skiffrun

Interesing thread. The HHH web-site was semi-interesting. My "take-away" from this?

Basically, HHH is a hilly 200 km ride, with a 900 foot climb at the end, that people pay a LOT of money to ride so that there will be too many others on the road at the same time, but there will be SAG stops and SAG wagons and mechanical support and food and more food (?). And I guess atmosphere.

While reading the thread, I was thinking "some of these people need to become randonneurs and then they can do rides like this all the time." But then I consulted the RUSA Permanents page to find rides in Illinois and Wisconsin ... apparently there is not a very active randonneuring community in Chicago, nor northern Illinois, nor Wisconsin ... as there were almost no "Permanents" listed.

However, randonneuring rides are self-supported. No sag wagons following on the course. No sag stops. No stocked rest stops either. You either bring or buy your own food en route. You fix your own mechanicals, or maybe another randonneur or two or three or more will stop to help you.

I chose not to put links into the above paragraphs ... if you are interested ... you can do a google search yourself.

skijor

NC's "Assault on Mt. Mitchell" is a similar ride...an extremely challenging climb. Both could be randonneured (is that a word?). But nobody brings much extra gear on the HHH. Having never done the Mt. Mitchell ride, I'm guessing its climbing is more mountainlike. The HHH hills are numerous and wear you down gradually. Novices that think they can mash gears all day will eventually end up walking, or at least in considerable discomfort by the end. The HHH is more about camaraderie and a party at the end. Randonneuring is rewarding too, just in a different way.

bobrobertson

IIRC the Great Lakes Randonneurs, the area's RUSA affiliate, has over 200 members. While small for a region of this size, ridership in the club's brevet series has increased throughout the decade. Last year 72 riders completed the 200k brevet. Although the longer brevets passed through the area where the HHH is held they did not include the final climb.

The club's website is at: https://www.glrrando.org/

There is a related discussion forum at: https://www.thechainlink.org/group/chicagorandonneurs

A listing of brevets and other long rides in the area can be found at: https://cosaro4rides.com/2011_Brevet_...er_long_rides/

I hope this information is helpful.

skiffrun

^
Thanks for the links.

200 members and 72 that completed the 200 km brevet is an excellent number. I see that GLR has very reasonable fees for the brevets; the most reasonable fees of which I am aware.

However, if you reread the first third of the sentence you quoted, and the last third ... you'll notice that I was refering to the lack of Permanents.

Even though I could find no one with your apparent last name on the RUSA database living near Chicago, I am confident that you can find the "Permanents Page" on the RUSA website, and the map, and that you'll be able to clear the map of all but Illinois and Wisconsin permanents ... and you'll find ... one Permanent in the greater Chicago area (Naperville) ... and one in Waterford, Eagle Lake, Wisconsin ... and two in Madison.

Being bred, born and raised in NW Illinois (and having worked 7 years in Chicago (when just out of university)), I find it hard to think of Madison or Waterford as being part of Chicagoland, even Greater Chicagoland.

The Naperville ("Fox Valley Permanent") was approved in mid-August last year, and ridden 4 times by six different people between August and November last year. I expect that it could well be the case that northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin are on the verge of a veritable "explosion" in the number of Permanents -- that seems to be the usual pattern around the country: once there is one, soon there are more.

skiffrun

I actually logged in to note the price of the HHH versus the price of the AoMM.

HHH ... $75.
AoMM ... $135. (plus possible extras)

I didn't check what the HHH is doing regarding people selling their registration to others, but this year AoMM has a transfer fee that is applied to each of the seller and the buyer if a registration is sold / transferred to another person. The fee varies depending on when the transfer occurs. I didn't verify, but I'm reasonably confident that to assure getting an AoMM registration anymore, one need to join the Spartanburg Freewheelers a couple months before the registration process occurs -- I don't know that cost (I didn't check), but likely at least $10 or $20. [Edit: also, the plan where you "do the 'Assault on Marion' one year and get a registration for the 'Assault on Mt. Mitchell' the next year" still seems to be in place.]

So ... what's my point?
Maybe HHH isn't all that expensive compared to other overly-popular rides.

Hope you all have fun and stay safe at the HHH !

bobrobertson

I like pie.

skiffrun

How inciteful.

Barrettscv 

Last year it was possible to transfer HHH registration, and there was no fee.

sekaijin

Are you sure? I thought it was $10 in past years. I see it's now $25.

I don't fault them for charging a transfer fee. Dealing with transfer requests is a pain. And with an underpriced, capped event like this, a transfer fee can work as a disincentive from people signing up on speculation.

Barrettscv 

I'll recheck my emails. Last year I purchased a registration from a cyclest who has a scheduling conflict. I don't remember a fee. The entire process went smoothly.

sekaijin

^ I think the fee is charged to the person selling the slot. So, the person you bought it from last year may or may not have passed that cost on to you.