Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - 12 Hours of St. Petersburg, June 9, 2012

The Second Annual 12 Hours of St. Pete (Florida, not Russia) is coming up June 9, 2012.

Solos and teams of up to four riders will find out how far they can go in 12 hours.

The course is approximately 15 miles with several interesting checkpoints. Good judgment and patience are as likely to produce a big mileage total as just being fast.

In it's first year last year, the event drew 90 riders from throughout the southeast, including randonneurs, ultra-distane racers, age-group triathletes, local kids on whatever bike they had at hand, and a Cat. 1 racer (who won the event, which was settled up with a field sprint).

We're on the interwebs, here: here (www.12hoursofstpete.com)...

...and on the Book of Faces, here (http://www.facebook.com/events/341861102538635).

Hope to see some of you out there. Holler in this thread or P.M. me with any questions.

Paul (The Octopus) Rozelle

Looks interesting. How are the roads along the course?

Riders can take whatever route they think best -- safest, shortest, fastest, prettiest... whatever -- between the checkpoints. We'll publish a "suggested route," which is not necessarily the fastest or shortest one -- well in advance of the event.

There will be many good route options -- roads with low speed limits, bicycle lanes, and that are used by local cyclists (so drivers are used to seeing us on these roads -- to get between the checkpoints. You'll likely have the option to ride (or avoid) some cobbles, depending on your appetite for such things.

Hope to see you there!

I have to admit, the thought of having to stop every 4 miles or so to get a card stamped may just keep me from attending this event. It would be nice if they charged a little more and had chip timing.

I have to admit, the thought of having to stop every 4 miles or so to get a card stamped may just keep me from attending this event. It would be nice if they charged a little more and had chip timing.
Compared to the ultra-distance events most are used to here, this is a different style of event. Starts and stops are part of it, as is figuring out the best way between all the checkpoints (which will be published well in advance so people can study the possible routes 'til their heart's content).

Punching your card takes a few seconds -- you do it yourself, except at the start/finish where your punches are verified and you're given the "complete lap" punch. It's quite a bit faster than other systems I've seen anywhere else. We did look at RFID. It would have cost us, er... our racers... a small fortune and we'd still need a back-up system. We had results in 30 minutes last year. And our top mileage guy did 221 miles. Not bad for having to stop every 4 miles or so.

It was a huge amount of fun. This year is going to be even better in so many ways. Hope you and others can come out for it.