Dear RUSA Members,
The Audax Club Parisien has made a major change to its Brevets de Randonneurs Mondiaux regulations that we follow at Randonneurs USA. Starting immediately, there will only be timing at the final control of each brevet. The RUSA Board of Directors has voted to follow this and so our US brevets and populaires will no longer have timed intermediate controls.
The ACP is encouraging RBAs to still use the familiar opening and closing times for intermediate controls, but this is to be only a guideline to help riders stay inside the time window for a successful finish at the final control, which will be timed. And, following the recent change for events 1200 km and longer by Les Randonneurs Mondiaux, US organizers for grand randonnées can chose to use timed intermediate controls or not.
What do you need to do? Ride events as you always would – you must follow the route and reach all the control points, but don’t stress too much about the control times between the start and the finish; now it is the final checkpoint’s timing that you need to be concerned with.
Best wishes for a good year of randonneuring,
The RUSA Board of Directors
Short version:
I will cheer RBA’s that continue to publish closing control times. (Though perhaps they need a new name).
Comments:
I suspect control close times will fade from practice as both control cards and cue sheets become less relevant. Speaking as someone that often rode at the back of the back and near “control speed”, it is both comforting and motivating to know how much time in the bank (i.e. time before control end time) you have when both arriving at and leaving a control.
While we rightly celebrate those that finish through all odds, I think back to my Endless Mountains 1000 km in 2008. I got heat exhaustion at 90 miles after passing RBA Tom on the roadside with water (he knew something I didn’t) then went dry . Rode another 1 ½ days without recovering. The first control I hit beyond control time was a relief. I checked in to a motel, got a bit of rest, then rode to the staffed (overnight) control to abandon. For me, that was the right decision. I came back the next year to finish the Endless Mountains 1240 km (as the last rider within the time limit). Having clarify on control times (when lacking the ability to ride faster than control time even when healthy) was helpful especially to me when your mind might be clouded.
Jim Logan
Pittsburgh, PA
RUSA #3730
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Thanks, Rob. Paul, the control times are *not* flexible. The start control has a fixed starting time set by the RBA and late riders can check in up to one hour after that before it closes.
There are controls that riders must reach along the route, but there is no more intermediate control timing anymore. However, RUSA and the ACP want RBAs to still post the control times as an *advisory* to help riders reach the final control inside the time window.
The final control opening and closing times are standard, using the familiar pacing time format from before.
For RBAs with a supported intermediate control with food/water, etc , they can use the checkpoint calculator tool to determine when they are “open” to help riders. They do not need to be there early for the faster riders, nor do they have to wait around longer for slower riders. It is all spelled out in the revised Rules For Riders.
Bill Bryant
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Agreed – just as the ACP is encouraging all RBAs to do, I hope the checkpoint times will always be included to help the riders with their pacing and finish successfully. I know my club will be doing that.
Bill Bryant
RBA, Santa Cruz Randonneurs
From:
randonn...@googlegroups.com <randonn...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Gardner Duvall <gardner...@gmail.com>
Date: Sunday, February 4, 2024 at 7:43 AM
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Cc: Randonneurs USA <randonn...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: [RUSA] Remembering the comfort of knowing your "Time in the Bank"
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Yes, they were, Robert, but not much, if at all in the 21st century.
In the past, we struggled to be sure we made the cut-offs at PBP. What happened, I think, is that the local clubs knocked themselves out to host riders at controls in their town, but then having to be “the bad guy” was something they didn’t want to do. The ACP wanted them to keep hosting the controls – after all, w/o good controls there would be no PBP. So, the ACP despite saying the intermediate controls “must be respected,” turned a blind eye as increasingly more riders were pass through controls despite being out of time. In the 1980s, enforcement was definitely “a thing”, but it started to shift somewhat in the 90s, and after the turn of the century, many riders knew they could keep riding to Paris, even if outside time at some intermediate controls, especially following a sleep break. (And the regs still said riders had to meet the cut-offs.) In any case, by 2023 it was a moot point, the ACP officially said they were now “an advisory” (and in practice, that had been happening for a good many recent editions.) But yes, in the past, the intermediate controls were enforced. Also note that the ACP brevets since 1921 enforced them too, but again, in the 21st century, that began to change.
Bill Bryant
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Date: Friday, February 9, 2024 at 12:35
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