Pacific Northwest - Ronde van Palouse - Spokane

Inlanders! Want to do a new and challenging spring race? Tired of traveling to Seattle to race? We've now got something completely different.

The Ronde van Palouse is on a 23 mile paved and gravel circuit in the farm country of the scenic palouse. The rollers and wind should challenge all levels of riders.

Check out our Ronde van Palouse (http://www.spokanerocketvelo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68:ronde&catid=43:srv-hosted-races&Itemid=116) page for complete details. We've also got a facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=495014030050).

How big are the cat 5 groups these days? Especially for the older guys? I haven't raced road in 10 years but this race has me interested again. Back in my early racing days in Kansas I was usually the only cat 5 in a large group of cat 4's so it wasn't much fun hanging on for dear life.

Hey Steve,
Being the first year, I have no idea what to expect for this race. I think that the combined cat 4/5 and Masters field will be the biggest field out there. That being said, I'd be surprised if the field got over 40 riders. A typical cat 5 rider in the Inland NW would be competitive in either the master's or the cat 4/5 field. You should come ride with us sometime. I think I saw that you're registered on our new site. Keep checking back for updates on our weekly club rides. We're normally pretty laid back :)

Mike

I haven't done much group riding since all my old off road racing budddies moved on to other non cycling endevors. Haven't posted on the new site yet but I see you may put in a Sunday ride and I should be able to show up. I've thought about joining you guys in the past but my military life pretty much stood in the the way. Now I'm retired and still jobless so I have plenty if time to ride.

Cool Steve. There will probably be a road and mountain ride on Sunday...I'm still undecided at this point. Hope to ride with you soon!

I'm comin! It'll be, like, my second race in about 18 years. starting to roll back the clock.
I'll have to decide between my cross bike or my road bike but either way i ain't coming to win the race.
it IS win win though so i guess i am.
see you there! thanks.

on this
139946

or this...
139947

sucking wind off the back with gravel in my teefs

I vote for the 3Rensho - beautiful bike.

Looks like a fun and challenging course. Unfortunately I'm doing the Volunteer park crit that day yet still trying to save something for the hard road race the next day at Elma/Aberdeen.

I LOVE the Volunteer park crit.
Had great times there in 88-89....even though i broke a wheel right before the greenhouse on the final lap.

Mudder, I vote that either bike would work well. The big question is, what tires to use? We've been riding the course with 23 mm clinchers or tubbies. I hear some guys saying they'll use 25 mm's. I wouldn't recommend 'cross tires: the other 20 miles of the course will be quite painful on 'cross tires. :)

Jazzy , Volunteer Park rocks, so I don't blame you. This year you'll see a lot of overlap between eastern and western WA races. We're pretty stoked about having more racing over here this year, even if it means we'll miss some of the west siders. I hope you come over for senior state champs!

MJS

MtnMike--

Looking forward to the Cheney crit & rr state champ races! Hopefully I'll be peaking around then before I take a few weeks off to recover and ramp back up. I see the RR info but no crit info - any idea when it will be up?

The crit is hosted by a different promoter than us, so I don't know when this year's race flyer will be posted. If you can find a flyer from last year's Master/Junior champs, I think it's going to be the same course. It's a neat course in downtown Cheney; it's fairly technical, yet safe, and has a climb and a downhill section. Mike

hey Mike-
do i need to get my WSBA license and numbers and all that for the Ronde? ..and in general for all the WA races? back in the day it was just a USCF license. ..gettin' spendy.

looking forward to it.

You need a USA Cycling license, available at usacycling.org, or cat 5's can buy a one day license for $10 on the spot.

looking forward to this weekend. maybe we'll have sideways hail like last saturday!! :)

yeah we had some pretty epic weather for Flatlands. Hoping for 60 and sunny this saturday! See you there :thumb:

Mike. That was fun, although short lived for me as i got shelled pretty quickly...i'm getting faster each week though. Haven't met you in person yet but soon I am sure.

Thanks for the great race. Next year i hope to put in some payback on one particular short yet steep hill. Loved the gravel/dirt!

Thank you for coming out! The Ronde' was a big success. I've heard a lot of positive feed back about the race, and that probably means we'll do it again next year. By the way, results are posted here (http://www.spokanerocketvelo.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=68:ronde&catid=43:srv-hosted-races&Itemid=116):)