Once More to
Paris!
Two
intersecting developments make this a good time to say a bit about Indiana
Randonneurs, which is a part of CIBA.
The
first is that Indiana Randonneurs has now completed ten full seasons under the
umbrella of CIBA. Our standard cycle consists of rides 200 kilometers (125
miles), 300K (186 miles), 400K (250 miles) and 600K (370 miles). We’ve done
that complete cycle this year, but we will have at least one more ride the Fall,
a 200K ride from the Major Taylor Velodrome to Story and back on September 30.
(See https://indyrando.ridestats.bike/stats/pages/myClub.xhtml;jsessionid=1229DCB9E08361180961838321A85B00
for our schedule).
The
second is that Paris-Brest-Paris, the 1200K (750 miles) ride that comes around
every four years, will happen this year, from August 20 to 24. This ride, with
a history going back to 1891, is, in important ways, at the center of
randonneuring; the customs and rules of the sport are derived from that event
and from the organization which oversees it, the Audax Club Parisian. Over
6,000 riders will converge on Rambouillet, France, just outside of Paris, to do
this 90-hour ride.
For
me, these two developments are closely related. I began randonneuring in 2009. At
that point, I had done the Hilly Hundred for ten years, and the Ride across
Indiana (RAIN) ride for eight. Randonneuring was a logical next step in my development
as a long-distance rider. While I was slow, I found that I was capable of
riding long distances.
I
first did PBP in 2011. For me it was a grueling but joyful experience. It’s
kind of a smaller and amateur version of the Tour de France. (In fact, PBP was
once a professional race, and the ride we do now wat the amateur component of
that race.) There is bike art all along
the route, and people come out to cheer the riders on, sometimes even in the
early hours of the morning. (I wrote about my first PBP here: https://bill-watts.blogspot.com/2011/09/my-paris-brest-paris.html.
Soon
after I got back from my first PBP, I started working to create a randonneuring
club in Central Indiana. Previously, I and other randonneurs in Indiana had to
do our rides in neighboring states—in Ohio, Kentucky or Wisconsin. I try to ride
my bike everywhere, and get in a car as little as possible, so it made sense to
have rides here. In addition, it seemed to me and others that Indiana should
share in the culture of randonneuring.
Indiana
Randonneurs was approved by our national organization, Randonneurs USA, in 2013.
In that year, we offered a partial season, with a 200K from the Velodrome to
Story and back, and a 300K, from the Velodrome to Seymour and back. I became
the RBA—Regional Brevet Administrator—for Indiana.
Beginning
in 2014, we offered a complete series, which included a 400K loop that went
from Columbus to Bloomington to Bedford to French Lick to Salem and back to
Columbus. There was also a 600K that included that loop, and another loop that
went from Columbus to Batesville to Seymour and back to Columbus. In
randonneuring, completing a 200K, 300K, 400K and 600K in the same year makes
you a “Super Randonneur.”
We’ve
been going steady ever since, offering a super randonneur series each year,
except the Covid year of 2020. In addition to our standard rides going to and
through southern Indiana, Lydia Trott has added both road and gravel rides around
Lafayette in the northern part of the state. And Ted Krischak has added routes around
Terre Haute, and recently developed a 400K that makes use of the Nickel Plate
Trail and the Cardinal Greenway.
In
general, our rides have been fairly low-key.
The turnout for our rides tends to range somewhere between two and
fifteen. One reason is that, for insurance purposes, anyone who does our rides
must also be a member of Randonneurs USA, which costs $30 per year. Because of the
bureaucratic processes involved, we also charge an additional $10 per ride. And
the pool of riders who want to go between 125 and 370 miles in one go is pretty
small.
While
we have been a small club, we have had a steady presence at PBP. So far as I
know, the first CIBA rider to complete PBP was Don Silas, in 1991. And he came
back and told other riders about it. Ken Lanteigne, who lived in Columbus (but now
lives in Portland, OR) remembers hearing about PBP for the first time Don. Ken
went on to do PBP in 2011, 2015 and 2019. And he’ll be back again this year.
Ron
Selby, from Zionsville, and Matt Dickey, from Zionsville, have also been to PBP.
Kenney Smith, from Plainfield, and I finished together in 2015. And in 2019, Lydia
and Steve Trott, from the Lafayette area, and I finished together.
This
year, Matt Dickey and I will go to PBP. We will do our very best to represent
Indiana Randonneurs and CIBA!
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