Permanent #1691 -- Grawp

Beautiful, isn't it?

This is my twelfth registered permanent, a multiday whopper designed to take advantage of two things: first, a RUSA rule which relaxes the time limit for rides >700K; and second, my grandmother's big lovely house in Oceanside that would serve perfectly as a mid-ride overnight rest stop.

Thus, time to introduce: GRAWP.

• Distance: 712K
• Elevation: 25,832 feet according to RideWithGPS
• Route
• Cue sheet
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It's enormous and awesome -- the name selection was pretty easy.

This is the end product of basically throwing a bunch of my favorite roads onto a map and finding a way to get them to stick together.

The initial southwest-bound crawl out of Portland is pretty straightforward -- taking well-traveled roads through Oregon City and Canby, then joining up with the official Willamette Valley scenic bike route and crossing over the Independence Bridge.

I aped the Independence-Kings Valley connection from Joshua's 600, then used the gravel Hoskins Rd to get over to Logsden which I last traveled on 2011's coast 600K. The seventy or so following miles are almost the same as what was used for Susan's ride, just reversed and extended out to Bear Creek Rd rather than a longish stretch of Hwy 101 towards Pacific City.

In Pacific City, you make a U-turn to go back and take Little Nestucca River Rd and Hebo Rd up to Willamina (this stretch lifted from the Three Capes 300K). Whereas that ride ducks back towards Forest Grove, mine sends you straight north out of Willamina for the toughest climb of the ride, towards Bible Creek Rd and a connection with Nestucca River Rd.

Going north over Cape Lookout is only about a 600-foot climb, nothing too outrageous, but watch for poorly maintained pavement. After passing through Netarts and Oceanside, my same comment applies for Cape Meares.

Stock up on food at the 24-hour (edit: closes at 1am) Tillamook Safeway, since you'll have a rather remote stretch on Miami-Foley Rd then the newly reopened Foss Rd (now with intact bridge!). Foss is about eighteen miles of rough gravel -- just what everyone wants to see at mile 320!

There's a restaurant and market on the short stretch of Highway 26 you need to use to connect to Hwy 103, which will likely be much-needed after the gravel stretch. Or, you can make that stop a relatively quick one and instead get a longer sit-down meal at the always-popular Birkenfeld store, about twenty miles later.

Unfortunately, the route just wasn't quite long enough if I used the Banks-Vernonia Trail, so instead you take a longer way back via Timber Rd. The final stretch is straightforward and well-used -- Clapshaw Hill, West Union, Laidlaw, Thompson, and Cornell.

Then, voilà, 712K done!

David and I will be riding this starting 5pm on Friday (yes, that's October 20). Overnight lows in the 40s, 30% chance of rain in most places along the route. Should be... interesting, if nothing else.

Permanent #1585 -- Filius Flitwick

• Distance: 211K
• Elevation: 10,140 feet according to RideWithGPS
• Route
• Cue sheet
• Registration

This one is a bit of a challenge -- starts off quickly by taking you up through Washington Park and past the zoo, then almost all the way north on Skyline before dropping back down into North Plains via Moreland/Solberger (3K feet of elevation in first 28 miles). The next stretch is quite a bit more mild, though, taking familiar OR Randonneurs roads through Forest Grove then south to Carlton (mile 65).

You'll probably want to stock up on snacks and water here, since there's no services available for the next 45 miles, and you'll be tackling one of the tougher coast range passes in northern Oregon. Main Street becomes Meadow Lake Road as you go west out of town. You get a few flat miles before the real fun begins -- from ~350 feet of elevation at milepoint 70, all the way up to just under 2,000 feet by mile 79.

At about that point, you go by McGuire Reservior (it'll look damn tempting for a dip on a hot summer day, but the big tall chainlink fence around it tells you otherwise) and start to follow Nestucca River Road for most of the way until you reach Highway 101. There's a few campgrounds along the way (may or may not have toilets or potable water), and one three-mile stretch of gravel around mile 90 that's, in my experience, fairly hard-packed but also pothole-y.

You rejoin civilization of sorts in the lovely town of Beaver, OR. A Shell station/market is probably your best bet for any supplies you might need for the last twenty miles of the day (there's a few other businesses, but the Shell is the only one I've seen be consistently open for business).

Three-ish miles north on 101, then left onto Sandlake Road... which means, of course, a climb over Cape Lookout. Not too hard, but it's enough to push your day's total elevation gain over 10K so it might not be too enjoyable. From there, a descent down to Netarts Bay, then six flat waterfront miles into the endpoint in Netarts, OR.