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!

Permanent #1648 -- Aberforth Dumbledore

• Distance: 110K
• Elevation: 4,609 feet according to RideWithGPS
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Another inland one of sorts (you can't exactly make a route that goes west from Netarts... unless RUSA allows the use of pedal-boats), this time checking out the towns of Pacific City, Hebo, and Beaver in that order.

Starts south via the awesome Netarts Bay road before heading over Cape Lookout and into Pacific City where you'll have plenty of nice food options. The "focus" of the ride is a 20-mile stretch on 131 and then 22 -- a pair of great, shady, scenic, and low-traffic highways. After rejoining the 101 in Hebo, take it back towards Sandlake then over Cape Lookout again for the ride's conclusion.

Two passes over Lookout makes this one a little more challenging, but nothing terrible at all. Pleasantly, each direction of climbing has a very different feel as you're riding, so it's by no means dull and you can decide for yourself which direction you prefer. The 130-to-22 stretch goes gradually up to about 550 feet, almost all of which is gained on very mild grades. The only downside is that there's about 10 miles of unpleasant northbound 101 riding between Hebo and Sandlake, but even that is not so bad if you go at the right time/day/season.

Permanent #1586 -- Cornelius Fudge

• Distance: 130K
• Elevation: 5,418 feet according to RideWithGPS
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If the previous Flitwick route takes a meandering path towards the coast, this one is about as direct as possible. Same startpoint at Holgate, but you'll tackle the west hills on Cornell/Thompson rather than through the zoo, then quickly turn off Skyline to take some boring but reliable suburban roads (Laidlaw, West Union) towards North Plains. After a control stop there, it's straight west again on some backroads that dump you onto Gales Creek Road before it meets up with Highway 6.

You'll take Highway 6 for basically its entirety. Because it's the most convenient coast route out of Portland, it's well-traveled by bike campers and tourers, and it has a decent (not amazing) shoulder. Traffic is moderate (not amazing), including some commercial trucks and vacationing RVs. It does get drastically worse on three warm-weather holidays -- Labor Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day -- so I wouldn't recommend taking it by bike on any of those weekends. Otherwise, should be fine.

This one ends in Tillamook rather than Netarts, and I forget why I decided that. The highest pass on Highway 6 comes just nine miles or so after you join it, then you can cruise at a good pace for the rest of the way into Tillamook. If you can time it right so traffic is low, the road is absolutely gorgeous, and definitely worth traveling at least once.

Both permanents are reversible, but I haven't yet written up cue sheets for anyone who wants to use them going in the opposite direction. There is a bus service from Portland to Tillamook -- leaves Tillamook at 8:10 a.m. and 12:25 pm, or leaves Portland (from the train station) at 10:35 a.m. or 3:15 p.m.

Permanent #1706 -- Ludo Bagman

After our success -- in some sick sense of the word -- on the 712K two weeks ago, I was resolved to use Foss Road a hell of a lot more, and that led to two new permanent submissions. First, a simple out-and-back ride from Netarts; second, a Portland-to-Netarts commute that goes through Birkenfeld and is my third such one-way perm between those two points, along with a Nestucca River trip and the most direct Highway 6 route.

• Distance: 157K
• Elevation: 5,763 feet according to RideWithGPS
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Foss... it'll definitely keep you on your toes.

On the 700K, we hit this right at sunrise, at mile ~330 on two hours of sleep, and it was like manna from heaven. No drifting off to sleep when you're darting (and, once or twice bunnyhopping) basketball-sized potholes and chunks of dying pavement. Lots of darting up and down 30 or 50 or 100 feet at a time, one nigh unrideable wall that seemed like a 20% grade, then a more mellow stretch to get to Henry Rierson campground, which'll be the turnaround for this 157K.

The campsite has drinkable water and some pit toilets, though I can't 100% guarantee that either will be in service year-round. There's another campground much earlier on Foss -- mile 34 on my cue sheet -- which claims to have drinking water, but I've been burnt before by relying on never-updated county and state park websites, so... I'll assume it's not there 'til I can roll by and inspect in-person.

To get to the awesometastic gravel stretch, it's a really simple route -- Netarts into Tillamook, north on 101, then inland for Miami-Foley Road. Pavement ends right after the recently reopened bridge over the Nehalem River (though the washed-away railroad in the same spot has not been repaired), seven miles after you turn off Miami-Foley.

Bring plenty of snacks and water, some wide-ish tires (David rode this on Nomad 28s and was quite happy), and you'll love it.

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
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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 #1614 -- Crookshanks

So I already have a pair of permanents that will get you from Portland to Tillamook and/or Netarts... but what are you going to do once you get there?

Well, snack and drink beer and walk on the beach and go to the lighthouse and check out the octopus tree and have campfires and read books and play board games.

Aside from that, though, I thought it would be nice to have some coast-based riding options. So, voilà, one of two new permanents.

• Distance: 104K
• Elevation: 4,260 feet according to RideWithGPS
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Instead of doing the one of the more obvious coast-based riding options, this one takes you inland for a great stretch of riding on Trask River Road. When you first join the road, there's a warning sign for high truck traffic, but when I did the ride on a late Tuesday morning I saw maybe a half-dozen total commercial trucks in the 20 miles I spent there, plus sparse car traffic from the various park/campground/boat launch options.

Oh, and I also saw a cow giving birth in the field. How cool is that? I stopped to gawk at it for a while from the roadside, but then the sow seemed to get stressed out by my presence lurking a few feet from its newborn, so I rode on.

The turnaround point is at Trask River County Campground. They have drinking water available, but it's highly sulfuric and reeks of rotten eggs.

The rest of the route is pretty straightforward -- starting over Cape Meares (I much prefer approaching it from the south, where you pass the best views on a slow climb rather than a scorching descent), connecting back to Highway 101 via backroads behind the Tillamook air museum/airport, then taking Sandlake Road to Cape Lookout.

Throwing in the two capes puts the elevation up around 4K feet (with the usual disclaimer that my preferred online mapping program tends to wildly exaggerate this number), but it feels like a pretty relaxed ride. I rode with no sense of urgency at all and finished in five and a half hours, or a full ninety minutes ahead of the maximum cutoff.

I can't promise a live cow birth to future riders, though.

Permanent #1585 -- Filius Flitwick

• Distance: 211K
• Elevation: 10,140 feet according to RideWithGPS
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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.