May 19 Ramble Update!
of no interest to anyone but locals and myself: i recently tried ye ol’e pre-ride of various parts of the route. synagog gap rd is closed, so that chunk had to be rethought. i tried anouther dirt alternative, but it was super steep, and i had to push the bike up long parts. (i was on a singlespeed but still). also, crowfield rd, which last fall was in great shape, has been recently regraveled, making travel with roadie tires all but impossible. so that part is out.
i reworked the route, the link to which is here.
bone’s route is here. i havnt had time to log all the turns on it yet, but it has 1000 feet less climbing, and about 5 less miles of riding.
there is now two options: a king of the mtns option with an extra 3 miles, all on dirt, that have about 800 feet of climbing, and a normal folk option, strongly recommended if you are dead in the legs from the prior 40 miles of riding. i’ll post that soon. normal folk route isnt a length bail out so much as a dirt/climbing bail out. you’ll miss a great dirt decent though.
the route now also takes us by a general store @ about 20 miles, which, because of the route rework, will be the only place to get water and food. thats good for people who dont want to drink spring water, bad because it leaves 30 miles of sunny riding before we get to water again. dont worry, if you run out, John G carries about 5 liters of water, just to make his bike faster on the decents.
the weather report looks good, sunny, clear, deep blue skies, and spring it sprunging.
dont forget to back a lunch, cause we’re gunna stop somewhere along the river and chow down.
I’ll probably be doing an out-and back with the turn-around at the general store. I think 40 miles will pretty much kill me. I won’t be needing the other 13
bone, i think the revised route might work for you. if you look at the elevatio profile, it looks nasty, but its actually all pretty gradual. there are maybe a 3 short (3oo yards) climbs that require ye ole granny gear. this route would allow you to ride with us for 90 percent of the ride, and not be stuck with an out and back.
Bone,
I think you can do the whole thing. Look at the last 13 miles, they’re all down hill. If you want we can also hook a towrope up between you and Johnson so that he can pull you up any hills at the end of the ride. It’s all about skitchin’.
I would also suggest one of these.
I guess with the towrope option, I will at least be able to find my exact drop-dead point
nah, we have training wheels. we’ll just scrape you off the saddle when we roll back to the house. i hear that vermont beer and pork BBQ brings dead men back to life. also: once you realize how slow everyone else is, you wont feel so bad.
I’m pretty damn slow, at least on anything up hill. Last time we did one of these, I employed the sailing hill climbing many times. Might not be very effective but it definitely eases the burn.
zig zagging is super effective. gary and I muscled up reno monument road using that technique.
FYI gary’s outta shape brother casey might come, on a singlespeed, so there’s yet anouther slow person to rock this ride. i think gary, me, and whoever shows up from the boalsburg bikers are gunna be the only semi quick people out there, and really, gary is the only one who could be labelled ‘fast’.
not that we go in for labelling people. except for cory, who is now clearly an unrepentant mackrel eating commie.
Synagogue Gap may be posted closed, but thats just for mouth breathers on ATV’s. I rode through it on Sunday last week. There’s a couple o’ trees down from the logging, but but otherwise it was passable and in good shape.
Theres all sorts of cool dirt options out that a way. And don’t diss the 23s on the gravel, its all about being one with the bike.
see Casey!
I’m not the only one who is down with the 23’s.
Wait til you hear where I’ve been riding the Gerber with it’s 23 rubino pros.
regardless, the new route is set. i think 23s might have been fine if i had a gear lower than 42/16. but that gear is a gear you stand in to climb, which made me dig in the rear tire, and we know the rest. that bike is now waiting for a 650b conversion. just as soon as James Nichols buys some fricken art so I can afford it.