Willamette Randonneurs is a group of randonneurs and those interested in randonneuring in the southern Willamette Valley and surrounding areas. Willamette Randonneurs was formed in late 2016, with our first official season in calendar year 2017.
The regional brevet admistrator (RBA) for our region is Michal Young.
Informal news and announcements often appear in our Facebook group Eugene Area Randonneurs or on our Facebook page Willamette Randonneurs. For those who prefer email forums to Facebook, I will do my best to cross post to our will-rando group, and to respond to posts there.
Rando-what?
Randonneuring, also known as audax, is long-distance, mostly unsupported cycling. (more)
2023 Practices
We expect to hold a full brevet season in 2023, with each distance offered before the deadline for qualifying for Paris-Brest-Paris (PBP). If you are building a qualifying series for PBP, we suggest planning first and second chances at each distance by combining Willamette Randonneurs events with events offered by Seattle International Randonneurs and Oregon Randonneurs.
- You must be a current RUSA member to register for or ride on a Willamette Randonneurs brevet or populaire. This is required by our insurance coverage.
- We ask riders to register at least a day before the ride. We will provide a personalized waiver to sign at the ride start.
- Electronic proof of passage (GPX file, RWGPS or Strava link) is encouraged. Photos will also be accepted. If you prefer information controls, let me know to print a brevet card for you. Otherwise you will be given a cue sheet but no brevet card.
- We hope to resume social gatherings at ride end in 2023, depending on available venues, pandemic conditions, and logistics. In suitable weather we may gather outdoors.
2023 Calendar
ACP-sanctioned events are set in September of the preceding year. RUSA-sanctioned events, including populaires as well as brevets, can be added with relatively short notice. Only ACP-sanctioned brevets count toward qualifying for Paris-Brest-Paris.
| Sat Mar 18 | ACP 200k brevet. 7:30am start outside Palace (Full City) Coffee, 842 Pearl Street, Eugene. Five Rivers 200k (ACP). Eugene to Walterville, Sweet Home, Lebanon, Brownsville, Eugene. $8 charge. |
| Sun Apr 2 | ACP 200k brevet. World's Tallest Sugarpine #2, starting and ending in Winston, OR. $8 charge. Starts 7:00am by the Cheetah at the intersection of Hwy 99 and Hwy 42 (NW Douglas Blvd) in Winston, OR. Register by noon Friday, March 31. |
| Sun Apr 30 | Flèche weekend with Seattle International
Randonneurs. This is not a Will-Rando event, but we hope to have at
least one team of Will-Rando riders participating. A flèche is excellent training for night riding at Paris-Brest-Paris. |
| Sun May 7 | ACP 200k brevet. Alsea Loop, starting and finishing in Eugene, OR. |
| Sat May 27 evening start (overnight). | ACP 400k and 200k brevets, starting Saturday evening in Eugene.
Mezza Luna 200k starts Saturday evening in Eugene
and finishes Sunday morning in Forest Grove. The route is the
first half of the Lunar 400k.
Lunar 400k starts Saturday in Eugene and finishes Sunday
afternoon or evening in Eugene. Note Monday is the Memorial Day holiday,
so many riders should be able to travel Saturday to Eugene, ride Saturday
night and Sunday, and return Monday to be at work Tuesday without missing
a day of work. Moon phase should be first quarter. If you plan to ride PBP in August, we strongly suggest you include at least one overnight brevet in your training plan. |
| Sat Jun 17 | ACP 300k and 600k starting Saturday morning in Eugene. Smith River Loop 300k goes to west to Florence, south to Reedsport, and returns to Eugene via Smith River Road and Wolf Creek. Smith River 600k follows the same route for approximately 150 miles, but stays on Siuslaw River Road through Lorane to Cottage Grove, then north to Eugene for a loop north and through Independence. 600k riders may choose to overnight in Cottage Grove or Eugene. |
2022 events
| Sat Mar 26 | Five Rivers< 200k (ACP). |
| Sat Apr 16 | Colliding Rivers ACP 200k brevet from Sutherlin, OR. |
| Sat Jun 4 | Umpqua 300k ACP brevet from Cottage Grove, OR |
| Sat Jun 11 | Smith River 300k ACP brevet and Smith River 600k ACP brevet from Eugene, OR. |
| Fri Jul 15 | Lunar 400 (ACP 400k) and Mezza Luna (200k) evening start brevets from Eugene, OR. |
| Sat Oct 22 | ACP 200km brevet, Alsea Loop, virtually in Lviv, Ukraine. |
2021 events
March events were canceled.
| Sat Apr 3 | Five Rivers 200k (ACP). |
| Sat Apr 17 | RUSA populaire (100k). Lunch in Veneta. |
| Sat May 22 | ACP 200km brevet, Alsea Loop. |
| Sat Jun 19 | Smith River 300k and Smith River 600k. |
| Fri Aug 20 | Lunar 400 (ACP 400k brevet). |
2020 events
Due to the Corona virus pandemic, rides in summer 2020 were canceled.
| Sat Feb 22 | RUSA populaire (100k). Lunch in Veneta. |
| Sun Mar 8 | RUSA populaire (100k). International Women's Day. |
| Sat Mar 21 | Five Rivers 200k (ACP). |
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| Fri Jul 31 |
2019 Events
| Sun Feb 24 | RUSA populaire (100k). (Canceled due to weather) |
| Sat Mar 9 | Five Rivers ACP 200k brevet. |
| Sat Mar 30 | Cottage Grove — Umpqua Loop ACP 200k. Begins and ends in Cottage Grove and loops south through Drain, Yoncalla, and Tyee, along the Umpqua river, returning north through Sutherlin. |
| Sat May 25 | Evening start 400k (with Monday holiday to recover). Loop north to Forest Grove, beginning and ending in downtown Eugene. |
| Sat Jun 8 | Smith River ACP 600K. Two loops from downtown Eugene. The first loop will be to Florence, along the coast south to Reedsport, back in via Smith River Road and continuing to Lorane and Cottage Grove, then north to Eugene, about 360k. Second loop will be north to Brownsville, Lebanon, Independence, then south through Albany, Harrisburg, Coburg back to Eugene, about 240k. 5am Saturday start from Mandy's 24-hour diner in downtown Eugene. |
| Sat Jun 22 | Smith River ACP 300k. A 300km (187 mile) loop from Eugene to Florence via Triangle Lake, south to Reedsport, returning over Smith River Road and Wolf Creek to Eugene, with a staffed control at Oxbow Summit. 5am Saturday start from Mandy's 24-hour diner in downtown Eugene. Finish is at Falling Sky until it closes at 11pm, then at Mandy's. |
2018 Events
| Sat Mar 31 | Five Rivers ACP 200km brevet. |
| Sat May 19 | ACP 200km brevet, Alsea Loop. |
| Sat Jun 16 | ACP 300km brevet, Smith River Loop. |
| Fri Jul 27 | ACP 400km brevet (Lunar 400), Friday night 8pm start. |
2017 Events
| Sat Mar 11 | Alsea Loop 200k |
| Sat Jun 24 | Smith River Loop 300k ACP brevet. |
| Sun Aug 20 | Dart to Darkness Dart Populaire (team ride), 120km to Willamina for the total eclipse. |
