Permanents
 

How is the Permanent situation in your area? Permanents are basically Brevet routes maintained by the RUSA and can be ridden virtually any time. I live in the Dallas, TX area and we have a fairly large collection of permanent routes to choose from with several new ones added so far this year.

The Lone Star Randonneurs is a very active Randonneuring club in the Dallas area. It seems that almost every weekend, a group gets together to ride a permanent. This weekend, there are groups riding different 200K routes both Saturday and Sunday. Lot's of opportunity to get RUSA credit for riding.

I was riding into work this morning thinking about posting a permanents thread here. You rock!

Our situation here in Ohio sucks. The closest permanents are in upstate New York, the Quad Cities area, and Nashville. It's all a 7-hour drive away. Boo!

I've spoken with our RBA here and I'm planning on putting together some routes -- a few 200Ks and 300Ks, mostly in southern and southeastern Ohio -- which I hope to get approved by RUSA and to roll out to the riding public this fall. I've got ideas for a few routes, but I need to get out there and work out the potential controles and check to make sure of store hours, etc.

We have guys here who have gotten the R-12 award, but they've had to do a heck of a lot of traveling (including to the DFW area!) to do it! Stay tuned for more details!

Oklahoma here, and I dont even think we have any permanents. Dallas isnt too far away I suppose though.

Theres actually only two members of RUSA in oklahoma (I am not one of them).

That's quite a shame. OK seems to have pretty active cycling groups in OKC and Tulsa. There are even a couple scheduled Brevets in OK. I wonder who rides them?

There is one series in Tahlequah that I'm probably going to try to do next year, but its an ACP event not a RUSA one (but who cares, its a brevet! ;) ), but alas, no permanents. :( Shame too, because they would be really good practice for someone like me.

As much as who attends it, I havent a clue, but theres so many cyclists around here I'm sure at least some people show up out of mild interest. But there are events here like the Oklahoma Freewheel ( http://www.okfreewheel.com/ ) which sounds fun as well. :)

Most brevets are ACP events. These are scheduled far in advanced (Oct. the preceding year) and are the events that you need to ride if you are trying to qualify for the Paris Brest Paris event.

RUSA is the US organization that coordinates with the ACP in France. However, RUSA also sanctions brevets separately from the ACP. the advantage is that RUSA brevets can be put on a schedule much closer to the event date than ACP brevets. The disadvantage is that RUSA events do not count toward PBP qualification or ACP awards like Super Randonneur.

Permanents are simply approved routes submitted by RUSA members that can be scheduled by contacting the person who created the route.

For more information, see the info at www.rusa.org.

I've done the okfreewheel three times. It's a good ride except for the hot, humid weather. This year I did Ride the Rockies in Colorado and had a blast.

The reason I wondered who rides the OK brevets is that you are required to be a RUSA member to participate in a brevet. Since there are only two members in OK (you were correct. I checked) perhaps people come from other states. From what I recall, the Talequah routes are pretty hilly.

Up here, we call those sorts of events "brevets". I know, I know ... there is a difference between permanents and brevets, but what you describe is basically how we run our brevets here.

We did try to run some shorter permanents (50K and 100K) as intro events but they didn't fly at all so we've dropped them from our schedule all together.

The rest of our rides are all listed on the database with suggested dates, and we try to get as many people out for those dates as possible, but hey, if you need a 400K or something, you can just run through the list of 400K rides, pick one and ride it.


The short events are the ones I think of when I think of as permanents. But in the UK, permanents are different ... possibly even slightly different from the RUSA permanents: http://www.audax.uk.net/cal/perms/index.htm

This is a quote from the Audax UK site:


There is a tremendous variety of permanent rides, based on those offered by Audax Club Parisien and the Fédération Française de Cyclotourisme on the Continent. You will need to make enquiries with individual organisers to discover just how particular events operate.

Permanent rides are more flexible than calendared events. Most can be ridden at any time and many organisers will not insist that you commit yourself to a particular date in advance. Most organisers provide you with a route sheet and many offer advice as to possible places to obtain your proof of passage in designated towns or villages. There are Diagonals, coast to coast events, such as the Edge to Edge, and Arrows and Darts, such as the Youth Hostel Darts, for which riders provide organisers with their own route and control details. Normal Audax rules apply but some organisers may have additional regulations. Most entry fees are £2.

Permanents require more self-sufficiency than calendared rides and are intended as events for the more experienced rider, riding alone or with family and friends. Some solo cyclists particularly enjoy permanents because they feel under no pressure to ride faster than their normal touring pace, whilst others, such as the regular Mesh Permanent riders, appreciate the freedom to devise their own routes between designated attractive towns and villages.

When enquiring about a permanent, please let the organiser know exactly what information you need and send a stamped self-addressed envelope for a reply. Whenever possible enter a permanent at least a month in advance, with a completed AUK entry form (photocopy of the version in this publication or from the web site), two SAEs and the entry fee (cheque made out to the organiser), in the same way that you would enter a calendared event. The organiser will send you a brevet card, plus a route sheet and additional information if appropriate.

On the day, write the date in your brevet card and find a suitable start control for your ride. Cafés, pubs, hotels, garages, supermarkets, shops and electronic cash dispensers can provide start and finish controls and proof of passage. If you collect cash receipts (rather than an ink stamp on your card) check that they have the time, date and place and that these are correct. Also make sure that the receipts are securely attached to your card and identified by number, with a corresponding number in the card control box. On the ride, you should always make a purchase when obtaining proof of passage from a shop or similar establishment - it is important in any case to remember to eat and drink regularly. At the finish, check that your card is fully filled in, sign it and then post it to the organiser within 48 hours.

Particular cloth badges or medals are available for some events, such as the classic End-to-End. Standard distance and Brevet series medals and cloth badges can also be claimed by application to AUK’s Recorder (allow time for your ride to have been registered). Events of 200km and above gain points for championships, if ridden at the randonnée pace for that distance, however, for the competitive awards, your points total can only have 50% of your points as permanent rides.

To organise your own permanent ride, fine-tune your favourite route so that control points can be placed to ensure that the full distance is ridden. Then email or write to the Permanents Secretary for a pro forma and risk assessment form. Fill in the details and return with a photocopied map marked with the route and controls, or the Autoroute file. If you use an info control, send four questions and answers. The secretary will send the details to the Arrivée and Calendar editors. When your permanent is announced in one of AUK’s publications it can be ridden as an ‘official’ AUK event. Your event will also be advertised on the AUK web site. Brevet cards for your entrants, price 50p each, are ordered from John Ward 13 Queen Elizabeth Ave, Lymington, Hants, SO41 9HN. These may be generic cards (for series of rides) or you might design a master from which inners can be printed. Organisers check and sign completed cards and send them to the Permanents Secretary, with the rider’s SAE, for validation and recording

John Ward

Ah. I see. That makes sense. :)

After some searching I found this handy page, http://www.rusa.org/points.html .

It seems only 6 people finished the 200k event. They didnt have any of the more recent events logged yet (was updated as of 5-17). I'm guessing there must be some people from Arkansas? Tahlequah is pretty close to the border, and it is pretty hilly (mountainous.. almost) out there.

Hah. On that same page theres actually an Oklahoma club, population 1 RUSA member. "Eastern Oklahoma/936004"