By Johnny Bertrand

RUSA is sanctioned by ACP and RM to organize Brevets in the USA. When doing a RUSA organized brevet you must comply with ACP rules, submit your stamped and completed BRM brevet card to the RBA, ... Say what? Confused? Well maybe I can help. In 1999 you'll do two paperwork procedures if you're planning on doing PBP:

  1. filling out the paperwork for each brevet
  2. submitting a Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) application.

Brevet Procedure:

Submit a registration form for the event to the organizer, along with payment. The organizer issues you a brevet card, also called a route card, a passport, etc. On the brevet card, list your name, address, local club affiliation, and club ACP Code, if you know it. Do this legibly, use no abbreviations. The card lists each checkpoint, its location, its open and close times. At each checkpoint, you must get the card initialled/stamped by the checkpoint official with your arrival time. Do this at each checkpoint, and keep the card dry and clean. At the last checkpoint, follow the above routine, sign your card and turn it in to the checkpoint official. You may order a medal, if you completed the brevet. The organizer collects all the brevet cards and cross checks them for accuracy. If there are no irregularities, the organizer summarizes the results and within a week of the brevet sends them to the appropriate RUSA official (that would be me, the RUSA Secretary). The RUSA official also cross checks the results and, assuming all is in order, forwards them to the Audax Club Parisien (ACP) for certification.

The ACP cross checks the results and issues a brevet ID number to each rider for the event. Once the brevet numbers are assigned, the ACP returns the brevet results to RUSA, with a brevet sticker for each brevet, and any medals ordered. Upon receipt of the certified brevet results, RUSA records and publishes them. The certified summary, brevet stickers, and medals are sent to the organizer. The organizer keeps the certified summary, applies a brevet sticker to each brevet card, signs each brevet card, and returns the now certified cards and medals to the riders. Riders must keep their certified brevet cards safe, since these are required when applying for PBP, other randonneur events, awards or honors. The ID number on the brevet sticker is the proof of having done an event. This procedure applies to all brevets every year. In a PBP year medals are not returned until after PBP, because the medal design changes after PBP.

PBP Application Procedure:

ACP will publish rules and a registration form for PBP 1999 in late April. The rules and registration form will be published in the May issue of American Randonneur, and perhaps on the web site as well. To register for PBP, the rider must complete the PBP entry form, attach supporting documents (which include a letter from a doctor certifying the rider's fitness, 2 passport size photos, and proof of insurance) along with payment in dollars,(the entry fee in 1995 was $125) and send the whole thing to the designated RUSA official -- in this case, RUSA President, Jennifer Wise.

Registrations will not be accepted prior to June 10, 1999. All registrations must be postmarked on or before July 1, 1999, to be accepted.

When completing the PBP registration, riders must supply brevets, ie. ID numbers, indicating that they have done a 200, 300, 400, and 600 KM brevet in 1999 prior to mid/late July. The rider's brevet cards are the primary source for the brevet ID numbers.

Some riders will be completing a brevet series after the July 1, 1999, deadline. Others will have completed a series, but will not have received their certified card(s) as of this date.

When completing the PBP registration form, these riders should use the date and place the brevet was / will be done in lieu of the brevet number. ACP will cross check the brevets or the date/place supplied for each brevet requirement. If these are valid, ACP will send a registration confirmation packet to the rider. This packet will arrive in early August 1999. It will contain the cue sheet for the route, a frame number for the bike, a bike inspection schedule, information on the location of the start, and other similar information.

The registration confirmation packet contains materials required at PBP sign in, so if you register for PBP, be sure that you get your packet and that you don't forget to take it to Paris with you!

Well, that's the PBP paperwork process in a rather large nutshell. If you have questions, contact me by E-mail at johnny_bertrand@mindspring.com.