Originally Posted by
surreycrv
I don't get your point about the bs and formality though. All it really is, is a ride you say you are going to do, then you do it. If you don't want to continue, then just stop (and call someone that you quit, it's merely good manners to). I personally don't NEED to do the series, but I want to.
A formal brevet has me ride on a course not of my choosing, on a day not of my choosing, and a start time not of my choosing. So mainly I choose not to bother very often. It doesn't help that the closest organized brevets are a 5 hour round trip drive away. This makes 5am and 6am starts difficult unless I want to sleep in my car or pay for a hotel room.
That's the down side. On the plus side, I do get to ride them with like minded cyclists - those who enjoy long distance... As long as they don't drop me.
In my own personal calculation, I don't get a whole lot in return for the formality of doing a long ride as a brevet. I'd rather recruit a friend or two to go out and do a high mileage, two day tour (in lieu of a 600K), or a double century (in lieu of a 300K). This way, we pick the day, time, route, etc. as we feel like it. We change the course on the fly - do whatever makes us happy.
I get the benefits of everything Nick put in his list here. What I don't get is a little yellow book with signatures in it, nor a pin, nor a medal. I don't get formal recognition from an organizing body like RUSA or the ACP. Those things don't really concern me. The pins and medals are cool, but not worth the other stuff in order to get them.