Immediately there was much gnashing of teeth and people from all over the country started looking about to figure out where they might be able to pick up a RUSA 200+ km Brevet, or a RUSA 100-199 km Brevet-Populaire.
The Board announced that there would be a mitigation program for people pursuing R-series, people pursuing P-series, people pursuing K-Hound. Not sure when the mitigation plans were published, but it was soon after the suspension.
Two people in North Carolina particularly caught my attention:
- BobB, looking to K-Hound and get R-108. and
- McDave looking to K-Hound and get R-48.
Essentially not wanting to put their eggs in the mitigation basket.
I was also interested in the P-ride and R-ride issues, but
I wasn't going to travel to find rides.
I needed a December R-ride AND
To submit my July R-ride paperwork AND get that approved
To have a calendar year R-12,
Which would have been my fourth R-12.
Sometimes, by which I mean "all the time,"
It is good to have a good relationship with the RBA.
That allowed me to call Alan with an idea.
If I would do the work, or the lion's share of it,
How about we put on some suddenly scheduled brevets and brevet-pops.
But not the usual Raleigh Region routes that start in Morrisville.
But instead create a couple new routes that would be easier for me to get to.
Alan was amenable.
So, I took the "Badgett Sisters Parkway" 208-km perm
To make a 200+ km brevet.
[Getting permission from the owner of that route was easy -- I'm the route-owner.]
Then I figured out a 100+ km brevet-pop that started from the same location as the BSP.
The Populaire was a bit more work as there was not an existing perm-pop that fit the bill.
However, there is an Irregulars approx 75-miler route that could be modified.
That route also my invention.
Made cue sheets and RWGPS maps as needed.
Emailed both sets to Alan for his review.
And arranged to ride the 20-miles to Alan's on December 2nd to jointly review.
I did that, with the review happening during the half-time of a
UNC Women's Soccer match.
We, by which I mean, Alan, filed the two routes.
We hoped that the routes would get approved in time for
BobB and me to pre-ride the Dec-15th "200k" on Wed, Dec-12th.
Then, on the 15th, probably with Bob's help,
I'd send the 200k brevet and 100k brevet-pop riders on their way.
And BobB and I would pre-ride the Dec-16th simultaneously with the Dec-15th brevet-pop riders.
Thus Bob and I would have our R-rides and our P-rides.
And on the 16th, I would send the 200k and 100k brevet-pop riders on their way.
Everybody in central NC would have the opportunity to get an R-ride on either of those two days.
Likewise, everyone would have the opportunity to get a P-ride on either of those two days.
However, a couple things happened.
First, I thought I was riding quite fast on the return 20-mile ride from Alan's to my hovel.
But when finished, I found I had ridden significantly slower than I thought I was riding.
Okay, so my perception was off -- no big deal.
Except that later than night, December 2nd, I noticed the start of those tell-tale signals of
"Uh-oh, I think I've got a cold."
It turned out that I did have a cold.
It would become one of the worst I can recall.
We didn't get approval for the new routes until the evening of December 12th.
I.e., too late for the only possible pre-ride date: first thing in the day, December 12th.
But we, by which I mean Alan and me, had already decided to use the usual Morrisville routes.
It didn't really matter, because coincident with me coming down with the cold symptoms,
The weather in central NC turned absolutely LOUSY.
Backing up a bit, the RUSA Perms Program was reinstated on Dec-07.
Meaning the brevets and brevet-pops were no longer "necessary."
The reinstatement of the Perms Program,
Combined with the atrocious weather expected for December 15th and 16th,
Combined with only one person had actually committed any of the four rides,
Combined with my worst ever head cold,
I called the one committed person, McDave, to suggest he not do the brevet.
McDave agreed that it made more sense to wait for a better weather day
To ride a Perm for his R-48, and whatever else he needed to K-Hound.
Bob also waited for better weather, got his R and P rides, and
Actually got to K-Hound before McDave (who had been ahead all year).
I didn't get over my head cold until at least December 23rd, probably December-24th.
I did get in a P-ride on the 29th.
But, due to work, and worrying whether I was actually over the head cold,
Combined with it looked as if the route-owner of my July R-ride might not renew with RUSA,
And what is the point of R-12 if you don't have R-7,
I didn't do an R-ride in December.
So, to summarize:
- Perms program suspended,
- New brevet and brevet-pop routes created,
- Perms program reinstated,
- New routes approved,
- But we were going to end up using the "usual" routes,
- All four brevet / brevet-pop events cancelled because of the weather, and
- Everyone that was interested got their K-Hound, R-ride, P-ride before month's end,
- Using Perm / Perm-Pop routes. .
No comments:
Post a Comment