DC Randonneurs

Dear DC Randonneur,

We are seeking volunteers or suggestions for a DCR member to be designated as our RUSA liaison and to apply to become an RBA.

Please send your suggestions or offer to volunteer to the rba-search e-mail address. If at all possible, respond by the end of Saturday, March 1, 2008, so we can contact the potential candidates.

You should include a detailed description of why the nominee would make a great RBA. A detailed description of RUSA’s requirements for an RBA is on the RUSA website’s “RBAs” page.

The preferred candidates will be those who can demonstrate experience at organizing brevets, including designing routes, and who are committed to the DCR club’s democratic principles (on request, we can provide a discussion of our view of the relationship between DCR, the RBA, and RUSA).

Next steps:

• The Board will consider volunteers and suggested candidates, contacting those who show strong promise based on the detailed description provided.
• Sunday night, the Board will meet to discuss candidates. We will decide whether we are prepared to vote on a candidate or whether the process requires more time and research.
• When the Board has chosen a candidate, we will send an email to members announcing the Board’s choice for a candidate.
• DCR Members will be asked to vote to either approve or disapprove the candidate.
• Voting will proceed in much the same manner as in the recent Presidential election, but will close at midnight of the second day after the announcement email is sent out. Eligible voters are those who are DCR members at the time that the vote begins.

Thank you for your support and your confidence in this difficult time,

If you would like to volunteer to help DCR and a future new RBA to organize brevets, please let us know.

Yours,

The Board of the DC Randonneurs

Dear current and former DC Randonneurs members,

As several members have pointed out, Matt’s recent emails appear to be using the DC Randonneurs (DCR) email list.

Please note that the RBA’s recent disaffiliation with DCR means that the RBA is not entitled to use DCR property, which includes the email list, as defined in Article XI of our corporate bylaws, to which he is bound by agreement as a former Officer. We therefore ask that Matt remove all records related to current or past versions of the DCR email list.

So that Matt can form his own email list, please correspond with him directly to state that you want to be added to his email list. His email address is liznmatt@shentel.net.

If you subsequently receive email from Matt and you have not requested that you be placed on his mailing list, please inform DCR.

If you would like to be removed from the DC Randonneurs email list, please let DCR know and we will remove you.

Anyone who wishes to receive email from both DCR and Matt’s email list is of course welcome to do so.

Thank you,

The Board of DC Randonneurs.

Dear present and former DC Randonneurs member,

There have been several questions about whether the local ACP brevet series will continue to be conducted.

We wanted to reiterate that Matt Settle intends to conduct these brevets as scheduled, under his new organization.

Links to local brevet series, including Matt’s, are provided on the Links page of the DC Randonneurs’ website (dcrand.org).  The Calendar page provides further discussion, and will be updated to include any planned DC Randonneurs events.

Thank you,

The Board of DC Randonneurs.

Dear present and past DC Randonneurs members, As many of you probably know by now, Matt Settle has disaffiliated himself from DC Randonneurs and has started a new randonneuring organization, ROMA. He continues to serve as an RBA and will organize the scheduled ACP brevets under his new organization.

I spent most of yesterday talking/emailing with DCR Board members and concerned DCR members, as well as emailing and talking with Mark Thomas, president of RUSA.

While the DCR Board has not yet had time to discuss the details of our ultimate plan, we did want to give some indication of where we are going.

As consistent with our charter, we intend to continue to promote randonneuring in a club organized along democratic principles. The recent election clearly indicated that this form of organization is the member’s preference.

While it is obvious that in the short term we cannot organize and sponsor brevets, we hope to be able to do so later in the year and to offer a full schedule of ACP brevets next year. This will require RUSA approval of the person that we nominate as a new RBA, as well as strong volunteer support. Of course, approval of another RBA is not a foregone conclusion. But at the same time, it seems to be a possibility, since Northern California has multiple RBA’s in fairly close proximity. RUSA requires them to coordinate schedules, and their brevets may cross over into each other’s regions.

Of course there are many more details to be worked out later, and we will be communicating with you as those are worked out. This letter has benefitted from comments by all DCR Board members, except that I couldn’t reach Paul Donaldson. But because it seems essential to communicate quickly I felt it appropriate not to wait.

We hope that you will continue to support DC Randonneurs now and in the future.

Nick Bull,
President, DC Randonneurs

The next Brevet will be the third annual Ride Around Massanutten Mountain beginning @7:00a.m. on February 23rd from 67 Cullers Lane Strasburg, Va. This is a no fee brevet. The course is a loop design that circumnavigates Massasnutten Mountain. There is an early control (mile 22.6) so please try not to be late and not make the first control on time. The RBA will not be riding the course, but will be doing a shorter fun ride. Anyone not participating in the brevet is welcome to ride along. Weather permitting there will be a bonfire at dusk for those who are interested and have the time to hang around. This would also be a good time to voice your suggestions and opinions on what you think are good ideas to improve the brevets. It is also a great time to learn all there is to know about the Shenandoah 1200K.