100th Anniversary 2x200k and 600k – September 11-12, 2021

2x200k Ride Information
Start Location: Near the Hill Street Parking Lot, Woburn, MA (use 7 Hill Street, Woburn, MA to find the parking lot and 15 Hill Street, Woburn, MA to find the start location in your favorite mapping program).
Start Time: 05:00am, Saturday, September 11th, 2021, and 7:00am, September 12, 2021
Length: 200k / 125mi each
Time Limit: 13.5 hours for each
Lights & Reflective Gear: Required
Ride Leader: Sarah Bergstrom
Sanctioning: RUSA/ACP
Cue Sheet: See RWGPS
Online Map/GPS: See the RideWithGPS Event page for both routes and the connector between the day 1 finish and the host hotel.
Registration: Registration at BikeReg, cost varies depending on lodging choices. Host hotel is the Super 8 on Larrabee Road, for anyone considering other lodging choices.

600k Ride Information
Start Location: Near the Hill Street Parking Lot, Woburn, MA (use 7 Hill Street, Woburn, MA to find the parking lot and 15 Hill Street, Woburn, MA to find the start location in your favorite mapping program).
Length: 600k / 375mi
Time Limit: 40 Hours
Lights & Reflective Gear: Required
Ride Leader: Sarah Bergstrom
Sanctioning: RUSA/ACP
Cue Sheet: See RWGPS
Online Map/GPS: See the RideWithGPS Event page for the full route and some smaller portions — preriders found that some GPSes choked on how large the full route was.
Registration: Registration at BikeReg

To commemorate 100 years of allure libre riding (the style of randonneuring where everyone goes at their own pace), clubs around the world are holding 200k brevets on September 11th, 2021 and NER is joining in.

This weekend will feature back-to-back 200ks from Boston to Portland and back, along the well-loved 400k route. (Or, if one is enough, Amtrak and bus services are nearby both start and finish.)

Simultaneously, a 600k will take a longer route to Portland, timed to join riders riding their 200k back to Boston. (Note: only the 200k is eligible for the special commemorative anniversary medal.)

Drop bag (keep bags small, please — a small duffel or backpack) support will be available. Drop bags may not be back to the finish immediately for riders going straight through on the 600k.

Have you ever looked at an NER route, and said “what this really needs is another mountain pass?” This was my (Sarah) take on my favorite parts of the old Lake Winnepesauke 400k, combined with Kancamagus Pass, and a return via Portland. It’s chock-full of rollers (about 18,000 feet of climbing, comparable to PBP), some beautiful brand-new pavement (and some typical New England potholes, sorry!). There is one 2.5 mile stretch of dirt road on Old Shaker Road on the first day, the usual 11 miles of crushed-stone bike path and .5 miles of well-packed Sheep Rd on day two. All of the dirt should be passable on skinny tires; the section on day 1 is the bumpiest but is fairly flat and well-packed. The scenery is the best New England has to offer — hilltop vistas and deciduous trees give way to pines lining mountain valleys as you criss-cross the Pemigewasset River up into the White Mountains. The section from Conway to Portland rolls through remote, quiet farmland and woods; bring good lights to supplement a crescent moon along this stretch. There is a 51-mile section with zero services after Conway; please come prepared for that.

The host hotel in Portland will be the Super 8, on Larrabee Road. The 200k to Portland will finish downtown and riders will have a cue/directions to the hotel; the 200k the next day will start at the hotel.

If you’re sure you’re coming, please register as soon as possible; we will book more rooms and move people off the waitlist as long as we can still get rooms at the host hotel. (Staying at the hotel is only required for 600k riders; 200k riders have the option of the hotel or their own arrangements.)

On the Woburn end, we will start in a small area between the Hill Street Commuter parking lot (on Hill Street off Montvale Avenue) and the bike path behind it. There are two hotels in close proximity for out of town riders — the Comfort Inn Woburn also on Hill Street, and the Best Western Plus New Englander across Montvale. There is not currently a room block/group rate at either. Parking at the Hill Street lot is free, and the lot is about 3 miles from the Anderson/Woburn transportation center for anyone thinking of taking the train home from Portland after the first 200k; the Portland end is also within a few miles of the train station.

The 600k will start at 4am and the first 200k at 5, to give 200k riders a nice full evening in Portland.