Permanent #1894 -- Irma Pince

• Distance: 205K
• Elevation: 9,265 feet according to RideWithGPS
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Surprisingly, my 19th registered RUSA permanent is my first which comes close to be a "true" 200K that both starts and ends in Portland.

Also surprisingly, none of the previous eighteen routes took advantage of perhaps my single-favorite stretch of road in the greater Portland area -- Pumpkin Ridge to Smoke Ranch, as seen here from a ride report a while ago.

As you can see, the best parts of the ride are unpaved; on this route, about 20 total miles on either gravel or dirt. You can certainly navigate everything on a road bike with narrow tires, but you'll have a better time with some wider rubber between your legs.

It's also a damn hilly route, with a handful of climbs competing for the title of "best part of the ride". Going up a furlong (which I learned was an eighth-mile at bar trivia yesterday) of loose gravel at 12% on Pumpkin Ridge might be a good pick, or there's a similar stretch on the paved Mountain View Road which is particularly painful since it comes just two miles after a quick control stop in Scappoose.

After Canaan Rd spits you out on Highway 30 at the Deer Island mini-market, your last 45 miles of the day will all be dead-flat. A loop around the east backside of Scappoose gives you some lovely quiet miles instead of the usual bustle of 30 (and is needed to put the route over 200K), but then it's back on the highway and returning to SE Portland.

Permanent #1876 -- Kingsley Shacklebolt

• Distance: 410K
• Elevation: 12,179 feet according to RideWithGPS
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Ever thought to yourself, "Hey, I want to go to Seattle for a weekend, but I'm tired of riding the traditional STP route and don't want to pay for Amtrak fare?" Well, here's one for you!

This basically pieces together two of the brevets I did last year -- ORR's Olney Gothic Logger 300 and the last hundred or so miles of SIR's spring 400K.

You start in Portland and end in Bremerton. Assuming you want to get across the water to Seattle itself, you'll need to plan the ride so you can finish and hop on the ferry, which runs roughly once an hour between 6am and 11pm. Of course, this route can also be used in reverse, though I haven't yet written out a cue sheet for that way.

If you go north, you'll get the ride's only two semi-tough climbs out of the way in the first third of the ride. Highway 30 to Scappoose is, of course, totally flat, before heading over a lumpy Scappoose-Vernonia Highway that goes up to about 1,400 feet. There's also a great dirt path/trail/road which parallels this that I'd highly recommend as an alternative routing with the exact same distance.

From there, it's pretty familiar Oregon Randonneur territory -- out OR-47 then continue on OR-202, past the Birkenfeld store and towards Astoria. You do get back up to 1,200 feet or so when you go over the coast range, but it's a pretty relaxed climb, and on a backroads area with very little traffic.

After descending all the way down to just 70 feet and rolling through lovely Olney, OR, you continue into Astoria, where the rather terrible Astoria-Megler bridge awaits. It's long, nearly shoulderless, and usually windy. It's also well-signed for bicycles. Ride it, wait for it to be over, then enjoy continuing the rest of your ride on solid and wide roads.

Head north on WA-4, then meet back up with 101, which you'll take for a full fifty miles before turning inland at Montesano. Unfortunately you don't get many actual ocean coast miles, but it's still a nice semi-remote highway.

From Montesano, you roughly follow alongside -- but thankfully not on -- WA-12, on backroads through towns like Brady, Satsop, Elma, and McCleary. At mile 209 in Kamilche, you rejoin 101 (which is much busier here) briefly, heading for Shelton then WA-3 which takes you most of the way to the ferry.

After the Oregon Coast range, you never go back up over 500 feet of elevation. As is one of the perks of one-way rides, you can plan your trip and hope to get about 200 miles of tailwind riding (usually out of the south in winter/early spring, out of the north for summer/early fall).

Do keep in mind service options and availability for late-night riding -- there's a convenient 24-hour Safeway in Shelton at mile 216, but otherwise you might face long stretches without food available.

Permanent #1707 -- Gellert Grindenwald

• Distance: 224K
• Elevation: 7,705 feet according to RideWithGPS
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If a bird flew due west from Sellwood, it'd hit Netarts in right around sixty miles. Taking Highway 6 along the Wilson River makes it about eighty. Going the super-long caret-shaped (i.e, the symbol above the "6" on your keyboard) for this scenic route makes it just under a hundred and forty.

To get towards Birkenfeld, you have two options, and I chose to use Highway 30 and Scappoose-Vernonia Road rather than misc roads through the west hills and North Plains. This way is a good bit shorter, slightly flatter, and offers you a chance to ride on the Crown-Zellerbach dirt road which parallels the S-V. The high point there is around 1300 feet, so check snow levels and road conditions if you want to ride in wintertime.

After a well-traveled stretch of 47 & 202, Birkenfeld falls almost exactly at the 100km point. The little general store there recently stopped selling liquor, so you can't grab a mid-ride pull of Bulleit, but they make great hot sandwiches and have the usual market fare (chips, soda, candy).

A bit later, you get to ride the entire 9-mile duration of Highway 103, and there's another market available once you come out on 26. You do spend about three downhill miles on the rather busy and narrow-shouldered 26, but it's certainly survivable.

From there, it's maybe five miles from 26 to Henry Rierson (at mile 97), and then the gravel fun begins. The conclusion is obviously the same as #1706 -- Foss to Miami-Foley to 101 to Tillamook to Netarts. Fun stuff!