PBP 2027 Prep Series #7

John Ende and the Adrian Hands Society

Video: PBP 2027 Prep Series #7: John Ende and the Adrian Hands Society — host Rob Hawks interviews John Ende, RUSA member since 2002 and six-time PBP finisher, about the Adrian Hands Society (a randonneuring society honoring "full value" PBP finishers).

John Ende's Background

Joined RUSA (Randonneurs USA) in 2002; ~24 years of membership.
Did his PBP qualifying series in Spartanburg, South Carolina in 2003 (that series no longer exists).
Has finished six PBPs: 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023.
His 2003 finish was an "outlier" — he came in around 80 hours, too fast to qualify for Adrian Hands time; all five subsequent finishes (2007 onward) were within Adrian Hands Society time.
Also completed four domestic 1200Ks (including Cascade 1200 and Crater Lake) and a couple of 1000Ks in Nebraska.
Plans to ride PBP 2027, which would be his 7th finish.

Adrian Hands — Who He Was

Based near Raleigh, North Carolina; John met him after both wrote ride reports for RUSA's yearbook-style publication of PBP stories following the 2003 event.
Known for riding fast then stopping abruptly, and for never carrying water bottles because "there's water on the course."
His primary mode of transport was a bicycle (he'd gotten rid of his car/Suburban); friends including John and Mike Dayton often drove him to event starts.
Between 2003 and 2007 he developed progressive muscle atrophy in one hand that impaired shifting and braking; switched to a recumbent to keep riding while pursuing diagnosis with doctors and neurologists.
Qualified for and rode PBP 2007 on his recumbent; made it out to Brest but had to retire at Loudéac on the return leg (2007 was a notoriously tough, wet edition — Rob confirms he rode it too).
After 2007 the atrophy worsened and spread up his arm; he was eventually diagnosed with ALS (terminal).
Continued cycling and pursuing therapies as long as he could; by 2009 had largely stopped riding with the group.
His successful, full-value 2003 PBP finish time was 88 hours 55 minutes (88:55) — this became the namesake qualifying time for the society.
Died in February 2011, shortly after seeing the society launch, before the next PBP.

The Adrian Hands Society

Founded by John Ende and Mike Dayton as a tribute to Adrian while he was still alive, envisioned as a counterbalance to the Charlie Miller Society (which honors the fastest finishers) — this one honors the "full value" rider who takes the whole allotted time.
Qualifying criteria: officially finish PBP with a time of 88:55 or slower (up to the 90-hour cutoff); riders starting in the 80-hour or 84-hour groups are effectively excluded since they can't produce a finish time in that window. Must have officially finished PBP (a few exceptions handled case-by-case).
International in scope, unlike Charlie Miller — no requirement to be American or RUSA-affiliated; open to anyone who meets the time.
Started with roughly 20 members; has grown to about 287-288 members from around 30 countries. Membership numbers are assigned sequentially in order riders join/qualify.
Ian Hands, Adrian's son, runs the society website. He got drawn into the sport after seeing how much the society's North Carolina year-end parties meant to his father; rode his first PBP in 88:55 (Adrian Hands qualifying time) despite being a very fast rider.
Ian later attempted a Charlie Miller run (racing to Brest in under 24 hours) but had a change of heart, waited for friends, and took long breaks on the return, ultimately finishing within Adrian Hands time as well.
Ian coined the term "Charlie Hans" for riders who race to Brest quickly then deliberately take a long break (e.g., an 8-hour sleep) before riding back at a leisurely pace, splitting the difference between the two societies' ethos.
John estimates roughly 8-10 riders have achieved both Charlie Miller and Adrian Hands qualifying times (on different PBP editions); named examples include Mark Thomas and Ian Hands, plus international rider Steve Lungard, who has ridden a roughly 49-hour PBP as well as an 89-hour one.
John's administrative workload is seasonal and modest: about 40% of his time goes to communicating with members (answering questions, handling merchandise/kit requests, dealing with international shipping issues — e.g., Voler won't ship to Australia, so John personally reships foreign orders); the rest is managing kit orders generally.
Kit: tie-dye jerseys, chosen because Adrian liked wearing bright, unusual kits and enjoyed costumed cycling events. Cap design (created with member Jenny O, who also does cartoon-character artwork for the group) reads "Yo, Adrian" on one side of the brim — a Rocky movie reference, since Adrian is the name of Rocky's wife and the phrase was used to get Adrian's attention while riding — and his qualifying time "88:55" on the other side. Jersey/kit art includes a silhouette of Adrian riding at PBP, also used on the society's website landing page.
The only regular in-person gathering is a group photo taken at PBP itself. In earlier years, when the group was smaller, John would read aloud sections of Adrian's ride report to send riders off at the start; he skipped it last time but is considering reviving the tradition for 2027.
Adrian's original 2003 PBP ride report is being linked alongside this video for viewers.
Anecdote: at Super Brevet Scandinavia (SBS) this past summer, John was picked up at the airport by a Danish Adrian Hands Society member wearing his society jersey — an example of the community's international reach.

Lightning Round (5 Questions)

Riding PBP 2027? Yes — will be there, seeking his 7th finish.
Best bike for PBP? "Anything that's comfortable" — deliberately avoided naming a make/model; emphasized the variety of bikes seen at PBP, noting you don't need a classic randonneuring bike with a front rack/bag and lugged steel frame.
One thing you can't do without on PBP? Lantiseptic (anti-chafe skin protectant).
Favorite control across his six PBPs? A control on the return leg known for its festive atmosphere — grills cooking boudin and sausages outside, and people dancing with fire; he typically arrives there in the middle of the night as part of the 90-hour start group, right around when fatigue starts to bite.
Favorite food at the controls? The Fougères control specifically — he goes for what he calls "the yellow plate special," piling on all the yellow-colored foods (mashed potatoes, pasta, rice pudding), plus beer. He and Rob noted the Fougères control building is a fair walk from the food-service area; John's mood there shifted dramatically between a rough 2007 visit (rainy, overwhelmed by crowds) and a much better 2011 visit (positive mindset, ran into friends and sat down to eat with them).

Full transcript

Hi, everyone. For today's installment of the PVP prep series, I have with me today John Endy. And I'm bringing John in to talk today about the Adrian Hand Society. And I'm going to let John explain that. But first, let me give a little bit of John's background on the topic of PVP. So John joined Rusa, Rent-O-Nurse USA, back in 2002. So he's coming up on 24 years of membership with Rusa. John has finished every PVP since 2003, which is no mean feat. And except for that outlier of the first one, all of these have been within the Adrian Hand Society time. And John will explain exactly what that means when we get going on this stuff. So aside from those six PVP finishes, John has finished, I think, four domestic 1200Ks, is that right? You've done cascade, you've done craters. You've also done a couple of 1000Ks in Nebraska, I think, if not elsewhere. So you definitely have your long distance chops. So that's your background. Let's kind of ease into the topic by talking about when you first met Adrian Hands, and then we'll go from there to Adrian's experience, and then the birth of the Adrian Hand Society. So on to you. >> Yeah, sure. Actually, I did not know Adrian in 2003 when I started Rent-O-Nurse. I did my qualifying series for PVP down in Spartanburg, South Carolina, cuz that was the closest series to me. That series is no longer, and Adrian was riding the series around Raleigh. But after the event, I got in touch with Adrian because he had written his story. At the time, Rusa published kind of a yearbook, let's say, of PVP stories. It was a physical copy that came to you. I was writing a story for that publication, and so was Adrian. And that's how I hooked up with him. I thought my report was pretty good. But after reading his, I knew he really took PVP to heart. And I just love the way he enjoyed everything. He enjoyed the adversity of it. He enjoyed losing things and getting lost. And he just really had a way of celebrating the ride. And so anyway, we published those stories. I fell in love with his ride report. Then I started riding a little bit in Raleigh, and I started riding with Mike Dayton a lot. Michael is a good friend of Adrian. Adrian was difficult to ride with because he would ride real fast and then stop. He purposely wouldn't bring water bottles because he said there's water on the course. But I always enjoyed our encounters. We often gave him rides to the start because his primary mode of transport at that time was a bicycle. I think he had gotten rid of his suburban before that. So between 2003 and 2007, Adrian started to get a funny thing happening with his hand, and his muscles were atrophying. And it got to the point where it made shifting difficult. It made braking with that hand difficult. But he didn't want to give up cycling, and he switched to a recumbent. He did not have any kind of diagnosis at that time. He was seeing some doctors and some neurologists. He qualified for PVP on his recumbent for 2007. He came to PVP in 2007. He made it out to breast. He got back to Ludiak and retired there just 2007. For those of you, Rob, you were you at 2007? I was, yes. Okay. Well, for everybody out there who wasn't, it was a tough one. And it was particularly tough for him because all that grit and grime that was coming off the road on his recumbent, and he was like losing skin. So he quit at that point. He still loved it. He had a blast. But when he came home, the muscle atrophy started worsening and going up the arm and eventually was diagnosed with ALS. Full terminal illness. It's not the kind of diagnosis you want to hear. But he even took that in stride, and he sought out all kinds of therapies. He cycled as much as he could until he couldn't. And in 2009, he had really kind of dropped out of cycling with us. And I was talking to Mike about it, and we were feeling sad, I guess. And I thought, hey, wouldn't it be great if we celebrated the slow guy in this sport also as a counterbalance to Charlie Miller? Charlie Miller is an amazing accomplishment for anybody that can do PVP in that Charlie Miller time. But there's a whole other end of the spectrum, the other end of the bell curve, as you might say. And so we came up with this idea. Let's take Adrian's time from his successful 2003 PVP, which was 8855. And we'll create a society that honors the kind of full value rider. So you would have to complete PVP in a time of 8855 or more. And then you could gain entry to La Société, Adrian Hanz. And to us, it was kind of important-- I mean, we were discussing this. It's two years between PVPs. But we wanted to create it while Adrian was still around. And so we did, and he was over the moon about it. He couldn't believe that we were coming up with a society that would use his name and honor these riders who, like him, would enjoy the full allotment of time. So he saw the society get started. He did not make it to the next PVP, though. He passed away in February of 2011. But we had begun accepting people, just kind of people who had done times like that in the past could apply. There was not a huge buzz about it. I can't tell you how many riders we had at the beginning, maybe 20. But it's really caught on since then. And it's-- unlike Charlie Miller, this is international. So you don't have to be American or state that you're riding for Russo beforehand. You can be from anywhere and apply. All you need is that time of 88, 55 or greater. So we've got 288 or so members now. Yeah, I was looking at the list earlier today. I think it's 287. OK, and something like 30 countries represented. So right now it's a quiet time, but as soon as the results from the next PVP drop, my inbox will flood. Yeah, so I see that you list members of the society in order for when they joined and you assign a consecutive number to each. So I was looking at the first few names there, yours among them. And it looks like there are qualifying times going back previous to 2011. Members, I think, was yours first one was 2007 because in 2003 you failed to make Adrian Hans time by coming in at 80 hours. And then as you go down, it kind of looks like it's settled into a pattern of people that are achieving the society time limit for the first time. So down at the bottom of the list, it's a lot of people from 2023's version of that. And as you say, I did see a number of international members. And the other thing I wanted to point out, though, is that this kind of restricts the 84 and the 80 hour starters from membership because it is 88 hours and 55 minutes. But it is international. That's a big difference from the Charlie Miller group as well. I wondered if you are aware of, well, there's a couple of things I want to talk about related to this. I'll ask the first one because I think you know how many people have achieved both Adrian Hans and Charlie Miller times? I don't know the exact number, Rob, but I'd say it's eight or 10. Is it that many? Something like that. I'll have to look into that. I only know of two. One is Mark Thomas. The other is Ian, correct? Yeah. Tim Boll, Robert Klein. And then there are international riders also that have times that would qualify for Charlie Miller who have Adrian Hans qualifying or on the Adrian Hans list, like Steve Lungard. He's written. I think he's done a 49 or something, but he's also done an 89. Okay. Wow. The one that I wanted to ask if you were aware of is people that have on one iteration of PVP split the baby in half and they've done what they referred to as Adrian, no. Yeah. Charlie Hans time. Charlie Hans. Yeah. I know. They race out to breast as fast as they can and then take like an eight hour sleep break and then mosey on back at very leisurely time. I don't know if this is required, but a baguette in one jersey pocket and a bottle of wine in the other, is that necessary or is that just window dressing? Um, the first time I heard that Charlie Hans coined was by Ian, Ian Hans, and Adrian Son. He, yeah, and, and you know that Ian, Ian was not riding. He definitely wasn't doing random nearing. And because we started this society, um, we would have North Carolina events and we'd have a year end party and Ian saw that what we were doing was meaningful to his dad. And he just decided to start coming out and riding with us, so, so we had lost, uh, we had lost Adrian, but then we picked up Ian and he, he rode his first PVP he did in 8855. So he got Adrian Hans, but he's a fast, he's a fast rider, he's the fastest, anybody. Um, so then he decided he was going to do Charlie Miller and he wants, you know, so he, he races out to breast in under 24 hours, but then he has a change of heart and he's missing us behind him. Uh, so he, uh, he had done that from the 90 hour group just in, just in case he changed his mind. Cause as you point out, if you start in the 80 hour group or the 84 hour group, you've kind of given up your shot at Adrian Hans. Cause also one of the criteria is that you have to have finished PVP officially. That's correct. There, there are, I think there are a few exceptions in the list, um, but those, those are taken on a case by case basis, um, yeah. So he waited on us, he took a long break and breast, he rode back a little bit. He would take eight hour breaks and eventually we caught up to him. So he, he did another Adrian hands, even having been at breast in 24 hours or less. Right. Yeah. So I mean that, that's kind of, I guess I would ride out the breast in 24 hours if I could. Right. That's not an option for me. Right. Nor, nor me. So in the early days, uh, I imagined that, uh, you know, the culture and the, the, the people that were in the know about this was a fairly small group, but I also assumed that it's grown over time and do, do, is there much cohesiveness among the riders with this goal while they are riding on the event itself? Are there groups of people that are all working toward that goal? Uh, I'd say that sometimes there are a group that, that's doing that, just, just like, you know, sometimes there's a, there's a Charlie Miller group that gets together occasionally as an Adrian hands group, um, that, that there's a lot of just, you know, singles, uh, there, there's just the natural, the natural Adrian hands as I call it, where people are better born with that talent. Well, they're just trying to finish and they happen to finish between 88, 55 and 90. Hours. Right. You know, then, um, then, you know, you, you, you might have a couple hour cushion at the end or some time cushion at the end that you need to kill. Even Adrian, when he did his 88, 55, he knew he was going to finish and he started slowing down and he finished with a bottle of wine, you know, in one of his water bottle cages. I don't think he started with any water bottles because there's water on the course. Exactly. They'll have something to drink out there. Right. So I, there's, there's all different ways to do it. And I don't, I don't, there's just like there's all different kinds of ways to do the PVP. And I don't think that anyone is better than the other. I don't think Adrian hands is better than Charlie Miller or it's better than an 80 hour or 75 hour, whatever you do. Um, the, the point of the society besides honor and Adrian was to just, uh, kind of stress to people, enjoy this event, enjoy the ride, enjoy the whole time of it. And it's worked on me, um, I, because my least favorite part of the event is the finish because it's over. Um, I don't, I don't even, I mean, I kill time at the end. I might stop at a cafe or we might have a beer or we might have a pastry. Uh, we might eat more than a pastry because you get quite hungry. Oh yeah. Um, but it's, yeah, it's how, however you want to do it, as long as you're enjoying it. So, um, do you have other people working on the administrative part of this, I imagine that I think you alluded to this earlier that it's, it's a seasonal kind of a workload. Yeah. Yeah. So is it just you that is running the society or is there more to it? Well, Ian does the website. Okay. It's, it's great having that off my plate. Right. Um, then I pretty much do everything else, but it's, it's, it's not a big workload, um, probably the most of the time that I spend on the society, it's 40% communicating with people who have a question or who wanted to, who want to order like a piece of the kit or that they, they, they live in Australia and Voler doesn't ship there, something like that. Right. And then the rest of the time is dealing with the kit orders and I, I've been, um, I've been just getting the foreign orders shipped to me and then I've reshipped them. Uh-huh. Uh, but it's, that's not a big deal either. And I, I love seeing those kits around, um, you know, I've, I've seen them all over. So is it kind of a special thrill to spot the jersey or the t-shirt or the cap in the wild, so to speak, and it's on somebody that you don't know yet and kind of gives you this boost of, of, you know, this is really international. Absolutely. So I did, I did SBS, uh, Superbivari Scandinavia this past summer and I was trying to work through the logistics. And so I contacted a Danish rider who's in the society and he said, yeah, that's, that's no problem. Uh, I, I live right outside Copenhagen when you just send me your flight info and I'll be there to pick you up. So I, I come into the hall, um, I've got my bags. I come into the hall and I see an Adrian Hans jersey. He wore the jersey to the airport to pick me up. Yeah. It gives me a warm feeling when I see those in the wild. Yeah. So give us a closer look at the cap that you've got on and I believe you've got the t-shirt as well. Yeah. I, uh, it's an old school t-shirt and it just, it's got the society Adrian Hans. And that is, uh, we can't see it all together right now, but that's, that's an outline, a silhouette of Adrian himself. Taken during PbP. Right. Yeah. That's a silhouette of him on his bike at PbP and I think that's the photo that's on the landing page for the website. Yes. Cool. Yeah. Okay. Uh, and what, what is the slogan? Uh, what's, what's behind the slogan that's on the brim of the hat there? Well, we, we would, we would call Adrian, yo, eh, mm-hmm, I just, uh, I don't know. It's kind of like to get his attention or riding. It's from Rocky, the movie. Oh. Oh yes. Yes. Yes. Uh, you know, Adrian, Adrian is Rocky's wife. Yeah. And he's always saying, yo, eh, yo, eh. And so, um, that, that's where that, that's where that comes from. All right. And then on other brim is the 8855, uh, you know, which is his time. Yeah. Uh, we've got, we've had a few different versions. This has got the cartoon character, Jenny O helped me with this. Ah, nice. She made these little characters and helped me design the caps. And she is a member of the society, correct? She is. Yep. Yeah. Uh, and one of your riders, you've got lots of them. Yeah, it has taken hold out here. Um, yeah, the, the tie dye, we wanted a bright jersey because Adrian would ride, would ride with some really interesting kits. Okay. And he, he also liked just outside of random nearing going to cycling events that involve costume. Oh, really? Yeah. And he had some very bright costumes that he would ride with. And we wanted like, you know, what is the, what, we need, we need a colorful kit. And so we landed on tie dye and have kind of just stuck with it. Cool. So as a wrap up, I've asked all of the interviewees a series of five questions, but before we get that to that, just wanted to double check with you to make sure that we've covered everything that you would like to have covered so that people understand in full the whole point of the society. Yeah, the only thing I would, I would like to add to that and just to point them to it is I've given Rob a link to Adrian's ride report from 2003 and he's going to insert it at the end of this somewhere. You should check if you're thinking about PVP or even if you've done PVP heck, I reread this thing every time PVP comes around. Because I want it, I just want to remind myself of how much fun you can have, you know, while you're out there punishing yourself. So sort of, sort of like, yeah, sort of like in mid-November hearing Alice's restaurant on the radio. Exactly. So in the summertime before PVP, you're reading, is there a recording that you do to give to people of the story of it, Adrian? I should, you know, we hold a, the only in-person meeting we have is when we do our photo at PVP, when the group used to be smaller, I would read sections from this ride report to send everyone off. But I guess I skipped that last time. I might bring that back for 2027. I think you should. I think you should. And that, you know, as I was thinking about the questions that conclude the interview, I was thinking that you're the first interview subject that hasn't foreshadowed what was happening for them in 2027, but you just now did. So that's my first question. Are you going to PVP 2027? I'll be there. All right. Looking, looking for number seven. Yeah. Yep. Okay. So describe, if you can, what you think the best bike is to ride on PVP? Anything that's comfortable? That's a very common answer. That's the answer I'm looking for. This was sort of a trick question because I didn't want people to name a make and model. I wanted them to talk about, you know, the variety of bikes that you'll see there, the variety of bikes that are appropriate and, and, you know, everybody is going to settle on something different. So, you know, you don't have to show up with a bare food frame, a front rack bag and lugged frames. You can come on just about anything, anything that's going to work for you and not incapacitate you after 750 miles. So on the PVPs that you've done, you've gathered quite a bit of data on this. Name one thing that you can't do without when you're on PVP. Lannisceptic. Okay. Yeah. We've had variations on that answer. Yeah. Okay. So I know that the controls are going to change. Some of them will be the same. Some of them will actually get twice like we did in the past, but, you know, it's a different ballgame. However, can you tell us which is the best control from across those six PVPs that you've finished? Which one do you like the most? Oh, I, I like more 10, I'll push. Coming back. Okay. Yeah. It's not, it's not a control going out and, and I don't always stop going out. Yeah. It's a rest, a water stop on the way out. Right. But it's, it's to the point, Rob, where you're starting to feel it a little bit, like I might actually. Hold on to them. And it's, it is a festive atmosphere. They're doing the boudin and the sausages on the grills outside. And I mean, I've seen people dancing with fire there. I think, I think I saw. More Tauno Paris, really? What time of day would you get there on, on in the 90 hour start? Oh, it's late. So I mean, when I'm coming back, it's like middle of the night. Yeah. Right. I missed fire at that stop, I guess me, unless I'm just too beat to, to notice it, ride right through it and not even see. I, I really, I like the controls. I think they're great. I think the, the food that they offer is, you know, really what you need, some, some great options. But that one's my kind of my favorite. The last time we were there, a rider, who I'd known in the past, a French rider, he, he came back out to meet us. He wasn't riding, but he's from around that area. And there were some little kids there and, you know, it's, it's, I think it was around two AM or so, and he said, this is how I got interested. This is how I got introduced to this sport. I was a kid like them, showing up here, what, looking at these zombies come through. And, and it didn't scare him off. Yeah. Cool. Okay. Um, which is your, what is your favorite food at the controls? Is there a specific dish at a specific control, or is there a type of food? What is your favorite? Um, my, my favorite food at the controls, well, I like, uh, Fougere, you know, it's got, some people don't stop at this dining facility because it's a separate building from the control. Right. It's down the hill a little bit, but I, I go with what I call the yellow plate special there. Okay. And just get all their foods that are yellow. All right. Perfect. Should, should we leave that as a mystery for people or do we want to explain what that means? Uh, there, there's a, there's a pasta and a mashed potato. There's a rice, this is rice pudding. No. There's beer. Okay. All right. So my first experience at the Fougere, uh, control, so, uh, to, to elaborate a little bit on what John said about that particular control, it's, it's a long way from the entrance to the control grounds, to the actual control itself. So that's like kind of way off in the back and so you ride past the cafeteria and keep, it seems like you're riding forever and then you get to the place where you can actually get your card stamped and they have a small food service there, but it's not much. And everybody that I know of, um, turns around and goes back out toward the entrance to where the cafeteria is and, and then, um, sits down and eats there. And my first experience, uh, in 2007 was it was pouring like crazy. And so everybody was indoors and I just kind of got, uh, intimidated by trying to navigate through, uh, the massive bodies, uh, just to get to the, the food service. Um, so it was kind of, uh, daunting, but in the, the very next iteration, it, it quickly became one of my favorite places just because of the change in mood that I had where, uh, in 2007 all is lost, you know, a wash at sea. And then 2011, you know, I just had a mindset of I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. And I would, I would, um, I think at that one control, I actually sat down eight and I was leaving and I ran into some friends who were just getting there. So I turned around and sat down and got more food with them. So it's, it can work out very, very nicely that, that, uh, that control and just about any of the others, you know, it's, as you say, they're the controls are great. It's a great place to meet people, to meet people, you know, meet people that you haven't met before. It's really a good place. Well, John, uh, thank you for taking the time to sit down and chat with me about the Adrian Hand Society. Um, uh, as John has mentioned, I will be adding, um, subtitles or captions to some of these frames and we'll give you the links to Adrian's, uh, write up and we'll also give you the link to the, uh, website for the Adrian Hand Society. Thank you very much. And that's great. Rob, appreciate it. You bet. All right. Thanks a lot.