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Audax Japan news

joewein

Maximum Pace
Oct 25, 2011
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If you ride brevets in Japan, there is some news for you.

1) Insurance
Until this year, Audax Japan annual membership included bicycle insurance. From 2014 participants in brevets will be responsible for buying their own insurance. This will be checked at brevet starts. Third party liability needs to cover a minimum of 50 million yen.

More information (in Japanese)

2) AJ Tamagawa
A new club has split off Randonneurs Tokyo and will be known as AJたまがわ (RANDONNEURS TAMAGAWA). From April next year it will organize a full range of brevets from 200 to 600 km, starting and finishing at Futagotamagawa.

Website here (in Japanese)

3) 2014 Hokkaido 1200
AJ Hokkaido will be organising a 1200 km brevet next year:
Start: July 9, 2014 at 21:00
Close: July 13, 2014 at 15:00

More information (in Japanese)

1200pre.png
 
1200km!!!!!! !

(I was going to write more but after a moments thought I thought I would just leave it at that... or maybe go back and add another exclamation mark)
 
Thanks for the heads-up about the insurance Joe. One question though: the info page you linked to doesn't say anything about checking insurance at the start; in fact they kind of say the opposite on the last line: "AJ or sponsoring clubs will not check your insurance company('s policy) or bear any responsibility for same." Did you hear that from elsewhere?
 
Great that there will be more brevets next year, and from Futakotamagawa. The ones starting near Tokyo fill up immediately, it seems.
Any have suggestions about what are some good bicycle insurance options at a reasonable price?
(I currently have coverage under a homeowner policy, at least for liability, which seems all that they require ... and that worked fine the one time I needed it. ... )?
Any easy/cheap alternatives for coverage when riding outside of Japan other than the Japanese standard travel insurance?
 
Thanks for the heads-up about the insurance Joe. One question though: the info page you linked to doesn't say anything about checking insurance at the start; in fact they kind of say the opposite on the last line: "AJ or sponsoring clubs will not check your insurance company('s policy) or bear any responsibility for same." Did you hear that from elsewhere?

Yes, I was told that they check by a friend of mine and fellow randonneur who notified me about the change.

I agree, the last line suggests that it's entirely the participants' responsibility.
 
More information about the upcoming Audax Japan changes:

The differentiation between AJ members and non-members for brevet participation will be eliminated. Until now the fee for non-members was 1000 yen higher than for members to cover event-specific insurance. In future there will be only one fee. There will be no annual AJ membership available on Sportsentry, as providing annual insurance was the main purpose of that membership.

In future you will have to provide the following details of your liability insurance when registering for a brevet:
- insurance company name
- policy type
- policy number
- compensation limit (at least 50 million yen)
- coverage period.

If the details are omitted or found to be false, brevet participation will be denied.

In place of an AJ membership number you'll be using a BRM participation management number (BRM参加者管理№), which will remain the same from year to year, unlike the annually assigned membership number. Use of the number is not mandatory.

Information in Japanese
 
Last week Audax Japan put the new event schedule for 2014 online:
BRM/2014年開催予定&結果

The numbers of events is increasing considerably in all categories compared to 2013 (numbers in brackets), reflecting increasing numbers of participants:

200 km: 69 (52)
300 km: 39 (30)
400 km: 36 (29)
600 km: 33 (24)
1000 km: 7 (2)
1200 km: 1 (0)

In 2013 many events filled up quickly when signup opened on SportsEntry. The size of events can not easily be increased as they are held on public roads, so it was easier to increase the number of events instead. Also, as clubs gained more experience, many are now adding longer distance events than they have organised in the past.
 
This weekend Audax Japan NishiTokyo updated its website with the club's brevet schedule. Before, the rides were listed on SportsEntry and the Audax Japan website while the site itself still showed the 2013 list.

So far I have signed up for all three brevets that have opened for signup on Sportsentry. Note that the first two are already closed/full, the Fuji one only opened today and is still available:

2014-02-22: BRM222 Nishi-Izu 200 km
2014-03-15: BRM315 Ashigara 200 km
2014-04-19/20: BRM419 Fuji 300 km

These are not yet open for signup (see Sportsentry for signup open dates):

2014-05-17/18: BRM517 400 km
2014-06-21/22: BRM621 600 km
2014-09-27: BRM927 200 km

SportsEntry still lists two entries for each event (kaiin 会員 - member and ippan 一般 - normal). This is for historical reasons, chose ippan 一般. Because bicycle insurance is now required and no longer bundled with Audax Japan membership, you need to enter your insurance company, the insurance type, insurance policy number, the covered period and the amount of third party liability coverage when signing up for an event. I'm using 7/11 bicycle insurance this year.

There are several other randonneuring clubs in the Kanto area besides AJ NishiTokyo, including AJたまがわ / Randonneurs Tamagawa, if you want to try multiple events in a category. See Audax Japan website.
 
AJ NishiTokyo announced today the postponement of their BRM222西東京200km西伊豆しおかつお event originally planned for Sat, Feb 22. This is a 200 km, 13 1/2 hour max. ride in scenic western Izu (about 3000m of climbing). There is still too much snow along the roads and in particular on one pass early in the ride that it would not be safe for bicycles. A new date will be announced later by e-mail and on their website.
 
An update on two AJ NishiTokyo events:

1) BRM222西東京200km西伊豆しおかつお in West Izu has been rescheduled for March 22 (4 weeks later).

2) BRM315西東京200km金太郎 which was also cancelled due to too much snow has been rescheduled for October 18.
 
AJ NishiTokyo's brevet schedule for 2015 is now on their website:

2015-01-10: BRM110 Miura Peninsula 200 km (BRM110西東京200km三浦半島)
2015-03-28: BRM328 Fuji 300 km (BRM328西東京300km富士)
2015-04-18: BRM418 Fuji 400 km (BRM418西東京400km富士大回り)
2015-05-30: BRM530 Lake Suwa 600 km (BRM530西東京600km諏訪湖)
2015-09-26: BRM926 Kintaro 200 km (BRM926西東京200km金太郎)
2015-10-17: BRM1017 West Izu 200 km (BRM1017西東京200km西伊豆しおかつお下賀茂)

Compared to 2014, the whole schedule has been moved up, primarily because 2015 is a PBP year.

The 200-300-400-600 km series has to be completed before the summer to qualify for the quadrennial Paris-Brest-Paris 1200 km event, which starts on August 15, 2015. A couple of my friends are planning to participate next year.

It's the first time AJ NishiTokyo have a brevet in January. Miura is a good place for it that time of the year. Unlike last winter no brevet is scheduled for February , to avoid problems with snow. The 300 and 400 km events have been moved forward 2 and 4 weeks compared to 2014.
 
Great info Joe! Thanks for posting.

I'll be getting the Kita Tokyo Megalo-Brevet schedule up for next year soon. So if you fellas who have been PM'ing me about it can just give me a week or so to finalize things with our sponsors I'll be able to post some more details. Some exciting things happening with some major sponsors coming on board!!
 
Audax Japan has published the 2015 randonée (brevet) schedule of the 22 Japanese randonneuring clubs on their website. Randoneuring has been growing in popularity for several years, with a total of 234 events of between 200 km and 1000 km and 3 flèche rides scheduled next year. This is 50 more than there were in 2014.

Event signup is mostly via SportsEntry, about 1-3 months before the event. The cost is usually between 1000 and 2000 yen.

Requirements for participation: bicycle liability insurance, helmet, lights, bell, reflective vest, observance of road rules.
 
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