Author Topic: Rando Imperator  (Read 7534 times)

whosatthewheel

Rando Imperator
« on: 23 January, 2019, 10:09:38 am »
Looks amazing, for those lucky enough to be able to do it... sadly I can't, so it's Brevet Cymru for me

https://witoor.com/en/rando-imperator/

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #1 on: 23 January, 2019, 11:09:00 am »
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #2 on: 23 January, 2019, 11:31:22 am »
15 weeks away.

Looking forward to it.

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #3 on: 23 January, 2019, 12:12:58 pm »
A superb ride, did it twice.

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #4 on: 28 January, 2019, 06:55:02 pm »
I shall enter this. This looks fun.

For those that have done it before -
Is is worth just taking the accommodation options laid on with the event? Or are there plentiful choices?
What did you submit by way of a 'Medical Certificate'?

Zed43

  • prefers UK hills over Dutch mountains
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #5 on: 28 January, 2019, 07:16:26 pm »
Is is worth just taking the accommodation options laid on with the event? Or are there plentiful choices?
What did you submit by way of a 'Medical Certificate'?
There's always booking.com ;D But I used and will use the hotels in Münich and Ferrara that are offered by the organizers, bringing a bivvy for a nap somewhere around the 350km mark.

I did provide a boiler plate certificate (in English) that I found on the internet. In the Netherlands no GP will sign such a thing (fair enough, how would they know?), but I had done a VO2Max test / sports test just six months prior and that doctor was willing to sign the form.

For the organiser it's just CYA, I intend to send the same certificate again, with the date removed (as it's two years old now) and don't expect any issues.

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #6 on: 28 January, 2019, 10:11:06 pm »
Members of foreign sports organisations usually don't have to provide the certificate.

whosatthewheel

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #7 on: 29 January, 2019, 08:32:17 am »
Members of foreign sports organisations usually don't have to provide the certificate.

False... the Italian law demands a medical certificate irrespective of nationality. This is for pretty much any cycling event, irrespective of distance, speed or nature of the event. No certificate means that you are riding without an insurance, which might put the organiser at risk of a lawsuit, should anything happen.

You can produce a fake, which at least will have the courtesy of shifting the liability onto yourself

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #8 on: 29 January, 2019, 09:51:27 am »
Members of foreign sports organisations usually don't have to provide the certificate.

False... the Italian law demands a medical certificate irrespective of nationality. This is for pretty much any cycling event, irrespective of distance, speed or nature of the event. No certificate means that you are riding without an insurance, which might put the organiser at risk of a lawsuit, should anything happen.

You can produce a fake, which at least will have the courtesy of shifting the liability onto yourself

I didn't have to produce one last time, because I could produce a membeship card of a cycling association. The exact wording also indicated this last time.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #9 on: 29 January, 2019, 12:00:22 pm »
Members of foreign sports organisations usually don't have to provide the certificate.

False... the Italian law demands a medical certificate irrespective of nationality. This is for pretty much any cycling event, irrespective of distance, speed or nature of the event. No certificate means that you are riding without an insurance, which might put the organiser at risk of a lawsuit, should anything happen.

You can produce a fake, which at least will have the courtesy of shifting the liability onto yourself

I didn't have to produce one last time, because I could produce a membeship card of a cycling association. The exact wording also indicated this last time.

Could it be that they think that if you are a member of another nations cycling organisation, it's that org's insurance that is covering you ?

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

frillipippi

  • from Italy
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #10 on: 29 January, 2019, 12:10:39 pm »
Sadly, new rules apply in Italy starting this year. One major change is that for audaxes >= 600 km you now need a certificate issued in the last three months before the event, stating you're fit for the route of that specific audax. I'm talking about the first rows at page 55 of this document: https://amatoriale.federciclismo.it/it/document/norme-attuative-attivita-amatoriale-2019/858ba617-71be-481b-a440-cdc82c5ec9c9/
BTW just before that, some "kind words" for 70+ year old riders. Apparently, the section has been hastily added to a long document that sees minor changes every year. The Italian equivalent od Audax UK, ARI, politely took some distance from these new rules: https://www.audaxitalia.it/index.php?pg=news&obid=389

Rando Imperator is an exception among Italian Audaxes because its route is only suggested, while usually Italian audaxes have a mandatory route. The new rule's been written only considering what's usual, with no respect for what is unusual (...sigh...).

Now the question is: will this rule be enforced? I kindly suggest interested people to get in touch with the organizer.

whosatthewheel

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #11 on: 29 January, 2019, 12:30:57 pm »
the law, that previously applied only to competitive events, has been extended to all events in 2015.
It might be that Audax got away for a while in view of small numbers and being essentially under the radar... AFAIK there is no exception and a BC membership or any other membership won't help

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #12 on: 30 January, 2019, 10:27:23 am »
I shall enter this. This looks fun.

For those that have done it before -
Is is worth just taking the accommodation options laid on with the event? Or are there plentiful choices?
What did you submit by way of a 'Medical Certificate'?
We haven't done it before but are not bus-shelter/ bivvy types. We've booked their hotels for during and after.

Thanks frillipippi for the clarification on the medical certificate. I think we may need to find an amenable doc...

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #13 on: 30 January, 2019, 10:31:57 am »
HK and I have booked the before, during and after hotels. Still haven't worked out how we want to get there or back but we'll come up with something eventually.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #14 on: 30 January, 2019, 11:03:21 am »
I'm having a bit of trouble with the Endu website.  It keeps trying to process payment before i've finished filling it in, thus kicking me out and telling me my card is declined and not to try for another 2hrs.

Tried on multiple browsers.

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Rando Imperator
« Reply #15 on: 06 May, 2019, 09:08:27 am »
That was a little tougher than expected. Our party of three totalled 2 x DNF and 1 x HD by about 20 minutes.

The boab/ LWaB tandem DNFed after 400+km with a dodgy knee. The gravel sections on the first day were quite challenging and more so after dark. That was when the rain hit us pretty hard. HK's Moulton was not an ideal choice for the gravel either. The amount of closed roads/ paths didn't help. HK estimates several kms of walking/ clambering around/ over fallen trees on the second day due to the storms.

The tandem ended up on the the 'trains of shame' to Ferrara on Sunday, along with over a dozen other Imperator DNFs playing Tetris with bike spaces. Other DNFers had to wait for following trains, despite some empassioned Italian discussions.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

Zed43

  • prefers UK hills over Dutch mountains
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #16 on: 08 May, 2019, 03:30:58 pm »
Up until Bolzano everything went fine and I was actually ahead of schedule with 6 hours in hand arriving at 21:00.

Then the rain started and it got cold. From riding the Imperator in 2017 I knew a prime bivvy spot one hour riding from Bolzano (a sheltered picnic spot with a big roof). But because of the timing and weather I decided to push to Trento and take a hotel there. Arrived at 00:30 and spent some 20 minutes in a hot shower to defrost; my hands and feet were numb and it took time to get back some feeling in them (pins and needles, ouch).

Still cold and raining when I left the hotel at 05:30 heading to the checkpoint in Avio. About half way the Garmin was warning its battery had 2% left, wtf? it had been charging for hours... Put it in battery save mode then used my phone for navigation (which is a pain when you don't want to run it continuously, and have to take your gloves off every time you want to check the route). At the Bici Grill I was close to giving up. But the coffee, hot stove and prospect of tail wind until Mantova cheered me up and I continued some 1 1/2 hours later. The Garmin was still fucked: in 45 minutes it went to 17%, then, when I checked again half an hour later it was back to 4%!

My saving angel was called Rene, the other Dutch rider (yes, only two of us) that arrived shortly after me at the Bici Grill. We rode together for the remaining 200+km solving my navigation problem. Only two p*nctures to spoil the rest of the ride (besides more rain, but at least it wasn't stone cold any more) and I finished at 20:10

Back home I disassembled the Garmin, turns out the USB connector had broken off the circuit board (given the size of the solder points, I'm not surprised after 2 1/2 years of use). I still haven't been able to recover the recorded part of the ride  :(

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #17 on: 08 May, 2019, 04:14:21 pm »
Tandem issues started with a fairly last minute change of pilot, LW&B standing in manfully.
I was pleased with how we were going, the scenery was amazing. Top of the Reschen Pass we failed to notice the control and rode on to the lake. Probably cost us a good half hour, meaning we were later colder and darker than hoped for the descent. Couldn't go as fast as we would have liked because of some squealing wimp on the back.
And then the rain came.
Knee started giving me trouble late on Saturday, I think the cold aggravated existing arthritis. There was enough rain to kill my less than 6 week old Garmin 520 plus. I pedalled away behind an impressively sweary aussie in semi silent misery.
Woke before my alarm for Sunday still cold. We were slower than we'd've liked but thought we'd speed up with the day. The weather got worse and so did my knee - I couldn't put any weight through it at all.
We bailed at Trento. It took a long long time to get warm again.

I'll be back. Probably on a solo, definitely with warmer weather /clothing.

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #18 on: 08 May, 2019, 07:15:27 pm »
In my experience the Rando Imperator is one of the brevets where one of the main reasons of packing is carrying insuficient clothing.

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #19 on: 09 May, 2019, 09:13:39 am »
I had entered, but withdrew soon after because of the maddening entry website.

I feel sort of vindicated, given the weather. I would have hated that. It did cross my mind upon entry that there was the high chance of biblical weather in early May, though I was thinking more along the line of snow and ice in the high bits.

I am going to use the outbound part of the route but loop back to Munich via Innsbruck etc. Still 600+km, so will do it over several days and enjoy that achingly beautiful scenery.

Chapeau fboab, Zed43 & LittleWheelandBig.

Zed43

  • prefers UK hills over Dutch mountains
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #20 on: 09 May, 2019, 11:56:54 am »
Peat: if you're not averse to climbing, there's the 600km Super Randonnee from München

Chris S

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #21 on: 10 May, 2019, 05:42:54 pm »
I feel sort of vindicated, given the weather. I would have hated that. It did cross my mind upon entry that there was the high chance of biblical weather in early May, though I was thinking more along the line of snow and ice in the high bits.

Reschen Pass had been closed the week before, and was snowy again just a few hours after the ride crossed. Looking at xcweather on the Sunday, it was blowing 80kph, -3c and snowing up there Sunday afternoon; sounds like a blizzard to me.

quixoticgeek

  • Mostly Harmless
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #22 on: 10 May, 2019, 06:01:54 pm »
That was a little tougher than expected. Our party of three totalled 2 x DNF and 1 x HD by about 20 minutes.


Please excuse my ignorance, but HD?

J
--
Beer, bikes, and backpacking
http://b.42q.eu/

Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #23 on: 10 May, 2019, 06:20:02 pm »
That was a little tougher than expected. Our party of three totalled 2 x DNF and 1 x HD by about 20 minutes.


Please excuse my ignorance, but HD?

J

Hors Delai. Finished, but out of the time limit for validation.

Zed43

  • prefers UK hills over Dutch mountains
Re: Rando Imperator
« Reply #24 on: 27 May, 2019, 10:18:40 pm »
Wondering if anyone has received their homologation number yet?

When I search for 600km Italian brevets I get the impression that ACP has received the results (status=Homologué) for the Imperator. Yet I don't see it in the list of my results on the PBP registration site, and I haven't heard back from Simone (the organizer) either. Normally I would just shrug, but with PBP looming it would give me some peace of mind knowing everything is in order  :)