Alaska Randonneurs

PALMER

Considering the weather, Saturday's turnout for the Palmer Backroads was amazing. As the wind howled and torrents from from the sky, 27 riders took off from Vagabond Blues to tackle Lazy Mountain. At the turnaround at the Nash Farm, conditions began to improve, and by the time riders went through the Bodenburg Butte control, things were looking pretty nice. Congratulations to all the finishers. Even with the weather being so challenging, the DNF rate was incredibly low; a true testament to the determination of the randonneuring spirit!

For a good look at the Palmer Backroads 100K, check out the Through-the-Lens feature on the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman's website next Tuesday. Here's a little teaser.

12-Hour TEAM RANDO

Next weekend is our 12-Hour Team Randonnée. This is a great event that really emphasizes camaraderie, and is growing in popularity. It's similar to a regular 200K brevet, except that it's a little shorter (180Km), the teams determine the start location and the course to the finish at the Eagle River Ale House, and riders have to ride together.

All the details and steps to create your course are HERE. RUSA's specific, but simple, Dart rules are HERE.

Come ride with us!

Now that the Fireweed is behind you, how about a more leisurely pace? Whether you want to set a personal best, or smell the flowers along the way, this weekend's Palmer Backroads 100K Populaire is the place to be. All ride details can be found on our ride schedule page HERE. See you at Vagabond Blues Saturday morning!

Congradulations to Andy for successfully completing the Cascade 1000K! It sounds like an epic ride. Another great ride report. Thanks Andy!

Read about his previous 1200Ks here. Yep, an Alaskan rider has completed five grand randonnees. We're proud of you Andy!

Gerry Eddlemon reached Deadhorse on Tuesday morning, riding from Seward to Deadhorse establishing a trans-state record, pending certification by the UltraMarathon Cycling Association. Alaska Randonneurs is proud to have had the opportunity to support Gerry both crewing and officiating on his record attempt.

Alaska Randonneurs water bottles have arrived! They're printed in Alaska flag blue on gold (okay, mellow-yellow) 26oz. Purist bottles – Specialized's top-quality bottle. They won't make your water taste or smell like plastic. The bottles are $10/ea if picked up locally. We'll also happily ship them for actual shiping cost.

Alaska Randonneurs is an all volunteer organization. Sales of the bottles will help us to continue to put on rides, bringing you out of Anchorage for some of the most scenic road riding in the state. 

If you want a bottle, use the button below. Better yet, come ride with us on the Palmer Backroads 100K July 21st and pick up one at half-price.

While many Alaskan randonneurs will be riding out of Gakona tomorrow morning, our own Andy Sorensen will be in Washington riding the Cascade 1200 with SIR. Andy will be riding the 1000K/200K option. Andy has ridden several 1200Ks, including PBP in 2007 and 2011, but I think this might be his first 1000K. His writeups from previous grand randonnées are on the ride reports page.

You can follow his progress on the rider progress page.

We'll be cheering for you Andy. Bon Voyage et Bon Courage!
 

Come ride the Richardson Highway. It's a dream to ride. It's quiet and wild, it twists and curves, it traverses the Alaska range…and it's a dying breed. Roads like this won't be around forever. Transportation departments are straightening and flattening them into dull, lifeless stretches of asphalt.

Here are 5 +1 reasons to come ride the Richardson this weekend on one of the Solstice brevets:

1) The forecast up there is for sun & 77 degrees!

2) The Richardson was made for riding.

3) The Fireweed is closer than you think!

4) You want to qualify early for the 2013 Big Wild Ride.

5) The pie at the Lodge at Black Rapids.

6) BONUS Reason – It's a spectacular, scenic adventure!

All ride info may be found HERE.

Don't miss it this year. Come ride with us!

Another weekend of randonneuring! Come join us chase the Moose of Flanders on the 4th annual 100Km Ronde van Anchorage this Sunday.

This ride has become one of the most anticipated and popular riding events of the summer, and for a good reason. Riders of all kinds are discovering the appeal of randonneuring; traversing an adventurous course on a scenic and challenging day's ride, progressing from checkpoint to checkpoint with friends and fellow riders, and celebrating a successful ride together at the end of the day.

All ride details are on HERE on our special Ronde van Anchorage page.

Come ride with us!

Come ride with us this weekend on our classic ride through the Chugach Mountains. Randonneurs in Alaska have been riding this course for nearly ten years now. The beauty and challenge of riding from Turnagain Arm to Resurrection Bay is the appeal that keeps riders coming back. All the ride details are HERE.

This ride begins to tap into the more serious long distances. With that in mind, part of the format is its characteristic early morning start. We begin this ride at 04:00 for a few reasons:

Now that you've got a few miles in your legs this summer, come find out what else it takes to ride a 100Km, 200Km, 300Km, or longer brevet with the Alaska Randonneurs.

Are you training for the Fireweed? Loads of Alaska riders use our brevets as training rides to prepar them for the mid-summer's ultimate test. We still have three and a half months of rides left on the calendar ranging from 100Km to 600Km. Come find out what riding for the pure joy and challange means to a randonneur.

Where: REI Anchorage

When: 6PM Tuesday, June 5th

We'll introduce you to the basics of randonneuring with a short slide show and lecture. We'll have real rando bikes there for you to see, and we'll stick around to answer all your questions.

Discover randonneuring. Come ride with us!

Results for Anchorage-Palmer-Anchorge have been posted. Congradulations to riders who completed their first 300K, you've proven yourself ready to tackle the 400K. Hope to see you there!

Our riding season really gets going this weekend. Already we've had several 100K and 200K rides in Talkeetna, Palmer, and Homer. More riders have been riding with the Alaska Randonneurs than ever; randonneuring continues to grow in popularity.

This Saturday we're offering two rides. One worthy of a roadtrip up to the Denali Highway, the other beginning right here in Anchorage.

If you want to go north, you can join Carlos Lozano for his legendary Denali Gravel Grinder, aka the Denali Classic. The magic of the Denali Gravel Grinder is that just before each Labor Day weekend, the Alaska DOT grades all of the washboard off the Denali Highway, leaving over 300Km of smooth, hard dirt highway that's perfect for riding! Carlos puts on a magnificent event. The vistas are incredible, with views of Deborah, Hayes, and Hess, and the lodges along the course offer great food and hospitality. As a bonus, you can ride the Gravel Grinder as a 200Km ACP brevet. So, if you're looking to add some more sanctioned km for this season, the Denali Classic is a double bonus! More info HERE.

If you're sticking around Anchorage, and looking for a longer ride, come ride the Anchorage/Palmer/Anchorage 300Km brevet. This is a beautiful course that roams through all the communities between South Anchorage and Palmer. If you're aiming to achieve a full Super Randonneur series this season, you're going to need this ride.

Either way there's a fantastic ride to suit you this weekend. Come ride with us!

The Homer End Of The Road event saw the first running of a 100K populaire along with the 200K brevet with huge success! Seventeen brave souls started the ride on a brisk Saturday morning with a weather forecast that called for rain, snow, and wind. And we saw it all! Though in reverse of previous years. The route out to East End Road was clear and the skies were partly cloudy. Tourists who don't venture much past the spit really miss out. East End Road is worth a ride or drive! The road winds out of Homer, gaining elevation as through a series of hairpin turns and rolling hills, approaching the elevation of the glaciers across the bay. This makes for some awesome glacier viewing along the way and a good warm up for riders legs!

The next controle, "End of the Road", literally, the course goes out to the end of the Homer spit where riders touch cleats with the ocean. A welcome, flat, rest for the legs before riders tackle Skyline Drive, which has the leg busting switchbacks of East Hill Road before you get to the top! Catriona from the Homer Cycling Club met riders at the Skyline Dr. control with homemade brownies and pizza, a much deserved carbolicious break for the this leg of the journey.

After Skyline riders traveled to the Russian village of Nikolaevsk. A unique Old Believers village nestled about 20 miles outside of homer. This part of the ride has rolling hills and lots of scenery as riders pedal farther away from the Sterling Highway. The weather was crazy out here! From wind, snow, sleet, rain, snow, sun, sleet, snow. Did I mention snow? This weather was the most challenging on all of the course. Dan Curtin was especially blessed with a concert of church bells upon his arrival.

After the Russian village, riders ride a quick, short, downhill route out to the End of Anchor Point Rd. Anchor Point Rd is the western-most point on the contigous North American road system and the place where one can watch huge tractors pulling seaworthy fishing boats out of the ocean. Imagine pulling a boat out of the water with a truck, but the water is the ocean and the truck is a huge tractor with big wheels. Super cool!

After this control the course winds it's way back to the Sterling Highway via the Old Sterling Highway, a beautiful and scenic ride. Then it's time for the final push to Homer. Once back on the Sterling highway there are a few more climbs, rolling hills, then there's the long wonderful descent back to sea level and Two Sisters Bakery!

It should be said that this course has the most challenging weather and terrain of all of our rides. But what comes with that is also the most stunning scenery in all of Alaska. This course starts at the sea, climbs to the ridge, follows the ridge, descends to the spit, climbs back to the ridge, descends to the bluff, goes inland to the Russian village, and goes back to the sea to climb back to the bluff and a final descent back to the sea. Whew! Kudos to all the riders who braved this challenging and scenic course! You all deserve a huge pat on the back and a leg message!

A huge thank you to Catriona Lowe from the Homer Cycling Club and Pat Irwin of Free Spirit Wear for coming out and supporting us! Also to Two Sisters Bakery for hosting the start location! 

Results for the Homer brevet have been posted here. More thoughts from this years epic ride to follow.

Props to Dan Curtin and Janice Tower, the only riders to have ridden the Homer 200k all four years.

Rando Central has just pulled into Homer where the roads are dry And the skies are blue! Well from what we can see at dusk Hope to see you all tomorrow! Registration starts @ 7am, ride starts @ 8am from Two Sisters Bakery. Parking is available on the street, the Bakery opens at 7!

Also, for those of you intersted in the Kachmak Shorebird festival, a very talented birder and fellow Randonneur, Buzz Scher, will be giving a talk on identifying shorebirds at the high school on Saturday from 10 to 11:30. His ability to identify birds as we ride is truly awesome!

Time to get some shuteye for the big day! Night!