New England Randonneurs

• May 5th – Vermont 200k: Classic “Bakery” 200k Brevet. Moderately difficult, classic early Vermont 200k. Leaves from the Red Hen Bakery in Middlesex, widely considered one of Vermont’s Best Bakery. From there the route uses small country stores as Controls and loops around the Green Mountains in the middle of the state. Nice 10 mile dirt road end. Update: Revised route will be used which will be 15-25% Vermont dirt roads.

• May 12th – Boston 300k & 200k: New Route! Explores Central and Southern Massachusetts with stops in Holland and Wales but still takes in the famous Tweedo’s in Ashburnham. This is a challenging but scenic and low traffic ride. The 200k is a shorter version with a later start.

• May 19 – Fleche & Dart Team Event Weekend: Lots of details on the Fleche & Dart info page. Applications due May 5th.

We’ve got a ride almost every weekend in April!

• April 21st: Boston 200k with a heavily revised route and new start location. This challenging 200k has been in development for about a year. It visits the towns of Princeton, Oakham, and Sutton Mass. The route is particularly rural and scenic, even by NER’s standards. Read Jake’s Pre-Ride report for more information.

Portland Fleche & Darts: Applications are due MAY 5th!  Now’s the time to gather a team and plan a route.

The inaugural Narraganset Bays & Bridges 200k was a great success! We had a 49 riders register for this early season ride, the first ever with a Rhode Island start and finish. (RUSA is chartered in RI but ironically, has never had a brevet starting from the Ocean State.) I suspect all 49 riders were clicking refresh on the forecast for the past week as a Nor’easter hit the area on Wednesday and had the possibility of forcing us to use an alternate route without the pretty bike paths on the first 20 miles. Thankfully the storm was dud and the ride continued as planned. 44 riders started including many first-time Randonneurs, two recumbents, a fixed-gear, and a tandem. 42 riders finished!

At the “Secret” control riders got to meet RUSA Member #1 and her partner Pierce. Besides being a founding member and former President of RUSA, Jennifer organized the famous Boston-Montreal-Boston 1200k for almost 20 years. It was an honor to have their help on the ride. We also want to thank Kevin for his support and hospitality in running the Little Compton control. We couldn’t have done it without these volunteers. Finally, Huge thanks to Ted Shwartz for designing & leading the ride. Hopefully this becomes an annual tradition.