ACP Centenary 200 km Brevet in Santa Cruz
Bill Bryant
Randonneurs often joke about the pains and pleasures found along the route of many brevets. One of the things that often goes unmentioned but is widely used is that you can change your pace according to how you feel. Feeling good and have strong legs? Ride swiftly if you like. Or, lunch isn’t digesting too well and you need to slow down? That’s fine too. Or you stayed out too late last night? Then ride at a more comfortable pace that suits your energy levels. Brevets are not races; finishers are listed alphabetically and everyone receives the same type of brevet medal that marks their achievement. Basically, randonneurs and randonneuses don’t worry much about their place on the finishing list, they just want to be on the finishing list.
This ability to choose one’s pace is the allure libre format that is the basis of our randonneuring brevets-- but it was not always so. Long-distance group rides were begun in Italy and France around the turn of the last century and were quite popular. Everyone rode together in a big pack at a pace set by the ride leader. This was the audax format. In France, the leading audax club of the day was the Audax Club Parisien (ACP), founded in 1904. Its members were busy organizing and leading audax events in the years leading up to the Great War.
Like so many other aspects of life, the audax rides were put on hold as World War I erupted in 1914. After the war ended in 1918, the audax rides restarted but there was increasingly more friction as increasingly more riders wanted to cycle at their own pace instead of using the never-changing audax pace set by the ride captains. Things came to a head in 1921 when the club underwent a rebellion and a majority of its members voted to start allowing riders to choose their own pace on brevets. The loyal audax riders unhappily departed and formed their own club, while the Audax Club Parisien became an allure libre club. The ACP ran its inaugural free-pace 200 km brevet on September 11, 1921 on a circuit to the south and west of Paris. With 88 starters and 77 finishers, it was a big success.
No longer an audax club despite keeping the term in its name, the ACP began organizing the Brevets de Randonneurs Français (BRF) and our type of randonneuring was born. The BRF eventually became the Brevets des Randonneurs Mondial as the sport spread beyond the borders of France in the 1980s. The popular 1200 km Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneurs is the most famous example of this type of riding and spread the allure libre randonneur format around the world.
And here we are, 100 years later, celebrating the centenary of that first brevet. In a month’s time the Santa Cruz Randonneurs will be hosting a 200 km “birthday brevet” on Saturday, September 11. The route will travel north from Santa Cruz into the redwood forests around La Honda, then return to the coast and go north to Moss Beach, then return back to Santa Cruz via the coastal hills around Pescadero. Total climbing will be about 7,300 feet, according to RWGPS. https://ridewithgps.com/routes/34810495
All entries must be received by 8 PM on Wednesday, September 8th. There is no day-of entry, and there is an entry limit of 25 riders for this special brevet. We will have special ACP commemorative medals free to the finishers.
As always, more information and entry can be found at: https://santacruzrandonneurs.org
Bonne route!
Lois Springsteen & Bill Bryant
jinu...@gmail.com
Linh Nguyen
On Sep 2, 2021, at 3:13 PM, jinu...@gmail.com <jinu...@gmail.com> wrote:
BIll - is there by chance a wait list for the ride?
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Bill Bryant
Thanks, Linh.
Yes, we are keeping track of any entrants backing out, but so far we have nothing to offer folks on the wait list.
Bill
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jinu...@gmail.com
Coach Don Williams
Bill Bryant
Don, we sent out the pre-ride info a day or two ago. It has all the riders, including you. Please check your spam folder?
Let me know if you need a re-send.
Bill
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