When Steve and I started looking around for a Brevet week, or at least the option to do a 400KM and a 600KM Brevet in one week, we jumped at the chance to go and ride with the Seattle International Randonneurs at the NW Crank week of rides. It seemed the perfect way to celebrate our 19th anniversary and test out my riding legs after such a long winter off the bike. It helps that the elevation of the start and finish of these rides is about 6,000 feet lower in elevation than where we lay our heads at night.
Our biggest decision was not who to give the pets to for a week or what to pack for different weather conditions, but was whether we should go buy fenders for our bikes. We know some of the RMCC Brevet riders have fenders on their bikes but Steve and I have declined to add them to our bikes (at least for now). We are very aware that it can be very impolite to ride with people in rain and not have fenders... but decided to trust that we would be treated as inexperienced guests and I can say, we were not disappointed.
We were treated like the dry inland riders we are. Lucky for us (or really our new riding friends) we only encountered a handful of rain drops. I now own a brand new pair of quick release Race Blade fenders. I'll be ready for that rain now!
The Brevets during the NW Crank Week featured orchards of apples, cherries, and pears. We saw fields of winter wheat brown and done and the new sprouts of the coming summer wheat. We rode along the Columbia River and saw incredible mountain lakes, like Lake Chelan.
Our new friends at SIR (and, of course the promoters of NW Crank) did not disappoint. We had a wonderful vacation and even more satisfying rides. We made great new lifelong friends and people we hope to see in Paris or Brest, or along the way.
Steve and I would highly recommend going next year and getting in some early season miles, Brevets, or just great scenic rides. P.S. bring fenders-maybe.
Bonne Route!
Michelle and Steve
This year's NW Crank started the week with a 600k brevet and ended with a 400k, with a 200k, 300k, and alternate "fun rides" in between. This past weekend, Michelle Grainger and Steve Le Goff finished off their Super-Randonneur series and qualification for Paris-Brest-Paris by pre-riding the Black Forest 300k ... a tapering ride, ha, ha. -jle
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