Saturday, November 11, 2017

Solstice Ride, 12/22/2017

Friday December 22nd 2017.

*** RIDE CANCELLED ***
(ice and possible snow)


Current plan is to meet early afternoon for festive carbo-loading somewhere holiday-appropriate (Indian, Thai, Chinese?) and start riding late afternoon.

Route will be a group pop perm 100km or so and away from the hills, starting and finishing in Richland (so 5Cities3Rivers, then).

In the event of bad weather (chance of slippery stuff), we'll still do the eating part but skip the riding part.

All welcome as always of course.

Please let us know in advance if you'd like to join us.
You can use that form over there ===>>>

Saturday, October 21, 2017

DRR AGM 2017

DRR Annual meeting, ride and potluck.
Next Saturday, 10/28/17.

Mystery ride - because I haven't decided which route yet.
100km group permanent.
Starting at Roaster's Coffee, George Washington Way, 10am.

Potluck at Norm and Marcie's house,
6pm onwards.

All welcome.

Let me know if you're coming.

Thursday, October 5, 2017

Fall 200km Results


Norm Carr
Ian Hoffman
Shiggy Person
Stefanie Randolph
Tom Reimbolt
Graham Ross
Corey Thompson

all finished the fall 200km brevet. It was a lovely day in the valley. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Thanks all for coming out to ride with DRR.

A post shared by Norm Carr (@nextsibling) on

~~~~~~~~~~~~
That's the last scheduled DRR ride for 2017. See you in 2018.

Tuesday, September 26, 2017

2018 is going to be a thing.

Winter is coming. Then the spring, and a whole new season of randonneuring in the Pacific Northwest. If you're on the edge of your seat and just can't wait, here's a wee preview of DRR's modest contribution to all the fun in 2018.

We've submitted our proposed schedule of ACP sanctioned brevets in 2018 to RUSA. DRR will be organizing a full Super Randonneur series again, with a mix of new and old routes, as follows.

  • March 10th, Paul be running the popular Hermiston-Pendleton-Hermiston-Pendleton-Hermiston Spring 300km.
  • April 14th will be a 400km run by Norm using a route yet to be decided.
  • May 19th will be a new fixture, a 200km out of Wenatchee, run by Shiggy, route yet to be decided.
  • September 8th will be a new 600km brevet run by Susan using a new route from Walla Walla to Whitefish, Montana.

That's just our list of officially sanctioned ACP brevets. Look for announcements about possible group permanent rides, RUSA brevets, and other fun stuff as they might appear according to DRR members' whim.

There isn't an early-season ACP 200 scheduled in 2018. We'll no doubt be riding something around that time, however, either locally or with west-side friends. Or both.

Over DRR's summer gap, there's lots going on elsewhere, including RUSA 20th anniversary rides, and the not insignificant option of SIR's Cascade 1200, so no need to go rideless. Remember the calendar is always there to help you find an event.

Watch for more info about all these events and more on this site as the time approaches.

Happy winter.

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Fall 200 km ACP Brevet, 9/30/17

The fall 200km brevet on 9/30 will use the Yakety Bak route.

(Because of various scheduling conflicts, the DRR AGM and potluck will now be on October 21.)

Organizer: Norm Carr

Ride date: Saturday, 30th September, 2017

Sign in from: 07:30
Start at: 08:00
Finish by: 21:30

Free entry to RUSA members.

Start and Finish location:
Roaster's Coffee, 496 George Washington Way, Richland WA 99352
Plenty of parking available in the Richland Community Center parking lot behind Roaster's.

Sunrise: 06:54
Sunset: 18:40

Lights and reflective gear that satisfy RUSA rules must be carried and used if necessary.

There will be information controls - please have a pen.

Register to ride      Who's riding?

Route cue sheet


Fall 600 km ACP Brevet, 9/9/17

We're in the early planning stages of a new fixture on the DRR calendar - a fall 600.

Unfortunately, circumstances have conspired against us and the fall 600 can't happen this year. The dream hasn't died and could be revived in 2018.

Thursday, May 25, 2017

Memorial Weekend 100/200 Group Permanents

Group permanent Memorial Weekend with DRR.

Meet for an 8am departure from Roasters Coffee, 496 George Washington Way, Richland, WA 99352

Sunday 28th May, join us to ride one of two permanents. Ride either Paul's Columbia Loop (#1166, 138km) or Norm's Round the Bend and Over the Top (#3185, 203km). Both routes offer great views of the Columbia, NE OR and over the Yakima Valley. Each has the same first 100km or so - plenty of time to be sociable, whichever distance you prefer.

All welcome.
Use the contact for over there ----->>
to tell us you'd like to ride.

Sunday, May 21, 2017

Spring 600 Results

Matthew Bell
Ed Person
Tom Reimbolt
Graham Ross
Maciej Szarecki

all finished the spring ACP 600 km brevet. It's fair to say that headwinds and rain in the first part made this ride rather challenging. Congratulations to the finishers and commiserations to the non-finishers. Thanks to all for coming and riding with DRR. Lovely to have some recidivists revisit. See you all down the road again soon.

Big thanks to Graham Ross who made a special trip to come and pre-ride the previous weekend and volunteer on the day of the brevet. His contributions definitely helped to clarify some of the trickier parts of the cue sheet and provided some up-to-date intelligence about road conditions.

Hail storm near Franklin Summit, NE Oregon.

A post shared by Norm Carr (@nextsibling) on


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thats all for now from DRR until September, when we'll be running a new 600 and a 200. Watch this space or our Facebook page for updates.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Spring 400 Results

Luis Bernhardt
Gary Prince
Graham Ross
Aaron Pyle

all finished the DRR spring 400 km brevet on 4/29.
Well done all. Was a beautiful day, although the evening wind beside the Columbia added a little challenge later on. Thanks everyone for riding with DRR. Big thanks to Paul for organizing.

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Spring 600km ACP Brevet, 5/13/17

Another shameless recycling of a route from previous years, because it's a good one.

Ride date: Saturday-Sunday, 13-14 May 2016

Sign in: 05:30 Saturday
Start at: 06:00 Saturday
Finish by: 22:00 Sunday (40 hrs)

Sunrise Sat: 05:26
Sunset Sat: 20:21

Organizer: Norm Carr

Fee: $20 (helps a little with pre-ride and ongoing DRR expenses, there is no ride support)

Start location: John Dam Plaza, Richland WA.
Finish location: Open control, downtown Richland.

Accommodation

The start and finish will be in the same place as the Spring 400, in Richland.
If you need somewhere to stay, the Red Lion, Hampton Inn, Shilo and the Days Inn are all nearby. If you will be driving to the start, use the Richland Federal Building parking lot, a couple of blocks NW on Jadwin Ave where there's lots of space.

24 Hr Services:
Richland
Denny's, 1301A George Washington Way
Exxon, 1401 George Washington Way
Shari's, 1745 George Washington Way
WinCo Foods, Jack in the Box, Columbia Point
Benton City
Cougar Cafe/Conoco, Kennedy Rd.

Route
RUSA route #1943 "Double Cheeseburger 600"

This route is split into two parts, both starting and ending in Richland, and is intended to be ridden over two days, a hillier first day of ~350 km and an easier second of ~250 km.

Cue Sheet

Route Part I
Route Part II

Day one is an out and back with a loop that explores some familiar and unfamiliar quiet roads of NE OR. From Richland we'll make an early detour via Dallas Rd and Reata Rd followed by the famous climb over to Oregon up Clodfelter and long descent down Plymouth. After Hermiston it's the long empty trip up 207 to Lexington, then 74 to Heppner. If we're unlucky, this is where the headwinds will be worst. After Heppner, we'll stay on 74 through some hilly, lonely and in places spectacular scenery on a fun road for cycling with some interesting climbs and exciting descents, all the way to US395 and the gradual descent back down to Pendleton. From there it's back along the perennial favorite canyon road to Echo, back on 395 to Hermiston and the river, then the minor matter of DRR's favorite climb, likely in the dark, back up Plymouth to the view of the night-time lights of the Tri-Cities and the decent back down Clodfelter and to Richland.

Day two visits with the Yakima River a little while before another popular local climb up Weber Canyon. Then we'll take a trip through the wheat fields of the Horse Heaven Hills before the fast and fun descent down to Prosser. You'll have done most of the climbing by then, but there's still a trip out and back along either side of the Yakima valley and a hop back over from Benton City before you're done.

Notes
As usual with DRR brevets, this is an entirely unsupported event. Please be prepared for long stretches between services and without cell phone coverage on day one.

There will be riding in the dark. Lights and reflective gear that satisfy RUSA rules must be used.

There will be information controls - please have a pen.

Questions? Use the contact form over there --->>
to get in touch.

Register to Ride

Who's riding? (your entry might not show up here for a few minutes)

Friday, April 7, 2017

Spring 300km Brevet Results

Luis Bernhardt
Norm Carr
Barry Chase
Maciej Szarecki
Paul Whitney

finished the spring 300 km brevet on March 25th. Good work all.

Damp and sometimes wetter, breezy and blustery day but plenty of scenic interludes made up for any weather challenges. Big thanks to Susan for tea, shelter and light at the top of Plymouth. Thanks for the visit from friends from the North.

Who'd like to ride 400km on April 29th?

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

DRR Spring 400 km ACP Brevet, 4/29/17

For the spring 400, we'll be running the same successful route this year as last year. More info and ride registration coming soon.


Organizer: Paul Whitney

Ride date: Saturday, 29th April, 2017

Sunrise: 05:46
Sunset: 20:03

Sign in from: 05:30 Sat
Start at: 06:00 Sat
Finish by: 09:00 Sun

Entry fee: $5

Start/Finish location: John Dam Plaza, Richland WA and/or Parking lot of Red Lion Inn, Richland WA (across the street from each other)


There will be riding in the dark. Lights and reflective gear that satisfy RUSA rules must be used.

There will be long sections well outside of cell phone coverage.

There will be information controls - please have a pen.

Questions? Use the contact form over there --->>
to get in touch.

Last year's excellent route is being (get ready for it...) re-cycled. The description from last year is still relevant.

Register to Ride

Who's riding? (your entry might not show up here for a few minutes)

Route Cue Sheet
Here is the cue sheet for the 2016 version.


Map / GPS download

Monday, February 27, 2017

DRR Spring 200 Results.

Two started.
Two finished.
It was cold.
But sunny.

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Spring 100km Populaire, 03/11/17

Organizer: Paul Whitney

Ride date: Saturday, 11th March, 2017

Sign in from: 8:15
Start at: 8:30
Finish by: standard time limit

Free entry to RUSA members.

Start and Finish location:
Will be at Roasters. If you drive to the start park at the nearby Richland community center.

Sunrise: 06:17
Sunset: 17:58


There will be information controls - please have a pen or pencil to record these.

Register to ride      Who's riding?


Route cue sheet (coming soon)

Route
"About 100K"

Map / GPS Download

Spring 300km ACP Brevet, 3/25/17


This year's spring 300 km brevet will be a new figure-of-8 route around the Columbia, into NE Oregon and back over the popular Plymouth Rd climb and down Webber Canyon. Come for the views of the river, empty roads, drier weather than the west side, and to see the Columbia Basin while it's still green.

Organizer: Norm Carr

Ride date: Saturday, 25th March, 2017

Sign in from: 05:30
Start at: 3/25 06:00
Finish by: 3/26 02:00

Free entry to RUSA members.

Start and Finish location:
Starbucks Coffee, Columbia Point Drive, Richland WA 99352
Plenty of parking available.

Sunrise: 06:49
Sunset: 19:16

There will be riding in the dark. Lights and reflective gear that satisfy RUSA rules must be carried and used.

There will be some long-ish stretches (40-50 miles) without services. Please ensure you are carrying enough food and drink for your needs. Away from towns in NE OR cell phone coverage is often unavailable.

There will be information controls - please have a pen.

Register to ride        Who's riding?



Map / GPS download



Thursday, January 26, 2017

200 km ACP Brevet, 02/25/2017


Welcome to DRR in 2017. This will be our season opening ride.

Amazingly, for the first time in living memory, our spring 200 km will not use the Flat Yak route. That's because the bridge over the Yakima is still out on Meyers Road between Toppennish and Zillah. Instead we have an awesome new alternative route up the Yakima valley and back, with all new control locations (Route 2033-WA: Yakety Bak).

There's still a possibility of wintery weather at the end of Feb, and there's a good chance it could be chilly or windy. Bring extra layers and a weatherproof shell. Like all our brevets, this is an unsupported ride but there are opportunities to find food and drink along the route.

Organizer: Norm Carr

Ride date: Saturday, 25th February, 2017

Sign in from: 06:30
Start at: 07:00
Finish by: 20:30

Free entry to RUSA members.

Start and Finish location:
Roaster's Coffee, 496 George Washington Way, Richland WA 99352
Plenty of parking available in the Richland Community Center parking lot behind Roaster's.

Sunrise: 07:14
Sunset: 17:08

As an early season ride there's a significant possibility of riding in the dark so lights and reflective gear that satisfy RUSA rules must be carried and used.

There will be information controls - please have a pen.

Register to ride      Who's riding?


Route cue sheet


Map / GPS download