Cyclos Montagnards

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The Cyclos Montagnards promote unsupported long distance cycling inspired by the French pioneers of randonneuring. These early riders demonstrated accomplished cycling ability and self-sufficiency. They would dream up serious cycling challenges and then strive to achieve them. Read more...

 

The Cyclos Montagnards promote this original spirit of randonneuring with its emphasis on performance. The Cyclos Montagnards challenges and honors provide experienced riders with goals that keep randonneuring interesting. They represent absolute goals that can be achieved by any number of riders, thus encouraging teamwork among riders, rather than competition between them.

The Cyclos Montagnards promote the following challenges, honors and events:

The Challenge

The Cyclos Montagnards Challenge links Seattle with the highest roads on the highest volcanoes of Washington: Windy Ridge on Mount St. Helens and Sunrise on Mount Rainier.

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The R80/R70/R60 Honors

After completing their first brevet series (200, 300, 400 and 600 km), many randonneurs are looking for new goals. Randonneurs USA offers many mileage awards for riding more brevets. For those who prefer to improve their performance, the Cyclos Montagnards offer the R80/R70/R60 honors.

The R80 honor requires completion of a brevet series (200, 300, 400 and 600 km) with each brevet completed in 80% or less of the maximum allowed time limit. The R70 and R60 honors are for those who complete the brevets in 70% or 60% of the allowed time, respectively. Read more...

The Flèche Challenge

The Flèche Vélocio is one of the last events in the traditional spirit of randonneuring, held every spring around the world. The Flèche rules of the Audax-Club Parisien state the intent of this wonderful event:

• Create a team spirit during training and during the ride.
• Complete the longest route possible in 24 hours.
• Arrive at a symbolic place to meet with like-minded cyclists.

The Cyclos Montagnards Flèche Challenge invites randonneurs to design their own Flèche in the spirit of the event, but with an emphasis on scenic backroads and interesting routes rather than just the longest possible distance. Submit your route, ride report and photos (if available), so they can inspire other randonneurs. Read more...

The first Flèche Vélocio in 1947.

The Charly Miller Society

The Société Charly Miller is an official RUSA award for American randonneurs who complete Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP) in less time than Charly Miller, the fastest American professional racer during the days when PBP was a professional race (56:40 hours). Every four years, a handful of American randonneurs is inducted into this society after having posted a strong ride in PBP. To date, there are 31 members.

Even without medals and other awards, a considerable number of randonneurs are working on their training and strategy with the goal of a fast ride in the next PBP.

The first Cyclos Montagnards Challenge in 2009.

The Cyclos Montagnards Ethic

Cyclos Montagnards rides are not races - our ideal are complete cyclists who not only ride hard, but also find their way and plan their provisions along the way. Cyclos Montagnards are unsupported and use minimal technology. As much as possible, they rely on muscle and brain power to complete their cycling exploits.

Teamwork is key to achieving these goals. It also makes the ride much more fun.

Writing a report of your ride is part of the requirement for the Cyclos Montagnards Challenge and the Flèche Challenge. It serves both to document your ride and to inspire other riders. The report should focus less on the athletic performance, but more on the teamwork and scenery, and ideally include information on the natural and cultural history of the landscape.