Yet Another Cycling Forum

General Category => Audax => Topic started by: whosatthewheel on 23 January, 2019, 10:09:38 am

Title: Rando Imperator
Post by: whosatthewheel 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/
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 23 January, 2019, 11:09:00 am
Also discussed at https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=105779.msg2333811#msg2333811
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: L CC on 23 January, 2019, 11:31:22 am
15 weeks away.

Looking forward to it.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Ivo on 23 January, 2019, 12:12:58 pm
A superb ride, did it twice.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Peat 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'?
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Zed43 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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Ivo on 28 January, 2019, 10:11:06 pm
Members of foreign sports organisations usually don't have to provide the certificate.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: whosatthewheel 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
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Ivo 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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: quixoticgeek 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
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: frillipippi 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/ (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 (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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: whosatthewheel 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
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: L CC 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...
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig 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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Peat 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.
Title: Rando Imperator
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig 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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Zed43 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  :(
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: L CC 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. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190508/c527b59ee0fe1aa1bd6ab291e4a021b7.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190508/d489ac433d20bcc76344a769e157b714.jpg)
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Ivo 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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Peat 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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Zed43 on 09 May, 2019, 11:56:54 am
Peat: if you're not averse to climbing, there's the 600km Super Randonnee from München (https://aramuc.de/superrandonnee/allgemeines-zur-superrandonnee)
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Chris S 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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: quixoticgeek 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
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Exit Stage Left 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.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Zed43 on 27 May, 2019, 10:18:40 pm
Wondering if anyone has received their homologation number yet?

When I search (http://www.audax-club-parisien.com/FR/323.html) 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  :)
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 31 May, 2019, 04:08:05 pm
Have a look at https://www.audaxitalia.it/index.php?pg=omologazioni_strada and click the link for <04/05/2019 600km Monaco> (no, I don't know why either). I suspect that the ACP club numbers might be a bit muddled for the non-Italian riders, hence why you are having problems finding your homologation number.

Looking at the spreadsheet results, there are quite a few folk listed with 40:00 finish times, so it looks like an allowance was made for the conditions and the 40km over-distance. 52 finishers from about 270 starters shows how tough the conditions were...
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Zed43 on 31 May, 2019, 08:38:51 pm
Yes, those of us who finished got this link from the organizers two days ago with "due to the prohibitive weather conditions, we too had a hard time with staff and we found problems that turned into errors. We apologize for this immediately. The main problem is that the lists on which we pinned your passages got wet."  ;D My own time is not correct, but who cares.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: LittleWheelsandBig on 31 May, 2019, 09:03:00 pm
Those who DNFed also got that link.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Zed43 on 04 May, 2022, 06:09:14 pm
Resurrecting an old topic, as the Rando Imperator once again starts this Saturday at the ungodly hour of 4:30am

Anyone else from here riding it?

Predicted weather is wet wet wet with force 4 head winds for the last 100km in the Po valley.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Flâneur on 10 December, 2023, 07:38:45 pm
Not sure if anyone is planning on this for 2024.

I'm undecided, it looks like online registration should be open but I am utterly failing on several devices, browsers and languages to see where one can enter:

https://witoor.com/en/rando-imperator/munich-ferrara/
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: liam_whippet on 10 December, 2023, 08:16:25 pm
In the Italian page 'Notizie' it says: "Le iscrizioni apriranno nei prossimi giorni", which implies it's actually not open yet.

That was on Dec 7th, and there's been a weekend in between, so maybe "real soon now" - next couple of days?
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: L CC on 11 December, 2023, 08:37:58 am
I don't think entries opened until January, the year we did it
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: JasGill on 11 December, 2023, 12:36:28 pm
Hi All
Can someone who has ridden this event confirm how much gravel is involved and is it rideable on 28mm road tyres ?
Many thanks
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Flâneur on 11 December, 2023, 12:36:42 pm
Thanks both. Will keep an eye out for it opening.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: JasGill on 11 December, 2023, 12:53:04 pm
According to the Italian Audax site ARI, registration does not open until 4th March 2024.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Lightning Phil on 11 December, 2023, 12:54:30 pm
The Italian version of page is stuck in 2022!  Appears they opened entries on 12th December in 2022.

Iscrizioni aperte dal 12 dicembre 2022! Per te anche hotel e transfer a prezzi speciali
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: liam_whippet on 11 December, 2023, 02:22:31 pm
Seems to be open now - EarlyBird price till January 6!

https://witoor.com/rando-imperator/monaco-ferrara/
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Zed43 on 30 December, 2023, 09:25:39 am
Can someone who has ridden this event confirm how much gravel is involved and is it rideable on 28mm road tyres ?

50-ish km of hardpack / semi-paved forest roads until Nassereith, and a few 100 metres gnarly stuff in the city of Peschiera del Garda. Mind you, I never did the final bit of climbing the Fernpass on gravel but took the main road here (https://maps.app.goo.gl/J7q2EyUSQyVjNeKf9) (technically you're not allowed to cycle on this road, but a friendly wave to a posting police car seems to be sufficient to be in the clear  :D)

28mm tyres should be ok.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: JasGill on 30 December, 2023, 07:57:34 pm
50-ish km of hardpack / semi-paved forest roads until Nassereith, and a few 100 metres gnarly stuff in the city of Peschiera del Garda. Mind you, I never did the final bit of climbing the Fernpass on gravel but took the main road here (technically you're not allowed to cycle on this road, but a friendly wave to a posting police car seems to be sufficient to be in the clear  :D)

28mm tyres should be ok.

Thankyou
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: Zed43 on 30 December, 2023, 08:30:50 pm
Bring proper waterproofs...
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: L CC on 31 December, 2023, 05:58:21 pm
And a warm jacket.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: valkyrie on 13 January, 2024, 06:39:35 pm
Does anyone know if the organisers or the hotels will store a bike bag? I'm looking to fly, probably into Munich then take the bus back to Munich after the finish.
Title: Re: Rando Imperator
Post by: JasGill on 13 January, 2024, 08:36:41 pm
Does anyone know if the organisers or the hotels will store a bike bag? I'm looking to fly, probably into Munich then take the bus back to Munich after the finish.

Hi
I emailed the organisers previously and they can store a soft bike bag but not a hard bike box.