PA 600K: Water Gap Edition/"Turkey Hill Edition"

Short version
377 miles, 14.5 mph rolling average, 32:40 elapsed time, two insults, one hurled bottle, Super Randonneur status achieved.

Results


Long Version
On Saturday, June 7th, I clipped in at the unholy hour of 4 AM for the Eastern Pa Randonneurs 600K brevet. Eight of us rolled out at the start; familiar PA faces like Joe Brown, Matt Farrell, and Guy Harris; Rob Welsh, from the 200K; and new companions Dan Barbasch, John Dennis, and Bob Olsen.

I'll confess to a bit of weather-related trepidation; the forecast was calling for highs in the mid-90s F, with humidity somewhere in the "inhalation == blowing your nose backwards" range. (Sadly, the forecast weather materialized exactly as predicted.) I had decided to replace my customary third water bottle with a 70-ounce Camelbak bladder in a bag behind the seat; although the extra weight seemed excessive, the thought of blowing up 200 miles in due to dehydration was less appealing.

The first three segments were comfortably familiar from prior PA brevets; a hop to Cherryville and the first of five Turkey Hill Minit Market controles, followed by the usual climb through Little Gap and run through Cherry Valley to Water Gap and the bakery; then, finally, the Delaware Water Gap park route to Hainesville and Flat's Deli. By this point, Rob Welsh and I had decided to stick together for the rest of the ride, as our paces and personalities seemed compatible; besides, we were the guys riding (or at least owning...Rob brought a tasty Rivendell Rambouillet upright on this one) recumbents and wearing SPD sandals, so just naturally meshed well.

From Hainesville, we briefly retraced our route, then headed to the Dingman's Ferry bridge and a fairly villainous climb up Raymondskill Falls. This climb was notable not merely for the sun, which was in full blowtorch mode, but for the numerous occasions where we *thought* we were done, but were rapidly proven sadly mistaken. Eventually, we made our way across the NY border to Barryville; Tom showed up with magic socks (long cotton socks filled with ice) to drape across our necks in a surprisingly effective cooling technique.

We made our way back down the Delaware Water Gap, this time on the far side via River Rd (a welcome change from Old Mine Rd). A quick stop in Water Gap at the diner, and a chance to say hi to Tom and to Steve Scheetz, then we were on our way towards Bloomsbury and back to the hostel at Quakertown.

After some fantastic lasagna, a shower, 45 minutes of horizontal meditation, and a clean pair of bike shorts (aaaaah, luxury!), we set off again at about 12:30 AM. Heading out Ridge Rd towards Lancaster, we encountered our only true unpleasantness of the ride; a couple of shouted epithets involving the burning hatred we engendered, and a suggestion to acquire a car, were followed by a poorly-aimed bottle hurled from the window. Luckily, no harm was done, and we were quickly off the main roads.

I discovered the joys of severe fatigue on the leg from Gilbertsville to Morgantown that night; only Rob's company kept me moving, especially up a certain Shed Rd (2 miles long, moderate grade, at 3 AM). Once day broke, I was okay, but that feeling of dozing off while pedaling was quite unpleasant.

From Morgantown, we made a fast out-and-back to the post office controle at Blue Ball. A quick meal at the Windmill restaurant, then we set off for the final legs home. We pulled back into the hostel in the early afternoon, the first finishers with a comfortable time of 32 hours and 40 minutes. More lasagna, showers, clean clothes, and handshakes all around wrapped up my first brevet series in sterling fashion.

Once again, thanks go out to all who've enabled me in this obsession hobby. Tom, thanks for some great routes, and as pain-free an introduction to randonneuring as could be hoped. Rob, thanks for the company, the conversation, and for helping a rookie get through his first overnight. Steve, Maile, and Len, thanks for taking on the volunteer duties that let the rest of us play.

Most of all, Deena, my love, thanks for supporting me in this whole cycling thing...I couldn't do it without you.

Lessons Learned

1. Companionship for the late-night hours is a Good Thing™. Without Rob's encouragement, I would have been a space-blanket-wrapped fetus (or a giant silver burrito, whichever) off the side of the road by 4 AM.
2. Along the same lines as previous, I need to hold onto enough presence of mind when fatigued to do *something* to combat the dozies; from experiments later in the second day, simply chewing on a peanut butter and cheese cracker helped immensely. My mistake lay in doing nothing but continuing to turn the pedals.
3. Fatigue aside, there was no appreciable degradation of riding ability after the first 200K or so; this is another Good Thing, and correlates to my observations on the earlier brevets.
4. I ate fairly lightly on the day preceding the ride; this may well have correlated to feeling significantly more spritely for the first two segments, which was particularly noticeable while climbing Little Gap on Blue Mountain Drive. Not to say that I climbed STRONGLY, but I wasn't nearly as much of a wimp as the last two times.
5. Mostly due to Rob's good example, I spent much less time at the controles than previously. I'm sure I picked up at least an hour on the first 400K, due solely to greater efficiency in that area.
6. Camelbak bladder in the seat bag was a good decision. I never ran out of fluids (came close a couple of times!), but also never had to ration myself. Given the weather conditions, this was crucial to my success, if not my very survival.
7. Rear rack and trunk bag was more convenient than prior jury-rigged seat back bag; however, i think I want to invest in a trunk bag with the small panniers that can be unfolded from the sides.
8. Lighting: I need to work out better (or at least less disruptive to my night vision) lighting for reading cue sheets. Having the white LED head torch was great for reading cues, but meant that I could barely see my surroundings, eve with the DLumotec and E6 lamps running full blast. I also should experiment with placing the primary LED lamp on the fork.
9. Once more, I carried a camera and didn't take a single photo. That's just dumb; expensive dead weight is not helpful.

Questions to Ponder
What's next? The PA 1000K at the beginning of August? A 12 or 24 hour race experiment? RAAM qualifier? A domestic 1200K?

Lake Arthur

So, I needed a sanity break. Ye Olde Place Offe Employmente has successfully driven me to the very brink of madness, which would explain why I thought it'd be a good idea to venture up to Moraine Park and back via roads I've never traveled. That's roads plural, as in darn near all of them were unfamiliar.

The route included only 5200 feet of climbing, even with a few bonus miles on Rte 8 due to a bodged cue sheet on my part; but it was unrelenting up-and-down for at least the middle 75% of the ride...good fun, but a little more vigorous than I was planning on for the day. I'd forgotten how exciting 528 from Evans City to Prospect was; that was okay though. The part that really did me in was the return; while the first two-thirds of the route was derived from one of Oscar's rides, the return was entirely of my devising; thus, the aforementioned "unfamiliar roads". 68 was rough; 989 was rough; and Lovi Rd, although not normally that bad in the short stretch with which I was familiar, was pretty much torture in spots after I'd already tired myself out. I was so happy to see the Red Belt that I darn near kissed the sign; heck, I nearly included bonus tongue action.

I'd call it a good training ride. Highlights included a lovely 1/4 mile stretch of freshly graveled road (Badger Hill back to the lake); a life-sized, and fairly realistic, horse statue placed on top of a nearby barn; and a woman at Bear Run Campground who was absolutely determined to convince me that the rabidly barking frantic canine beast in the back of her car "was really friendly" and "was nothing for me to worry about".

Since BikeJournal is currently non compos mentis (apparently SLantz left his SQL Server in his other jersey or something), here's the vitals for posterity: 117.63 miles, 14.6 rolling average.

So that's what racers look like...

Rode out from town to the Mingo Creek Road Race today; good fun was had by all. (At least those of us who weren't racing...I can't speak for the folks riding in circles all day. Heh.)

The route, more or less

I met Nate and Rob down at the Science Center; shockingly enough, everyone showed up in timely fashion (not a common occurrence on my rides) and we got rolling immediately. We crossed the river via the West End bridge, then spun around the Circle until centrifugal force flung us off in the general direction of Rte 60. 60 and the first bit of Rte 50, as per usual, was a bit of a grind for legs not yet warmed up. Then, the delightful long downhill run to Carnegie and points east...

Per some good advice from riders who actually knew the area, we popped off 50 to Thom's Run and down Miller Run to rejoin 50, which nicely avoided the busy bit. The advice was good, but the implementation was less so; as usual when Nate and I ride together, wrong turns were taken, maps were consulted, and we ended up doing exactly what the cue sheet had said; particularly embarrassing, when you're the one who designed the cue sheet in the first place! 50 was a bit trafficky, but not unreasonable; once we hit Venice, we picked up 980, which is a nice rural road that winds its way to Canonsburg. Past "Cabinsnerg", we picked up 519 all the way to the park.

A good bit of time was spent standing around waiting for the race to start, with the expected tightening of muscles, cooling down of sweaty garments, and all sorts of associated discomforts. Nate decided to head for home after the start; Rob and I toughed it out for one lap, then hopped on the bikes, rode the course once in reverse, and headed for home as well.

Up Sugar Run to Venetia Rd over to Finleyville, then picked up Stone Church (The climb! the climb! The view! The view!)/Gill Hall. Bombed down a fabulous descent to a right on Peters Creek, then left and up on Waterman to rejoin Gill Hall. Left on Old Clairton, then up to Rte 51, then paralleling Lebanon Church Rd over to Rte 885 back to town.

Bizarre sights: a road-killed mallard duck (huh?), a surprisingly large number of courteous automobile drivers, and a giant watering can. And when I say giant watering can, I mean:

Thursday evening Cranberry group ride

Route(at least that was the plan; we ended up shortcutting slightly by doing Brush Creek directly to Powell, but the general idea still applies)

Mark J. led; myself, Lance, and a gentleman named Peter rode. Good ride, even though I had a brief argument with the shock cord supporting my seat mesh.

I threw the 700x30 Marathon Racer on the rear; so nice to use folding tires that don't require tools to mount on the rim. Didn't notice any real difference in overall speed, but the lower-pressure Marathon seemed to soak up the bumps a lot better than the Pasela Club previously mounted.

I'm starting to dig on this whole "fitness-oriented group ride" thing; it's nice to be challenged by riders stronger than I am. (Not to say this is an exclusive club; LOTS of riders are stronger than I!) Even though I fully expect to have my head handed to me, I think I'll try riding the Tuesday "Unfriendly Bastards" ride out of North Park sometime soon. That should be comical, but at least I know the basic layout of the area for when I get dropped hard. :-)

Night ride, pavement, gravel, and dirt

Went for a spin last night with Brian to test out the new lights; looks solid to me for the most part. Rough roads definitely induce a bit of a strobing effect with the LED, probably because it's mounted on a Terracycle accessory mount well off the front of the boom.

I may need to think about moving the primary LED down to the fork, and leave the E6 halogen mounted on the boom; that would give me a bit more light on the tighter turns.

Lost one of the bolts on the left water bottle cage; luckily, the other one held, so I transferred bottle to right cage and tightened the heck out of the single remaining left bolt. Memo to self: Loctite the crap out of everything.

I still need to get the tail lights and the cycle computer tightened down as well, as they still tend to rotate fairly freely with enough vibration.

On the bright side, I threw some Koolstop Salmon pads on the front brakes; that, plus some heavy toe-in, and the worst of the squealing has stopped.

Perryopolis Century+

So, after I biffed on the planned East Liverpool ride on Saturday (fear of crap weather that never materialized), I decided that I just couldn't bear to go an entire weekend without riding somewhere I've never been. I put together a route based on Oscar Swan's Perryopolis ride, but cut back on the usage of the Youghiogheny River Trail as much as was feasible. (and BOY was that the right choice...more on that subject later...)

The basic route was pretty simple; make my way to McKeesport via 2nd Avenue, then 837; shoot up the Mon River to Monessen, then hang a hard left and climb the hill up to Rte 51 and Perryopolis. Down the other side of the ridge to the Yough River in Layton, then wind my way through Banning to Smithton, pick up the trail to West Newton, then surface roads paralleling the river to Rte 48 and the Boston Bridge. Finally, wrap things up with 148 back through McKeesport, then pick up Bowman (AKA East Pittsburgh-McKeesport Blvd, AKA "that big frickin' hill") across the ridge and down to Braddock, then home by following the river back to town. Here's the route for posterity: Perryopolis Low-Trail Alternate Route

The first stretch from Brighton Heights to McKeesport was uneventful, with the exception of several small bits of equipment deciding that they did not wish to remain firmly fastened; notably, the rear fender mount, front headlight, cyclocomputer, and both tailights. So, I spent at least 15 minutes in the first 1.5 hours fiddling with equipment; however, I suppose this is to be expected with a newly built-up bike. And I did label it a "shakedown ride", after all...

As usual, cruising up the Mon along the river was pretty darn straightforward; with the exception of a small climb in Elizabeth on Center, it's flat or gently rolling the whole way to Monessen. Nothing of note to report.

In Monessen, I encountered the first of several unmarked roads, by missing the left on Tyrol Blvd. (This was to prove a recurring theme of my day.) After correcting the navigational eccentricity, I spun my way up the hill, occasionally engaging in low-speed challenges to myself ("Okay, I can get it to 2.5 mph and stay upright; what about 2 mph?"); said challenges being significantly easier to meet than, say, sprinting for a PR to the top of the hill.

A few more directional disfunctionalities, a construction zone on Findley, and a creeping (and mostly inaccurate) sense of being utterly lost later, I finally made it to Perryopolis; unfortunately, as I was plummeting down the hill towards the Yough River at the time, I retain nothing but a blurred impression of nice old buildings and a horde of ne'r-do-well youth that were highly amused by my bike.

Crossing the river was quite simple; a charming one-lane tunnel and bridge led to the tiny hamlet of Layton, plus a gargantuan hill that had unaccountably sprouted up on my path. Wait...that wasn't supposed to be there! Turns out that, in my optimism, I had foolishly assumed that the roads between the quiet little riverside patch towns would actually follow the river, rather than veering alarmingly skyward into farm country on the other side of some rather sheer cliffs. This was to prove the first time (not the last, sad to say) that I fumbled for the granny gear out of actual need.

Once I had fought my embarrassingly slow way to Banning, the going became much easier. Following the river to Smithton, and another enactment of the "missing the unmarked left turn" ceremony, I finally made it to the Yough River trail. "Ah, time for six miles of blissfully easy riding," I thought to myself. "Perhaps I'll even stay on the trail all the way to McKeesport, if I'm feeling lazy" I thought. "This will be a nice change of pace." HAH, I say to that callow and naive young fool.

The funny thing about the combination of limestone trails that are sort of dry on the surface, but still pretty soaking wet underneath, and relatively skinny high pressure tires, is that it becomes similar to this: riding in glue. The most demoralizing and painful part of the entire trip, bar none, was six miles of peaceful riverside trail riding. By the time I arrived at West Newton, I was praying for dump trucks and flung beer bottles as being better than this sloppy, miserable mess.

The remainder of the ride was straightforward, with the exception of a few more missed turns and extra miles. All told, I ended up doing about 113 miles, with a rolling average of 14.2 mph; this sounds like a perfectly acceptable brevet pace. More importantly, I found that nothing really changed after about mile 75, in terms of weariness; this bodes well for the longer brevets, so long as I can remember to keep consistently eating and drinking.

What I did well:

• Nutrition seemed to work well. Hearty breakfast, gu packs every half hour or so, and solid food every couple of hours seems like a good working combination.
• Hill climbing. I managed not to get macho about it; as such, even the relatively unpleasant hills near the end of the ride, although taken slowly, were no big deal. I paced myself well.

What I did poorly:

• Too much time spent fiddling with equipment on-ride. I need to tighten everything down properly and hit it with Loctite.
• Too much time spent off-bike, for refreshment and potty breaks. I probably burned 45-60 minutes at various gas stations, convenience stores, etc.

2008 Ride Schedule

April 12th : Eastern PA 200K
May 10th: Eastern PA 300K
May 18th: Pedal Pittsburgh
May 24th: Eastern PA 400K
May 29th: GAP/C&O Camping Trip
June 13th-15th: RBR Rally, State College
June 21st: Ohio 600K Brevet
July 11th-13th: Pittsburgh-Erie-Cleveland-Pittsburgh Loop
August 1st: Eastern PA 1000K (tentative)
September 7th: Western PA Wheelmen Fall Rally