THE GOLDRUSH RANDONEE
or How I prepared myself to conquer a Californian 1200km ride.
The Gold Rush Randonnee is not an easy ride. The information put out by the ride organisation suggests that the ride contains between 26,000 and 29,000 feet of climbing. This compares favourably with the elevation gain on PBP of around 30,000 feet.,but as most randonneurs know these statistics can be very misleading. The climbing on the GRR was all contained in the middle sections. But I am getting ahead of myself.
This adventure started after Martin Haynes returned from his Cascades/Rock Mountains foray in 2008. Over a red wine or two we discussed upcoming 1200km rides. He suggested that Gold Rush would be a great ride to attempt. Never being one to shirk a cycling adventure the ride became an excuse to have a holiday in the USA. Linda and I had previously been to California back in 1994 but had never been to the East Coast.
At the Great Southern in 2008, somewhere in the dark of night, I raised the prospect of GRR with Carol Bell (a New Zealand ex-pat, living in Maryland, and a member of Audax Australia). She agreed nearly immediately. Nothing further happened until January. I received an email alerting me that the interest list for the Gold Rush had opened. I immediately put my name on the list.
This is where the story gets sad. Carol suggested that to make the holiday worthwhile,I should also partake of a new 1200km ride in Canada. This was the Granite Anvil, starting in Ontario about 4 weeks after the GRR finished. The wait list for this ride was also open and I again put my name on the list.
Carol, feeling partly responsible for this predicament also put her name down for both rides. She wanted an International Super Randonneur as well as the CanAm pin that is awarded to riders successfully completing a Canadian 1200 and an American 1200km in the same year. I had not though about the bling, but thought to myself “that’s cool”. To tell the truth I was mainly after the International Super Randonneur Award. During my period at the helm of les Randonneurs Mondiaux, I had affixed the seal to a half a dozen of these awards.
ISR awards
This award is administered by Audax UK on behalf of RM.A rider can complete a Super Randonneur series, that is, 200, 300, 400 and 600km rides under the Randonneur Mondiaux code, with each ride in a different country, over any period of time, and become an International Super Randonneur.
Elevated ISR awards are also recognised, for instance a rider completing three 600km rides in different countries in Europe and one 1000km in North America would be designated a 2 Continents International Super Randonneur 600.
I calculated that I could claim the ISR for four 1200km rides completed in four countries :
PBP 2007 (France)
Great Southern 2008(Australia)
Gold Rush 2009 (USA)
Granite Anvil 2009 (Canada)
This would constitute a 3 continent International Super Randonneur 1200. To see a list of current recipients refer to The Audax AUK site
This is probably not the best reason to ride a 1200km brevet. But then is there ever a good reason to punish your mind and body? We are all different, and the best reason for anybody is “what ever gets you through!.”
Both of these rides required a qualifying Super Series. This is not usually an issue, as one of my aims is to complete a Super Series in each Audax year. But I thought that I really should have a training program. In the past I jut got on the bike and rode. Before the GSR I was commuting to and from work. My current employment situation, meant that this source of mileage was no longer available. At the same time I was aiming to achieve the Audax Year Round award. Well at least I will have a certain consistency for riding brevets.
As the months rolled on, I found I was spending less time on the bike. I was also studying for a BA (internet Communications) via Open University. This was taking up a fair chunk of time. I was studying something that was outside of my immediate comfort zone and needed to come to grips with things such as HTML and CSS and other computer jargon. So my plans to prepare a program went out the window. I went back to what I had done in then past, ride when I could and use my previous experience to finish two 1200km brevets.
With this type of plan, I was bound to be successful. Around this point of time information was being sent out by the Gold Rush organisers. After seeing the route profile, and descriptions I began to worry a little. The route profile looked intimidating.


