Eastern PA 200K
Saturday March 31, 2007
Ride Report
Rider Statistics
39 Registered riders
34 Starters
31 Finishers
3 DNF (Did not finish -- withdrew)
Weather
Mostly cloudy with some occasional sun peeking through. Temperature low 50's.
Special Thanks ...
... to Brian Mazur for helping with setup, registration, manning the secret controle and sweeping the course. And to Patrick O'Donnell who also stepped up as a volunteer to check in the riders at the end and with clean-up. Thanks also, to Judson Hand for the great BBQ and Nate Morgenstern for dropping off the sign-in sheets. And thanks to Ted Borer for sharing some of his pictures and to Jesse Styles for providing the Accelerade.
Brian Mazur (a.k.a Iceman) ...
... helping with the setup at the hostel Friday night along with Henny Henpeck above, who was a big help with unloading my car.
Judson Hand and Jennifer Barber signing in.
Jud writes: "I really enjoyed yesterday's 200k. You managed to get temperatures in the 40s and low 50s, so there was less chance of overheating on all that climbing. Speaking of climbing, this did seem to be the hilliest 200k you have designed. People's altimeters were registering anywhere from 9,000 to 11,000 feet. I noticed that my time was about an hour slower than last year, which could be the route as well as riding in late March, instead of late May. I like the descent off Fox Gap past Minsi Lake and the descent down Harmony Brass Castle Road as a replacement for Montana/Millbrook. About the only easier part of the route was going up from the river on the PA side via Red Cliff Road. As usual, lots of scenery and hills, not a lot of traffic."
.. and Jenn adds: "I really enjoyed the ride and especially the post ride food :-)." Check out Jenn's ride report .
Rick Carpenter ...
... riding through Tinicum county along Headquarters Road.
"Thanks again for a well-organized outing! Saturday's ride went well for me; I finished within one minute of my predicted time (not bad for a 10 - 1/2 hr ride ;-) Now that I got the "Baby Brevet" out of the way, I have "junior" to look forward to in three weeks (300km)." -Rick
.. and they're off!
At the top of the Saucon Valley climb.
Long time riding partner and regular participant Paul Shapiro at the Portland Diner. "I wanted to thank you again for yesterday's brevet. As usual, it is a beautiful route. You really manage to show off Pennsylvania and Northwest Jersey to their best possible advantage ... I don't know if you noticed, but your route passed the Bagelsmith on Rt 519 where you and I first started riding. (I also added a stop at the Citgo in Milford). It was like old home week. Thanks again" -Paul
Paul and I first hooked up together half way through the brutally hot 2000 edition of the Jersey Double. Some encouraging words from Paul at that Citgo station saved me from a DNF!
Riding up Mud Run
Well done Rick ... the PA300k will be headed north of the Water Gap (as seen from the Portland pedestrian bridge).
Bill Alcorn and the rest of the State College gang headed up the road.
Mike Cerenzia writes: "Great job on the course! We did not have a problem following the course. Thanks"
Zayne Braun adds: "Thanks for holding a great event. The route was super, the views fantastic, and lodging was great. I can only imagine what time and effort go into putting on an event like this, let alone a 300k or longer. Thank you again for doing a superb job!"
"Excellent -- Thanks for the follow up and also for putting together such a good course and nice event for the 200k. We enjoyed it very much." -Steve Thorne
"We are looking forward to the next few rides." -Joe Gore
And here's what others had to say ...
"Well done! Excellent instructions (even made the proper choice at the 25th St bridge onto Lehigh St). I heard during the day that you had reconfigured this ride to take in a few extra climbs. My altimeter reported 9,535 ft compared to the 11,000 reported by Topo, FWIW. I don't think I missed the extra 1,500 ft at all. Looking forward to the 300k."
-Andrew (no longer a first time brevet rider) Mead
"I completed your ride the other day and had "fun" doing so. .. and I will see you on the 21st for the 300k. Thanks again"
-Joel Flood
"Thanks to you and to the volunteers for a great event. I'm not particularly pleased with my time, but, given my lack of training, I'm pleased that I finished at all! Thanks again!
-Joe Fillip
And from first finisher, Nate Morgenstern ...
"Again, it was another excellent event you can chalk up on your tally. They should all be as good."
- Nate
...thanks Nate! Looks like your job of carrying the sign-in sheets is secure.
And the last word goes to Ed Pavelka, who writes in the RoadBikeRider Newsletter:
"Saturday's ride was a doozy -- 9,300 vertical feet in 125 miles with pitches as steep as 19%. Gotta love the terrain in this part of PA and NJ. Coming up are 300K, 400K and 600K brevets in the same landscape. I'm packing a 36x32-tooth low gear on my randonnee bike and still need to stand on some climbs to keep moving. The sadistic creator of this brevet series is Tom Rosenbauer, who will be riding the Elite Tour with us. These long, hard rides will certainly help our training for that and for Paris-Brest-Paris in August. The brevet terrain is tougher than we'll face in France and on most of the ET too. It reminds me of one of Lance Armstrong's secrets: Make training harder than racing. The mental benefits might be even greater than the physical."
... be sure to check out the RoadBikeRider website. The RoadBikeRider weekly newsletter has all sorts of good information.
