Events on deck, and thoughts for the future

[RBA Pittsburgh]

Hi, all!

First off, before I forget: hats off to Steve Kunsak for his finish on the AMCUP 400K last weekend. Our toughest course, in tough weather, and he still completed in admirable time. Well done!

Next in the queue:

Saturday June 28th, the Castleman 200K out of Monongahela, and

Saturday July 5th, the Mingo Creek Meander 100K out of Mingo Creek Park.

Next, a note for future events and event fees.

Currently, RUSA is covering our insurance fees; I charge a nominal ticket price for the brevets, which is used to help defray costs for controle rooms at hotels on the 400 and 600Ks. 

However, the ticket prices we're collecting aren't really sufficient to cover those costs; rather than upping the fees to benefit only the few riders who ride the big events, I'm considering waiving event fees completely and making minor route revisions so that we don't have dependency on hotel parking lots. The only real downside there (other than route revision work) is that hotel rooms will then be up to the discretion of the riders.

I've not yet made any decisions in that regard, and welcome feedback before I do so.

Finally, long-range planning. 

I am spending a lot more time overseas or on my parents' farm, and will be doing so for the foreseeable future. 

I may need to pass the torch in the next couple of years; whether that means transitioning to a new RBA, or moving to a model where I handle the paperwork and planning while someone else handles running the events themselves.

Not urgent, but I wanted to plant the seed.

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Dan Blumenfeld

RBA, Pittsburgh Randonneurs

(412) 915-6206

https://pittsburghrandonneurs.com/

[Tom Hovan]

Congrats to Steve.  Impressive result indeed.

Dan - my two cents on the hotel issue you raised..  For reference, I know that most (all?) of the larger regions don't cover hotel rooms because they simply cannot, and the riders on their own there too. The DC randonneurs do start and stop their 400s and 600s from a hotel.  I am not sure of what logistics / location would be better. For those who have gotten a room before and/or after the ride, that works perfectly.  For those who have not, but have instead made other arrangements, then ideally there would be alternative parking place that is not too far away.  But ultimately that's on the individual rider to sort out.  I get that a recommendation is still appreciated, though.  Another thing to keep in mind is that ideally there would be more than one hotel option nearby in any location that is used.  And a little bit of networking helps people find another rider or two with whom to share room costs.  This message group can facilitate that sort of thing.

I tend to think about this stuff when putting together a 400 or 600K route.  For example, if we did the 600K route I proposed, there is a second hotel right across the road from the one that is used as the official start and finish, and a couple more within a couple mile radius.  And there is a WalMart plaza parking lot very close by where parking overnight wouldn't be noticed or cause a problem who parked there.

-Tom

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