clasher

That's a great offer but my pbp plans are shot due to off-bike reasons. I actually did my 600 and paid the full amount. This 1000 was just supposed to be a good shakedown ride.

NJgreyhead

Recent addition to the NJ Randonneurs schedule, this Sat 6.17.23, a 73-mile populaire, Juneteenth, Underground Railroad in South Jersey, 7am start in Gibbstown, Gloucester County NJ.

Juneteenth 2023 - NEW JERSEY RANDONNEURS (njrandonneurs.org)

NJgreyhead

Nigel, RUSA Membership Chair, and this event's organizer






A key location on the Underground Railroad in South Jersey, historic 1838 Bethel Othello church in Springtown, near Greenwich NJ and the Cohansey River to the Delaware Bay.


Afterward, chewing the fat along with pizza and homemade brownies.


Chris S, on the left, is headed to PBP for the third time.

Route map, profile and a few more pics here:
Juneteenth Populaire NJ Randonneurs - A bike ride in Gloucester County, NJ (ridewithgps.com)

downtube42

Saturday June 17th I rode a 200k perm out of Portland OR. Two things of note about this ride. It was my first day back in the states after 4 weeks of business travel, the last two of which were in the Netherlands. It was the first time riding this perm route since the White River wildfire closed a significant part of the route back in 2020. I guess the third note is this is the first 200k on my new Trek Domane, purchased just before my business trip.

I've ridden perm #1302 Portland Ripplebrook Portland three times, and the Ripplebrook end of the route is stunning. The route joins highway 224 aka Clackamas Highway at Estacada, and meanders alongside the Clackamas river for roughly 25 miles, into the Mt Hood National Forest and rising to an altitude of about 1500 feet at the turnaround. Views are spectacular, with the river on the right, forested foothills across the river, and commonly a sharp upward slope on the left. Segments have caution signs for fallen rock, with serious pavement divots suggesting those warnings are serious. Large rocks - up to beachball-sized - can be seen just across the guardrail; it's pretty clear those rocks and the divots are related. I was curious and concerned to see how badly the area was damaged from the wildfire. Publications from the forest service mentioned damage to the road surface itself, guardrails, and signage, but most dangerous was risk from falling dead trees and slides from lack of vegetation. They had to cut down burned trees that were at risk of falling across the roadway. On this day I had a tailwind pushing me up the climb, which itself is fairly gentle with just a couple ramps above 4%. Actually, the hardest part of this route in terms of climbing is the rollers between Boring and Estacada. I started seeing evidence of wildfire not far past Estacada, and soon enough the view was a forest of black dead trees. There were some green segments for sure, but the burn area was huge. At Ripplebrook, the camp store was closed - between the pandemic and the wildfire, it's been closed a long time. Water was on, though, and I was able to fill bottles at the spigot. The return downhill was into a stiff headwind, so I didn't get my usual screaming fast 25 mile descent. Overall, the wind direction effectively flattened out the route. From Estacada the return route goes north then west to Oregon City, much of that along the Clackamas river. While the Ripplebrook segment is lightly traveled with mostly recreational traffic and a wide shoulder, the Oregon City segment has more suburban traffic and no shoulder. A little icky, to be honest. Traffic was actually quite light, and the rollers aught to be fun, but for some reason motorists on this segment seem particularly impatient. Meh. Oregon City to Portland is fine, much on a lightly used MUP. The segment in Portland is pretty sucky if you're trying to make time, as you're riding through several miles of slow traffic past pubs, restaurants, coffee shops, etc. Everyone is out and about, friendly enough, but hunting for parking spaces or deciding which coffee shop to hit. The official start/finish is at Voodoo donuts, but I'd taken advantage of new perm rules and started 15 miles out at Gresham. So my ride finished, once out of the city, with 10 miles of low stress Springwater MUP.

Takeaway riding a 200k in the US after 2 weeks in the Netherlands: Our car-first culture is really in your face.

My finish time, 8:43, was my fastest by about 45 minutes. Maybe the new bike is quick, but I think the wind was a net positive and my stop time was minimal. I still need to tweak some fit issues before this bike is ready for PBP. Hands and butt. Good times.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/33355405

https://www.strava.com/activities/9285269972

NJgreyhead

downtube42 , what’s your plan for carrying stuff on PBP using the Domane?

downtube42

The same frame bag and seatpost bag I've been using on my fog cutter. I'd upload pics but that's not working for some reason.

I'm undecided on whether to use the RUSA drop bag service. 2019 I didn't have a drop bag (unlike 2011 and 2015), and logistically it was simpler. It just a matter of carrying just enough and the correct clothing.

downtube42

Portland Three Rivers 100k perm pop today, solo on the Sparrow fixed gear. My sixth time riding this route, that I basically created for fixed gear riding. I'm riding a 200k fixed on Tuesday (Olympia to Portland), and this was a trial ride for the Sparrow with aero bars.

About that. Long story short, Saturday I replaced the fork, wheel, brakes, stem, and bars on the Sparrow, stealing them from my smart trainer bike. It went from a steel low-trail disc fork to a carbon mid-trail rim brake fork. Brakes went from Hy/Rd cable actuated hydraulic disc to dual pivot rim. Sadly, the rim is narrow and the fork has limited clearance, so it's currently rocking a 25mm rather than my typical 32mm tire. So much for cushy. All started with needing larger diameter bars for the clip-on aero bar clamps. I'd guess about a net zero change in weight in this swap.

Wind was light from the NW, preferable for a clockwise running of the course, which was my plan. It was maybe 65F at my 7am start. This route has a lot of trail miles, which can be quite fast if the trail is empty, and is was today. SWT was empty, Trolley Trail down to Milwaukie had just a couple people, and even the Eastside Esplanade was pretty quiet. My gearing was perfect, allowing me to spin comfortably 17-19mph. The Greeley MUP stopped my spinning ways; I was switching between seated and standing, mostly grinding along slowly. Cathedral Coffee in St Johns, along the Willamette river, was tempting but I've found it's a huge time sink and rode on by. No coffee for me. I always enjoy going under the St Johns bridge, but shortly after that the route turns left on Columbia Blvd and things become industrial the the surface ******. Little traffic on Sunday, but the occasional tractor trailer kept me on the trail. Gravel, glass, bumps, uneven joints. Ug. Unintended air might be fun on a MTB, but not so much on a road bike - beware the huge pavement heave around mile 32. Then there's the Kelley Point trail with extremely rough pavement from tree roots. Who created this route, anyway?

The Kelley Point control photo is a plaque behind a park bench, which I've since learned is in remembrance of a young woman who was murdered and dumped in that location. Sad story.

After all the rough road, Marine Drive seems a lot better, though now there's traffic on the left and gravel on the right. I opted to avoid all trails on the right side of Marine Drive and stick with the road. Those trails tend to be curvy, debris filled, and sometimes occupied. Around this time I started thinking a fixed PR was in reach, as I believe my fastest was right at 5 hours fixed, 4:40 geared. The last 5-6 miles from the Troutdale bridge are always slow with a bit of climbing and some traffic lights, so it's difficult to project finish time.

Back on Marine Drive, the 205 bridge over the Columbia River is visible from far far away and takes forever to get closer. The left-side trail was fast with a cross/tail wind. I downed 3/4 of a Rice Crispy Treat for the finish, my only fueling for the day. After the left-side trail ended, I stuck with Marine Drive over 223rd St rather than taking the pleasant but slow trail, starting to think about time. I passed a couple kitted up geared roadies behind the airport, which is always fun. I was thinking 4:15, but hit the Troutdale bridge over the Sandy River at like 3:30 and I'm thinking damn I might go sub 4 hours! Crazy. That made me work more than I really wanted to on the drag up from Troutdale through Fairview. I told my self not to get hit by a car crossing Glisan, Stark, and Burnside, which I managed. Finished in 3:54 for an overall PR on the route. Granted, I didn't stop which I typically do, but time is time. Great ride, and I'm looking forward to Tuesday.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9376461905

GhostRider62

I completed one of the more challenging 200k brevets in recent years on Saturday. PA Rando Free Bridge is a Figure Eight course that my Garmin says had 9,374 feet of climbing including two well known ones, Fox Gap and Shire in the first half of the brevet. Temperatures fairly quickly got into the 90’s with my Garmin consistently reading 93-96F all afternoon but fortunately, it was also humid.

We all left from the Free Bridge in Easton Pa and many of use were using a new AP called e-Brevet that you just have to push a button on your phone when you get to a control and voila, you checked in. Slowly we climbed up towards the Appalachian Trail using small roads and bike paths, which allowed me to chat with a young and very strong randonneur who is almost done with his K-Hound this year and will soon be completing the Galaxy Award. Of course, I bid him fond adieu at the base of the Fox Gap climb thanking him for the nice chat. To my surprise, I “only” lost 28 seconds to him on it. As I arrived at the Delaware Water Gap bakery, he was pulling out. Sadly, the bakery wasn’t open yet and I left my ziplock bag of money, CC, ID, and TP on the bench. TP might be worth the bonus miles, so, return I did.

South along the Water Gap is beautiful and due to the roads being out, there were no cars. In fact, I saw two vehicles (one stinky garbage truck) all the way down the river before dismounting and walking the bridge to Belvidere. Our bridges have Stasi-like guards who make you walk your bike. From there you snake back and forth, up and down along the Delaware River before hitting the control in the gritty little town of P-Burg although it is getting gentrified like its PA neighbor across the Free Bridge. Jimmy’s Dog stand was still closed. It was around 9:45 am and already getting hot, I grabbed some snacks and fresh bottles with frozen fuel in them and off towards the bastard of a climb, Shire. When it comes to climbing difficulty, I will take a 10 mile climb with 4,000 feet of climbing anytime over that one. The Caledonian mountain chain of Wales and Scotland and Appalachian have more in common than their geologic history, the roads were built by cheap Welch and Scottish miners. Straight up. 12-17% with one pitch at 21%. When I crossed the ridge, I was coated with sweat dripping off and very over heated to the point, for the first time in my rando life, I considered cheating for a brief moment. I know these roads like the back of my hand and there was an easy downhill to the next control where all the sweat would evaporate and cool me rather then go back over the ridge down to the river. My body did the right thing up and over again, but my mind wanted to cool off. I got to the getting cuter every year river town of Milford with a moving average of 16.x mph, which for me is very good but knew I had to cool down. I rested a bit and drank fluids before walking across the Delaware River into somewhat flatter Upper Bucks County in Pennsylvania with its beautiful covered bridges, ancient stone farmhouse, and low traffic albeit bumpy roads. On the first climb up off the river, I blew up thermally as we road south into the sun on more exposed roads with a very slight tailwind. This became a theme. I had to ride slow and stop to cool. The hills in Pa are short but so steep that they take a lot of power, which generates body heat that has nowhere to go in 72% RH and 95F. I averaged under 10 mph for the last 50 miles but at least no adverse effects. I had already learned my limitations in hot humid weather in similar hills of Missouri.

They say a Brevet is a test. This beast of a test certainly wasn’t open book nor could it be Chegged. What I mostly liked was the old Skol feeling that e-Brevet gives me, ya just ride your bike and stop to eat junk when ya want.

downtube42

Thank goodness for that humidity, otherwise the dry heat would have snuck up on you and BOOM you're dried up like a raisin.


Sounds like a character building experience.

GhostRider62

I don't deal very well with the heat anymore. Everybody had trouble or at least it seems because almost everyone was much slower than normal and we had 4 DNFs, PA Rando almost never has a single one of those. If PBP wasn't coming up, I'd have skipped it. The training benefit at this point is a toss up 5 weeks out.

downtube42

5 weeks

I'm doing a block of training between now and then, hoping for a bit of improvement. Also getting miles on my new bike. One 100k for my August P-12, but I'm thinking nothing longer.

GhostRider62

Sounds like a good approach there.

I'm trying to decide if it makes sense for me to do a longer training night ride given that I really have not done a lot of night riding in recent years. Most of my brevets started at 6 or 7 am and although I have slowed a bit, most brevets don't require much night riding (I slept 5-6 hours on the 600K, so, I did ride until nearly midnight). After my ice hockey games, I am usually wide awake and get home around 11 pm. Thinking of a midnight to sunrise ride or about 5 hours to test everything out on a hockey game night. I've been doing two modest interval sessions per week and two 2 adays per week with CTL in the negative 20 to negative 30 range. Still increasing. I am going to keep that slope until 10 days before and then taper. Covid really hosed my plan and I am normally a pretty confident person, but honestly not at my best. I do not want to DnF.

downtube42

A friend is riding his first PBP, and is asking me to do a night ride with him, for the experience. I've ridden a ton of miles solo at night; I actually like it quite a bit, it's the 3-5am sleepies that are best avoided IMO. I might accommodate him, we'll see.

I think anything over 100k does more damage than it's worth, in terms of fitness. The experience is essential, but I don't think it does any good training wise. Just my opinion.

downtube42

I signed up for this ride billed as brevet that's not an official brevet

https://www.endlesssummercc.com/endlesssummerbrevet

tomorrow. 200k on roads I ride pretty regularly. It's like someone read the wikipedia article on what a brevet is and organized a ride using the words. $20, 75 people signed up, I expect it will be fun to ride with people rather than solo. Plus I'll wear my SIR kit and evangelize for RUSA lol.

What I didn't realize is, it starts at 5am. Holy crap, I'll have to get up at 3 something, throw on some clothes, and ride into Portland for a couple donuts and coffee before the start. I mean, for a real brevet with credit and all, that would be annoying. But for a faux brevet, what am I doing? They coulda started this thing at 9 and we'd be finished well before dark! Ug.

This frickin' sport is killing me.

Edit: I'm originally from the midwest. This ride is more beautiful than anything I ever imagined. Like riding through a postcard; I have no reason to complain.

downtube42

I submitted this route back in March, #4660 Around Mt. Hood. I've ridden completely around Hood once before, but this started/ended in Sandy to make it 200k.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/42124195

12k feet climbing over 125 miles. Left pinky and ring finger are still numb from PBP, and my rear isn't 100% healed. The west side of Hood is beautiful, wooded, crisscrossed with streams, with stunning views of Hood, foothills, and Mt Adams. It's pretty much all national forest. The climb up this side over Lolo Pass is twisty, with occasional sharp climbs and short flats and descents. The roads on the east side are mostly narrow forest roads with very few cars, as people head to/from the trailhead or campsites. Hard, but chill. Maybe 10 miles of gravel. On the north side, the route bombs down to flat open land comprised of fruit orchards. The east side is wide open, exposed to full sun, and the climbing is long, straight, and monotonous. Much of the east side is shoulder riding on busy SR 35. The high point is Bennett Pass, 4500ft, at mile 85. Fast highway downhill from there, one or two climbs, then Government Camp. From there it's 6 miles of 6% down to Rhododendron, again shoulder riding on SR 26. That downhill from Govy always seems to have crosswinds, reducing the fun somewhat as the shoulder is a bit narrow in places. Eventually the route exits SR46 for Marmot Rd, which is peaceful. There are active wildfires in the area, and the firefighter camp was on Marmot Road, generating some truck traffic. At this point in the route, there are two climbs of note. On the route profile they look like absolutely nothing compared to the two mountain passes, but both Marmot Road climb and even more the Ten Eyck Rd climb are tough at this point in the ride. Ten Eyck, in particular, is relentless, climbing that doesn't stop until you're 0.3 mi from the finish.

Tough tough ride for me. Finished in 11:30, just before dark. Beautiful, but tough.

https://www.strava.com/activities/9818293311