Event description: The Golden Falcon is brough to you by Hamid & Shab Akbarian. They were the ride organizers of Northern VA Cloverleaf, Treasure Cove, North South Battlefield, Endless Flat and Golden Falcon. Shab is the winner of 2017 American Randonneuring Award for her dedication to the Randonneuring sport and the riders. People call her “Queen of Volunteers”. The Golden Falcon has been designed to be a cloverleaf format. Event provides discounted room block on the event hotel and riders may arrange their own lodging. This allows less financial loss risk to the event the riders and event organizers with the constant cost increases and inflation.
What is Golden Falcon: The symbol of the first Persian Empire dynasty to recognize the freedom of all the people under the Persian Empire, especially women & all classes of any minorities. This edition is called “The People Prevail”. The People Prevail is not a ride for recreation. Held on the first day of Spring and the Persian New Year, this event honors the legacy of Cyrus the Great and the Golden Falcon—symbol of freedom for women, minorities, and all people under the first Persian Empire. Born from the call of Woman, Life, Freedom, this 4th edition stands in open defiance of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s brutality and in solidarity with the families who have lost loved ones to state violence. Every mile ridden and every dollar raised goes directly to those left behind with grief and no protection. This is how we remember. This is how we resist. This is how the people prevail. This is one the most cycling event of your lifetime.
Event date: Saturday March 21, 2026 – Starting at 6am.
Event Host Hotel: Hampton Inn & Suites by Hilton Middleburg Florida. **Read below for discounted room block.
Registration is 3 steps: 1-Fill up the registration form 2-Sign the online waiver 3-Pay the event fee; this will secure you a spot on the event.
Registration is: closed on Feb 28, 2026. “All non-paid Registration will be cancelled on March 1st, 2026.“
You must sign the online waiver to be able to ride: https://waiver.smartwaiver.com/v/rusaFLNortheast
Important note: You must sign a waiver for each event that you are planning to ride. Once you have signed the waiver successfully, you will receive an email confirmation. In that email, there is a link to download a copy of your signed waiver in PDF format. You have only 3 days to download a copy before the link gets expired. Please download a copy and email it to info@cyclingforever.com. You can NOT start the ride if I did not receive your signed waiver. It is riders responsibility to make sure that I have their waiver.
Event Fee is as follows. None paid registration will be canceled by March 1st: it is per rider (x2 for tandem) for either 1000k, 1000km+200km or 1200k. Payment instruction is below. *The registration Fee is non-refundable and non-transferable. *
- If paid, by December 31: $200
- If paid, during January: $250
- If paid, during February: $300
Note: If you register in Dec and not pay until Feb then your event fee will be calculated based on Feb.
Event Cancellation: If we have to cancel the event, riders will get a full refund minus a pro rata share of expenses we can’t recover – for example, lodging we can’t cancel, supplies we can’t return, etc.
Event fee Includes:
- Pre-ride Breakfast items.
- Food & drink at 3 overnights. (More on food will be posted later)
- Post-ride party food/drink (Beer/wine included).
- A custom souvenir medal.
- A souvenir gifts.
- No drop bags since the route is a Cloverleaf.
- An electronic Brevet Card.
- RideWithGPS link.
- An electronic cue-sheet generated from RideWithGPS.
Event fee does NOT include:
- Riders accommodation before/during/after the ride.
- Riders food/drink during the event, except what has been stated in what is included in event fee.
Payment Instructions:
- Pay the event fee(s) via https://www.zellepay.com/ by using the info@cyclingforever.com email or 561-843-3770 phone number
- Check or Bank wire transfer (contact me for inctrsuction).
No PayPal or any other 3rd party online payment methods and cash will be accepted.
Note on Zellepay.com: Check with your bank if they have this service in their online banking system. Most of American based banks do have Zellepay service.
**There will be a discounted block of rooms from Friday March 20 to Wed March 25, totaling 5 nights and the link will be provided to registered riders who have been paid in full. Riders can make their own reservation. There are only 20 discounted rooms, and they are based on first come, first serve.
Qualification: there is really none, riders should assess your ability to ride a long distance of 1000km or 1200km.
Please call me 561-843-3770 or email me info@cyclingforever.com if you have any questions about qualification.
Please Note: Riders are responsible to get back to the start/finish on their own if they DNF.
Route description: The route is cloverleaf shape hence riders are coming back to the same over night hotel every night. It is design to be completed like traditional 1200k in 4 days. It is quite flat route but it can be windy 🙂
Day 1: riders will visit the Atlantic Ocean and St Augustine historic Castillo De San Marcos National Monument. Day 2 is a tour around University of Florida AKA Gator. Day 3: is going north and cross GA border with many quiet roads. Day 4 is a short day of less than 150km and visiting Jacksonville-Baldwin Rail Trail.
Intermediate Controls time: Based on latest ACP rule, no open/close time, except start & finish.
Riders Check in: There will be a rider check in day before the ride start date March 20, Starting at 4pm. 1-Riders must check in with us first without their bikes, please do NOT bring your bike in the lobby.
2-Take their bike, reflective gears, helmet and any other safety devices that they are planning to use during the ride for Bike inspection outside of the hotel lobby. There will be NO rider check in and Bike inspection on the morning of the event until after the ride starts, 6am.
Rider Briefing: There will be a mandatory rider’s briefing on March 20 around 5pm or after the bike inspection, at the event hotel breakfast area.
Post event party: We love to celebrate your participation so there will be a party including food & drink at the last day of the ride on Tuesday starting around 7pm until last rider arrives or event closing time.
Route: (Please print your own cue-sheet from the RWGPS links in KM or Mile)
This is the *2025* official Route, updated 2026 will be posted after the pre-ride: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/50013093
Proof of Passage: We do accept and encourage the Electronic Proof of Passage AKA EPP or photos.
Navigation: Using a navigation device and/or App in your phone is MUST. Navigating ONLY and ONLY with cue-sheet is not allowed although carry a hard or soft copy of the cue-sheet is highly recommended.
Important Note: Ride organizers may determine whether the event or a rider/riders should continue due to the safety reasons.
Communication: All registered riders will receive emails on all the Golden Falcon information and updates and also will be posted on NEFR 1200km Google list.
You will be added to the Northeast Florida Randonneurs 1200km at Google Group
Please send us emails at info@cyclingforever.com or call 561-843-3770 with any questions.
Note: The information and content in this page is subject to change without prior notice.
Event Jersey: You may order one during the registration and will receive it at rider check in.
Registered Riders
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- Hamid Akbarian
- Elly Winer
- Fred Perman
- Ian Singer
- Jason Turner
- Otto Walter
- Jeff Lippincott
- Bret Slater
- Robert Anderson
- John D’Elia
- Thai Nguyen
- Dan Driscoll
- Bill Russell
- Michel Lemaire
- David Thompson
- Maxim Savchuk
- Thiago de Souza Costa
- Thomas Rozwadowski
- Patrick Chin-Hong
- Robert Newcomer
- Scott Manning
- Tony Koester