As you know, PBP aspirants will be registering directly online with the ACP. RUSA will have no intermediary role as in past years. Members can easily obtain their certificate numbers for their applications on our website as a benefit of membership. Non-members must wait for their cards to be returned to them by the organizer. (The exception is foreign riders, for whom we provide their numbers as a courtesy.)

Please convey this to your friends who are aiming for PBP. It is in their interest that they be a RUSA member, starting with their first qualifier. The same advice holds true for US 1200k's requiring qualifiers in 2011.

RUSA would like to thank all the members who submitted thoughtful and creative designs to the RUSA PBP 2011 Jersey Contest. The selection committee chose the winning design (jersey #11) submitted by Mark Thomas, of Redmond, WA. Mark's design simply takes the official RUSA jersey and adds PBP 2011 design details in order to make this a RUSA collectable jersey. It's simple, straightforward and classic. Our members will be pleased to wear this special edition RUSA jersey at PBP and afterwards. As the PBP riders assemble in the field before each start, everyone will be able to recognize the Americans, when they see this familiar jersey, with a little French dressing. Congratulations, Mark!

This item is available by preorder only. Deadline to order is June 1. Visit the RUSA online store and order yours today.

 

Mark Thomas has pulled together information about PBP registration deadlines, the historical number of participants, and some statistics on US brevet participation. You can find the results of his research HERE.

Thanks Mark!

RUSA has a new award program called the P-12. Modeled after the R-12, this award is for members who ride a sub-200km randonneuring event in each of 12 consecutive months. Thanks go out to Bill Bryant for creating this excellent idea. You can read about how to qualify for this award at http://www.rusa.org/award_p12.html.

We are pleased to report that Mark Thomas has been elected and that Lois Springsteen has been reelected to the RUSA Board of Directors. John Lee Ellis has been reelected as the RBA Liaison. We express our thanks to all of the candidates who stood for election this fall.

RUSA is looking for a dynamic design for our PBP 2011 jersey.

The RUSA member with the winning design will get bragging rights and a free jersey.

Design entries must include the front and back of the jersey. Design artwork can be submitted as a PDF, JPG, or TIFF file. The design must include the RUSA logo and the PBP logo. The words Randonneurs USA and Paris-Brest-Paris must be incorporated into the design.

Submit your design via e-mail to souvenirs@rusa.org by Dec. 31, 2010.

The deadline for casting ballots in the RUSA Board election is October 15.

Details HERE.

The brochure announcing PBP 2011 is now available for download HERE (pdf).

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.

Best wishes for a safe and successful year of meeting your randonneuring goals.

Now that we've listed our 2010 calendar of brevets, some new questions have come in about PBP'11 qualifying, pre-registration, and RUSA's plans. Here's what we know now:

• What effect does riding more brevets in 2010 have? - The main effect is to help the US country quota, although the magnitude of that effect is hard to predict. We have no indication from the ACP that the pure number of brevets ridden, or total distance, will enhance a given rider's placement within the country quota and we have decided that RUSA (if asked by the ACP to help implement the American quota) will not use a rider's total brevet distance as an entry factor, either. It's not at all clear that there will be more riders than places for them. In fact, history suggests that US rider demand should not greatly exceed supply (the quota). A qualified rider will have an excellent chance to ride PBP in 2011. Any enhancement-oriented riding (e.g., an ACP SR series or 1000k) would only increase those already very good odds.
• What role will RUSA play in registering US riders and managing the US riding pool? - This is subject to the ACP's evolving plans. We have an excellent relationship with our friends at the ACP and RUSA is committed to advocate for all of our members who qualify to ride PBP, and to insure fairness for all American riders if a quota needs to be imposed.
• Finally, our advice to those aspiring to do PBP in 2011: Ride an SR series in 2010 if you can, or a part of one. It's good training and will provide a fitness baseline for 2010 upon which you can build on in 2011. Try not to stress out, just do your rides, have fun with them and relax. Or, as the French might say, "Gardez vôtre sang-froid".