Experiences on my first brevet in 2016

[Prashanth Chengi]

The biking season in Linköping starts late, due to the cold. Last Saturday was the first brevet ride organized by the local club. It was a 200 brevet with 1500+ meters of climbing. The temperature at the start was 2°C and rose to a peak of about 10°C before dropping again. And there was rain! 
I found the going quite difficult as I was not dressed warm enough, but managed to scrape to the finish line, with just 16 minutes remaining.  For the last part, I was doing mental math that reminded me of Opendro's description of BITH! :D  After having considered quitting the race at the prefinal checkpoint, it was greatly satisfying to not only finish the ride, but also qualify for homologation. 

Here's the ride report: 
http://prashanthchengi.livejournal.com/74676.html

And here's the list of things I specifically learned from this ride:
http://prashanthchengi.livejournal.com/74480.html

Strava ride activity:
https://www.strava.com/activities/547493985

/Prashanth

[Pradeep Naidu]

What arrangements do the organizers make at the start point and at mid way...
Like food, safety.. Etc.. Just wanted to know how different or similar they are from us..

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[Prashanth Chengi]

I did the Anchetty 200 BRM when I was in India, so I have something to compare against.  The arrangements are totally the same.  There's a briefing at the start. Some cinnamon buns and tea are passed around, sometimes; this is not always the case. Detailed cue sheet and GPS tracks are made available in advance. On longer brevets, like the 600, overnight stopover is usually booked in advance. Riders who reach early usually buy and stock food for those who may come later, as shops close early. Riders are expected to be responsible and sensible, and equipped with all the necessary safety gear such as high visibility gear, lights etc, so there's really no time wasted/spent on safety checks. I've only ridden in a group for over 200 km during last year's 600 brevet. The riders were too fast for me to tag along with, during my 200 and 300 brevets, so those were lonely rides.

There is no need to belong to any club, and there's only the brevet fees and no additional fee for homologation. This is markedly different from India which has superfluous bodies such as AIR. 

/Prashanth

[berkeleydb]

Nice writeups; thanks for sharing.  Congrats on completing the BRM 200.  Interesting to note that in Sweden, anyone can just organise a BRM, w/o being part of some "body".

Re: the learnings -- yeah, getting good momentum and the right gear ratio into the climbs is critical.  It can save a lot of effort.  It tends to be hit/miss for me.  As for getting the most out of the descents -- I usually don't go beyond a certain speed (combination of road/traffic conditions concerns, and bike handling skills); so lose out quite a bit there.

-{db}.

[Sandeep]

On Sun, Apr 24, 2016 at 3:42 PM, berkeleydb <dha...@gmail.com> wrote:

Nice writeups; thanks for sharing.  Congrats on completing the BRM 200.  Interesting to note that in Sweden, anyone can just organise a BRM, w/o being part of some "body".

BRMs(Brevets Randonneurs Mondiaux) can only be organized through the ACP and their country specific representatives. 

Brevets can be organized by just about anybody, anywhere. We had a few of them(the non ACP ones) in 2014. For e.g.:

http://www.bangalorebrevets.in/2014/10/kottai-200-november-1-2014/

http://www.bangalorebrevets.in/2014/11/basavana-betta-200-november-29-2014/

[Prashanth Chengi]

Db, anyone cannot organize a BRM;  the organizer will have to be approved by ACP, following the correct procedures, but there's no need for riders to belong to any body or club. You can just go, pay the brevet fees, and ride. In India, a rider cannot ride a BRM unless he/she also signs up for an AIR membership. This is what I described as superfluous, in my earlier reply.

/Prashanth