Anybody doing the 400K the weekend of 02/24-25/07

I'm confused here!!! I know the Brevets are scheduled for certain days/weekends, but do they also run them the weekend before too? I saw several people out on the Suncoast the last Saturday Feb 24th that looked like they were doing a Brevet and now I see this thread! What gives? If they are doing the weekend before how do we find out about them? I skipped out on yesterday's Brevet because I didn't want to ride in 18 mph wind and rain! Yeah I guess you could call me a sissy, but ..... riding on the road is dangerous enough without having to deal with Mothernature too. However last weekend (the 24th) would have been great and I would have been all over it had I'd known they were riding.


Oh and BTW-- Thanks for cleaning the forum up. The spammers really suck!!! GO to phpbbsyles.com and do a search on spam blocking.

Yes, very often the RBA, or one or more other riders will pre-ride the brevet the week before to check for problems due to construction and other potential hazards.

Those riders get credit for the brevet and need not ride on the official date. Riders who ride the pre-ride and the official date only are credited with one brevet. To get official credit you have to ride the event within 8 days before or after the official date. That means you can ride it this coming weekend, if you like.

If you are interested in riding a pre-ride or makeup ride the week after contact our RBA Michael Grussemeyer.

Cool! So you can ride anytime during the 8 days before or after the official "Brevet" to receive credit. This doesn't help me now, but for future Brevets it will. Thanks for the tip.

This topic of pre/post rides is/has been a problem, like voting, that seems to never die in Florida. The Rule is (and we can all benefit from reading 'rules for riders" at the beginning of the season) -

(excerted)
An RBA and/or event volunteers may pre-ride the route of an ACP or RUSA-sanctioned brevet or
populaire up to 8 days in advance. Submit a volunteer's pre-ride results as if the volunteer
completed the event as scheduled on the calendar. Do not submit results for that volunteer for
a second event if the rider could not have completed both events as scheduled. This situation
could occur when multiple events are scheduled for the same date, for example a 200km and
300km. There is no provision in BRM regulations for any "make-up" rides.
(finish)

There should be no large group of riders the week before - unless they are all working controls - and rides after the date aren't official.

The reasons? Gaming the weather report. Having a brevet be a significant event on the calendar

Well there should be! I'm not a girlyman nor a fair weather rider, but when the winds are gusting up to 22 MPH and there is a 70% chance of rain over the entire region I'm opting out. The roads are dangerous enough for cyclists without adding in the above mentioned elements. No biggie!!! I can go out on my own and rack up saddle time.


Just my $.10 (inflation)

well, I wouldn't say girlyman, but fair weather rider, yes. The whole point of (well, not the whole point) randonneurring is on X day, we will ride Y miles. Truly unsafe conditions, like the Kentucky 200 with ice, cancel the event. Rain? Headwinds? Cold? Let's go!

Alright, that was rather a short reply, and now that I've done the dishes and thought a bit more, here's a longer answer.

If you're in Paris, or Boston or Vancouver Island or Colorado, and the weather isn't perfect, are you going to bail on a 1200?

If there's two days of rain forecast, do you cancel a 1200 that some may have traveled from another continent to do?

Wouldn't you rather have experience at combating not only the elements, but your reactions?

No, no one has to ride any brevet - but there are rules, just like any other sport, and they should be observed.

Cool! You bring up a valid point about the 1200 ride and about the rules. I guess I'm just looking at it through different eyes. I was trying to use these rides to prepare/train for a 24 hour MTB race coming up in May, so I wasn't thinking of the longer Brevet rides and how this would affect them. As for being a "Fair Weather" rider, not hardly. I do a fair amount of XC Mountain Bike racing and the race goes off whether it's raining, snowing, or clear blue and 22.

I'm actually going to try and pull off the 400 km this weekend on my own, starting at the Suncoast Parkway/SR54 and going North towards Brooksville over to Clermont, etc... I have the map loaded in my GPS and I have the que sheet just incase the GPS fails.

If all goes well, I'll plan on hitting the 600 next month.

BTW- It's nice to see someone else posting in this forum other than myself, tjordan, and the spammers.

there is a 400 in Bonifay this weekend.