We’ve got a lot in store for 2021. Hopefully the Coronavirus will have passed and things will return to normal! This is not only our own scheduled rides but also the “feature rides” for our friends at Minnesota Randonneurs. Also, be sure to check the Driftless Randonneurs site for some outstanding riding in the Driftless.
Here’s the schedule for 2021:
April 17 – ACP 200K “Pocketful of Nichols”
May 1 – ACP 200K “Making for Maquoketa”
May 1 – ACP 300K “Point me to Peosta”
May 15 – ACP 400K “Guttenberg Gutcheck”
May 21 – Minnesota Randonneurs Flèche (Team event)
May 29 – ACP 300K West Union
May 29 – ACP 400K West Union
May 29 – ACP 600K West Union
May 30 – ACP 200K West Union
June 5 – Driftless 600K
June 11 – Driftless “Tour of the Driftless” 1000K
June 26 – Minnesota 600K
Aug 21 – Minnesota 600K
Sept 11 – ACP 200K Route TBD
Oct 2 – ACP 200K “Pocketful of Nichols”
Some notes about the schedule.
We’ll be holding a “West Union Weekend” over Memorial Day weekend. West Union was the venue for two pre-PBP “Hell Weeks”. Although not spread over a week, we’ll be holding all of the events in a Super Randonneur series over the weekend. The idea is that you can either choose to do one of the longer rides on Saturday, make a weekend of it with a 300K on Saturday and 200K on Sunday or just come out for a single day ride. I’ve ridden all of the West Union routes and have enjoyed them so this should be a fun weekend of riding no matter which distance you choose.
In addition to remembering the people who lost their lives on Sept 11, the date holds additional significance in 2021: it is the 100th anniversary of the first ACP brevet. Both RUSA and the ACP are planning on issuing something that will be available for purchase as a memento for riders participating in a brevet on that day. Here’s a bit of background about the first brevet courtesy of Bill Bryant (RUSA 7):
The Audax Club Parisien was founded in November of 1904 to participate in the new “audax” 200k endurance rides that were starting to take place. “Audax” signified always riding in a group at about 16-18 kph with a road captain who kept the group together the entire time, and from going too fast. The rides often lasted from dawn to dusk and were fairly popular around the Paris region. Upon a successful completion of the ride, participants were awarded a certificate or diploma (brevet in French) for their athletic feat– no small thing in a time of dirt roads and cobblestones and fairly primitive bicycles and cycling clothes and equipment
Over time some of the riders began to itch to go faster than the steady audax pace, others wanted to also include audax hiking activities with the group cycling, while others wanted the club to remain true to its audax group cycling format. Club meetings became pretty heated affairs and in the summer of 1921 it all exploded. A majority of the ACP members voted to start doing “allure libre” or free-pace brevets that allowed riders to choose their own pace so long as they stayed inside the minimum and maximum speeds, and they could ride alone or in a group– the same as we do today. The audax cyclists angrily decamped and formed their own organization, as did the hiking contingent.
So, there was no more “audax” in the Audax Club Parisien. On Sunday, September 11, 1921 the ACP held its first free-pace brevet of 200 km. The route was a big loop that went west and south of Paris to Dreux, Chartres, and then back to Paris. Twenty-six randonneurs and randonneuses completed the ride, arriving at intervals back in Paris. Brevet #1 was issued that day, starting a continuous string of numbered brevets that we still earn today. The free-pace randonneuring begun that day eventually spread through France in the 1920s and -30s, around the globe starting in the 1970s, and here we are in the 21st century, still out earning our diplomas while choosing to ride our own pace and how many people we want to ride with. This is the formula of the Brevets de Randonneurs Mondiaux, or BRM that you see on the front of brevet cards sanctioned by the ACP.