2011 Paris-Brest-Paris/ Audax Club Parisien
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RMCC in Colorado riders getting ready for an early Spring ride.
OK Everyone. Time to get serious about the 2011 Paris-Brest-Paris. http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/pbp2011/index2.php?lang=en&cat=accueil&page=edito
If you're interested in riding in the 2011 Paris-Brest-Paris, there's a little more to know and be ready for this year. There's a preregistration rule that's new to 2010. This is in addition to finishing your qualifying ACP SR series next year. The preregistration rides allow for you to be placed on a "list" of some sorts-or a place in line, until you have finished your 2011 qualifiers.
You WANT to be on that list if you want to go to Paris. At least this is my opinion.
There are several places you can go to to see what this event is all about.
First I'd start with the RUSA web site. http://www.rusa.org/announce.html. This site will lead you through all of the rules and regulations to the ACP Brevets leading you up to PBP. Start with this excerpt from the RUSA site:
"January 1, 2010
At RUSA we're looking forward to another fine year of long-distance cycling. Many of our members are already getting excited about the next Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) in August of 2011. Brevets ridden in 2010 will have a potential impact on PBP registration. Here's what we know so far:
In the past, the ACP has required RUSA membership at the time the first qualifying event is ridden, so we're encouraging everyone to renew as soon as possible since some of your 2010 events may be used as preregistration enhancements for PBP.
We think that preregistration reserves your place "in line" among the registrants, which you can claim if/when you qualify in 2011 - hence no penalty to folks in northern/wintry climes. We'll let everyone know how this will work as soon as the details are finalized by the ACP.
The ACP may impose country quotas, but the details of how their plans will be implemented have not been finalized. Our country quota will probably improve based on the ACP-sanctioned brevets that our members ride in 2010.
The ACP says highest preregistration preference will be given to members completing a 1000k in 2010; those completing shorter brevets, will have incrementally less priority based on longest event ridden (600k, 400k, 300k).
RUSA is recommending that members wishing to participate in PBP 2011 should try to ride a Super Randonneur (SR) series in 2010. This will help our country quota and give you some individual registration priority. Of course, as always, final qualification will also depend upon successful completion of a full SR series in 2011."
You can also go to the Paris-Brest-Paris web site and read a little more at http://www.paris-brest-paris.org/pbp2011/index2.php?lang=en&cat=accueil&page=edito
You can also go to your own Randonneuring club. Our club in Colorado is called Rocky Mountain Cycling Club (RMCC). http://www.rmccrides.com/
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Here's what our local Regional Brevet Adviser (RBA), John Lee Ellis, had to say about the 2010 rules and sums it all up, quite nicely.
"USA has posted the new Paris-Brest-Paris brochure from the Audax Club Parisien. The brochure has quite a lot of info about pre-registration, qualifying, registration, inspection, start times, and many other details. Some salient ones:
Event is August 21-25.
Starts are:
5pm (80h)
6:30pm (90h)
5am (84h)
This is earlier than in years past for the 80h and 90h riders.
Pre-registration in 2011 is available starting as follows, depending on your longest ACP brevet in 2010:
1000km* - April 3
600km - April 17
400km - May 1
300km - May 15
200km - May 29
*A Randonneurs Mondiaux 1200km+ event such as the Last Chance may be substituted for a 1000k brevet. This is a change of policy from what the ACP earlier stated.
General registration starts June 4. Pre-registrants keep their place in line, as we understand it, so long as they satisfy their qualification requirements by late June.
This is a very well-done and content-rich brochure, so please have a look if you may be interested in PBP'11".
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If you're thoroughly confused by now, check out the glossary on the RUSA site; "Randonneuring Terminology" compiled by Bill Bryant and pronunciation guide by Johnny Bertrand.
Bill writes " Like all other sports, "randonneuring" has a vocabulary of special terms and phrases not readily found in a dictionary. Many of the terms are French words or adaptations of them, owing to the origins of "randonneuring" there over 100 years ago. Today, these terms are commonly used by randonneurs around the world."
I like to think of the rules for this year as a "Gentleman's lottery". I think it's wonderful to ask riders to invest in their local club, their rides, and the rides offered all around the United States.
What does this all mean? It means you should have your calendar out and write in all of the ACP rides you think you can do. Start with the earliest 200km (ACP) ride you can do. Then add in a whole SR series, if possible. That's a 200km, a 300km, a 400km, and a 600km. If you want the mack daddy of events on there, add in a 1,000km or a 1200km event.
Too, that you should have had several long-ish rides (75-100 miles) already done by a week out from your first 200km ride. You know, have your base miles in by now and be ready to start gearing up your volume for the ride season.
Good luck and I'll post more information, tips, and advice as the season unfolds.
