PA600k

**** Update #2 (5/19) ****

The Water Gap diner may still not be open by this Saturday.  If this is the case, the controle in Water Gap is open to other stores and restaurants in the area.  Some good alternatives are:

- 2 mini marts on Broad St (these close around 10PM)

- Pizzeria on Broad St

- Deli/Bakery next door (open until 8PM)

- Deer Head Inn on Rt 611

The turn-around controle on Day 2 in Leola is a Turkey Hill, which has limited options for food.  You may want to just make that a quick stop, and then go to the Sheetz in New Holland which will have more food choices and is a bit nicer.  The coffee shop that Rick mentioned in his pre-ride will not be open on Sunday.

**** Update #1 (5/17) ****
The cuesheet has been updated to draft 7 (5/17) with several changes from Rick Carpenter's preride checkout.   His comments and changes are as follows:


C1 to C3 (Snydersville PA) – No issues to report through this section, except the road surface is still roughed-up on Weaversville Rd from Airport Rd (Rt. 987) to Nor-Bath Blvd (Rt.329).  

C3 to C5 (Port Jervis NY) – No issues to report through this section, cues in good order.  

C5 to C6 (Water Gap PA) – Bridge out on Rt. 209 at Egypt Mills, aprox. 8 miles south of Dingman’s Ferry Bridge.  Bridge surface tore-off exposing concrete superstructure; I recommend using the well-marked short-duration bypass (Tom’s Creek / Little Egypt Rd), rather than facing the hazard created by crossing traffic twice on this heavily-travelled section of highway.  Also of Note: Please advise participants to be especially aware of traffic on River Rd after leaving DWG NRA and nearing Shawnee-on-Delaware Resort / Buttermilk Falls Rd. to the Del. Water Gap.  This is a heavily-travelled section - which for some reason - consistently tends to concentrate inattentive drivers travelling at inappropriate speeds.

C6 to C7 (Bloomsbury NJ) – Bridge is really, totally out on Rt 173 at Bloomsbury immediately before reaching CITGO Controle.  Detour Recommendation: After passing Rt. 639 / Warren Glen road on right, I recommend turning right onto Rt. 579 Church Rd & crossing metal bridge, then 2^nd left onto Brunswick Avenue through Bloomsbury, then TR continuing onto Rt. 173 after bridge construction (C7 located 500 ft straight before intersection with I-78).  Upon leaving C7, backtrack this detour to BL onto Rt. 639 / Warren Glen Rd., resuming route.

C7 to C8 (Weisel YH) – After backtracking the Bloomsbury bridge-out detour (described above), no other issues to report for this section.

C8 to C9 (Limerick PA) – A few minor clarifications:

·       Mine Run Rd at int. with Limerick Rd.  I would add a cue here; “cont. straight onto Limerick Rd” to avoid any potential confusion.

·       Mile 266.0 Ridge Pike  This is not a TL (Limerick Rd cont. straight across Ridge); make this an “L  (SS) Ridge Pike”.  Also, I would show C9 as actually being at mile 266.1 (further down on Ridge than one would think reading current cue).

C9 to C10 (Leola PA) – No issues, except that you may want to add a cue in Blue Ball where Rt. 23 crosses Rt. 322; “X Rt. 322 (TFL) – use caution”.  A potentially confusing intersection for those unfamiliar with this locale, with a short, somewhat steep uphill slope.  Coffee Shop located about ¼ mile past the New Holland Sheetz.

C10 to C11 (Limerick PA) – A few minor clarifications, with a few optional cues to consider:

·       Mile 335.3 Neiman Rd / Hanover St. Int. – Show this as a “TL” or “BL”

·       Mile 336.1 Hanover St. / Cedarville Rd Int. – Show this as a “TFL”

·       Cedarville Rd / Keim St. – Possibly show as a “4-way stop”?

·       Cedarville Rd / Miller Rd – Possibly show as a “4-way stop”?

·       Mile 337.7 Spiece Rd – Possibly label “1^st L after Miller Rd”?  Note:  If for brevety you don’t want to add the cues for Keim or Miller, I would note Spiece as being the “3^rd L after turn onto Cedarville Rd”

C11 to C12 (Weisel YH) – No issues with this section.

**** Original Post ****


Course Notes
The cuesheet has been updated to draft 6 on 5/14.  Overall the course is very similar to the 2009 edition.  However, several controles have changed and route tweaks have been made:


- Instead of going into Hawley (which has a lot of traffic), the controle stop will be just beyond Promised Land.


- In Port Jervis, the controle has moved from the Dunkin Donuts to the diner in town (mainly to avoid the high traffic area around the Dunkin Donuts).


- The first controle stop on day 2 (after the sleep over stop at the hostel) is now just a postcard mailing.  Since postcard controles are not timed, this will allow you to get a later start after sleeping and ~100k to reach the turn around controle in Leola which is the first closing time you will need to meet after your sleep stop.  There will still be an open/close time listed for the postcard controle which you may use to see if you are on pace or not - but the closing time does not need to be met.  The 24-hr Limerick Diner is just after the postcard controle, and would be a good place to have a nice breakfast.


- The outbound leg on day 2 is directly routed on main roads.  Since most riders will be starting the 200k segment after the sleep controle around 2-5AM, there should be very little traffic.  This should make the navigation a bit easier and allow riders to catch-up on the time limit, if they get a late start.


- The inbound leg on day 2 closely follows the recent PA400k finish, and is routed along quiet side roads.


Rick Carpenter will be doing a preride checkout, starting on 5/14.  There will probably be at least one more cuesheet revision with any corrections or clarifications from the preride.  Rick assures me that Ed Pavelka's course record of 29:15 is secure, since he's tapering down now for his upcoming solo RAAM.