2013 Pacific Populaire

Randonneur Cycling began in BC when the four founding members - Gerry, John, Dan, and Wayne - qualified for and then completed Paris Brest Paris in 1979. By the mid 1980s the growing group of Lower Mainland randonneurs was looking for a way to introduce new people to the sport. "Populaires" are short, unofficial randonneur events with some of the flavour of official "brevets" or "randonnees" (200 km+). These fun rides had been used elsewhere to introduce people to randonneur cycling. Sometimes populaires are also thought of stepping-stones to 200 km brevets. According to Dan McGuire: "My recollection is that Randy Clelland organized [the 1986 populaire] as a warm-up for the 200 and Marty Wanless promoted it to gain membership, and it went on from there."