Permanents Overview

What is a Permanent? 

A Permanent is like a brevet but you can register to ride it any time, in contrast to brevets, which are calendared on specific dates. Like brevets, routes can start and finish in the same location, but they can also run point-to-point, and can be any distance of 200km+ (100-199km for a Permanent Populaire). You must be a RUSA member to ride a Permanent. A Permanent may be ridden alone or with a group.

Credit and Awards

IMPORTANT: To get credit for riding a Permanent route, you need to register before you ride, and submit results after you ride, as explained in the sections below.

 

Permanent rides in the US are validated by RUSA; therefore, they do not count toward any ACP awards nor do they serve as qualifiers for PBP or other foreign events, such as grand randonnées sanctioned by les Randonneurs Mondiaux. However, a Permanent counts toward RUSA's distance awards and R-12 award. (Permanent Populaires count toward the RUSA P-12 award as well as toward RUSA's  distance awards.) A Permanent may serve as a qualifier for a US-based grand randonnée or other event at the discretion of the event organizer. To learn more, see the Rules for Permanent Riders and go to the Permanents FAQ.

 

Note -There is a different procedure (below) for ACP Super Randonnée 600 permanents.

What do I need to do to register and ride?

  1. Create a RUSA Website account (or log in if you already have one). Click on the Member Log in link at the upper right corner of the home page. Go to My Account and click on the Permanents link.

  2. Register for the Permanents Program - If you are not a member of the Permanents program for the current year (or the year in which you wish to ride a perm route), you'll be prompted to join/renew in the program. This includes paying a once-per-year fee. 

  3. Register to ride a perm route - Once you're a member of the perms program, you can register to ride a perm route:
     
    1. Search for a route (or enter the route number if you know it).
    2. Select a date to ride.
    3. Electronically sign a waiver for that ride.

How do results get submitted?

After your ride, go to Permanents under My Account once again. You will see a list of all your perm registrations for which no result has been submitted. Select one and submit the results of your ride (which could be finishing within the time limit, DNF or finishing beyond the time limit, or DNS if you ended up not doing your ride).

Contributing a Route

RUSA members can contribute a route to the RUSA Perm Routes Library. When the Permanents Committee has reviewed and activated the route, members can then search for it and register to ride it. Details under Route Submission.

Special Considerations for Gravel

Permanent routes with unpaved distance allow the rider extra time to finish, and credit you for unpaved distance, both in your tally of unpaved distance and towards awards. Perms with Gravel Details

Super Randonnée Permanents

Provence Randonneurs in France has a permanents program known as Super Randonnées (also known as SR600 or Super Sixes in the US). See our Super Randonnées page for information, including how to sign up to ride one of these route, how to create a route and get it approved, and contact info.