BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

I'm planning to, though there's a small possibility I might bail.

The weather forecast is for chance of t-storms, and the bottoms of my feet are blistered, but I'm still planning on going.

This was an interesting alternative to the escape to the lake ride. There were about 500 riders which made for a good crowd but much easier to manage the start each day. With no dorm or camping option, the cost is higher than E2L. The ride was more serious, with mostly roadies. No unicycles, penny farthings or bagpipers. A few mountain bikes, a decent number of hybrids, lots of lycra. I don't want it to sound like it was all hammerheads -- there were lots of "ordinary folk" but I think most of them made some effort to train for the event. I liked the fact that it started and ended in the same place, so we didn't have to take a bus back. The roads were marked well and the course seemed to be more rural and less hilly than E2L.

Has the route been posted on iMapMyRide/Bikely or some other site? I've done E2L the last two years and while Saturday is hilly Sunday is actually pretty easy. The bus ride isn't a big deal and I like the camping option. The more "rural" route does have a certain appeal. This years E2L avoiding the "road apples" was an interesting twist. I've contemplated doing both next year to compare them.

I really enjoyed this ride although I thought it would be cool to see someone on a tall bike, penny farthing, etc. I was kind of getting annoyed at all of the people in draft lines that kept passing me within millimeters. At one point, a group of people partially passed me, but then slowed down so I had to brake abruptly to avoid hitting them. Maybe this sort of thing comes with the territory, but I found it dangerous and intimidating. Like, aren't there actual races these people can compete in?

I don't want to be completely negative though. I met a bunch of very cool people and had a great time. I may also want to do both this one and E2L next year.