Groundhog's Day

[Spencer Klaassen]

Good morning,

Phil is predicting 6 more weeks of winter but I am already thinking of Spring.  

I have mailed back brevet cards for 2020 and the schedule cards for 2021.  If you didn't get one or want one for a friend, just send me a message. 

If you have not renewed your RUSA membership yet, it might be a good time to do it.  It won't be as much fun as shivering in the cold while trying to remember that PayPal password minutes before a ride, but it will keep me off your back.  

https://rusa.org/pages/memberservices

The first RUSA ride for KC is going to be March 6th in Pratt, KS (Medicine Lodge 200 K) with the first local 200 K (ACP) in Shawnee on March 20th.  Both of these routes will be new and will add to your Rando Scout totals.  https://rusa.org/pages/award-scout

The first ACP ride in Nebraska is April 10th in Nebraska City.

COVID-19:  I work in a hospital and have exposure to patients with this disease nearly every day, so I can understand the riders comfort level will be all over the place.  RUSA has allowed the RBAs some discretion in proving proof of passage.  My plan is to give riders a couple different options:

1) Carry a traditional card and get the time and initials at each control.  

2) Fill out a traditional card with the rider timing their own card.  To prove proof of passage take a photo at each control.  At the end of the ride, e-mail me a SINGLE message with the time stamped photos for each control with identification of where it was taken.

If you are uncomfortable with either of these options, contact me and we can discuss other possibilities. 

Ride fees:  RUSA has changed their fee structure so I am planning to charge per ride (vs a yearly fee).  If you want to pay $40 for a SR series (200, 300, 400, 600 K), it would save you $10 and you won't have to worry about bringing cash and sending me money via PayPal.  

Finally, John Mathias has again offered to be the ride leader for gravel events.  We are working on dates and they will be on the club website.  

Ride lots,

Spencer

--

"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them.  Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle." - Ernest Hemingway