regions I should be eyeballing for the 2024 season. 

[Vincent Muoneke]

Fred you are quite right

I am not much of a pusher

But I have been nudging these Concepts

Vinny Muoneke 

Sent from Vinny's iPhone

On Oct 5, 2023, at 07:29, Phil Fox <phili...@gmail.com> wrote:

Just came across the convo but figured I'd add a few thoughts I've been noodling on.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/randonneurs-usa/2640d7c4-c405-4715-be8c-4086d86d9144n%40googlegroups.com.

[Vincent Muoneke]

Apologies for the Auto whatever

Phil not Fred

V

Sent from Vinny's iPhone

On Oct 5, 2023, at 16:10, Vincent Muoneke <v.mu...@gmail.com> wrote:

Fred you are quite right

[Dan Driscoll]

Maybe a good start would be a “How did you hear about us?” Question for all new members at sign up….

DanD 

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[Bill Bryant]

I have already asked the web team to see about including this in new member apps. They are working on it.

 

BB

 

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[Dave Thompson]

From a new member who placed a store order:

New member just today and thank you.  Randonneuring has been on my radar for quite awhile and I can aim for 2027 now.. 

once someone hears about randonneuring, we are the only game in town. 

Dave. 

From my iwdt

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[Iwan Barankay]

Hi,

On the question on how to get new riders or how new riders find us I could write a lengthy entry about our experience at PA Randonneurs of the last years.

In sum, 

1) find ways to network with potential riders 

2) remove logistic and financial barriers

On 1) joining local ride groups and spreading the word about events and our sport is key. When you see a group of riders that could be interested in riding longer events, approach them and give them links with further information. Especially when that group is a little different from your current set of friends (what is called "the strength of weal ties" among network researchers). It is important to signal that we are not a secret society or a closed, invitation-only club.

On 2) in the past and for the longest time PA Rando met to start their rides in or near smaller towns. That made for easy all-day parking and gathering (e.g. at 24h Pizza places at strip malls) but it was far from where many new potsntial riders lived.

The big change we made is to bring the start/finish location to Philadelphia. That was a long project as it required the creation of new routes and we needed to find a good start location especially for the longer events. We were lucky as we found a small hostel we can rent just for us near the center of Philadelphia. See here for more information

https://parando.org/info/event/387

This had the following advantages

- Philadelphia (and also New York) has a deep pool of potential riders).  Bringing the ride to them makes it so much easier for new riders to sign up and to convince their friends as well.

- many younger riders don't have a car or not one they can borrow for a full weekend. Starting in Philly means people can cycle to the start from home or take (local) trains. The unexpected effect was that it also drew in many riders from Brooklyn and other parts of NYC since it is well connected to Philly.

- finding a cheap hostel allows riders to come the night before, socialize and not worry about having to get up so early or driving home tired. We found a hostel and can offer a bed for $40!

This addressed a major gripe I have about rando in that riding brevets can be expensive unless you are near the start (hotels are usually $150/night and renting a car plus gas/tolls for a weekend is $200+).

We now see big turnouts at our Philadelphia based events e.g. our March 200k events had 66 riders.

https://parando.org/info/event/398

https://parando.org/roster/results/398

I hope this was interesting and helpful.

Iwan

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[Rob Hawks]

Hi Josh and Bill,

I am the RUSA brevet coordinator (BC) and Regional Brevet Administrator Liaison (RBA-L). Some of my duties as BC are to collect calendar submissions for the coming year, produce a summary for the BOD to review and approve, and then submit those calendars to the ACP and LRM. The UAF (Audax) event calendar is submitted by another RUSA volunteer currently.

RBA's have a due date every year of Sept. 30th, and the ACP and LRM have due dates of October 15th, so roughly a two week timeframe between due dates. This was less of an issue to a degree when the ACP and RUSA did not calendar ACP events in November and December.  But now they both do (beginning last year) so there is a 2 week timeframe between submission to the ACP *and* RUSA holding ACP events (as early as Nov. 1st).

To my knowledge, the ACP has never refused to approve the RUSA calendar submission, so this has been largely a formality and everyone wishes it to remain so. Off the top of my head, I can't recall the Board declining to approve the calendar for the coming year, but the review is a very helpful exercise anyway.

One small wrinkle every year is that come Oct. 1st, there are some regions yet to submit their calendar, so phone calls or email messages ensue. That is true of this year, but the board is currently reviewing all the other region's calendar submissions as I write this reply.

All that said, RBA's are free to post the calendar they submitted to their local region's website, hopefully noting that the calendar is pending approval until that approval happens. I'm about to do that right now with my own region (CA: San Francisco).

The submitted events are not displayed yet on the RUSA site. Some regions as noted are still tinkering. Once the approval has been given we will toggle the submitted events to an approved state and they will show on the RUSA website.

Hope this background helps.

rob hawks

RUSA RBA-L

RUSA Brevet Coordinator

RBA CA: San Francisco

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