Resting Up for 2026

With the cold weather and early darkness, NER now takes a breather until April when the season starts back up. (See the calendar of events for NER and the Westfield MA regions.) But in the meantime, there’s a lot of planning and options for informal riding.

NER’s inaugural 1200k, The Six Pack 1200, is scheduled for September 2026. The route is being continuously tweaked and other details being finalized. More information will be found here in the next few months. A new discussion group / email list has been created for those who want to stay informed about the event. (No content there yet.)

Randonneurs USA (RUSA) has now dropped the addition fee for riding permanents. Perms are a great way of riding a randonneuring type route on your own schedule, obtaining RUSA “credit” for the completion, and unlike Brevets you can modify all aspects of the route except for the control locations. Perms are a lot of fun and it’s good motivation to keep riding throughout the winter.

You can see a list of perms in the Boston area as well as search for perms anywhere in the US.

Occasionally people announce their intention to ride a perm on the NER Discussion Group for others are interested in joining the attempt.