Santa Rosa Cycling Club Brevet Information

Here is what you can expect if you enter one of our brevets. Please read this before you send in your entry. In particular, if you don't understand how to handle the checkpoints after reading the procedures outlined below, e-mail us with your questions or chat with us at rider check-in before the brevet.

• Participation in our events is by pre-registration only. We do not accept any "day of" entries.
  
  
• Rider check-in begins 60 minutes before the starting time. Riders will sign in and be issued their brevet card. The route sheet will be sent to pre-registered entrants about a week prior to the event via email to allow time for familiarization with the route. Please be sure to supply a good email address on your application, and make sure that it is easily legible. The route is not marked and some advance map work before the brevet is advised. There will be a brief riders' meeting 15 minutes before the event begins.
  
  
• For brevets longer than 200 kilometers, all riders should arrive at the Start ready for night riding with all required lights and reflective vests in order to receive their brevet card. Even though some of the faster riders will probably finish before nightfall on the 300 Km brevet, everyone must show that they are ready to ride in the dark. All riders should plan for night riding in case there are unexpected delays. Riders need not actually begin the ride wearing their reflective night gear but must be able to demonstrate that it is available at sign-in.
  
  
• All brevets begin promptly at the scheduled starting time, rain or shine. Please be prepared to start exactly at the published start time of the brevet. The ride begins at the scheduled time whether you and your bike are ready or not. You may arrive late and start late, but the clock will start for all riders at the published start time.
  
  
• The brevet routes lack any directional arrows or markings, so riders should keep their route sheet handy or use a map holder on the handlebars.
  
  
• These rides are randonneuring brevets and this entails doing some paperwork to prove you completed the event route in the time limit. Having a way to keep your paperwork (brevet card, route sheet, maps, money) dry is strongly advised.
  
  
• Upon leaving the start and cycling the first section of the route, you will eventually arrive at a control. If you should arrive before any control opens, you must wait until the published control opening time. If you arrive after it closes, you are, alas, officially out of the ride. Do the brevet, or part of it, as best you can and use this experience to build future randonneuring success. Also, the official rules do allow deviation in case of unforeseeable contingencies.
  
  
• Continue cycling the route and be sure to stop at the various controls (the locations of which are listed on both your route sheet and brevet card, along with the opening and closing times.) Be sure you leave each store with enough food and water for the next section of the route, plus a little extra in case something unexpectedly delays you. Also, try to bunch up with some other entrants if your paces are similar.
  
  
• During the brevet you will encounter one or more types of controls:
  
  
  • The first is a manned control with a representative of the Santa Rosa Cycling Club, such as at the start. He or she will sign and stamp your brevet card to record your passage.
    
    
  • The most common type of control is obtaining a store receipt. You will need to buy something in a store specified on your brevet card and route sheet. DON'T lose your receipt as it is required to prove your passage. Be sure to neatly record the time you were at this control onto the correct space on your brevet card. (If you want to go to a different business in the same town, that is allowed so long as the time and town name are clearly printed on the receipt. An ATM receipt would also work.)
    
    
  • A third type of control is the postcard control. You will be issued a stamped postcard as part of your rider packet if the event is using a postcard control. Mail it at the specified post office; this postmark will prove your passage. Be sure to record the time of your passage onto the correct space of your brevet card.
    
    
  • Finally, there is also the "info" control. This is an unmanned checkpoint, usually far from any stores or post offices. Stop at the specified place and record the "secret message" or other information as required on your brevet card. Also record your time of passage.
    
    
• Failure to get "controlled" at any of the specified stops during the brevet will result in your disqualification, so pay attention to these requirements.
  
  
• In addition, there might be one or more secret controls anywhere along the route. If so, any secret control will be in plain sight and impossible to miss. If you want to earn your brevet, you must stop and sign in with the club official, same as with any other control. If you should get off course and become lost, return to where you got off track. Re-joining the route somewhere else might cause you to miss a secret control and you'll be disqualified.
  
  
• Anyone observed taking shortcuts from the official route will be disqualified, but there is no penalty if unforeseen road construction, flooding, earthquake, traffic accident, etc. causes a detour during the brevet.
  
  
• At the end of each ride, your completed brevet card is kept by the organizer while the results are sent to Paris for processing. We send the results for each of our brevets to RUSA HQ for processing within 72 hours of the final control closing. In a few weeks your card will receive its numbered validation sticker from the Audax Club Parisien and your accomplishment is entered into "The Big Book" that records all brevet finishers going back to the sport's beginnings in 1921.) We will then mail your validated brevet card(s) back to you, usually in autumn when the cycling season is winding down. What you do with your completed cards after that is up to you, but be sure and keep them if you are trying to earn such awards as the Randonneur-5000 medal. Also, if you are a RUSA member using some of our events to qualify for longer events like PBP or BMB, your newly earned brevet number(s) will be posted to the RUSA website as soon as they are received from Paris. (If you are not a RUSA member and need this information to enter an American 1200k event, contact us.)