Personal Coffeeneuring Challenge Finished after 110 Check-ins in 94 Weekends

It all started with Mary Gersemalina’s “Coffeeneuring Challenge” back in the Fall of 2011. Inspired by Joe Platzner’s concept of a leisurely bike ride to enjoy a fine brewed beverage, it proved to be an excellent antidote to Paris–Brest-Paris.


But I guess I needed a much larger antidote than most. In true randonneuring fashion, Mary came up with some rules and guidelines for her challenge. Her challenge lasted only six weeks, as did the second version a year later.

But I never stopped. That is, until this month. Twenty two months (94 weekends) or 110 check-ins later, I finally reached my limit. Of course, there’s an ever evolving list of places to continue the search in this coffee-and-latte-art epicenter known as Portland, Oregon. But the radius was expanding beyond what I could do at a leisurely pace. And more importantly, there are coffeehouses I want to return to rather than continue the exploration.

One aspect of this personal challenge was it’s evolvement from finding bike-friendly coffee establishments to search for exquisite latte art. The documentation isn’t finished yet, although the first 73 checks-ins are here on Flickr. Photos from the remaining check-ins can be found on Instagram with the hashtag #pdxcoffeeneur.

My Flickr updates are several months behind. But eventually, I’ll complete the documentation there. In the meantime, here’s the basic list:

1. Black Bear Coffee Co 831 Bridge St, Vernonia Sat 09/24/11 (wk 1)
2. Floyd's Coffee Shop 1412 SE Morrison St Sun 09/25/11 (wk 1)
3. Heart Coffee Roasters 2211 E Burnside St Sun 10/02/11 (wk 2)
4. Barista 1725 NE Alberta St Sun 10/09/11 (wk 3)
5. Pony Espresso Beaverton Farmers Mkt Sat 10/15/11 (wk 4)
6. Coffeehouse NW 1951 W Burnside St Sun 10/16/11 (wk 4)
7. Stumptown 128 SW 3rd Ave Sun 10/23/11 (wk 5)
8. Trailhead (Ptld Farmers Mkt) NE 7th & Wygant Sun 10/30/11 (wk 6)
9. Three Friends Coffeehouse 201 SE 12th Ave Sun 11/06/11 (wk 7)
10. Zoka Coffee Roasters 2200 N 56th St, Seattle WA Sun 11/13/11 (wk 8)
11. Albina Press 4637 N Albina Ave Sun 11/20/11 (wk 9)
12. Coava Coffee 1300 SE Grand Ave Sun 11/27/11 (wk 10)
13. Kettleman Bagel Company 4704 SW Scholls Ferry Rd Sat 12/03/11 (wk 11)
14. Coffee Cat 107 S College St, Newberg Sat 12/10/11 (wk 12)
15. River City Bicycles (Espresso Bar) 706 SE M L King Blvd Sun 12/11/11 (wk 12)
16. Ava Roasteria 4655 SW Hall Blvd, Bvtn Sat 12/17/11 (wk 13)
17. Water Avenue Coffee Company 1028 SE Water Avenue Sun 12/18/11 (wk 13)
18. Baker & Spice 6330 SW Capitol Highway Sat 12/24/11 (wk 14)
19. Woodlawn Coffee & Pastry 808 NE Dekum Street Sat 12/31/11 (wk 15)
20. Blend Coffee Lounge 2710 N Killingsworth St Sun 01/01/12 (wk 15)
21. Backspace Cafe 115 NW 5th Avenue Sat 01/07/12 (wk 16)
22. Cellar Door Coffee Roasters 2001 SE 11th Ave Sun 01/08/12 (wk 16)
23. Random Order 1800 NE Alberta St Sun 01/15/12 (wk 17)
24. World Cup Coffee NW 18th & Glisan Sat 01/21/12 (wk 18)
25. Crema Coffee + Bakery 2728 SE Ankeny St Sun 01/22/12 (wk 18)
26. Fresh Pot 3729 SE Hawthorne Sun 01/29/12 (wk 19)
27. Clinton Street Coffeehouse 2706 SE 26th Avenue Sun 02/05/12 (wk 20)
28. Albina Press 5012 SE Hawthorne Blvd Sun 02/12/12 (wk 21)
29. Sterling Coffee Roasters 2120 NW Glisan St Sun 02/19/12 (wk 22)
30. Village Coffee 7781 SW Capitol Hwy Sat 02/25/12 (wk 23)
31. Sisters Coffee Company 1235 NW Marshall Street Sun 02/26/12 (wk 23)
32. Moonstruck Chocolate Café Beaverton Town Square Sat 03/03/12 (wk 24)
33. Courier Coffee Roasters 923 SW Oak St Sat 03/10/12 (wk 25)
34. Public Domain 603 SW Broadway 603 Sun 03/11/12 (wk 25)
35. Chatterbox Coffee 530 SW 205th Ave, Bvtn Sat 03/17/12 (wk 26)
36. Green Beans 2300 E Burnside Sun 03/25/12 (wk 27)
37. Oui Presse 1740 SE Hawthorne Blvd Sun 04/01/12 (wk 28)
38. Ristretto Roasters 2181 NW Nicolai Street Sun 04/08/12 (wk 29)
39. Red E Café 1006 N Killingsworth Ave Sun 04/15/12 (wk 30)
40. Caffe Umbria 303 NW 12th Avenue Sun 04/22/12 (wk 31)
41. Stumptown Annex 3352 SE Belmont 3352 SE Belmont St Sat 04/28/12 (wk 32)
42. Grendel's Coffee House 729 E Burnside Sun 04/29/12 (wk 32)
43. New Seasons Market 7300 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy Sat 05/05/12 (wk 33)
44. Ristretto Roasters 3520 NE 42nd Ave Sun 05/13/12 (wk 34)
45. Pearl Bakery 102 NW 9th Ave Sun 05/20/12 (wk 35)
46. Fehrenbacher Hof 1225 SW 19th Ave Sun 05/27/12 (wk 36)
47. Caffe Vita Coffee Roasting Co. 2909 NE Alberta Sat 06/09/12 (wk 38)
48. Woodstock Wine & Deli 4030 SE Woodstock Blvd Sat 06/16/12 (wk 39)
49. Java Nation 4130 SW 117th Ave, Bvtn Sun 06/24/12 (wk 40)
50. Cacao 414 SW 13th Ave Sat 06/30/12 (wk 41)
51. Emilie's Dessert Cafe 8680 SW Canyon Rd Sat 07/07/12 (wk 42)
52. Coffee Time 712 NW 21st Ave Sun 07/15/12 (wk 43)
53. Café Allora 504 NW 9th Ave Sat 07/21/12 (wk 44)
54. Coffeehouse Five 740 N Killingsworth Sat 07/28/12 (wk 45)
55. Vivace Coffee House & Creperie 1400 NW 23rd Ave Sun 08/05/12 (wk 46)
56. McCormick's Fish House & Bar 9945 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy Sat 08/11/12 (wk 47)
57. Caffe Artigiano 1100 Robson St, Vancouver, BC Sun 08/19/12 (wk 48)
58. Park Avenue Café 1535 SW Park Ave Sun 08/26/12 (wk 49)
59. Dragonfly 2387 NW Thurman Sat 09/01/12 (wk 50)
60. Maplewood Coffee & Tea 5206 SW Custer St Mon 09/03/12 (wk 50)
61. Full City Coffee Roasters 295 E 13th Ave, Eugene Sun 09/09/12 (wk 51)
62. Blue Kangaroo Coffee Roasters 7901 SE 13th Ave, Sellwood Sat 09/15/12 (wk 52)
63. Spunky Monkey 35 NE 20th Ave Sun 09/16/12 (wk 52)
64. Pepita's Mexican Restaurant 4190 SW Cedar Hills Blvd, Bvtn Sat 09/22/12 (wk 53)
65. Marino Adriatic Café 4129 SE Division St Sun 09/23/12 (wk 53)
66. Taste Bistro Café 4440 SW 110th Ave, Bvtn Sun 09/30/12 (wk 54)
67. Insomnia Coffee Co. 2348 NW Amberbrook Drive, Bvtn Sun 10/07/12 (wk 55)
68. Edge Good Coffee 14647 SW Millikan Way Sat 10/13/12 (wk 56)
69. Urban Grind 911 NW 14th Ave Sun 10/14/12 (wk 56)
70. Sesame Donuts 6990 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy Sat 10/20/12 (wk 57)
71. Last Stand Coffee (Uptown Market) 6620 SW Scholls Ferry Rd. Sat 10/27/12 (wk 58)
72. Maggie's Buns 2007 21st Ave, Forest Grove Sat 11/03/12 (wk 59)
73. Golden Valley Brewery 1520 NW Bethany Blvd, Bvtn Sat 11/10/12 (wk 60)
74. Peet's Coffee (in FredMeyer) 11425 SW Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, Bvtn Sun 11/18/12 (wk 61)
75. Sterling Coffee Roasters 417 NW 21st Ave Sun 11/25/12 (wk 62)
76. Fresh Pot 724 SW Washington St Sat 12/01/12 (wk 63)
77. Beveland Street Coffee House 7357 SW Beveland Rd, Tigard Sat 12/08/12 (wk 64)
78. St Honore Boulangerie 2335 NW Thurman St Sun 12/16/12 (wk 65)
79. Poppa's Haven 800 NW Murray Blvd, Beaverton Sat 12/22/12 (wk 66)
80. Case Study Coffee 808 SW 10th Ave Sun 12/30/12 (wk 67)
81. Barista Downtown 529 SW 3rd Ave, Unit 110 Sun 01/06/13 (wk 68)
82. Palio Dessert & Espresso House 1996 SE Ladd Ave Sun 01/13/13 (wk 69)
83. Grand Central Bakery 3425 SW Multnomah Blvd Sat 01/19/13 (wk 70)
84. Coffee Renaissance 10206 SW Park Way, Cedar Hills Sat 01/26/13 (wk 71)
85. Corsa Café (in Western Bikeworks) 1015 NW 17th Ave Sun 02/03/13 (wk 72)
86. Insomnia Coffee Co. 5389 W Baseline Rd, Hillsboro Sat 02/09/13 (wk 73)
87. Coffee Rush 900 Main St, Oregon City Sat 02/16/13 (wk 74)
88. See See Motor Coffee Co 1642 NE Sandy Blvd Sun 02/17/13 (wk 74)
89. The Arbor Lodge 1507 N Rosa Parks Way Sat 02/26/13 (wk 75)
90. Anna Bananas 1214 NW 21st Ave Sat 03/02/13 (wk 76)
91. Portland Art Gallery (Trailhead Roasts) 640 SE Stark St Sat 03/09/13 (wk 77)
92. Maglia Rosa (inside West End Bikes) 1111 SW Stark St. Sun 03/17/13 (wk 78)
93. Oblique Coffee Roasters 3039 SE Stark St Sun 03/24/13 (wk 79)
94. Elephants Delicatessen 115 NW 22nd Ave Sun 03/31/13 (wk 80)
95. Uptown Market (Water Ave Roasts) 6620 SW Scholls Ferry Rd. Sat 04/06/13 (wk 81)
96. Anna Bananas 8716 N Lombard St Sat 04/13/13 (wk 82)
97. Clive Coffee 79 SE Taylor St Sat 04/27/13 (wk 84)
98. Common Grounds Coffeehouse 4321 SE Hawthorne Blvd Sun 04/28/13 (wk 84)
99. Fresh Pot 4001 N Mississippi Ave Sun 05/05/13 (wk 85)
100. Extracto 2921 NE Killingsworth St Sat 05/18/13 (wk 87)
101. JoLa Café 5915 SW Corbett Sun 05/19/13 (wk 87)
102. Goodness Coffee House 4925 SW Angel St, Bvtn Sat 05/25/13 (wk 88)
103. Sunny Day Coffee 2310 NW Everett St Sun 05/26/13 (wk 88)
104. Tabor Bread 5051 SE Hawthorne Blvd Sun 06/02/13 (wk 89)
105. Ristretto Roasters 3808 N Williams Sun 06/09/13 (wk 90)
106. Madrona Hill Café 5937 N Greeley Avenue Sat 06/15/13 (wk 91)
107. Ole Latte (Food Cart) 1003 SW Alder St. Sun 06/16/13  (wk 91)
108. 16 Tons Café 2684 Willamette, Eugene Sat 06/22/13 (wk 92)
109. McCloud General Store 105 E Minnesota Ave, McCloud, CA Sun 06/30/13 (wk 93)
110. Jim & Patty's Coffee 4130 SW 117th Ave, Bvtn Sat 07/06/13 (wk 94)

Jim & Patty's seems like a fitting last one, as they returned to Beaverton to a location they once occupied at the original Coffee People. Cool!

Tiny PBP (SW PDX-Boring-PDX) 100k Permanent #1883

From Uptown Market on Scholls Ferry Road (near Allen Blvd) in SW Portland, this 62-miler does a counter-clockwise loop through West Linn, Oregon City, Boring, the Springwater Corridor, the Riverview Cemetery and the Fanno Creek Trail. According to my Garmin Edge, elevation gain is 3228 feet.

 
The route sheet is here on Google Drive, as is the registation form. You may email billalsup_at_yahoo.com if you're interested in riding this for RUSA credit.

Tigard-Albany-Tigard 225k Permanent #1217

Starting at the Sesame Donuts at Hall Blvd & Hwy 99 in Tigard (not the one in Raleigh Hills), this 140-miler does a counter-clockwise loop from Wilsonville to Salem and Independence (southbound) before checking in at Calapooia Brewing in Albany (or a nearby convenience store if you prefer), then returns mostly East of I-5 to Wilsonville, then Tigard. Elevation gain: 3058 feet.

The route sheet is here on Google docs. Email billalsup@yahoo.com if you're interested in riding this for RUSA credit.

Eugene to Beaverton 200k Permanent #1177

Starting at Full City Coffee Roasters in Downtown Eugene (or nearby Starbucks for a slightly earlier start), this 126-mile route stays mostly East of I-5 through the towns of Brownsville, Lebanon, Scio, Stayton, Woodburn and Tigard (including the Fanno Creek Trail) before its terminus at the Beaverton Town Square. The Beaverton Transit Center is less than a mile from the end for easy access to much of Greater Portland. Total elevation gain is 2277 feet.

The route sheet is here on Google docs. Email billalsup@yahoo.com if you're interested in riding this for RUSA credit.

SW Portland to Eugene 200k - Permanent #1176

"Donuts to Total Domination" is the nickname for the 200km bike route ... from Sesame Donuts in the Raleigh Hills neighborhood of SW Portland ... to Ninkasi Brewing in the Whiteaker neighborhood of Eugene. The route passes through Tualatin, Wilsonville, Salem, Independence, & Harrisburg.

This route involves a minimal 1339 feet of climbing. The route sheet is here on Google docs. Email billalsup@yahoo.com if you're interested in riding this for RUSA credit.

Oregon Coast 600k (2011)

Six hundred kilometers on a bicycle within 40 hours is a challenge, no two ways about it. Sure, there’s the opportunity to take a nap in the middle of the route. Sure, this course in question didn’t include three or four mountain summits over the Cascades. But nonetheless, 600k’s need to be taken seriously. Can’t fall out’a bed with minimal sleep on the front end and expect to finish. At least I can’t.

Last year I DNF’d the Oregon Coast 600k (my only DNF of the season). I went on later in the year to finish the Oregon Blue Mountains 1000k (barely), plus two other 600k’s (one in Washington, the other in California). But this year, I was determined to return and conquer this particular brevet.

I was a little bit at a disadvantage from having completed a 360k flèche the weekend before. More significantly, though, my knees weren’t being terribly cooperative from this season’s Three Capes 300k and Eden’s Gate 400k onward. As a result, my goal shifted from “setting a really good time,” to hoping for more than a minimal sleep at the overnight contrôle.

I had three houseguests (Theo, Asta, and Taylor) on the eve of this year’s 600k, all of whom pedaled to Forest Grove from my place in Beaverton (about a 17-mile journey) in the early AM hours of the start. Even though I don’t ride as fast as those three, I too rode to Forest Grove (a bit later on), but with a little help from Trimet’s line 57.

nehalem hwy, a photo by tangocyclist on Flickr.

The brevet started promptly at 6:00 AM from McMennamin’s Grand Lodge in Forest Grove, and soon traversed the entire length of the Banks-Vernonia Linear Park/Trail. After getting a quick ham and egg muffin at the Shell station in Vernonia, I rode mostly with a group that included Lesli Larson, Michal Young, Kevin Brightbill and Dan Jensen. I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry in Birkenfeld, so I continued 30 more miles to Olney before refueling. The above-mentioned quartet passed me during that last section. Nonetheless, I still managed to ride the first 100k’s in 4 ½-hour hours.

The second 100k (to Seaside…via Ft. Stevens) took an hour longer. Even though I was gravitating toward the back end of the riders, I was feeling relatively okay. But then there were coastal hills, in particular, a couple big ones between Cannon Beach and Manzanita. While I actually managed to pass a couple riders on one of them, the toll on my left knee would manifest though much of the remainder of the ride.

Steve Williamson (with his nice 650b Periera) and I ended up riding significant portions of the 600k together, including steep/messy/rainy/dark Slab Creek Rd (before Lincoln City) as well as much of the route between Siletz and Dayton on the second day. After Slab Creek Road, we arrived at the overnight contrôle in Lincoln City at about 2:30 AM, where I slept about half of a 2 ½-hour layover.

steve, a photo by tangocyclist on Flickr.

I was passed the next morning by the speedy Del Scharffenberg in route to Siletz. Turns out he had an eight-hour layover in Lincoln City! (Del’s sister lives there.) When I conveyed that information to Joel Metz at the Logsden contrôle, he said something like “I hate Del. He’s too *** fast!”

Ed Groth and Joel overslept in Lincoln City, caught Steve and me in Logsden, then dropped us on the gravel road towards Blodgett. I was working really hard on this segment, knowing from last year that getting to Blodgett before closing would be essential to finishing this brevet. (That’s where I abandoned last year because of being way behind the clock.) This time I made it … by 25 minutes. Ed had already moved on; Joel was still there, right on schedule for his 38-hour completion goal. Steve and I enjoyed a slice of pizza while talking about some of the crazy weather we were experiencing.

I was under the misguided impression that things would be easier from Blodgett on out, and that the roads would all be more or less downhill. My knees knew otherwise, though, and became steadfastly displeased with the ascending halves of all the rollers between Kings Valley and the Eola Hills.

Organizer Susan Otcenas provided some impromptu and welcomed roadside encouragement along Hwy 223 before Dallas. Once in that town, I got a little turned around before finally finding the Safeway with the singularly friendly Starbucks inside. After downing a shot of espresso and getting one of my water bottles filled with Frappuccino, I dealt with the stiff side-winds and rollers of Perrydale Rd. Did I mention that my knees were not happy with rollers?

Bethel, Zena, Spring Vallley and Hopewell Roads through the Eola Hills wine region reminded me of Joshua Bryant’s flèche route of 2009. Oh yeah, he did design this route last year. Didn’t he? I particularly liked the “back door” approach to Dayton via Webfoot Road.

Steve Williamson and Will Goss were in Dayton when I arrived, and hoofed it outa’ there while I was fueling up. There were almost three hours left to ride the last 27 miles; under normal circumstances would be quite doable. But did I mention my knee?

With the help of a lot of ibuprofen, I actually rode pretty hard to Lafayette, and then again on familiar North Valley Road towards Forest Grove. Once at the finish at the Grand Lodge, Susan France offered me pizza and checked me in with a time of 39 hours and 35 minutes. While I was a little discouraged not to have made up any time on the second day, I was happy to have the last piece of PBP qualification out of the way.

Now I’ve got three months to get this knee thing figured out!

More pictures from the ride are here on Flickr.

"Asta y la Vistas" conquer 2011 Flèche NW

Last year’s (2010) NW Flèche with Marcelo Napolitano, Ed Groth, and Theo Roffe was fun, so much so, in fact, that when it came time to decide whether or not to do the event this year, there was a lot of interest. However, the 2011 version was scheduled the weekend before Oregon’s PBP-qualifying 600k, which thwarted some enthusiasm (unless the route was gonna be really flat and not a kilometer over the minimum 360).

A bigger challenge, though, would be designing a route. On my previous two flèches, I more-or-less tagged along on teams that Joshua Bryant or Marcelo had put together. But this time ‘round, it appeared to be my turn at route construction. I happened to be in Seattle in February when Ralph Nussbaum conducted a pre-flèche informational meeting. But I really didn’t get the impetus to design a route until hearing about Ed’s and Theo’s train ride home from the Three Capes 300k brevet in late March, during which they laughed themselves silly coming up with team names.

The deadline to register and submit a route was April 1st. I talked with Ralph and managed to get a few days extension, then burned some midnight oil designing a route from Beaverton, OR to Olympia, WA. I thought it would be interesting to go inland (as we had gone to the coast doing the Astoria/Raymond thing last year). By inland, I was thinking east of I-5. Ed and Theo seemed to concur. So I put together a route that headed up into rugged hills northeast of Vancouver and Camas, WA, and then later wound through unmarked roads in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. (By unmarked, I mean the Google Maps showed their existence, but didn’t name them.)

Fortunately, I did two all-night reconnaissance drives that resulted in major route revisions. On the first, I found the roads in the rugged hills NE of Camas passable (before they descended to Yacolt), but they were gravelly and steep … probably not the best combination for riding at night towards Olympia. On the second drive (on which Ed accompanied me), we nearly got stuck on snow-banked fire, logging and 4WD roads northeast of Cougar, WA. Again, not good terrain for spending the nocturnal hours of a long bicycle ride together. Several miles and hours later, we figured out that roughly paralleling I-5 between Woodland and Castle Rock would be unavoidable.

In the meantime, our team had grown to a quintet with the addition of riders Asta Chastain and David Parsons. In fact, Asta became our namesake. We would be called “Asta y la Vistas.”

toutle, wa (2), a photo by tangocyclist on Flickr.

The team met at my place in Beaverton on Friday afternoon (April 29th) in time for some homemade borscht, cookies (thank you Amy!), and a 5:00 PM departure. Ten miles later we were on the Springwater Corridor, another 15 and we were in East Vancouver, and at about sunset (58k into the ride) we arrived at the Fern Prairie Market on the outskirts of NE Camas.

Our next stop was at the Safeway in Battle Ground, WA, where we stocked up on enough supplies to weather a few hours of nocturnal riding. Yacolt was buttoned up by our midnight arrival time, so we took photos in front of the local barbershop to document our having been there.

yacolt proof, a photo by tangocyclist on Flickr.

Between Yacolt and Woodland, though, we encountered a lot of taxing rollers that weren’t apparent on Google Maps.

After Woodland, there was the predictably steep Green Mountain Road, a portion of which I walked. Ed’s and my homework made our early AM passage through Kelso relatively efficient. Then about 6 miles later, we hit Headquarters Rd…four miles of relentless uphill…on which I began to falter, and worry about making it to Olympia on time. It was on this road that Ed ended up pushing me quite a bit, thus increasing my speed from 4-5 mph to closer to 8. We were quite the two-barreled huffing-puffing machine. I was simultaneously humbled, and impressed by Ed’s gallant show of team-man-ship.

It was light by this time, but the five of us broke up a bit on the descent towards Toutle. After reconvening at that contrôle, we continued to the small town of Ethel, then headed northwest to Chehalis and the back roads of Centralia. After a stretching/food stop in Bucoda, we hit the Tenino-Yelm Rails-to-Trails bike path, upon which we were greeted by Carol Nussbaum and Amy Pieper, the roving secret contrôle operators.

secret controllers, a photo by tangocyclist on Flickr.

We arrived at the 22-hour contrôle in Yelm with a luxurious 45 minutes to kill, which got promptly eaten up by the most inefficient excuse for a restaurant I have ever encountered. But at 3:10 PM, we were back on the road again, with what we thought was plenty of time for our arrival in Olympia.

Unfortunately, our Google-Maps-influenced route took us on many segments of a “Woodland Trail” in and around Lacey. We took just enough wrong turns and were confused enough to make our arrival at the Red Lion Inn really tight! The take away from the last two hours: “Know your end game.” (or pre-ride that section).

After a difficult final ascent to the hotel from Olympia proper, we were greeted by Robin Pieper, quite a few other randonneurs, and plenty of beer!

finished (2), a photo by tangocyclist on Flickr.

David then immediately headed to the train station (for a same-day return to Portland), while Ed, Theo, Asta and I checked in to the hotel, ordered pizza, took our showers, and promptly fell asleep.

Brunch was served to the eleven teams the next morning. We saw maps of everyone’s route, listened to everyone’s stories, and were grateful that our route didn’t encounter a disorderly car rally on remote rural gravel roads. We ended up getting a couple awards, including “Lowball” (shortest distance closest to 360k), 2nd place “Drunkard” (most circuitous), 2nd “Youngest” (average age), and 2nd “Largest Spread” (I’m 31 years older than Asta). We also managed to compress the 3rd most elevation gain in our Lowball distance.

The four of us rode about 9 miles to the Olympia/Lacey Amtrak station after brunch on Sunday, and reminisced on the excellent event on the train ride home.

‘Twas lot of work to put the route together; a lot of work to ride those hills; and a lot of work for the Nussbaums to organize. But it was worth it. Excellent camaraderie, not only within our team, but with the other participants as well.

My photos of the flèche are here on Flickr.