August Randolist

Sent on Sun August 22 2021

Toronto Chapter updates: Lots of commemoration going on here!

Hiya folks!

August always feels like it's the hight of summer for me. Like, the most summery summer can get. Maybe it's because it's so dang hot outside.

Props to everyone who's out there riding the Manatoulin 1200 this weekend in the heat! It can't be easy, but just think back to those spring rides where your teeth were chattering. If you average it all out, the temperature would be perfect!

🥇 BRM 200 Centenary ride

Did you know that this year is the 100th anniversary of the first 200k Brevet? It's been a century of glorious fools riding around on bikes! The first one was out of Versailles, and they even have an original brevet card.

Toronto's centenary will start from the original location of Bicyclesport / Mariposa Bicycles, the bike shop run by Mike Barry and Mike Brown. The "two Mikes" along with journalist Jock Wadley were the original instigators of the Toronto Randonneurs, now Randonneurs Ontario. This excerpt from Origins of Toronto Randonneurs by Martin Heath shows that not much has changed since 1983!

They had designed some great routes - I forget the title of the 200K, but the 300 was the Tour of Lake Simcoe and the 400 was the tour (circumnavigation) of Lake Simcoe and Lake Scugog. They hadn't figured out (no time maybe) a unique 600K course, so it was a combo of the other routes, unfortunately returning to Yonge/Finch after the first leg (tempting to drop out here!). Anyway the route sheets they provided were impressive. Start here, proceed to there, turn left, proceed to there, turn right, and then you were on a gravel road. Go straight on this gravel road for 8 km, never mind the flat tires and wipe-outs.

Torture, we said! Mike and Mike said, Boy-Scout-like, "Be prepared - the worst may yet be to come!" Of course, there is minimal gravel in PBP. Some Audax Parisienne types who had admired the 2 Mike's "Raid Pyrenees" had probably asked them if there were any other riders of their calibre in Canada and I'm sure that Mike B. said "of course". In order to cover his ass/save face he put in these gravel roads - "to build character".

Learn more about our history

ACP has sent special brevet cards for this ride too! You'll only receive these if you've completed this ride.

✨ Randonneurs 2020-2021 patch

Need more bling in your Randonneur drawer? (Spoiler: you do!) We're sending all 2020 and 2021 members this commemorative patch to celebrate whatever the heck the last two years were.

This commemorative patch reflects the extra effort, perseverance and dedication to Randonneurs Ontario. Some members are already sporting theirs!

📢 Randonneurs Ontario slack channel!

If you don't have enough of us in your life, you can join our slack channel to chat about randonneuring and riding in Ontario. Remember, we have a facebook group too!

Join our Slack channel

🚲 Upcoming Toronto rides

You can request your own start time on the scheduled date and still receive ACP credit for each ride. Registration for Toronto rides close the Wednesday before the ride.

Sat Aug 28 05:00 – Belleville Loop 600
Sat Aug 28 08:00 – Tour of the Valleys 200
Sat Sept 05 05:00 – Lakes and Vines 200
Sat Sept 11 07:00 – Mariposa 200 (Centenary BRM)

Submit your brevet card and recorded activity (strava, ridewgps, garmin, tcx, etc.) to vp@randonneurs.to when you're done.

If you have any questions or concerns, please just shoot me an email.

See you on the road,

Erin Marchak

Randonneurs Ontario, VP Toronto

vp@randonneurs.to

randonneurs.to

randonneursontario.ca

(She/Her)

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