Newsletter - 2001 Archive

BC Randonneurs Cycling Club

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Réal Prefontaine has seconded me to initiate discussion on suitable, and uniform, clothing that would, in effect, indicate to the rest of the world we are all in one country.

Before we start that process I think we need to decide what our name is. Many of the world's groups refer to themselves as "AUDAX". While it may have historical significance we don't really ride audax type events. We all, I think, subscribe to the "Allure Libre" form of Brevet wherein we are free to ride inde-pendently or in loosely formed groups. I suppose it would be really Canadian to use the form taken in the heading to this missive. Opinions please.

When, in 1993, I made an attempt to get something like this going I probably didn't make sufficient use of my charm, intelligence & wit to guide people the way I wanted them to go. But nonetheless I got co-operation from Alberta and Saskatchewan. We decided upon a fairly cheap and convenient option of using a Canada design that Sugoi had on in their catalog. Each group had it's own lettering and motif implanted on top of the Sugoi Maple Leaf design.

It would be convenient to stick with this design, assuming that Sugoi still have the pattern listed. Admittedly, if you happen to be standing around a Petro Canada gas station you might get told to "Fill 'er Up" (it happened to me during the Rocky Mountain 1200). But it isn't a bad design & is very Canadian. There is a cost benefit in using a cataloged design and adding local details to it.

All this goes back to PBP91 when the 27 BC riders almost all had our new, bright BC design jerseys. I also noted then that the Scandinavian riders all had a common design jersey, but with their own national colours. I thought that if independent nations could get together like that then individual groups within one country should be able to do so. Opinions please.

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