Originally Posted by cycletourist
I have been a RUSA member for two years but there are no rides where I live. The closest chapters are in St. Louis and Kansas City. I may start a Randonneuring club in Branson so I can organize brevets.
I don't know how it would be to organize a club through RUSA, but up here, I think it's pretty simple. The organizers planned out the routes a number of years ago so that all stays the same from year to year. Once you've got a good route you can stick with it. We also don't have "manned" controls on our rides. Some clubs have volunteers at all the controls to sign the cards and help the riders. Here we get our cards signed by people in convenience stores and restaurants in towns along the way so we're completely on our own out there. At the end of the season the organizers send in the cards and we get them back with the medals later.