By Dave Buzzee

First you need experience, because most RBAs have ridden a full brevet series, PBP or BMB, and have worked a brevet series to help qualify them for their positions as RBAs. Before becoming an RBA and presenting brevets you need to understand how the system works. You need to know...

  • That RUSA is the American branch of Audax Club Parisien (ACP) in France, the governing body of all Brevets worldwide.
  • That the ACP sanctions all Brevets of distances from 200k to 1000k. As the American member representative of the ACP, RUSA sanctions all brevets in the United States.
  • That Randonneurs Mondiaux (RM) sanctions all Randonnées (rides longer than brevets) from 1200k on up, not including PBP. Paris-Brest-Paris is still under the jurisdiction of the ACP.
  • That the ACP Brevet calendar is put in place in October of the year previous to the dates you are submitting. Meaning, the 2001 Brevet calendar was set in October of 2000. Planning brevets has an 18-to-24-month time line.
  • That it's best to have a club put on the Brevet series. While one or two people can do it, a club can provide insurance, flyers, publicity, announcements, route suggestions, sag support, control workers, etc.
  • That someone - one person - needs to head up the effort. That person will eventually become the designated Regional Brevet Administrator. (RBA) Once the club decides who that person will be, then that person is in charge of submitting a request to RUSA to become an RBA, naming his/her territory. That person will need to name a mentor - who has put on Brevets, and who will supervise the first years events.
  • That if you want to be an RBA, you start by writing a letter to RUSA, stating that you and your club want to put on a Brevet series starting in 2002, and continuing on afterwards in 2003. Once you sign on to host a Brevet series, you have to do it every year, not just in PBP years. The RUSA RBA Liaison, who is not only the RBA contact, but is also the RBA representative to the RUSA Board of Directors, will send you an RBA application to fill out, and ask you to provide your resumé of cycling experiences and past cycling events you have promoted.
  • That you need to submit proposed dates for your Brevets, and routes for the four Brevets you propose to host. Ideally the 200k should take place in late April, the 300k in mid May, the 400k in early June and the 600k in late June. In PBP years, all Brevets should be completed before July 1. The routes need to be examined for layout, elevation and distance. You will have to also submit maps and actual route narratives (cue sheets). These get sent to France for approval.

RUSA has a responsibility to check that no other RBA has claimed regional rights to the territory you are requesting. If no one else has taken that territory and no one else has submitted a request for it, then your application is reviewed by the RBA liaison. He will then submit it to the Board with his recommendation for approval or disapproval. If you are not approved, you can appeal or someone else in the club can apply - if they have a stronger background for the job.

If you are approved, then you have joined the family of RBAs. We will point you toward the RBA Resource kit which RUSA designed for RBAs. The kit includes rules for riders, rules for RBAs, a template for all the forms you will need for the Brevets, for the riders and for reporting results. All brevet results are submitted electronically on the RUSA web site. RBAs are required to have e-mail because the entire results reporting system is based on e-mail. Once you are designated an RBA you must submit your actual dates by October 1 to RUSA for publication in the newsletter and submission to the ACP for publication in their magazine which contains the worldwide calendar of Brevets. If your Brevets are not listed on the official ACP calendar, they will not be sanctioned.

Checklist for becoming a Regional Brevet Administrator:

  • Ride brevet series and/or PBP or BMB
  • Help another RBA put on a brevet series
  • Understand the roles played by RUSA, ACP and RM
  • Understand the calendar requirements of ACP for submitting brevet dates
  • Identify the club and individual proposed to become an RBA
  • Identify an active RBA as a mentor
  • Request an RBA application
  • Submit the completed application, your resumé, your proposed territory and proposed brevet dates
  • Receive approval from RUSA
  • Lay out the courses and complete the route narrative (cue sheet)
  • Submit route narratives and maps for approval
  • Receive approval
  • Review RBA resources on the RUSA website
  • Present your brevets using the guidelines from RUSA