k7baixo

Here's the supplemental info including the one that almost tripped me up:

Requirements

• Rider must complete:
  • a 200k, 300k, 400k, 600k, and 1000k brevet
  • a 1200k or longer Grand Randonnée
  • a RUSA team event (Dart, Dart Populaire, Arrow, or Flèches-USA)
  • a Populaire
  • any other calendared events - including Populaires - to achieve the required 5000 km.
• Events must be completed within two years of the first counting event.
• The time period from first counting event to final counting event must not overlap that of a previously-claimed RUSA Cup.
• All events must be on the RUSA calendar. (They may be ACP- or RM-sanctioned or not.) Permanents do not count, nor do Paris-Brest-Paris or other foreign events.
• RUSA brevets of greater distance can be substituted for the 200k, 300k, 400k, 600k, and 1000k, if their distance is less than the next higher standard distance. For example, a 207 km or 250 km brevet can fulfill the 200k requirement, but not a 300 km, 310 km, etc.
• Distance credit for team events is based on the minimum required distance set by the RBA for the event, even if the team went further.

Makes me almost wish I had ridden a 1000 instead of a 1200 but then again, awards like the Cup aren't really that important to me otherwise, I would have ridden to the goals above instead of my own goals.

unterhausen

there is an ACP award that is very similar that I would like to get. It also requires a 1000k. I'm not going out of my way to get in a populaire, I'd almost say that requirement is a little cynical. Driving 3 or more hours to get in a 60 mile ride just doesn't seem worth it.

Finished my 600k, the NJ Catskill 600. It was tough. Very nice scenery.

skiffrun

congrats on completing your SR this year.
5 consecutive years, yes?

unterhausen

yes, 5th series

k7baixo

Nice! Congrats also.

Cyril 

I did the Devil's week rides in Port Elgin, Ontario; completing an SR series in a week.
Earlier in the season I rode a 200, 300, and a 400, so it looks like I need to schedule an additional 600
to complete a double...a first for me.
So far, I've done all my rides this year on my fixed gear bike (46/16), and unless my body tells me otherwise, I'll do the next two fixed too...the afore mentioned 600 and the 1200k Granite Anvil.

Randolfo

I just bought my bike. I do not think I will make the 2013 season, although I have given myself the goal of getting into some next year.

downtube42

Eight of us finished the Greensboro 1000k yesterday. We had some heat, rain, a thunderstorm with a spot of hail, a half-day of headwind, a flooded road to ford and many other memorable experiences. This was my first brevet at that distance and only my 2nd longer than 600k. I rode all but 100k in a group, which is a bit unusual for me - I typically ride solo. On the one hand I enjoyed the chatter, but on the other hand I prefer to ride my own pace.

With this, I've earned the ACP Randonneur 5000 award, and also knocks off July for my R-12. Eight down, four to go.

skiffrun

That makes you "Low-Rider" Ken, then, yes?

https://irregularveloadventures.blogs...iders-and.html

Congrats on completing the 1000 !

downtube42

You know I was thinking about those ridiculously high spoke-count wheels they run on low riders. Seems very rando appropriate, being redundant and heavy. Would add some needed bling to my bike. I wonder if we can talk Schmidt into making a high spoke count dynohub

kjfitz

I finished my third SR in three years and then rode my first 1200k last month.

I wrote up the ride here:

https://kjfitz.tumblr.com/post/546400...andonnee-1200k

Rwc5830

First thing, congratulations!!! Second your story and write up was just amazing. Made me feel like I was somehow doing the ride but without all the effort, etc.

Thanks for sharing and I'd love to know about your training regime. Just WOW!!

kjfitz

Thanks!

Up until this year I mostly only rode long 5+ hour rides on the weekends and little or nothing during the week to train. That worked well enough to comfortably finish all the brevets but my hill climbing was abysmally slow. (I live in northern California, lots of hills.)

This year I took a completely different approach. My weight had slowly increased and I started riding on the trainer in the morning just to burn calories. That pretty quickly changed to intensity training.

Now my regime is:

Four weekday mornings a week I ride my trainer in the garage for an hour. One of those mornings I do three standing intervals where I ride max resistance in my biggest gears. When I started I could do about 75 pedal revolutions for each interval. Now I'm up to three intervals of seven minutes each with three minute recoveries between them. I plan to keep increasing them until I can do three 15 minute intervals. The other three days of the week when I'm not doing intervals I just spin, burn calories, and watch Mythbuster re-runs on my iPad.

Four times a week I go out for a one hour ride at lunch. Three of those days I go at about 75% effort and one day I treat the ride as an all out time trial. I live on a flat island (Alameda) with a 45 minute loop around it so its ideal for my lunch ride. My fastest average speed for the hour went from 16 mph to 19.2 mph.

I also commute 15 minutes each way four days a week. Not much of a workout there but it gets the blood moving in the evening.

Wednesdays I don't go near a bike.

On the weekends I don't do much this year. I haven't done any long rides that were not brevets other than the Davis Double Century which I hammered through in record time. I rode about 3400k in brevets before the 1200k this year. The rest of the weekends I might do a very fast hard ride to a coffee shop an hour and one mountain away. Or I might go out for a very very slow three or four hour ride with a friend who just started riding longer rides.

The result has been much more power on my later brevets. I ride faster without trying. I find myself riding with a whole different group of people on our brevets (the ones who used to be leaving the early controls as I was arriving at them.) I never find myself grinding up hills anymore. Sometimes I float up them, but never super fast. On the 1200k my legs were never tired and I could stand for 30 minutes at a time even a few miles from the end.

The nicest thing about being a tad faster is the extra time I have to spend on longer rides. For instance on the San Francisco 600k I was riding with two others and we decided to stop for beer and BBQ oysters along CA-1 near Pt Reyes.

From now through October I'm training for the Furnace Creek 508 (4 man team) where I hope to totally kill my old time on stage 3. I don't plan to change my training plan much for that.

So for me anyway, I'm finding that for where I am in my conditioning, interval and intensity training has provided way more benefit than long slow rides on the weekend. Chris Kostman says he trained for RAAM (cross country race) doing no rides longer than 50 miles. I never bought into that but I can see how that might have worked now.

gecho

Finished my 6th 200 of the year today. To mix things up I took my Trek 520 instead of my road bike. I couldn't always find the gear I wanted, but it allowed me to climb hills at a leisurely pace.

downtube42

Beautiful weather in Ohio for the final brevet of the season - a flat 200k followed by dinner at the RBA's house. I even enjoyed my 12 bonus miles... well almost

Cyril 

I finished the Granite Anvil on august 25th.
It was my first 1200 but it certainly won't be my last.
What a great ride!
This, too, I rode fixed.

Randolfo

I just received my guidebook and membership from RUSA, but I do not think I am nearly ready enough for one yet.

ThermionicScott 

With all due respect, meh. Now's the time of year that many rando clubs have their fall populaires, often around 114k, so much less than an imperial century. Rope a bike-riding buddy into coming along and do one!

gecho

7th and final 200k ride tomorrow. Of all 8 rides (including the 300k) this looks to be the first one that will end with a tailwind. The wind just didn't want to blow from the north this summer.

antimonysarah

I might be done for the season -- my goal was to finish my first 200K, and I've done three -- one fairly standard one, one night ride, and one very hilly permanent that I wasn't sure I was up for, but despite some bonus miles managed to finish with 25 minutes to spare. I could do more permanents, but I have a bunch of non-RUSA rides planned, want to do more riding with non-rando friends, and may just stick to off-the-clock rides until next year's season. And I feel like I'll be ready to take on the series next year -- not sure I'll make it all the way through, but I feel ready to try.

gecho

Saturday's was my slowest 200 yet at 9 hours 40 minutes of riding time. 30km/h wind that shifted mid-ride so we didn't get a tailwind until the final 50, at which point it started to die down. The wind picked up for the last 25km of downhill which made for a nice finish making the early struggles fade away.

Randolfo

Don't have one. I am all alone in the cycling world.

unterhausen

if you are really in Louisville, there is a 100k coming up in early Oct. HERE