New England Randonneurs

With the cold weather and early darkness, NER now takes a breather until April when the season starts back up. (See the calendar of events for NER and the Westfield MA regions.) But in the meantime, there’s a lot of planning and options for informal riding.

NER’s inaugural 1200k, The Six Pack 1200, is scheduled for September 2026. The route is being continuously tweaked and other details being finalized. More information will be found here in the next few months. A new discussion group / email list has been created for those who want to stay informed about the event. (No content there yet.)

Randonneurs USA (RUSA) has now dropped the addition fee for riding permanents. Perms are a great way of riding a randonneuring type route on your own schedule, obtaining RUSA “credit” for the completion, and unlike Brevets you can modify all aspects of the route except for the control locations. Perms are a lot of fun and it’s good motivation to keep riding throughout the winter.

You can see a list of perms in the Boston area as well as search for perms anywhere in the US.

Occasionally people announce their intention to ride a perm on the NER Discussion Group for others are interested in joining the attempt.

After the candy has been safely distributed, NER plans to close out 2025 with one last ride and a members meeting / Party. More information here. The route is rolling 83 miles leaving from just north of Medford Square. With 3800′ of climbing it will keep you warm. This is a free event but a current RUSA Membership is required. If you aren’t a RUSA member, joining now will keep your membership active for all 2026.

The Members Meeting is at 3pm. These are short open forums for members to discuss any topic of their choosing. Normally we just continue chatting about the past season and rides scheduled for 2026.

We have three upcoming events for the mountain goats among you: this weekend’s 300k in Northern Vermont, the brand-new Emmets & Newts 8k600k, and September’s Reach For The Sky 200k from Cambridge out to Mount Wachusett.

First up, the VT Rail Trails and Jay Peak 300k updates the Northeast Kingdom 300k with some newly opened rail trails and a new start location. Starting in Morrisville, and about 2/5 dirt, this updated route is a little less hilly than the original, but just as pretty. The ride will run with extra time alloted due to the dirt component, and has about 11500 feet of climbing, for a challenging but fun day on the bike.

Following that up, the Emmets & Newts 8k600k offers a fairly new ACP event type: a 600k with 8000 meters of climbing. Roger has designed a route that offers gorgeous NH and VT mountain vistas, a little dirt here and there, some of the same lovely new rail trails as on the 300k, a fully supported hotel overnight control, and a new challenge to succeed at. (It’s also part of the new version of the ACP 10000 award, for those chasing that particular trinket.)

Finally, the Reach for the Sky 200k offers a classic challenge, brevet-style: ride out from the Boston area to Mount Wachusett, climb it, and ride back. The route has been adapted from the Reach for the Sky permanent as well as incorporating some of the Redemption Rock perm and some other NER favorite roads, and will leave from Thorndike Park near Alewife station. (Registration and details aren’t quite up yet, but will be soon!)