BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

My calves throb just thinking about it. (Or maybe it was this morning's ride?)

Look out Sheetz! Here we come!

I was just looking at the fancy info avaliable to me from google analytics which I installed on the blog. Two searches that brought people to the website:

"laughed at sheetz footlong"

"perkins restaurant breezewood sucks"

i wonder how many searches are done per year with the theme Breezewood sucks?

thanks for now making this site a part of that illustrious tradition.

Sweet!!!!!!

breezewood sucks breezewood sucks breezewood sucks breezewood sucks breezewood sucks

sheetz footlong sheetz footlong sheetz footlong sheetz footlong sheetz footlong sheetz footlong sheetz footlong sheetz footlong sheetz footlong sheetz footlong

is there any glory in arriving after 50+ hours?

Considering 7 out of 10 starters last year DNF'd, finishing this thing before Sunday night is plenty to be proud of.

And really there is no glory in any of this. The closest thing we had to that last year was the PPG security guard kicking us out of the plaza about 2 minutes after we finished.

This is the day after my last exam. That's kind of tempting.

I'm ready this time!!!!

Son of a bitch! Last year, about 2 weeks before the fucking CTA ride I fucked up my back so bad I could not walk for almost 2 months. Buldging disc pinching my sciatic nerve. In fact, I remember seeing the other Adam the very day I messed my back up at Bavington mountain biking.

I am still unable to touch my toes, but before it happened I could put them flat on the floor when bending over. I am no longer in much pain but WAAAAAY out of shape compared to this time last year.

It took me until almost November/December before I could walk without any (much) pain down there but I was so pissed off that I couldn't do this ride I am definitely going to do it this year unless I relapse back to being unable to walk again.

Aerobars will ride once again!!!

man, makes me feel like i'm wimping out

I'm in. Missed it last year due to a mid-life crisis. Anti-Depressants and a good shrink got my training plan back to spot-on!

cannot wait unless one of my three kids is sick, then, i'm out and back to another mid-life crisis.

willie

erok quit wimping out. Lining up to start is 80% of the ride. The other 20% is pretty damn hard, certainly, but nothing a salty dog like you can't handle.

Here's to healthy kids willie! I've got 2 of my own and they were both puking on my wife while I was looking at pretty bike in Indy this past weekend. I don;t want to do that to her twice in a few months.

The ride downtown at 4:30am on Friday morning was much harder than riding the 30 mile SkoolKill River trail all the way to Liberty Bell standing up because my taint was too sore to touch it to the saddle.

Plus, gettting chased by gangstas through the streets of philly makes that last 10 miles or so go by real quick!

I'm on the 60 hour plan. Goal - Philly by 5:00pm Sunday. 150(Friday) / 150(Sat)/ 100 (Sun)

I came in last place 2 years ago when I rode it, 66 hours.

I still wear that shit like a badge of courage though, and everyone but the 9 or so people who beat me are impressed with the fact I rode to Philly in 3 days like that.

I was really out of shape when I did it to, and it was my first ride of the year more than 20 miles. This year I am in even worse shape because of my back injury and have not exercised in months. It will be interesting to see how my body reacts to getting off the couch to ride 400 miles.

I'm hoping for sub-36 hr: bomb straight through into York before taking an extended break, catch a couple hours of sleep at a no-tell motel and a fat diner breakfast, and try to be back on the road by 5 AM. That'd leave 12 hours to knock off the rest; plenty of time, right?

That's the plan, anyway; reality will depend on how well I whip my flabby carcass into shape by then.

If you get to York most of the tough stuff is over., much the same as getting to Rockwood going east to west. Last year Max and I were at Rockwood around 2 or 3 pm Saturday. That is mile 300. We didn't get to Pittsburgh until 2:45am, which included a 45 minute nap. You might need every minute of that last 12 hours.

So I did some quick math. If 36 hours is the goal, and supposing 10 minutes of each hour is spent not moving, that leaves an average speed of 13 .33333 needed to get there. Seems like staying on the bike, even at relatively slow speeds is pretty key to finishing this fast.

Also in York you are required to stop at Roburrito and eat. Probably the only decent food that is easy to find on the whole route. Unless you are really down with Scmuffinz.

13 1/3, eh? That sounds almost doable. My rolling average for the brevets last year was in the 14-15 range, and at least I don't have much to worry about with bike comfort. So long as I can avoid mechanicals and stomach trouble, things should be copacetic.

I'm not looking forward to the GAP, though. I've done 100 miles+ on limestone before...wears my sorry butt down pretty good.

First timer route question:

Is it in Confluence or in Rockwood that you jump off the GAP and pick up Route S?

**Hey Redden, Your thoughts about the limestone on the GAP - Tough just because it graps at your wheel and not easy to roll through or something else about it?

Thanks!

Darren

Rockwood for Route S, methinks.

Yep, I've found that it tends to be a little sticky. Not terrible, as the GAP is pretty well packed down, but noticeable.

I still say you're all crazy.

Godspeed. I wish you all luck once again.

I agree. I love reading the stories after. Good luck.

The limestone can go from "almost as fast as pavement" to "do I have two flat tires?" in a hurry if it rains.

It always rains.

Not sure if you planned this, but full moons over friday and sat night (8th and 9th). Helps with night riding and safety...Now we just to avoid all the wet weather from last year that I read about....

DC

I always wonder why it wouldn't make sense to do the race in June or July... More daylight hours, and less chance of hypothermia rain-out conditions.

I guess riding in the rain all day and keeping yourself warm during your 3 hours of sleep by keeping your sleeping bag sealed and breathing the warm air from your breath as your only source of avoiding hypothermia builds character

Two things I can't wait to see again:

1. The wet sand machine on the Yough

2. The dog at Churchtown Road

Oh man... Thanks to those who rode ahead of me to drag those dogs out to the road LOL... Probably not the same dogs Ken is talking about, but they drew me into a match sprint for about 100 yards.

I came to a brake-stand for them, but when they lunged at me anyway I took the fuck off faster than I have ever sprinted in my life (with 15lbs of crap on my bike to boot).

I spun out my biggest gear in my 53 tooth chainring in less than 10 seconds and left those dogs in the dust... Too bad they couldn't have chased me all the way to Philly. I would have shaved off 12 hours time.

It was funny hearing Ken say something about getting chased by them when he caught up to us in Breezewood LOL...

2 weeks kids!

Looks to be a larger group than last year.

36 hours sounds a little silly right now.

Am I mistaken in thinking that you can buy a bike box at the Greyhound station and ride a bus back to Pittsburgh? I know the train from Philly to PGH doesn't have checked luggage, so I'm scratching that idea. What had been the preferred return method?

Yep, the greyhound is a good option. Adam (Aerobars) did that last year.

You can take the train, but your bike will need to go down to DC first and then to Pittsburgh. Probably an extra charge for that.

According to the old CTC blog, the latest anyone finished the 2007 west-east ride was 11:26 Sunday night. It looks like the 12:20 AM bus back to PGH will be a safe bet. There's a bus leaving 7:40 Sunday night, but I think I'll give myself the extra time.

Two more confirmed:

Wes E. (willie p) and Tom D.

re: wet limestone, about 5 yrs ago when riding from Meyersdale to Cumby (on a Pit-DC run), on the grade up to the tunnel we actually brought our tire pressure down to 25 lbs (on 700c tires!) to counteract the sinking. ...kinda worked. fyi- this was actually an illegal ride as the mini bridges on that stretch were barricaded and we had to carry our bikes through them and we were weaving among heavy equipment parked on the trail since it was under construction.

wp

so how many registered?

I'm in. Got a 300K in VA this weekend, should be a nice shakedown for CTC.

Still haven't built up the LED lights I was planning on hooking up to my dynamo hub, though. Dunno if that'll happen in time.

Erok,

Registration? What registration?

We don't need no stinking registration.

I'll hazard a guess at 12-15 riders.

Anywhere between 10 and 20 would not surprise me.

i'm rolling with two others from the philly side of the state.

oh yeah, he he...

I know there is some guy from Baltimore staying with me the night before the race... I'm still not even tempted. At all. Godspeed people.

Well, I did a rough count, looks to be much closer to 20 than 10.

Anybody going westbound? (fxdwhl) and how?

I'm looking to carpool or something.

Checked Amtrak, no bicycles...

Checked airlines $175.00 fee !!!! YIKES !

Checked Greyhound. Bike must be boxed and they charge $25. Greyhounds SUCK anyways.

What are the east'ners doing?

we're renting a car from avis in downtown philly thurs morning and dropping off in downtown burgh. would be nice if amtrak took bikes without needing to ship to DC first.

When I did the PIT - DC ride, we rented a van (one way) in DC and stuffed 5-6 of us in there with bikes.

Splitting the cost brought the $$ down and it worked out well.

Why don't all of the East'nrs form a collective and GIT r' Done.

wp

i'm thinking about trying to smuggle my bike on amtrak to get back home to pittsburgh. i'm inspired by the time i brought a bare bicycle frame home on the train without problem. i think it helps to get on at a small town train stop.

it's fine with them to bring luggage about as large as a bicycle onto the train, just as long as it's not actually a bicycle -or they don't know it's a bike. so i was thinking a giant trash bag might work, double bagged for safety.

i'd like to find out who to talk to in order to get them to have bike racks on the train or at least allow us to roll them on. there is plenty of room on those train cars.

When I last flew I had my S+S equipped bike in its case and when questioned about it I said it was bicycle parts samples since I was traveling for business.

Nick, I like your idea. $25 to box and pack a bike is pretty ridiculous. Stuffing your disassembled bike into a cheap suitcase would be ideal, but I guess to large trash bags would be the only practical solution. Good luck.

Gerry Kraynick has one, possibly two of the Nashbar carrying cases (soft sided ones), that he lends out for free.

However, he (and I) ask that you respectfully do so and understand that the case is your financial responsibility whilst in your possession.

wp

Hey fxdwhl,

You got room for 1 more person and 1 more bike ???

I have rental booked from Hertz on May 7th, leaving from PHL at 11AM.

If anybody needs a ride and wants to split the cost, contact me.

See you all in Pittsburgh.

If 20 people show, the "neutral start" will get pretty nutty.

How so Ken? A group ride down 837 should be pretty easy to keep together, at least I think so.

sounds like we are going to have "soft" conditions for the first 90 miles....

wp

sounds like we are going to have "soft" conditions

I was just pondering that issue.

So, a question for those with experience on the GAP in flood conditions: would rolling out on 28mm slicks be a Bad Idea™?

2 years ago, and last year, the trail was wet. I road with people riding 25-45mm tires, I was on 32s. It sucked for all of us.

Short of a Pugsley you'll be hating life for a bit.

I'm running 25s this year, weather be damned.

Okey-dokey.

Gloopy suckage ahead, I'll shut up and deal. It's only 90 miles, right?

Actually, more like 70-80. It will only feel like more than that.

i'll be on 25's too. the other 300 some miles justify sinking into the rail trail.

just created a google map of the abondoned turnpike section:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=117313506400842867247.00046917d608c57f77912&ll=40.027746,-78.169956&spn=0.105026,0.222473&t=h&z=13

little easier to navigate than the pike 2 bike website.

Something seems off about that map. Maybe it is just the perspective, but I thought we enter the trail from Tannery road, up an embankment to the left, not directly off 30.

Ahh, I was thrown off by the overpass. That is probably the one that was removed. Old satellite photo, methinks

yeah the overpass was removed. i thought we exited off of 30 but the website speaks of a trailhead so i updated the map accordingly. either way look for tannery road on the left after breezewood.

Nice map, thanks.

Dumb question: are the tunnels optional, required, or just really cool and highly recommended?

Optional and recommended, both for the amount of climbing they cut out and the post-apocalyptic feel.

Over the weekend I swapped the 35's for 28's on my "touring" bike, and I swear it made the whole thing 4 pounds lighter. They're staying on no matter how wet it gets.

If my actual road bike hadn't developed a tendency to randomly drop it's chain when shifting down into the granny gear, and if it had room for fenders, I might take the chance and ride 25's. I may still change my mind in the next few days. I don't really need that gear anyway. Of course, it's an 11 year old carbon/alum frame, so I'm not sure if I trust it not to rattle into pieces and come apart at the joints during the rockier parts of the GAP.

so do people bring a lock? i know it's certainly prudent to lock up at both the departure and destination city, but i also know that it is pretty much unheard of for randonneurs to use locks on long rides. and the weight of a lock is not insignificant, of course. so what has been the custom in the past?

It's pretty rural out there, but I went to shippensburg for college and a friend had a Y-frame Trek when they first came out and some farmer high schooler used liquid nitrogen to freeze the kryptonite lock mechanism and break it. ...of course, this was in 1995 and before anyone knew a simple "BIC stick" would have done the job. ironically, we actually saw him riding the bike out along what is now PA Bike Route S near Cowan's Gap, and a friend stopped him, kicked him off the bike with his foot and we "reclaimed" the bike on the spot.

I've always carried one, don't see a good reason to stop doing so.

Do any of the veterans have directions written out on how to get from the end of the river trail to the Liberty Bell?

Had to go back to the archives for this one:

http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/CTC-end

Many thanks. Navigating this part of the ride was the thing that I was most worried about. That, and not falling victim to absolute pain and exhaustion hundreds of miles before the finish...

i don't think i've ever brought a lock on CTC. i never worry about my loaded up bike getting stolen while using the bathroom at a gas station. something about all the crap on there makes it seem to me that it's more trouble then it's worth for someone to attempt to steal it. when i arrive in philly i'm just going to hop on septa so i won't need to lock anything up.

On most long rides I at least bring a cable lock. I don't imagine spending much time away from the bike, but even during a five minute bathroom break I'd like to have something in place to deter theft.

What is septa?

I usually eat at least 2 sit down meals, I'd hate to come back out and see my bike gone. Also I want to relax and let my food digest, not worry about my bike walking off.

SEPTA is the Philly mass transit system. A cable lock is pretty light, I think I'll bring one.

NOT looking forward to the trail conditions, but I'll be rolling on 26x1.5" tires so I guess I'll be floating along while you guys are sucking

Two options to get to Mckeesport:

1-2nd ave to jail trail to Irvine/885, across Glenshaw bridge, Mifflin Rd, Pittsburgh-Mckeesport Blvd, Mansfield bridge, 5th ave bridge, River Rd Trail

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=101+Commonwealth+Pl,+Pittsburgh,+PA+15222+(Point+State+Park)&daddr=40.328782,-79.850264&hl=en&geocode=FW0PaQIdHi87-yG6YJBv_P_GUQ%3B&mra=dme&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=15&dirflg=w&sll=40.338825,-79.851079&sspn=0.024141,0.043817&ie=UTF8&ll=40.341769,-79.867988&spn=0.02414,0.043817&z=15

Or

2.Same route, but straight down 837 to Mckeesport.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=101+Commonwealth+Pl,+Pittsburgh,+PA+15222+(Point+State+Park)&daddr=40.432723,-79.962358+to:Irvine+St%2FPA-885+to:W+7th+Ave%2FPA-837+to:River+Ridge+Rd&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3BFYXLaAIdQQ48-w%3BFdJ9aAIdmIw8-w%3BFYhnZwId34g9-w&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=16&via=1,2,3&sll=40.435956,-79.962573&sspn=0.012053,0.021908&ie=UTF8&ll=40.437132,-79.98137&spn=0.012053,0.021908&z=16

Any input?

I'm leaning towards option 2. Less turns, easier to keep folks togther.

I like option 2. I've used that way just about every time I've headed out to McKeesport or points south along the river; it's pretty mellow with regards to climbing, and tends to be low traffic outbound in the early AM.

option 2; no need to stress out with climbs and fast downhills at 0-dark-thirty in the morning!

Brutal...Sunday through Wed - Mix of sun and clouds, highs in the low 70s...Anyone for a Sunday start?

Anyone else feeling woefully unprepared?

I've got fender mounting, brake service, light mounting and wiring, and drive-train service to do, and that's not even touching the packing of everything else or the un-bike-related prep...

The riders are off... Ben from DC texted me at 5:20am to say that 20+ riders were there and rolling.

It's nice to know that the commonwealth is getting a well-earned crushing... even as I sit here comfortably at my desk.

I seriously considered getting up and riding the first, neutral part with them.

But. Y'know. At hour minus 1 when the alarm went off, it did not seem like such a great idea.

Mick

good luck everyone, hopefully unbroken bikes and bodies make it to the bell

someone should have started a crush the commonwealth twitter feed... in the interest in saving characters might i suggest getting crushPA for next year?

Finished at 11:20 Saturday night for about 42 hours. Ben from DC and King Ted beat me by 15 minutes, after I hadn't seen them for 5 hours. Dang. Not sure about other people, but presumably Red Dan came in at some absurdly early time, and probably about 5 other people beat me as well.

I'll be shocked if everyone finishes.

how was the weather? we want epic stories.

I got rained on Saturday night, but it stopped on the far side of the tunnels. After that it was pretty much sunny the whole time.

My story's not so epic. Absolutely nothing went wrong for me, except that by Saturday afternoon I wanted the whole thing to be over with really bad. I've got sun burn and my back hurts like I slept wrong, but I feel fine. I ate about 20 gas station hoagies.

20 gas station hoagies is quite an accomplishment... i think 25 would have been epic... congrats on finishing the race though... any idea what the fastest time was?

the beauty of this ride is getting to eat multiple gas-station hoagies, whoppie pies and donuts while washing them down with mountain dews and mocha shakes. Then realizing that that is what people in central PA eat everyday.

the danny chew in me wants to know everybody's

finish time vs. their computer time. What was the

down time over 40 hours?

reddan made it in just under 36. I think the next finisher(ted on a ss?) was 38 hours or so. eric's got everyones call stored in his voicemail and I don't remember other times. I did it in 45 with eric, max, and 2 justins rolling in together. oh, and 70 powerbar dean came in around then too. I'll link photos once I get them uploaded.

congrats yinz!

what was the final number of riders?

That was fun.

No epic weather stories here...bit of drenching rain in Chambersburg around 1 AM, but the rest of the ride had an occasional spritz of rain at worst.

Jeremy and I ended up spending about 4 hours in Chambersburg, when fatigue had really set in. Ate too much at the Waffle House, then crashed at the Days Inn for a couple of hours. Felt a lot better after sleep, and managed to kick it up a notch or three once we hit 234.

Made decent time all the way through to the trailhead at Valley Forge, then figured I'd lay down the hammer into town along the trail. Unfortunately, the only hammer I had left was a 3-oz rubber mallet, but I felt like a real pathlete while passing hybrids and cruisers.

Low points: two front pinch flats on the abandoned turnpike (guess who only brought one tube for the front wheel?), darn near passing out from fatigue in the last few miles into Chambersburg, flatting 3 miles from the art museum in the midst of some rowing regatta festivities, and going a few blocks (okay, 40) the wrong way on Market when trying to find the Bell in Philly.

High points: heck, most of the weekend was a high point. I got to ride my bike across the bloomin' state...what more could I ask for?

(For Steevo's inner Chew) Actual distance was between 391 and 400, as my computer crapped out a few times during the ride. Rolling average was 14.5 mph; I didn't check actual on-bike time, but it should have been around 27.5 hours out of the 35:54 elapsed time. Roughly a quarter of the ride time was off-bike, so I'd assume that getting hardcore about on-bike nutrition would let one shave another hour or three without too much trouble.

I'm willing to wager that doing it east-to-west would be significantly tougher. Looking forward to finding out next year...

It was quite a ride, me and Ben from DC tied at forty-two hours, after we unsucessfully tried to match sprint from the art museum to the liberty bell on loaded touring bikes encountering every red light. Ken came in a few minutes later. I lost mileage and elapsed time because my computer reset at around 340 miles (this happened last year too!).

I could concievably have done this ride much faster without so many stops, but my feet seemed to catch on fire every forty miles or so. It felt like my feet were in that box from Dune..the one full of pain and all I could think was "I must not fear fear, fear is the mind killer."

I suppose an 8:40 PM Sunday finish is fine for a first-timer with absolutely no long distance touring experience. I wasted a ton of time checking and re-checking directions on the final miles into Philadelphia. The bike path isn't too well marked.

I spent the majority of the time riding solo, which was kind of a downer. I probably should have made a point to slow down and drop back to join some of the people riding behind me (at least I THINK there were people behind me for most of it).

Oh yes, and Greyhound DOES suck. Taking apart my bike and stuffing it into a $10 cardboard box was the last thing I wanted to do that hour. Next time I will definitely be more organized about this and try to go in on a rental car. At least the bus station was close to the finish.

This was definitley less than 400 miles if you followed the route S signs. It use to go out from Chambersburg to some rolling farmland after you pass under interstate 81, but now it plunges you straight through a god awful commercial district on 30 instead. That probably shaves off at least 10 miles.

Respect.

topping this to see it get to 100 posts

official rider count?

You guys are all fekkin amazing.

More poly-syllabic ponderous prose with propensity for parenthetical digression, if anyone cares to read it.

i just came here to say i read your blog and your are amazing.

hopefully i'll be in pgh next year when this goes down, even further hopefully i will have not just taken a 6 month break from my bike in the caribbean (actually i could go for another 6 months in the caribbean... maybe i'll just bring a bike next time)

Damn.

pictures are up, words to follow.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7935825@N04/sets/72157618029745014/

Those pictures bring up some sore memories.....

I'm finally starting to feel a little better but my left pinky is still numb and my legs are tight.

Great ride.

For everyone's edification (and some personal bragging rights)- since the CTC blogspot "official" finish times are not yet posted:

Tom Dunn (red cannondale) and me, Wes Easly (Miyata w/3 spd) finished at 947pm on Saturday night. Ted dropped us around chambersburg and we did not see him the rest of the day. fortunately tom and I caught our second (twelfth?) wind around Biglersville and cranked pretty well all the way to Valley Forge, where we took it easy down into Philly.

We also competed in the additional competition after the Liberty Bell...we went over to south street and did the "south street challenge": a Jim's cheese steak that has been wrapped by an 8" slice of Lorenzo's pizza.

thanks to all for a good time!

wp

Congrats to all...Fxdwhl-great pictures.

I cannot remember what "Jeremy" looked like/or how to ID you/what bike riding/where from.

I ask, because I now obviously know where Dan finished, and we knew that Ben was ahead also, and with Dan's blog he told us where Ben slept on fri night, which means we (me Ted, Tom) likely passed him while he was sleeping at Cowan's since we came through there 3-4am'ish, and finally we were with Ted a good bit of the way (on sat).

Reddan- do you know where jeremy slept on fri? i ask all this, since we never saw him on Sat and am quite curious.

Jeremy kept pace with me until Saturday morning, around 9 AM or thereabouts. I last saw him 20 or 30 miles before York on 234, a couple of miles after the big Rutters convenience store on the right.

If he's vanished/been killed and eaten by crazed Yorkish cannibals, I'll feel a bit guilty for having left him behind.

the south street challenge! i'm not sure what's more gross, that or an "O-rrito" = O fries wrapped in an O pizza.

Lorenzo's has better pizza, but O fries are probably better for you than a Jim's cheesesteak

How was the trail to Rockwood? Were the 25 and 28 tires ok or was it as tough as predicted? Fxdwhl pictures made it look at least decent...

I was riding 28's and 25's would have sufficed.

TRAIL BAD

TRAIL BAD

Wot Ken said.

It seemed that the closer we got to Rockwood, the more it sucked at the tires. Not just fatigue, either...definitely was a lot looser that far south.

I got a head count of 26 going down 837.

It was crazy to roll up to the point and see some many riders, and have more roll up while we got ready to go.

I was on vacation for the last few days, hit the beach, Hershey Chocolate Land, and stopped to chat with an old friend in Williamsport. Got in at 3:30am last night. I'll try to post up finishing times tonight, gotta go back through my voice mails.

I think everyone finished.

Did anyone else have that crazy tailwind through the rollers before the trail into Philly?

I was wound out in 50-14 going UPHILL. For miles. It was nuts.

I was the one on the black Cross-Check with the green jeresy. I was able to avoid the York cannibals and I rolled in on the Liberty Bell at 7:30 Saturday. I half expected there to be a few people hanging around who had slipped ahead of me. I'm impressed as hell that Dan was able to keep on strong after we parted. I had a blast and want to thank everyone involved.

i kinda made it, 12:30am monday. my group definitely wasn't racing.

my rack fell apart 20 miles before connellsville, that was a huge setback.

we camped the first night in rockwood.

someone dropped out in breezewood.

second night we stayed in the town before chambersburg.

besides, most beautiful ride i've ever done. i'd love adding another day or two to really enjoy it.

Good to year you made it!

I rolled up to the Liberty Bell at (according to my cell phone) 2:08AM on Sunday for a total of 45 hours. I felt like I was going to throw up most of the way in from Valley Forge... had I done it on the street in Manayunk I would have fit right in!

I'll post a ride report on my blog within the hour.

My least favorite parts of the ride were the last 20 miles of the trail, Route S between Bedford and Breezewood, and the deceptively long approach to Valley Forge... Regarding the last one, when I saw the sign saying "Phoenixville 5 miles" I really thought I was almost there, and then it seemed to take FOREVER to actually get to the trail. Plus the crazy wind storm kept blowing particles of dirt into my eyes and every single driver either honked, yelled, or threw something at me.

Other than that it was awesome. Glad I finally got to see some parts of the state I hadn't before, like York (love those Roburritos and Rutter's hoagies!!!)

We just missed you dhd. We (Justin, Justin, Chris, Max, Dean, and me) had a sprint finish down Market at 2:20am.

I put my bike on a rack and didn't ride it until Tuesday. It was still in a 50-14, which I can't believe I had the wherewithal to spin that out after 400 miles. And I got passed by almost everyone else.

I had a "slow crawl accompanied by never-ending stream of profanity caused by bumpy concrete pavers" finish down Market

I was really amazed at the amount of climbing PA Bike Route S takes-in. Bedford to Breezewood was especially amazing as was from the last TPK tunnel to the foot of Cowan's Gap (which was kind of easy, even on a 3speed).

wp

I think what really made the climbing suck is that 75% of it was packed into 25% of the ride...

reading this is making me regret not doing it

You guy are nuts. I am glad everyone survived.

oh, 50-14 across PA is really nuts.

I had other gears(50x36 x 12-26), no way would I ever try it on a single 50-14. My knees hurt just thinking about it.

Erok, this was THE year to do it. The weather was almost perfect, and the tailwinds where killer.

It might be too soon to say for sure that I survived, as my roadspray cough is only getting worse.

Copy and pasted from the blog, please inform me of errors and omissions. Sorry it took so long, had a 2 day turbo vacation post-ride, than sleep was more important than blogging.

Finishing Times (based on 5:20am start time):

Saturday

-Dan B 5:16 pm 35:56

-Jeremy 7:30 pm 38:10

-Ted 8:00 pm 38:40

-Tom D, Wes E 9:47 pm 40:27

-Ted and Ben 11:06 pm 41:46

-Ken 11:20 pm 42:00

Sunday

-dhd 2:08am 45:48

-Chris, Max, Justin, Justin, Dean, Eric 2:20am 45:00

-Bill ??? got your message, no time with it

Still up in the air:

-Brandon, Ryan, Chad, Jeremy, Kelsey 11:45 am? pm? Sunday, Monday?

-Carol and Mike-I seem to remember getting a message, but it wasn't on my phone when I typed this up.

That makes 23. I counted 26 starters, one dropped out in Breezewood. That leaves 2 unaccounted for.

Some random thoughts:

I'll have to compare the PA DOT maps to the big download I've got linked on the right. It looks like the route changed, in a few spots, particularly staying on a busy section of Route 30 rather than going around on less traveled roads.

Have to work on the ending cue sheets for next year.

Maybe a 15 mph top speed on the neutral start. As Ken predicted it didn't go as planned.

Thanks for coming out. I never expected this many riders.

Come back next year, East to West is a whole different ball game.

Send me a link to pics or write ups. Don't have a blog? email your write up, I'll post it here.

slowly getting around to writing up the whole trip. thursday and friday are done. working on saturday now.

http://lockringnotincluded.blogspot.com/

Are there any similar rides/races coming up on the horizon? I need a new training goal or else it may be weeks before I get on the bike again.

My time was 8:40 PM on Sunday, BTW.

-Bill

Are there any similar rides/races coming up on the horizon?

Well, there's a couple planned locally, and lots within driving distance.

Locally, there's probably going to be a couple of pain weekends in July and August; we're talking back-to-back 200Ks Pittsburgh-Meyersdale and return in July, and the same or similar route as a hard 400K in August. If you're into such things, I'd recommend signing up for the local rando list, as that's the best way to find out what's going on with rando stuff in da 'Burgh.

Ohio, DC, Virgina, and Eastern PA all have various and sundry rides available as well.

Pittsburgh-Meyersdale and back will be fun. I will be in shape for it by then...

Just thought I should point out this does not mean Pittsburgh to Meyersdale on the trail... it means going over the mountains, on real paved roads! Hooray!

Probably including the summit of Mt. Davis, highest point in PA, right?

Mt. Davis? Why, bust my buttons, you may be on to something!

As David astutely pointed out, the current Pittsburgh-Meyersdale planned route has a minimum of rail-trail. I believe we may do the stretch from Ohiopyle to Confluence, towards the goal of showing off some of the features of SWPA for out-of-town riders; the rest will be on-road, and is likely to have quite a bit of up.

These are also intended to be scouting rides for the official brevet series we're running next year.

Jim Logan and I did a portion of the projected route last month, starting in Meadowlands and heading east through Mingo on the way to crossing the Mon and heading up through Perryopolis. We turned around before the first real mountain climb, but I can assure you that it is Not A Flat Ride.

Pittsburgh-Meyersdale sounds like it might be just what I'm looking for. Slightly beyond my skill level, perhaps, but aiming high is the only way to get stronger, right??

Ohiopyle to Confluence is the best section of the trail anyway... I was a little sad that we missed the rhododendron flowers by a week or two on CtC.

I noticed a little change in technique this years vs previous years. In reading the previous year's blog and reviews, looks like most people camped. I see this year the introduction of hotels by a few groups. Seem like a little change in approach/technique. I emailed someone off line before the ride and said I would rather sleep three hours in a bed after a shower than 6 hours on the ground. I had about 6 hotels lined up between Bedford and Morgantown....Chickened out of course, but that's a different story....

My "sleep strategy", such as it was, was to try to make it into York, then decide if I wanted to keep rolling or crash at a cheap motel. Having the ability to comfortably camp seemed like a good way to make sure I would do so; skipping the camping gear seemed like it would encourage me to keep rolling.

As it turned out, Chambersburg was about my limit before fatigue rolled over me like a sumo bound for the smorgasbord.

i went for sleep in breezewood at a "clean" motel, got a hot shower, in bed by 1030pm out of bed by 0130 and on bike and rolling by 0200.

it was $60 cash split three ways and all three "motellers" finished in the top 5.

i am free to share my strategy cuz i am not doing this ride again.

You say that now Wes, but like childbirth, selective memory sets in soon. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see you at the start line next year.

Mt Davis. P-M, M-P will be beyond me, but last spring I did a Confluence loop and circumnavigated the area. I planned the route with the help of google maps and picked a road called White's Creek Road. which turned out to be terrific. We came via Rt 40, which wasn't terrific, but dropping down into that valley and riding along the dirt road was wunnerful. I bet all the roads coming down from Mt Davis are nice.

Willie P rolling out of Brezewood at 0200 Saturday morning?

With the blind folks driving home when they shut the taverns, I think the 2-3 am hour on a friday, I'd want to be hiding.

OTOH. Damn. Any way you finish a trip like that is outstanding, dudes. Who am I to be critical?

Mick

There are no bars in or around Breezewood. For reference, see the Roboto board.

there are no bars in B-wood, however the Pizza Hut has cash and carry - sometime if we are in person, i'll tell you how i know that - but not here on this board!

but i digress...we only traveled approx 1/4 mile from the motel to the abandoned TPK which we were riding on for about 45 mins or so (maybe an hour?) and then onto some super-uber back roads that we did not see a single car on.

oh did i mention that a friend of mine lent me and my riding partner a $1200 (each) lighting system that would have put a lot of cars to shame!

well, contrary to my prior post about not doing this again. i've begun thinking about what kind of rig i need to build-up to get the job done in '10.

i was closely noting that the hills heading west seemed quite a bit steeper than heading east.

the only thing that will stop me is personal financial ruin, which i am tetering close to, but then again i am also on the brink of financial freedom at the same time. ...let's see what the next 90 days bring! at a minimim, training starts for me on 1/15. wp

the only thing that will stop me is personal financial ruin, which i am tetering close to, but then again i am also on the brink of financial freedom at the same time

"On either end of the social spectrum, there lies a leisure class." -- Eric Beck