SFR Dart/Populaire 200K Info/Interest 9/30/23

[Ryan Beck]

Hey SFR,

I want to participate in the upcoming DART on 9/30. A coiple things, are any teams in need of a rider? I dont have a team but would love to join one for this event. Also, when i click the link in the calendar it takes me to a page about a DART that wSA held in 2020. This one is this year (2023) correct?

Any info helps!

Ryan

[Greg Merritt]

Ryan, regarding the page on the site, my presumption would be (and this is not an official answer!) that folks doing the bulk of the club heavy lifting (i.e., Rob, also Rob, with help from Rob, and a lot of time from Rob) are...er, is...presently concerned with taking care of the processing of the four(?) club events that were run this weekend, preparing for a trip across the pond in a matter of days/weeks, and trying to ride their bike....and istr that regional Dart / Dart Pop was done by Davis in 2021, last SFR Dart in 2020...so likely all of the above conspiring to reveal what you've found.

The event does very much appear on the calendar, so I'd plan on it, and the info page will very likely hold for this year, aside from precise date/location variations. I suspect that it will get updated in due course, but maybe not until folks are back from France?

The team events are great events, very different from regular brevets. If you're not hearing from teams looking for a rider, consider captaining one of your own. Anyone can do it! :)

-Greg

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[Rob Hawks]

Greg is right that there are several other tasks on the top of the stack that need to be done first.

We ran a DART last year, despite the web page not being updated.

For those planning a DART or DART populaire, assume the finish location will be Gilman Brewing Co. on Gilman in Berkeley.

If you don't want to be a team captain and oversee design of your team's route, and you don't have a team yet, post to this chat list that you are looking for a team, and list which event you want to participate in and give parameters on where you can join a team's start location (meaning, if you live in San Jose then starting in Santa Rosa would be a stretch).

I will *try* to have the captain's sign up page ready before I leave for France. No promises, but there will be a lot that can be done to put together a team and design a route that won't require actually being signed up yet.

Regarding the SFR website DART page, I don't have direct access to that so can't make changes. I will need to ask for changes. Like many of us, there are summer vacations in the mix so no promises on any quick changes for that page.

Please trust that much of this work can be done when the 100+ SFR members return from France.

Thanks

rob hawks

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[Ryan Beck]

Thanks Rob & Greg! dually noted and good food for thought. Obv yes PBP is the highest priority, no pressure from me.  Mainly trying to plan ahead and not wait till its way too late.  Wishing everyone going and supporting bon courage et bon route en France

[Claire Mirocha]

Hello SFR!

I'm planning my first-ever DART route for 9/30, and since I have a couple questions about some of the more precise regulations, I wonder if anyone with experience submitting a DART route might be kind enough to chat with me for a few quick minutes - basically about whether my route works, and how to place the controls.

Or, if you're near Berkeley, I'll buy you a coffee/drink!

(I understand the rules overall, but I'm afraid of the ambiguity of one in particular: "the shortest legal and safe distance between successive checkpoints is credited, not the actual route taken.")

Claire

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[Drew Levitt]

Hi Claire, I reviewed Fleche routes last year and will probably be the person reviewing Dart routes this time around. (Rob, I hereby volunteer for that role if you'll have me.)

What I'm looking for when I check a route is: are the controls placed such that the riders can't skip meaningful sections or features of the route? I don't expect riders to take the very shortest path from control to control, if there's another path between controls that is clearly preferable in practice (be that because it's safer, more scenic, fewer turns, less climbing, etc). But I do want to make sure that the controls enforce the general concept of the route.

Taking the Berkeley/Oakland Hills as an example, if your route started at the bottom of Wildcat Canyon, went over Grizzly Peak, then took Skyline and Pinehurst to the Pinehurst/Canyon intersection, I would want controls not only at Wildcat Canyon/SPDR and Pinehurst/Canyon, but also at the top of Grizzly Peak, or maybe better, at Wildcat Canyon/South Park. Without that middle control, you could just stay east of the hills and skip the "general concept" of climbing to the ridgeline.

To make sure the controls are sufficient, I usually use the Strava route planner, set to "follow most direct," and see how much shorter/easier the resulting route is compared to the designed route. I'm not militant about this - if the shortest path between your controls is a bit short of the target distance, that's OK by me. (Especially because almost everybody submits a GPS recording as their proof of passage!) But if you come up way short on distance, and whole meaningful chunks of your route could be bypassed, I'll probably ask you to add a photo control or two. I try to make these fun/recognizable selfie spots so as to enhance, rather than dampen, the fun of the ride.

All of which is to say, don't overthink it. Focus on designing a route that you'll enjoy riding, and then we can work together to ensure that the bigwigs and sachems back in old France will be satisfied you really did it, hopefully without overburdening you with administration along the ride. But, you know, randonneuring IS "cycling with paperwork," so perhaps it's best to just embrace that ;)

I hope this helps! Glad to discuss further.

 - Drew

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[Rob Hawks]

>  don't overthink it.


Words to live by for dart routes.

Plus, is you use EPP to verify then as long a you ride your route who cares in the end if there could have been short cuts in route design.

Rob

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