A RUSA birthday celebration 200 brevet, 100 brevet-pop, and picnic since 2008.
The 2008 picnic and rides were to celebrate RUSA's 10th birthday.
Last year, 2018, many regions put on brevets and/or brevet-pops for RUSA's 20th anniversary.
This year, 2019, RUSA celebrated its twenty-first birthday and that
Made this year the twelfth year of Raleigh rides and picnics to honor RUSA's creation.
The rides are typically in August, on a Saturday close / closest to the 14th.
In PBP years, the rides are delayed into September.
(Except 2011, when the celebration was delayed until mid-October.)
Here follows the complete list of brevet-pops ever put on in the Raleigh Region.
All the populaires using "route 655" were done in connection for the RUSA anniversary events.
The "Mt. Tirzah" populaires, December-2018, were to counter the suspension of the Permanents program.
The "Bunn Warmer" populaire, November-2012, was done in connection with the year-end party.
| Region | Club | Type | Distance | Date | Route | select |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2019/09/21 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2018 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2018/08/18 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2018/12/15 | Mt. Tirzah Populaire | view |
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2018/12/16 | Mt. Tirzah Populaire | view |
| 2017 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2017/08/19 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2016 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2016/08/20 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2015 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2015/09/19 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2014 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2014/08/16 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2013 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2013/08/17 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2012 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2012/08/11 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 111 | 2012/11/24 | Bunn Warmer | view |
| 2011 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2011/10/15 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2010 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 100 | 2010/08/14 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2009 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 110 | 2009/08/15 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
| 2008 | ||||||
| NC: Raleigh | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | RUSAP | 110 | 2008/08/16 | route 655 (unnamed) | view |
In most years, there have been more riders for the 200 than for the populaire.
I won't copy in the list of the RUSA anniversary 200's as doing so would be difficult.
The last few years, the ridership at the anniversary picnic rides has dwindled.
(So too has overall ridership. There are several likely reasons, but that's a subject for another day.)
This year, McDave and I did a pre-ride of the populaire starting with the 200 riders at 6 am,
So that we would finish in time to help Alan set up for the picnic, etc..
 |
| McDave snapped some pics as we rode across Jordan Lake. I understand, from a third pary, that he posted them, and perhaps others, on his Instagram account. I'm not on Instragram, and don't figure to join. This photo came to me via the aforementioned third party. I'm borrowing McDave's photo for inclusion here just so that those that have trouble reading when there are no pictures will feel welcome. |
Usually, someone joins Alan for the trip to the grocery store to acquire picnic food and supplies.
This year, when I called Alan a few minutes after 11 am,
To let him know that McDave and I had completed the 100,
Alan answered his phone, indicating that he was just then leaving Harris Teeter with the supplies.
Dave and I cleaned up a bit, and then walked from the park shelter to Alan's house,
To help load Alan's grill and other supplies into Alan's truck to transport all to the park shelter.
Good thing we didn't waste any time setting up the picnic,
Because the first 200 finishers came in before 1 pm,
Less than two hours after Dave and I had finished the populaire pre-ride,
And likely less than an hour after Alan, Dave, and I had gotten things set up for the picnic.
McDave stayed around as long as he could to interact with other finishers,
But he had a conflicting family commitment -- to attend the App State football game.
I refer to it as the App State game because of McDave's connections to same,
And also because App State won the game, upsetting favored and homestanding UNC!
In addition to the riders, a few family members of some also showed up for the picnic.
I won't try to enumerate the family members because I'm sure I'd leave some out.
There was much conversation among the riders, Alan, and maybe even including me.
Some of the conversation was about the recent PBP, but I reckon less than half.
I did a poor job of attending the grill and cooking -- Alan did more than the lion's share of that work.
Among the riders completing the 200 were a tandem team from New Hampshire.
During the course of the conversations, John inquired about possible ride routes for the next day.
My impression was that he and Ann may have been interested in a greenway ride.
Finally, after a couple minutes of what appeared to be fruitless conversation,
I asked if John and Ann would be interested in riding as far as 100-kms.
Quick conversation confirmed they were staying only a couple miles from Bay Leaf,
The location where three of my permanent-populaires begin and end.
Blah, blah, blah, we agreed to meet at the Bay Leaf CVS for a 7 am ride
On the "Bahama Beach" route the next morning.
Eventually, everyone except Alan and me had left the park shelter picnic area.
Then the final 200 rider arrived at 5 pm.
Alan and/or I prepared another burger or two, and
Enjoyed nearly another hour of conversation with the lantern rouge
After he completed his first ever RUSA ride.
It was about 6 pm when Alan and I loaded up his truck with the grill and accessories.
I recall I left Alan's house about 6:30 pm -- my volunteer day done.
Alan's day, however, still had more to it -- namely, cleaning up kitchen utensils and such.
This is my 2019 RUSA Anniversary Picnic story; I'll be sticking to it.
| Cert# | RUSA# | Name | Club | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC: Raleigh RUSAP 100 km 2019/09/21 finishers=7 DNF=0 North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 |
||||
| RUSA-P16066 | 3095 | J__, Wes | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | 04:11 |
| RUSA-P16067 | 10234 | Mc_, David | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | 05:10 |
| RUSA-P16069 | 6218 | S__, Martin | Randonneurs USA / 933095 | 05:10 |
| RUSA-P16070 | 215 | O__, Michael | North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 | 05:26 |
| RUSA-P16071 | 4649 | M__, John | Carolina Tarwheels / 933047 | 04:29 |
| RUSA-P16072 | 1526 | G__, Tony | Bicycle For Life Club / 933057 | 04:29 |
| 1 nonmember(s) also finished this event | ||||
| NC: Raleigh ACPB 200 km 2019/09/21 finishers=5 DNF=0 North Carolina Bicycle Club / 933045 |
||||
| 723578 | 13342 | B__, Nicholas | Randonneurs USA / 933095 | 11:00 |
| 723580 | 10504 | J__, Ann | New England Randonneurs / 921005 | 06:49 |
| 723581 | 2190 | J__, John | New England Randonneurs / 921005 | 06:49 |
| 723582 | 10866 | L__, Jon | Carolina Tarwheels / 933047 | 07:36 |
| 1 nonmember(s) also finished this event | ||||
Re-reading the post, I realized that I wrote NOTHING about the ride!?
ReplyDeleteThe "100k" brevet-pop ride with McDave was mostly non-eventful. Just pedaling along, sometimes in conversation, sometimes not. And isn't that just about the best type of bicycle ride: just riding along with pleasant company, enjoying the "moment."
There was one semi-interesting thing that happened:
After turning off Hamlet Chapel Rd onto US-15/501, there is a shallow incline to ride on the shoulder of the highway to get to the left turn off the highway to descend to Bynum. As best I can recall, every previous time I've ridden this brevet-pop (or Alan's 7Cs perm-pop, which is essentially the same course), that so-called shallow incline on US-15/501 has been a slog for me, and in my recollection, was a mile or more before reaching the turn toward Bynum. However, this ride I was in a wonderful feeling, quick cadence, and that incline was so short that I couldn't believe we had reached the turn as quickly as we did. I was leading and actually rode past the turn!
McDave had to call me to stop, check the road name we had just ridden past, and turn around or whatever we had to do to get back on the course.
I deemed it a "good thing" that I was riding well enough that the usually long incline had become much shorter.
How well was I riding you might wonder. Well, this ride was my fastest avg pace in-motion year-to-date, just barely edging out my September 13 RBR ride.