AMERICAN RANDONNEUR Volume Seven Issue #3 August 2004 Message From the President ur sport has a lot of French words and phrases, owing to its beginnings there over a hundred years ago. American ran - Odonneurs and randonneuses are familiar with brevets, flèches, contrôles , and the like. If you have read old French cycling magazines, or Audax Club Parisien plaquettes following each Paris-Brest- Paris Randonneurs , one phrase used to be seen a Contents . Page lot— la Petite Reine . Message from the President . 1 The Little Queen? It is a term of affection Welcome New Members . 3 for “Her Majesty”, the bicycle. Americans who RUSA News . 5 have done PBP know firsthand how the French BILL BRYANT The ACP Turns 100! . 6 love their cycling. They line the road and enthu - The Magic of the French Bikes . 8 siastically offer encouragement, assistance, and sustenance to hardy cyclists The Art of the Framebuilder . 11 making their quadrennial pilgrimage to Brest and back, just as they cheer on Permanents News . 14 racing cyclists speeding past, such as during the Tour de France each July. Or 2004 RUSA Event Schedule . 16 Ride Reports . 17 they give a friendly hello to a neighbor cycling by with her family’s fresh bread Super Randonneur Medal Application . 20 for the day, still warm from the baker’s oven. In some areas they eagerly await Randonneur 5000 Medal Application . 21 the day’s mail from a cycling postal worker; others use a bike as their daily RUSA Board Nominations . 22 transportation. These folks know the bicycle is no mere machine. No, it is an RUSA Election Ballot . 23 essential part of their social fabric. In France, the bicycle is not often an David Holmes: 1961-2004 . 26 annoyance in the path of motorists, the way too many Americans view it. In French clubs, people of all social classes come together and ride and socialize, united in their affection for Her Majesty and where she can take them. In RUSA Executive Committee some cases, such as during PBP, it takes one to special places, both within and President . Bill Bryant without, sort of like a magic carpet. Why else would someone of modest Vice-President . John Lee Ellis means spend so much of their year’s salary on a piece of sports equipment? Treasurer . Tim Sullivan These days in France, however, cycling is not so popular as both a specta - Secretary . John Lee Ellis tor and participation sport, not to mention as daily transportation. In the for - Board Member . Lois Springsteen mer case, the dark specter of widespread drug use and sporting fraud has tar - Board Member . Mark Thomas nished its former appeal. And like in other modern nations, the general popu - Board Member . Don Hamilton lace is growing more sedentary while private automobile use is growing. Even RBA Liaison . Jennifer Barber the phrase Little Queen is dying out. Lately it has lost favor with the younger Permanents Coordinator . Robert Fry generation of French cyclists who tend to like English terms more, owing to Souvenir Coordinator . Jennifer Wise the invasion of mountain biking (and probably just to be different from their Newsletter Editor . Michael Dayton parents.) Webmaster . Donn King All this, however, doesn’t diminish the high esteem in which we randon - neurs hold our beloved bicycles. Whether we ride a regular bike, recumbent, Brevet Coordinator . Lois Springsteen tandem, mountain bike, or fixed-gear machine, riding brevets has to be one of Membership Office . Don Hamilton life’s great pleasures. Whether struggling through summer heat, winter snow, RUSA Awards Coordinator . Mark Thomas dark of night, on rough roads, against headwinds, climbing steep hills, or sim - BRM Awards Coordinator . Tom Stevenson ply being lost, our bikes let us conquer time and distance, and more impor - Team Randonnée Coordinator . Mark Thomas tantly, ourselves. Randonneuring’s varied challenges offer the profound satis - Rules Committee Chair . Tim Sullivan faction of plumbing the depths of our willpower and perseverance. That we Patron Club . Davis Bike Club can do it with friends makes a sport that is easy to enjoy at a variety of levels. RANDONNEURS USA, INC. The rewards more than offset the struggles. IS A TAX-EXEMPT 501(C)(3) Many of our 2004 randonneur events have now been run, but there are NONPROFIT CORPORATION still some late-summer and autumn brevets on offer in various regions, not to mention many permanent routes. With Boston-Montreal-Boston just around American Randonneur is a publication of the corner, and the Last Chance not far behind, there is still some tough ran - Randonneurs USA Inc. donneuring to be had this year. No matter the type of machine they pedal, 226 West Avenue best wishes to those RUSA members with another brevet on their plate, Santa Cruz, CA 95060 Website: www.rusa.org. whether it is 200 or 1200 kilometers in length. All Hail the Queen! e-mail:[email protected] Phone: 831-425-2939 Fax: 831-425-2939 All rights reserved.© Bill Bryant American Randonneur RUSA Welcomes Its New Members! RUSA# First Name Last Name City State RUSA# First Name Last Name City State 2607 Tom Pettus Minneapolis MN 2648 Edward Coad Chatham NJ 2608 Steve Matney Glen Echo MD 2649 Christopher Haddakin Hemet CA 2609 Martin Knowles Seattle WA 2650 Santos Ramos Saginav TX 2610 Jason Manke Boulder CO 2651 Donna Stidolph Santa Cruz CA 2611 Janet L Goldstein Baltimore MD 2652 Fred Drewe Austin TX 2612 Glenn A Sampson Windsor CT 2653 Robin Harness Carmel Valley CA 2613 Matthew Callahan Ipswich MA 2654 Dennis Ryll Las Vegas NV 2614 Paul Links Snellville GA 2655 Noah G Lehmann Weare NH 2615 Norman W Cameron Brooklyn NY 2656 M Max Del Real Chico CA 2616 Alan Martin Columbus OH 2657 Christopher OKeefe Mountain View CA 2617 Kathy Martin Columbus OH 2658 Jean Luc Friang Austin TX 2618 Joe Ray Hollingsworth Chapel Hill NC 2659 Sterling Hada El Sobrante CA 2619 Bob Counts Fairfax VA 2660 Joslyn Seefeldt Milton WI 2620 Andrea Matney Glen Echo MD 2661 Jeff Evans Olympia WA 2621 Jeff Gottesman New York NY 2662 Wiliam R Furry Lilburn GA 2622 Daniel Holte Novinger MO 2663 Charles Pailthorp Olympia WA 2623 David B George Fredericksburg VA 2664 Tom Milton Fairfield CA 2624 William Haas Lakewood CO 2625 Jack Crowley Cambridge MA 2626 Jim Crowley Cambridge MA 2627 Jon Hill Albion ME 2628 Ronald Leclair Yalesville CT 2629 Matt Lemay Cambridge MA 2630 Rob Simms Cohasset MA 2631 Gilbert Cole Northboro MA 2632 Daniel Harris West Chester OH 2633 John L Miles St Louis MO 2634 Fred Mulder Seattle WA 2635 Saunders N Whittlesey Deerfield MA 2636 John Fessenden Horseheads NY 2637 Dan Ries Houston TX 2638 Joesph Maurer Mountain View CA 2639 Steve Jordan Los Altos Hills CA 2640 Josh Reddeman-Beach Redmond WA 2641 Chris Ragsdale Seattle WA 2642 Glenn Armstrong Brookdale CA 2643 Felix Gallo Boulder CO 2644 Aaron C Cook Melrose MA 2645 Chuck Millen Blue Springs MO 2646 Steve Schult Omro WI 2647 Phil Cohen Augusta GA www.rusa.org 3 American Randonneur All the Fleches USA events have been ridden for 2004 and the results are on their way to Paris. We had 142 finishers on 34 teams who earned their ACP certificates. Awful spring weather caused a few DNFs in a several regions, but this is still the largest ever RUSA turnout for American Flèche events. Congratulations to all those hardy randonneurs who stepped up to the plate, and NNEEWWSS thank you to the event organizers who made it happen at 11 sites around the country. Bravo! Web Additions RUSA Board Okays The RUSA web site (www.rusa.org) has some new addi - tions. Look at the “menu” and you'll see new sections for Two New Awards Team Events, Permanents, and at the bottom in green, Ultrarandonneur, R-12 Join List Of Honors “Announcements.” From time to time HQ has news or infor - mation that can't wait for the quarterly newsletter and it will BY BILL BRYANT brevets since 1999. Or, if for - be posted there. The Awards page has also been updated. eign events were ridden, such The RUSA Board of as in Canada, a combination Permanents List Expanding Directors has recently author - of the two could work for The list of Permanents is continuously growing. If you ized two new distance awards verification. A longer event want to ride one of these events, check out the Permanents for RUSA members to earn. could take the place of a section on the web site and do a ride search for an event that The first is the ULTRA shorter event, such as a 230 interests you. RANDONNEUR AWARD. km RUSA brevet standing for It is earned by riding the stan - the ACP 200k distance, or a dard Super Randonneur series 400k working as a 300k. In (200k, 300k, 400k, 600k) of this example, the rider would The Webmaster Sez! brevets over 10 seasons. They have brevets of 200k, 400k, BY DONN KING need not be consecutive sea - 400k, and 600k. Many of you are waiting for your brevet sons, nor is there a time limit The other new honorific cards to be returned to you with authoriza - on how long it takes to com - is the R-12 AWARD for rid - tion numbers from Paris, so that you can pile the 10 seasons of SR ing a 200k (or longer) event complete your applications for North series. for 12 consecutive months. American 1200K events, such as Boston- Either ACP or RUSA- The counting event sequence Montreal-Boston, RM 1200, and Last sanctioned brevets would be can commence during any Chance.