Perm Riders: Do you follow the route?

Jake Kassen

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Oct 4, 2022, 4:19:16 PM10/4/22

to NERds

Hey NERds. Survey question:

When you ride RUSA perms, do you follow the RWGPS route exactly as designed or do you tweak the route to your liking before heading off?

I was in a discussion with some out-of-state people recently who said they always ride exactly as designed. I was surprised as I traditionally tweak first, normally adding dirt roads, nearby places I want to explore, etc. (Obviously, controls remain the same.) Even for my own routes I tend to fiddle with the map before leaving.

Thoughts?

Jake

Michael Ruelle

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Oct 4, 2022, 4:41:04 PM10/4/22

to New England Randonneurs

So i haven't done very many permanents, so take with a grain of salt. I have done perms that relatively close to me. So i add a little bit on to get to their start and then do the route as prescribed. The thing from the rules I wasn't super clear on is if something is a loop do you have to go through that waypoint twice? LIke if I have a four control with the first and last control being the start/finish, Do as long as I do the distance and go through the controls and mostly follow the route is it good? And how much of most of the route is good enough?

Mike

Jake Kassen

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Oct 4, 2022, 4:51:26 PM10/4/22

to mi...@mruelle.net, New England Randonneurs

For loop routes you need to hit all the controls in order (or reverse order) and you need to have ridden at least the published distance of the route.

Beyond that, you can start from any location provided you return to that same location at the end of the ride. So this is OK for a 4 control perm:

Rider's Home -> C3 -> C4 -> C1 -> C2 -> Rider's home

In the above example, Control #1 is the start/finish as found on the published route. You can ride any route of your choosing between controls.

Jake

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Connor Ryan

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Oct 4, 2022, 8:02:36 PM10/4/22

to li...@jkassen.org, mi...@mruelle.net, New England Randonneurs

I follow the route the first time through. On subsequent rides I may wander a bit, but not much. Most of the perm routes around here are pretty well thought out.

Connor Ryan

he/him/his

English Department

Marblehead High School

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Eric Nichols

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Oct 5, 2022, 8:33:42 AM10/5/22

to New England Randonneurs

I'm a serial route tweaker! Unless it's my first time along a particular road, I tend to look for interesting alternate roads just to expand my explored terrain. Sometimes even if they are dead-ends!

The change in perm rules to allow free routes between controls was a massive gift for us serial explorers. I'm driven by novelty so I prefer to go places I've never been before.

The exceptions for me are riding a perm with a group, where route variations have not been negotiated in advance, or a perm route where I'm aiming for a PR time.