RUSA invites members to submit a design for the new RUSA Super Randonneur jersey. The member who submits the winning design will get the honour of seeing his or her jersey fabricated and made available for all RUSA members who have completed a Super-Randonneur series of RUSA brevets in a single year. The winner will also receive a complimentary jersey (SR jersey if SR-qualified; otherwise, a RUSA jersey). Entries must show the front and back of the jersey in color. Entries must be emailed to souvenirs@rusa.org in a PDF, JPG or TIFF format. Designs must be submitted by February 1 2009. The RUSA board will review entries. The winning design will be chosen by the board and announced in the May 2009 newsletter.

Thank you to Randonneurs USA members for voting in record numbers this year. The results are in.

Edward Robinson and Eric Vigoren have been elected to the RUSA Board for three-year terms from 1/1/2009 to 12/31/2011. Robinson will fill the seat of retiring board member Mark Thomas, who was not eligible for reelection. Vigoren has been on the board since January 1, 2008, serving out the remainder of the term (1/1/2008-12/31/2008) vacated by Terry Zmrhal's resignation.

John Lee Ellis, a former board member and RUSA Vice President, rejoins the board following his election as RBA Liaison.

Edward and John Lee join continuing board members Don Hamilton, Lois Springsteen, Jennifer Wise, Eric Vigoren and Mike Dayton.

Thanks to Mark Thomas (current RUSA President) for his years of service to U.S. randonneurs and his leadership of RUSA. His presence on the board will be missed and his counsel will continue to be sought.

RUSA 10th Anniversary Celebration Medals are sold out. Members who did a RUSA 10th Anniversary ride and did not get a medal may place an order at the RUSA Online Store through September 14th. One medal per member, please. The medals will take four to six weeks to manufacture. Members can expect to receive their medals by the end of October.

Any RBA who pre-ordered too many medals may return them to RUSA for credit. Medals must be returned to RUSA by September 1 to obtain this credit. Send medals to: Greg Olmstead, RUSA Medals, P.O. Box 82371, San Diego, CA 92138.

RUSA's Online Store has re-opened for business. In addition to our standard lineup of apparel, reflective gear, and logo items, you may purchase ACP brevet medals that you have earned.

The store accepts instant payments via PayPal; personal checks and money orders are also accepted.

Select "Online Store" in the menu bar to visit the store.

The ACP has mailed out packets to 2007 PBP participants. Although the packets were mailed out from France at the end of January, some are still trickling into riders' mailboxes. The packets include a finishers medal (if appropriate), the rider's brevet card, a DVD of the event, and a results booklet.

It appears that the mailing supplies used by the ACP did not, in all cases, protect the contents well. We have received numerous reports of missing medals. We have also heard about other materials being lost or damaged. In addition, some riders report that no packet has arrived.

Mark Thomas is working with the ACP to obtain replacements for missing or damaged items to the extent possible. If your packet has not arrived or has arrived with missing or damaged items and you have not already contacted Mark, please do so.

If you have not received anything at all from the ACP, please let Mark know as well.

Hello RUSA members,

In an attempt to freshen up the photos section of the RUSA website (which currently only contains photos from PBP 1999), we are enlisting the help of anyone who has had the courage to bring a camera along on brevets - either as a rider or a volunteer. We are seeking quality images that represent the experience and spirit of randonneuring across the USA. We will initially use Flickr to gather photos and link to them through the photo section on the RUSA website.

There are two ways that you can submit photos:

1. You can upload photos to Flickr, join the RUSA group, and add the photos to the group. When submitting photos to the group, please make sure to tag each photo with the name of your randonneuring club, event distance, event date and any other pertinent information to help out with user searches in the pool.

Please email me with any questions. I look forward to seeing some great images from around the country!

Nate Armbrust
RUSA Photo Editor

In 2008, Randonneurs USA will have a new, more streamlined process for members to receive the ACP brevet medals for brevets of 200km, 300km, 400km, 600km, and 1000km. The medals will be new too, because the ACP changes the medal design after each PBP. The new medal designs can be seen in the medal gallery.

As in prior years, Regional Brevet Administrators may pre-order medals for distribution to finishers at the conclusion of a brevet. However, if your RBA chooses not to do this, you will now have the option of ordering your medals directly from RUSA.

RBAs will no longer handle post-season orders and sales; if you don't purchase your medals at the conclusion of each event, you will need to get them from the RUSA store.

This revision in the medal program comes in response to suggestions and complaints from both riders and RBAs. Riders would order medals, pay the RBA, and then wait many months or possibly until year's end to receive them. A few RBAs prefer not to have to deal with medal sales at all.

Under the new procedures, members will be able to go to RUSA's online medal store and order ACP brevet medals and other RUSA awards that they have earned. Medals for an event will be available once the results for that event have been processed.

ACP brevet medals will be $8.50 each with a flat $3.00 per order for shipping. We expect to receive the 2008 ACP brevet medals in early February. The medal store will open approximately April 10. The store location will be announced.

RUSA volunteers will handle the shipping of medals and other items ordered through the online store. While they will strive to fulfill orders as quickly as possible, there may be times when they are away on business, vacation, or even out on a brevet. Please allow 2-3 weeks for processing your orders and if possible, order all of your season's medals together.

Thank you to Randonneurs USA members for voting in record numbers this year. The results are in. Mike Dayton and Lois Springsteen have been elected to serve for terms from 1/1/2008 to 12/31/2010, replacing retiring board members John Lee Ellis and Tim Sullivan. Eric Vigoren will serve out the remainder of the term (1/1/2008-12/31/2008) vacated by Terry Zmrhal's earlier resignation. Susan France has been re-elected as RBA Liaison. Mike, Lois, Eric, and Susan join continuing board members Don Hamilton, Mark Thomas, and Jennifer Wise.

Thanks to John Lee Ellis (current RUSA VP) and Tim Sullivan (current RUSA Treasurer) for their years of terrific service to US randonneurs and to RUSA. Their presence on the board will be missed and their counsel will continue to be sought.

The ACP has let us know that they will accept Randonneur 5000 award requests this year. In the past, they have not done so in PBP years. The time period is tight. Please wait until official PBP results are posted. Also if you are using a 2007 Fleche, please wait until those certificate numbers are available on the RUSA website. Then send your application in to RUSA by 10/21 (or you can wait and apply in 2008).

RUSA members frame numbers, inspection times, and start times are now listed at http://www.rusa.org/rusa-at-pbp2007.html