PA Rando Organizer Manual

Pick a start/finish location for the event

A good Start Finish has the following attributes.

• Safe, legal all-day (and night) parking.
• Access to bathrooms
• Nearby pre-ride and post ride meal options
• Access to good bike routes

If you want to use a new start/finish that is not a PA Rando approved start finish already in the system, contact the RBA with your idea for a start finish and work with them to get it added.

Ask the RBA to schedule the event

Once the event is scheduled, if the venue requires reservations/access permission, contact the venue and secure the date.

Create an event info page

• In the PA Rando organize event system, fill out all the required fields. Make sure the event is HIDDEN till editing is complete.
• Pick a good name for the event that does NOT include "200K" in it.
• Write an interesting event description.
• Include an attractive photo early in the description, align right, 31.6% width.
• Decide what the price is. In recent years, bare bones events have been free for PA Rando members, subsidized somewhat by the shorter "food included" events. There's no simple formula or budget. Generally speaking we like the registration fees to pay all the expenses of the event with little profit or loss. Work with the RBA to establish a price and be prepared to adjust your plan based on the number of riders who register and other variables.
• Decide what the start time is -- which will also affect the controls and finish time. Verify that control venues are open/available at these times.
• Decide what the lodging options are. Some venues can offer lodging at the start/finish (eg Chamounix) or camping (eg Flint Hill), whereas other locations riders will need to find local options away from the start/finish.
• Decide what food and other amenities, if any, will be included in the price (work with the RBA). There's no simple formula or budget. The organizer must be prepared to make responsible decisions that balance the needs of the riders with the needs of the club.
• If there are sponsors for the event, they should be listed in alphabetical order in the same font, unless one of the sponsors merits special placement.
• PA Law discourages gambling. If you want something like a "raffle" at the finish, call it a "sweepstakes" and offer it to everyone, rider or not, without any fee.
• If the finish and start are at different locations, provide directions from the finish to the start. Do NOT put these in the official route. Add a cue note near the finish control, and put directions/map in the Finish section of the event webpage.
• Verify that the event "looks right" when viewed on the PA Rando website.
• Un-hide the event

Promote on Social Media

Promoting events on social media is important. Riders use different platforms and devices, so spreading our information out onto multiple platforms helps riders discover our events and stay connected with any updates. Social media is also great for supporting discussion and experiences, including the capture of pictures and videos. But social media platforms should not be a primary source of official PA Rando information.

Organizers should support social media chatter, the posting of pictures and experiences on social media, but when something is scattered over multiple places, the chance of error, omission, and contradiction is multiplied. Put critical event information, route notes, and safety warnings on the website and blog and nowhere else. Social media should point at this critical data. Copy the best ride report narratives and photos onto the website and blog, with links from social media pointing inward at this. It's acceptable to have links outward to non-critical social media chatter and photos, but anything important should be captured on to platforms fully controlled by PA Rando.

Pick a route

The route must work with the start/finish. If you want to use a new route that is not yet RUSA approved, do the following:

• Design your new route in RWGPS.
• Make sure the route doesn't cross private property or other paths at illegal times. (eg Some of the SRT is closed at night.)
• If the route doesn't finish back at the start, be sure to add a note near the finish giving directions back. DO NOT add the return route to the official route.
• Any RR track crossings should be identified
• T Intersections should be noted
• TFLs should be identified at a non-T intersection where the route turns.
• Follow the CueWizard documentation for adding #tags to the controls.
• #style=info controls need a #question, #style=photo controls need a #photo
• Publish cuesheets and cards in CueWizard
• Review everything for errors. Re-publish if necessary.
• Give the published route/info link to the RBA for review and RUSA submission

Months before the event

• If the start/finish venue requires scheduling/permission/reservations, contact the venue to make sure everything is set for the event date.
• Line up necessary volunteers
• Answer questions

Volunteers

The volunteers required depend on the amenities and route

• All events require at least one person at the start. A second person at the start can do bike inspections if night riding is likely.
• All events require people at the finish. Since the finish time window is so large, it's best to have 2-3 volunteers split the coverage hours at the finish.
• If food/drink is being served, extra people can be helpful at that control.
• If lodging is offered, at least one "rando concierge" volunteer is needed the night before the event, and the morning after the event.
• Volunteers that have cars and can go where needed are valuable.
• Volunteers that can be available during the entire event are valuable
• Overnight controls require two volunteers
• Drop bags require at least one volunteer -- better with two
• Longer events benefit from a volunteer at the penultimate control and a wandering volunteer covering the final 1/3 of the course (overall, or before an overnight). In some cases these can be the same person as some other volunteer.

A few Weeks before the event

• If the start/finish venue requires scheduling/permission/reservations, contact the venue to make sure everything is set for the event date.
• Double check the route for errors and scan the web for announcements of road closures
• Arrange for a Pre ride.
• Advertise the event by posting a link to the event page on social media

On the pre ride.

• Pre rides FOR CREDIT are for true day-of volunteers only. Only REGISTERED RIDERS can participate in the preride. No unregistered companions are allowed except brief road encounters or at controls.
• Pre riders should carefully inspect every control and take notes. If a control is used for a meal, make sure required amenities are there. Verify open/close times. Verify or invent new control info questions.
• Pre riders should carefully review the cue sheet and take notes of any typos or corrections required. Verify that the cue sheet notes ALL DANGER SPOTS.
• Pre riders should carefully verify the GPS routing. Spurious turns (or missing turns) should be noted. Verify the viability of bridges.
• If you complete a preride but have no comments on the course, cues, or GPS data, the RBA will be unhappy and may question if you actually did the ride. PAY ATTENTION on a preride and be prepare to write up course notes or adjust the route.

After the pre-ride.

• Update the RWGPS route with any changes.
• Republish Cues and Cards with Cue Wizard. Check for errors. Re-publish if necessary.
• Write a blog post with course notes and links to the latest route and event info.
• Advertise the event by posting a link to the pre-ride notes blog post

Food for events

There are many possibilites for food. Every organizer has a different approach. Nevertheless, a few things have been learned over the years.

• Don't bother making surveys for "food preferences". Rather, provide enough options that everyone will find something they can eat and enjoy. For example, you could have vegan rice and beans, and separately a meat chili or sauce. Non vegans will eat both together, but vegans can eat one of them and supplement. Pasta marinara and separately meatballs or chicken marsala. Like that.
• Survey what we already have BEFORE you shop. No sense buying more things we already have.
• Don't buy any real dairy, except for cream cheese. No need for butter. Buy only vegan yogurt and vegan nut-based creamers. Non vegans will do fine with nut-based creamers and yogurts (coconut or almond seem best, maybe oat for the creamer). But get real Philadelphia whipped cream cheese in a tub. Vegan cream cheese is vile. Peanut butter, jelly, and other vegan-friendly spreads are good for vegans. But the rest of us appreciate Philadelphia brand CC on our bagel.
• Buy green bananas on Wednesday -- they'll be sufficiently ripe by Saturday. Generally riders eat 2/3 of a banana each.
• Bagels should be pre-sliced. Vegan cream-cheese is vile. Get Philadelphia whipped in a tub -- we probably already have almond butter and jelly somewhere. Don't buy more unless you are sure we don't have it.
• No Pulp in OJ
• Fresh strawberries must be cleaned and knife split or people won't eat them.
• Catering half-trays claiming to feed 20 people typically only feed 6-7 randonneurs on a 200K. Sometimes you can stretch a half-tray to almost 10 bike riders, particularly on longer events 400K or longer where rider stomachs get queasy, or if there is supplemental food like pizza or salads. For 200-300K events, divide the rider count by 7 and buy that many half-trays, plus one or two more at most. Lean toward re-usable meat and pasta dishes in half trays that can be frozen and served at a future event if they were not opened. Always toss a partially eaten half tray (or any other partially eaten thing). Only save full ones.
• THERE MUST BE COFFEE. Recipe is printed on lid of coffee maker. Make more than you think is needed. Typically takes 1/2 hour to brew so it's best to start coffee at least 1.5 hours before event. Provide hot cups, sugar packs, stirrers, and only vegan creamers.
• Soda in cans only. Generally it's good to have Coke and Ginger ale in roughly equal quantities. Make sure there's enough. Extra cans keep for the next event. Some organizers prefer cans be kept at room temperature, with cups and ice provided separately for riders to use in their individual drinks. Some other people suggest putting the soda cans in the fridge or cooler and not bothering with cups or ice. This is controversial.
• Do not overbuy on perishables like salad or fruit. Catering half-trays of pasta or meat dishes freeze well and can be served at a later event. Salads, on the other hand, do not keep. Any perishable item that was used at all -- say an open bag of chips and open jars of salsa -- will be tossed after the finish, so don't open a perishable item unless you need it.
• Stay low-end on the sweets and don't buy too many. Riders eat sweets and starchy food all ride long. When they finish, they are looking for something different -- usually something salty and savory. Go with limited generic cakes and cookies. Usually the leftover cakes from the start will be good at the finish, but after that they will be tossed. On the other hand, generic "chips ahoy" processed food cookies do not have an expiration date and could keep to the next event.

Days before the event

• After pre-ride updates are published and registration is closed, it's safe to print the brevet cards.
• Make sure all pre-ride finishes and DNS notifications are included in the roster data before printing the Control sign-in sheets. Typically these are best to print the night before the event.
• If the start/finish venue requires scheduling/permission/reservations, contact the venue to make sure everything is set for the event date.
• Specific to places like Chamounix where there is a caretaker, contact the caretaker to itroduce yourself and find out what the caretaker expects. Ask for the door lock code, WiFi Password, etc...Ask how to handle linens. Should the beds be stripped? Where does trash go? Find all of this out BEFORE the event.
• If multiple events are at the same venue, ask the venue staff or caretaker if PA Rando gear can be stored at the venue between events. Find out where exactly to store it. Also ask if food items can be stored in the fridge/freezer between events.
• Inform the caretaker how many people will be sleeping over before and after the event. At Chamounix the caretaker puts out linens for the number of people sleeping over and charges based on this. Lodging is paid for by riders. Volunteers can sleep over only if there are unused paid beds. A maximum of 12 beds are paid for at the Carriage House. Under no circumstances should more than this number of people sleep over.

After Registration Closes (what to do about latecomers)

All events have a registration cutoff. And the same question always seems to come up. It sounds like this: "I didn't realize there was a registration cutoff date (or I thought it was later) and didn't register in time. Can I register now anyway?"

The answer always should be NO when they want to register after the deadline. There are many reasons for a deadline and the deadline is clearly noted on the website. If there were no reasons for a deadline there would not be a deadline! If we enforce the deadline for some people but not other people, is that fair? It seems really presumptuous of someone to ask to register after the published cutoff date -- like they're special for some reason.

In any case, sometimes organizers want to bend this rule. An organizer can go to the admin page for the event and change the number entered for "Reg cutoff days". If the organizer reduces this number sufficiently, registration will automatically re-open. If this number is blank, it means it's set to the default cutoff days (see the settings to know what this is). Just type whatever number of days you want, assuming you want to change it.

I strongly discourage you from eliminating the deadline entirely by setting this number to zero. It's better to adjust the cutoff date/time as little as possible. You can enter decimal fractions for this, so you could calculate (or by trial and error) determine what number would be necessary to re-open registration for, say, just one hour today. Then immediately tell the latecomers they have 59 minutes and counting to register, after which it will close again forever.

During the Event

• Start volunteer should arrive at least 1 hour before the event, unless food prep is involved. With food, arrive min 2 hours before event.
• Establish some system (SMS/Signal group, Slack, Smoke signals) for coordinating volunteers during the event.
• If there are unexpected rider no-shows at the start, the start volunteer MUST WAIT ONE HOUR till the start control closes before leaving, just in case this rider shows up in that hour. It's really rude for riders to no-show without notice for this reason.
• All control volunteers should report the passage of riders through their control.
• All riders must be accounted for. There are contact phone numbers on the sign in sheets for this reason. If you don't know where somebody is, call them. If you can't reach them, and they haven't shown up after the final closing time, call their emergency number. Be very gentle when speaking to the emergency contact.
• If there's any accident that involves EMS or LE or seems serious, take note of all details. Contact the RBA immediately.

Immediately after the event

• Text the RBA photos of all control sheets.
• Throw away all uneaten perishables after the event.
• Throw away all open non-perishables.
• Find a way to store any PA Rando gear and non-perishables
• Enter all finish elapsed times, DNS and DNQ results into the roster.
• Clean up the venue as required. Empty trash cans. Empty the fridge. Verify that the bathrooms are in good shape. Lock any doors. Return any keys. Notify the venue (if necessary) that we are out of their facility.
• Only if you've received pre-authorization from the venue should you leave anything behind. Sometimes venues will allow us to store gear or leave items in the fridge. This should be approved BEFORE the event, but if you forgot to ask, you can try asking at the end. But never leave stuff behind without permission.

A few days after the event

• Report to the RBA any expenses or miles driven. (Alternatively, prepare a P&L spreadsheet and deliver it to the RBA).
• Collect photos and rider quotes.
• Write a blog post describing the event that links collected photos and quotes.
• Link the blog post in the event configuration page
• Link the blog post on social media