The St. Louis Randonneurs have been using basically the same routes for almost twenty years. I hesitate to change anything that has worked so well, but sometimes minor adjustments are required. For example, roads may be closed for some kind of repairs as happened this year. And sometimes controls move as happened this year with our finishing control at the Edwardsville Police Station which moved down the street. Because of this we have to reroute parts of the courses at times. And print up new cue sheets. And alter the courses in the Brevets App and on RideWithGPS. And try to make sure that everything is absolutely correct.
Because of the road closure east of Millersburg, Illinois, I had to reroute the course this season. I added a ten mile loop through the Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, campus onto the start of the ride to make up for the ten miles we lost by rerouting around the road closure later in the ride. The advantage of this change is that you will pass within one-tenth of a mile of the starting point at the ten mile mark. So if you forgot to turn off the interior lights in your car, or you forgot your extra tire tubes in your car, you can drop back by the start after ten miles and then immediately rejoin the course.
So as soon as I rerouted the course through campus, the City of Edwardsville started working on St. Louis Street. So the street is a little rough between miles .5 and 1.5 and during the same stretch on the return back around mile 8.5 to mile 9.5. Other than that the roads are in pretty good condition. I rode part of the courses last Sunday, September 15, and then drove the parts I didn’t ride this past week. Everything should be OK. The sneaky dog that sometimes chases us at mile 45.25 hasn’t been around for the last couple of times I’ve ridden the course. (Sneaky because he doesn’t bark at you until he is next to your rear wheel.)
All of the courses share the first 78 miles and the last 42 miles. The 300k and the 400k share the first 113 miles and the last 60 or so miles. So don’t just follow the cyclist ahead of you because he or she may be riding in a different event.
The weather forecast looks good for September 22, 2018, so I hope to see a lot you enjoying Southern Illinois this weekend. I have updated the courses on RideWithGPS and have designated the 200k course as RUSA116-20180919 and the 300k course as RUSA117-20180919. You can create GPX files from these this site.
I have tried to use GPX courses created from RideWithGPS but I keep getting errors on my Garmin 1000. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, but I will keep working on it and see what happens.
All of the courses that can be used by the Brevets App have been checked numerous times, and if you have an iPhone, I urge you to use the Brevets App as a supplement to the printed cue sheets navigation during the brevets. Version 2.0 of the app will be available soon which adds audio directions. If you show me that you have the Brevets App installed on your iPhone at the time of registration, you will receive a one-time $5.00 reduction in the cost of the ride. The app costs $5.99 in the app store, so I think this is fair. Here is a screenshot of the app. The speed and miles are inaccurate but this gives you a sense of what the riding screen looks like.
When in doubt, the printed cue sheets are to be considered the official route.
Official Site of the St. Louis Randonneurs 