Chris Argo,  RUSA #11707

Lake View, AL

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As a college student in the 1990’s, I spent a fair amount of time on the mountain bike. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s marriage, family and work overtook mountain biking. In the summer of 2016, I was reintroduced to cycling. With my children grown, my recreational activities and goals became centered around traveling with my wife to cycle wherever I can.

In 2018, I discovered RUSA. The challenges, camaraderie and adventures immediately piqued my interest. Rider connections and friendships provided by RUSA events motivate me to keep exploring and accepting new challenges.

Immediately upon joining RUSA, I began looking for ways to contribute to RUSA. Since 2018, I have submitted and received approval for over fifteen permanents and over a dozen brevet/populaire routes. When RUSA considered the RWGPS Perm Routes Work Acct, I volunteered to serve as the librarian. In 2021, the RBA for Alabama asked if I would be willing to serve as RBA when he retired at the end of 2021. I was honored by his request and confidence and gladly accepted the role. I look forward to continue serving RUSA in any way possible for many years.

My educational and career path afforded me the opportunity to develop skills in several areas, including Excel/Access database design and maintenance, construction/facilities management and over twenty-five years of public speaking. It would be a great honor to contribute to RUSA as a Board member.

Questions for Chris? Contact him at chris-argo@bethel.edu.

Bill Bryant,  RUSA #7

Santa Cruz, CA

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I have been a randonneur since 1983 and have ridden a lot of brevets, populaires, permanents, and team randonnées. One of RUSA’s founders and a proud volunteer since 1998, I have put in countless hours to help our sport grow and prosper during the past 24 years. With your vote, I look forward to helping RUSA move forward in the coming years. As a past Board member and President, I’ve done most of the jobs at RUSA HQ and understand our sport’s rules, customs, and traditions better than other people. I also created some popular RUSA awards (R-12, P-12, Ultra-Randonneur, Rouleur, Charly Miller), was an early proponent of the permanents program, and have written a lot for RUSA’s publications. A firm believer in the “big tent” ethos that welcomes various types of cyclists to randonneuring, I enjoy helping our members and listen carefully to their concerns and questions. I also enjoy working with the Board and advising numerous RBAs around the country. I have been co-RBA with Lois Springsteen for the Monterey Bay Region for nearly 20 years. Whether as rider or organizer, I am in touch with today’s riders. Randonneuring is a rewarding sport with fine participants, and I would be honored to have your vote for the Board so that I can contribute to randonneuring on the national level again. If elected, my two main goals for RUSA would be to increase the number of women and younger riders in our ranks. Thank you.

Questions for Bill? Contact him at bill@bryant-springsteen.net.

Pete Dusel,  RUSA #25

Ontario, NY

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Over the years I've had the pleasure of meeting and riding with many of you. For those I haven’t, a brief introduction is in order.

I've been randonneuring for many years, and for over 10 years an RBA. I've also written several American Randonneur articles. I served a year on the board as RBA Liaison and continue to assist RUSA behind the scenes. Events of mine you may have heard of are the LOL 1,000k (Lap Of Lake ontario) and Western NY Waterfalls 1,000k/1,200k. An AR article about that can be found on the RUSA website at: https://rusa.org/sites/default/files/2022-03/AR_Winter_2021.pdf
The LOL route is one of the very few RUSA events that crosses country borders, and that has its own special challenges. 

What I'd like to accomplish:

The regular day to day operations of RUSA. These range from "managing the business" to simple things like policy exceptions, say for a late perm registration, new awards reviews, etc. These things may sound simple, but they end up consuming a lot of time.

Finding ways to keep people actively involved in RUSA who do not have the time, or at the moment, the ability to train for and participate in longer events.

Gardner Duvall,  RUSA #5770

Baltimore, MD

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My objective for the RUSA Board is to provide RUSA support for RBAs to recruit new randonneurs.  As an RBA I was too busy to execute on my ideas for randonneur recruitment, but I think there are opportunities to attract newcomers and bring fresh blood into our passion.  RUSA can support RBAs and clubs in reaching out to riders who might give us a try.

From 2019 through 2022 I have been the RBA of the Capital Region, working with DC Randonneurs to promote 81 brevets, populaires, and team events.  I created the Mason-Dixon 1200 and introduced the International Women's Day events to our region, scheduled the events to let our riders earn the Rouleur award, promoted gravel events, and ran an audax brevet.  All of this has been accomplished with tremendous volunteer support.  We also converted to all-online registration management, and persuaded RUSA to allow electronic waivers before RUSA developed a system for other RBAs.  All of this required a lot of interaction with the RUSA Board, volunteers, and other leaders and RBAs.  Personally, I have over 50,000 RUSA kilometers, a PBP finish, 6 SRs, an ACP Randonneur 5000, an ULTRA R-12, and 7 fleche finishes.  I have created several dozen permanent and brevet routes, up to 1200k in length.  I have been cycling for decades and have experience in governance of a racing club, racing, and organizing non-RUSA events.  My legal practice and volunteering have also provided a lot of experience handling the insurance coverage matters that have been such a large concern for RUSA over the last few years.  I look forward to bringing fresh perspectives to the RUSA Board.

John Lee Ellis,  RUSA #153

Lafayette, CO

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The RUSA Board works hard for members, and nurtures our organization. I’m pleased to be nominated for the chance to serve again on the Board.  It’s rewarding to contribute as a volunteer on several fronts – including the Web Team and Rules Committee. Innovation is important, too. On the Gravel Committee and the Permanents Committee, I helped develop our new Gravel Program and the revived (and improved!) Permanents Program.

A bit of background: before RUSA, I rode solo doubles, ultra events (and PBP and BMB), and some brevets. The brevets were especially appealing. So when I became an RBA, it was so that local riders would have brevets to ride, whether they were randonneurs, other distance riders, or folks who didn’t yet know they would come to love our sport. I wanted them to have that chance.

I’m proud of our Colorado riders and volunteers, our active schedule, and the 1200k’s we organize – the Colorado High Country, the Last Chance, and now the new Colorado Front Range 1200. A friend visited recently and termed our brevet riders a “merry band of randos” – the camaraderie we all hope for, locally, nationally, and worldwide.

RUSA does a superb job providing awards and goals for our members. But we need to especially reach out to attract new members and keep them – riders who will come to love the fun and challenge of randonneuring, and will build a community with us. In this, I would appreciate your support and your vote.

Questions for John Lee? Contact him at jellisx7@gmail.com.

Ryan Thompson,  RUSA #8393

Santa Rosa, CA

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I am deeply honored to be nominated to the RUSA Board of Directors.

It is curious what decade-anniversaries conjure up within the human mind. As I approach my 10-year anniversary of riding my first brevet I have caught myself reflecting (inflecting?) on what I have learned about self-supported riding, human endurance and physiology (!!), and all the A-mazing (that is: amazing; with a capital ‘A’) people I have met: both riders and the volunteers and RBAs dedicated to hosting brevets for us all.

As a member of the board, I would apply these learnings and insights – as a rider and as an RBA of a small region, but one that happens to be neighbors with several larger regions –  to continue to direct RUSA in its ongoing mission to curate events for our enjoyment, and for those interested in qualifying for randonnées around the world. There has been excellent progress in the past few years, and I would seek to continue that trend.

In addition to my riding experience, I have 20+ years of working for large and small companies as they expand their product line and/or manufacturing and operations processes. While doing this I have gained considerable insight into learning from foundations that have been laid before my tenure, yet with a mind toward continuous improvement. Along these lines, whereas I personally continue to use brevet cards and cue sheets during a brevet, I am acutely aware of the convenience and efficacy of the myriad electronic devices available to the modern randonneur.

And so it is with great honor and humility that I accept this nomination. I am grateful for your consideration in electing me to the RUSA board.

Bon courage,

Ryan Thompson
Ancien deux fois de PBP (‘15, ‘19)
Santa Rosa Randonneurs RBA

Rob Hawks,  RUSA #2515

Richmond, CA

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It has been very pleasing to serve as RBA-L last year and this year. Supporting RBAs and solving problems for them is very rewarding. I look forward to serving another year, and since this role always presents some new challenges I also look forward to learning more still. Like the game of golf (though nowhere near as frustrating) one can never reach perfection in this role, and there are still improvements to make with fostering communication with the 54 RUSA regions and RUSA itself. RBA documentation also will continue to be an area needing constant improvement.

To look forward, it is often useful to take a glance backward and in looking at last year's candidate statement I see several points that remain true today. RUSA is a mature enough organization where RBA turnover will be a constant fact. This of course changes the content of the RBA community so working on fostering that community is still 'a thing' as new RBAs come on board and will need support as they face issues the first time.

The board seat designated for the RBA Liaison is perhaps somewhat unique in that voting is only open to RBAs. I encourage all RBAs to participate in this election to demonstrate the value we place in having that seat on the board.

Questions for Rob? Contact him at rob.hawks@gmail.com.