on 7/13/10 8:57 AM, Ray Shine at r.sh...@sbcglobal.net wrote: > Please forgive my general ignorance about randoneuring (heck, I'm not even > certain how to pronoun it!) but what is the objective? Is it to finish each > leg or segment in a given time frame? To find your own way without pavement > arrows?
"Ran-dun-UR-ring" seems to be the most common. But, hey, I never took French... A good place to start is at the rusa.org site, though it has a bit of a formality to it that seems a trifle at odds with the quality of the camaraderie. http://www.rusa.org Basically, it's a ride (not race) over a course of fixed distance, stressing self-sufficiency in the rider and machine. The times are designed so that a reasonably fit rider can complete it. Typically, the distances are 200k, 300K, 400K, 600K and 1200K, building over the season to allow riders to develop endurance and confidence over longer distances. To qualify for Paris-Brest-Paris, you have to do a "series". The clock is a "rolling time", which means it's always going, so breaks for food, mechanicals, etc. are "on the clock". There is a time limit at each control which is designed to get you to the finish at the maximum allowed time. Riders definitely go faster than the time limits, but there is a range along the spectrum, and most people end up in groups of similar ability. For example, the SFR 200K has a 13.5 hour limit, I finished the last one at about 10:40, and the fastest riders were done at about 8 hours. No pavement arrows. Route sheets are provided or made available. > I have ridden this same route on my own a kazillion times and can't see why > they allow 7.5 hours to finish it. What am I not getting? Coffee breaks? Pizza at Bovine Bakery? As I mentioned, that time is the cutoff. The times at each control are cutoff times, too, so if you don't make one of the those, you won't get credit for the ride. The Populaire is a way to test the waters on a ride of reasonable distance, and is a good way to get the idea of the controls, cards, route sheets, etc. - J -- Jim Edgar cyclofi...@earthlink.net Cyclofiend Bicycle Photo Galleries - http://www.cyclofiend.com Current Classics - Cross Bikes Singlespeed - Working Bikes The Gallery needs your photos! Send 'em in - Here's how: http://www.cyclofiend.com/guidelines "She edged in to get a better look at the bike, how it was made, the intricacy of its brakes and shifters pulling her straight in. Beauty." -- William Gibson, "Virtual Light" -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bu...@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
