March R12 Event- Spring Forward 200k

Rick C., Andrew M., and Keith S. at Cafe Metzler on the volunteer pre-ride (photo by George M.)

********** Final Notes **********

Thirty riders plan to clip-in tomorrow, a new high for this event. Wow!! I'll be at the Pancake Farm for breakfast and then available to begin registration and inspections by 6:30. A Rider's Meeting will be held at 6:55 and then you'll be on your way to enjoy the beauty of Lancaster County. I'll have a limited number of cue sheet copies at the start, so please try to remember to bring your own. Lights and reflective gear are strongly encouraged, even if only to assure a daylight finish (Murphy's law). I look forward to see you all tomorrow morning. It looks to be a great day.

-Andrew

********** Pre-Ride Notes **********

Four of us rode the Spring Forward course yesterday (2/26). Our goal was to perform a final check of the cue sheet, discuss "the plan" for next weekend, and bag our March 200k so we'd be free to help and encourage all the rest of you next weekend. We succeeded on all fronts.

1. Breakfast at the Pancake Farm is a good way to start the day. Moo.
2. The cue sheet is in very good shape. Draft 8 has been posted on the website. It is the final, official version. The mileages are spot-on. Some road signs continue to make unexpected reappearances/disappearances.
3. The course is as scenic as ever. Be sure to look around while you're riding. The ridge top vistas are superb.
4. Be on the lookout for unexpected scenery. We happened across a large gathering of snow geese early on. We now know what a gaggle looks like.
5. It is springtime in Pennsylvania, so you should anticipate the presence of sand/gravel at the most inconvenient places on course, particularly if you're pushing the limits. This is especially true for the 5 or so miles immediately after the Conestoga controle.
6. I noted a fair number of potholes. Some may not not always immediately visible due to shadows, water on the road, etc. Bonus points to riders who can locate a rather obvious heart-shaped pothole on course, assuming it is not repaired this week.

A few photos taken by George Metzler during the pre-ride are here.
Not to be outdone, Rick Carpenter's pictures are here.

Anyone who has not yet handled their PA Randonneurs 2011 membership should bring their completed paperwork to the start or send it to Tom early this week (2/28).

We're all looking forward to seeing you next Saturday!

Andrew & the Spring Forward Organizers!

********** Original Post **********

Greetings PA Randonneurs,

We will be heading west for the next R12 event, the March 5 running of the Spring Forward 200k. I completed a pre- Pre-Ride this past Friday. Several road signs disappeared over the winter so I'll be updating the cue with a few additional spotting cues for anyone new to the course. Hopefully the updated cue will be available by March 1.

For those of you familiar with the area, the route is unchanged from 2010. There is some new scenery (see above) and roads are in generally good shape. Barring any significant snowfall between now and then, I can report that a majority of the snowpack melted on Friday so we should have nice road conditions. There were times during my ride that I wondered if perhaps a canoe might have been a better vehicular choice. As always for this time of the year, you can expect to find traces of gravel & sand in the turns, so don't outpace your guardian angel.

We are upping our game a bit this year and hope to staff a few of the controles so that weary randonneurs can be greeted by a friendly and familiar face (not that any of our convenience store clerks aren't). And I'm happy to announce everyone's favorite 95 mile controle at the house of George "Mr. 412" Metzler remains in the controle lineup. Definitely worth the ride.

So stay tuned for updates and drop me a line if you're planning to ride.

*** Ride Roster (as of 3/3)***

Cecilie Adams
Barbara Anderson
Ron Anderson
Dan Barbasch
Shane Beake
Rick Carpenter - pre-ride/volunteer
Jon Clamp
Tim Conway
Ed Dodd
Dawn Engstrom
Matt Farrell
Joe Fillip
Bill Fischer
Joel Flood
Pat Gaffney
Ixsa Gollihur
Jud Hand
Don Jagel
Mark Kaufman
Eric Keller
Mike Lutz
Craig Martek
Andrew Mead - pre-ride/organizer
George Metzler - pre-ride/host
Mike Moore
Chris Newman
Patrick O'Donnell
Bill Olsen
Curtis Palmer
Walter Pettigrew
Tom Rosenbauer - RBA
Keith Spangler - pre-ride/volunteer
Ivan Umble
Len Zawodniak

Andrew Mead
- Organizer