Randonneurs of China..........

This is going to be a bit long winded.....gee....kinda like a brevet. 

Simply, it hasn't been a banner year.  Three brevets were announced and while there was some interest, other than me well.....at least I got some brevets under my wheels.

So what's down the pike and where's Randonneurs of China going. 

Members:  There are currently close to 40 members and no one has said "Let me out."   If anyone wants to stop receiving mesages from this group just send me an email at jkeena0407 AT yahoo DOT com.  For those who are still interested in long distance cycling, ROCn will continue to schedule long distance rides and brevets. 

Brevets:  It takes a unique cyclist to go out and ride 200kms in whatever conditions that day presents with no formal sag support and over roads and conditions around and in  Shanghai that double the challenge.   There was a discussion on the randon group (a google group for randonneurs) about whether or not Paris-Brest-Paris and doing a 1200 km ride was "fun".  One person said brevets shouldn't be "fun"; brevets should be challenging emotionally and physically.  Other responses were more along the way I think: "Any ride is fun and fun is what you make it."   Hopefully when you do one of the ROCn brevets, you'll end it feeling challenged and that you did have fun.

Metric Centuries: A metric century is a ride of 100kms.  I've designed the routes so that you can either do the full brevet, which right now is 200km and there will be a 300km next year OR you can do 100kms and chalk up a Metric Century under your wheels.

Metric Centuy Club: In a week or so I'm going to launch a "Metric Century Club"  where you set a goal for how many you do and you post your results here.  I'll keep stats and publish a web page.  What's different about this is that you can do the metric century any where and any way you want as long as you complete 62.137 miles or 100kms within 24 hours. 

Future Brevets:  May 17th or 24th: Pudong 100km ride or 200km Brevet.  I've already got a 100km route designed in Pudong and will set a date in a few days where you can do either a 100km ride (Metric Century) or a brevet (200km) ride.

Fall '08 Suzhou 200km Fun Rides and Brevet. Thank you Staffan!!  I want to publically thank Staffan who took a lot of time to design a 200km route made up of 3 loops.  I know this is going to be a heckuva ride and beautiful to boot.  Unfortunately due to a work change, he can't host the ride on May 10th so we're going to schedule it in the fall.  I'm going to find a way to get up there before I leave Shanghai for the summer and do the whole ride or at least a few of the loops.    Mark your fall calendar to get to Suzhou and do this ride.

Cue Sheets.   Use them for a ride anytime:  In the Files section on the left you will find cue sheets in excel format of various lengths.  Use them and go for a ride....post your ride summary here for all.

Where To?  Difficult to say but like a brevet it's a just keep on keep'n on mentality.  When I started Randonneurs of China I told a stateside randonneur friend that I'd be happy if 5 cyclists got interested.  Well, there are forty of you out there still hang'n around so that ain't bad at all.   I'll keep running events with whoever will help me whenever they can for as long as I'm in China.  I'm trying to find a Chinese cyclist to help me and to whom I can turn over ROCn so that hopefully in 3 years there will be a Chinese cyclist attempting Paris-Brest-Paris.  

Thank You:  I'd like you all to thank with me these cyclists who have helped me both with getting out and charting routes or simply with moral support. Staffan Geronson, Loran Brooks,  Alan Lueth,  Bernie Kearsley-Pratt, Adrian Hands (web master), Xianshi Cui, John Tenbush, and these guys who have moved away from Shanghai but still keep in touch:  Damian Burke, Kevin Hill and Hitoshi Yonai. 

Website: I should post this more often:  http://rocn.bikealot.org/