Today I had the pleasure of finishing my first “permanent”: The Tour of Five Bakeries! A permanent is like a brevet, except that you can usually ride it anytime — weather permitting — and the same rules apply. The permanent creator and owner, Sarah Burke, led our fantastic crew of randonnerds on our delicious route from Mill Valley: Becky; Bill (and it was his birthday today, so he left the ride early); Bob (the RBA from Santa Rosa); Denise; Gabrielle; Mike; Susan; The Bearded One.

There were three controls (plus an info control at the Railroad Museum in Tiburon) that included three different bakeries: Bovine Bakery; Wild Flour; and Bovine Bakery again. As it was an out-and-back route, we passed by Tomales Bakery twice which counted as the other unofficial stops. We zoomed through our 125 miles in about 9 and a half hours with close to 5,000 ft. of climbing and enjoyed many baked goods in between.

Thanks to all for a fantastic day of riding and a great dinner afterwards at TamalPie Pizza courtesy of the Burkes. It was my first time meeting most of these folks and TBO and I had a wonderful day riding with this awesome group of long-distance veterans. And I finally learned what Jason’s nickname — “Pudu” — actually is.