Randonneurs Nova Scotia held its Annual General Meeting last night, on Saturday January 14th.

The 2012 Ride Schedule was presented and discussed and approved, and membership dues were set for the coming season (same fees as last year).

We held our Election of Officers for the 2012 season, and Harry Henteleff is our new Secretary; Tony Kelly is our new Vice President; and Mark Beaver will continue on as our club President.

And our awards were presented - this year we had seven riders who completed the Super Randonneur series of 200k/300k/400k/600k.  Congratulations to Mark Beaver; Danny Brackett; Seana Brackett-Mills; Rex Button; Tony Kelly; Dave Ross; and Debi Wood on their accomplishment.  There were also several riders who accomplished "firsts" this year, and judging by the enthusiasm we saw last night, it should be another great riding season in 2012.

Our 2012 Ride Schedule was unveiled last night at our Annual General Meeting.  The schedule is now available on this website under "Resources".  The 2012 Membership Application form is there as well.

Rides will begin on March 31st and run through early November.  We will once again have a Wednesday option for our spring 200k, 300k, and 400k brevets (not shown on schedule).  We have a new route for our 400km brevet on June 2nd, and a new route designed by Tony for our 1000km brevet at the end of June.

We will also have some "escort rides" on the same days as our Saturday 200, 300, and 400k brevets, so that members can accompany the brevet riders for the first part of the brevet then head home for a "reasonable" distance ride!

Looking forward to another great season of riding in Nova Scotia!

Hi all, we had a great ride last Saturday in the Rawdon Hills, lots of wind but a beautiful fall day.

This Saturday we have our final "scheduled" club ride of the season, heading out past Lawrencetown to Three Fathom Harbour and Porter's Lake.  The ride will depart from Graham's Grove in Dartmouth at 10AM,  Scheduled distance is 80km.  Hope everyone can make out!

Hi all, looks like we have a good Cabot Trail tour in the works, Andrea Digdon has offered to carry people's stuff in her vehicle, we have four maybe five riders confirmed.  Sunday Baddeck to Pleasant Bay 166km, Monday back to Baddeck 134km.  Any other takers?  Let me know soonest.

Mark Beaver

Hi all, for those who aren't riding the Cabot Trail on this weekend, (or for those who are, but who want to maximize k's), we have a perennial club favourite ride on Saturday October 8th, the "New Germany - Northfield" ride.

This ride will assemble at the parking lot in front of the "churches" in Mahone Bay for departure at 10AM.  Scheduled distance is 115km.  The cue sheet is available from me, contact me by email.

The route will take us north of Mahone Bay on quiet backroads to New Germany for lunch then back to Mahone Bay.  Not a lot of stores along the route so bring some pocket food with you.  As I will be riding the Cabot Trail, please print off the cue sheet and bring it along, and bring a map as well to help you navigate.

Mark Beaver
Randonneurs Nova Scotia

Hi all, just a quick note to mention that I'm back from my little adventure in France, and if you care to read about it, it's now on-line at http://randonneurs.ns.ca/randonneuring-stories

Pour a glass of vin rouge and have a look...

Mark Beaver
Randonneurs Nova Scotia

Hi all - there are a couple of upcoming events (not organized by us) that should be of considerable interest to the club.

The first is the 3rd annual Middleton Century, on Sunday August 14th.  See http://www.discovermiddleton.ca/component/content/article/126

There are four different distance options.  Marion and I have already signed up for the 100km option.

A couple of weeks later is the Bridgewater Gran Fondo, a 120km ride around Lunenburg County, see http://www.bridgewatercenturyride.com/

Both of these events were well organized last year and well attended, so I would encourage our club members to plan to attend.  It is recommended to sign up in advance for both rides, check the respective websites for details and deadlines.

Mark

Hi all, hope your summer has been progressing well.  This Saturday we have a challenging ride for those who haven't had enough yet - the ever-popular Noel Shore In A Day.

This ride will assemble to depart at 0700hrs Saturday August 6th, at the Armdale Roundabout.  Scheduled distance is 250km.

Our route will take us out through Mount Uniacke to Brooklyn (with a visit to the new bakery there) then on to Walton and Noel and Shubenacadie, then back in on Route 2    .

A shorter option could be to head south from Noel through Kennetcook and Beaver Bank, for those who want to get home a little earlier.

Hope to see a few friendly faces out there,

Mark Beaver
Randonneurs Nova Scotia

Our 1000km brevet turned out to be another sizeable challenge for its participants.  Three riders, Dave Ross, Tony Kelly, and Mark Beaver, headed out on Friday this week at 5AM to attempt our longest club ride of the year.

 

The morning was easy riding to Sheet Harbour, with bays and lakes like reflecting mirrors along the way.  Arriving at Sheet Harbour at 9AM (112km), we breakfasted at the Fairwinds then headed off to Upper Stewiacke into the hills.  The temperature rose and the winds began to pick up.  The big climb after Upper Stewiacke was quite challenging.  Descending into the Stewiacke Valley, we picked up a brisk headwind to Brookfield.  It was +29 and hot enough that my feet were both burning in my shoes, not a good sign with 250km to go.

 

Departing Brookfield, we rode the headwind to South Maitland and the Noel Shore.  Tony began to fall ill from the heat and withdrew from the ride.  Dave and Mark continued on to Windsor for supper then to Wolfville and the Valley, mercifully flat roads after the Noel Shore.  The winds died with the sunset.  We arrived at our motel in Middleton just after midnight.  Huge thanks to Cheryl for coming in the car with bag drop bags and supper and breakfast food – this made the ride much more civilized!

 

After three hours sleep we rose at 5AM to a cloudy morning.  We hit the road shortly after 6AM and the rain began five minutes later.  It rained steadily and firmly all the way to Digby, where we bought wool sox at the SuperStore to have dry feet during breakfast, then continued on in the rain through Weymouth and Meteghan to Yarmouth.  The skies began to clear around Port Maitland and the sun came out.  After a visit to the bike shop in Yarmouth for a new rear tire for Dave, we lunched at a Subway then continued on.  The sun had brought increasing tailwinds which blew us all the way to Barrington.  We had supper at Barrington then onward toward Clyde River (where the lights were turned on again) and on to Shelburne, arriving at 11:30pm at our motel for the night.  Again, huge thanks to Mary for bringing bag drop bags and supper and breakfast to our motel – and she brought Tony along as well, recovered from his illness and ready to do the third day of the ride!

 

On the road at 6AM, we enjoyed a clear sunny morning with rolling hills all the way to Liverpool, our first stop for breakfast and coffee.  After Liverpool, we rode backroads to East Berlin and West Berlin, and on to Mill Village in a stiff headwind, then tailwind to Voglers Cove and Broad Cove to the Lahave Bakery.  After a lunch there, we crossed the ferry and fought a stiff headwind all the way to Mahone Bay.  Temperatures reached 28 degrees with wind off the land.  The rest of the way to Chester was a mix of headwind and tailwind depending on the curves of the bays and inlets of the coast.  After a quick break at Chester, we plugged on to Hubbards and Tantallon, where mercifully the last 25km was tailwind all the way.  The 1000km point was passed just after the Bayers Lake Industrial Park at 6:20PM.  I arrived home shortly thereafter, to a wonderful shower and supper and a very good bottle of Australian Shiraz.

 

Thanks to Mary and Cheryl for their time sacrifice for our epic, and congrats to Tony for coming back from illness to finish the ride, and thanks to Dave for the companionship and the conversation on what was a very challenging but very rewarding 61 hours 20 minute ride.

Congratulations to all those who attempted the Pictou - Oxford 600k brevet.  It was a particularly challenging ride, mostly weather-related.  Saturday began as a pretty decent day - foggy in the morning to Sheet Harbour then a screaming tailwind all the way to Pictou.  Then things began to deteriorate a bit - an ugly road closure detour onto bad roads added 8km, then the rains began.  The lead group only had 25km of rain after dark, while the rest had 60km of rainy darkness and multiple flat tires, getting in around midnight-thirty.  Good times!

Sunday got interesting, with a crossing of the Cobequid mountains at Wyndham Hill surprising some riders with its length and amount of climbing, then a fairly fierce thunderstorm after Parrsboro, with lightning striking the mountains all around and heavy rain for a while.  Headwinds all the way from Oxford to Parrsboro to Truro to Enfield!  then a surprise thundershower for the lead group dropped pea-sized hail and intense rain for five minutes then went away. 

Congrats to all those who made it - including Seana and Debi who both finished their first 600's to complete their first Super Randonneur series - well done!