Sunday, September 1, 2013

September R12: Silver Spring 200k

*** Update #1 (9/6/13) ***
The Dutch-Way Farm market opens at 6AM.  The start/finish is 4 miles away (~7 minutes according to googlemaps).  You can follow the cue sheet instructions from mile 124.6.  The traffic light for the Rt. 41 crossing is visible from Dutch-Way.  The start is ~1/4 mile past the finish on the right.

*** Roster (as of 9/6/13) ***
1 CJ Arayata
2 Clair Beiler
3 Gavin Biebuyck
4 Bill Blank
5 Jeffery S Butt
6 Eric Dahl
7 Matthew Farrell
8 Edward R Felker
9 William Fischer
10 Mary Gersema
11 Judson L Hand
12 Donald Jagel
13 R. Mark Kaufman
14 Eric Keller
15 Andrew D Mead
16 George Metzler
17 Chris Nadovich
18 William Olsen
19 Tom Rosenbauer
20 Michael Ross
21 Chris Roth
22 Norman Smeal
23 Ivan M Umble
24 Leonard Zawodniak

*** Original Post ***
We're returning to Lancaster County in September with the second running of the Silver Spring 200k.  The route is slightly reworked to smooth out some of the rough edges. 

Starting out near Atglen, PA you'll wind your way south though the Octoraro watershed, meandering for a while by the bucolic Octoraro Creek, eventually entering Maryland on the way to Port Deposit along the Susquehanna River. 

The route heads upstream from Port Deposit where you will be treated to a rare stretch of “River Road” that is generally level. Enjoy it while you can, for once you spy the Conowingo Dam, the challenges begin.  The route continues northwesterly for the length of the Conowingo Reservoir as we pass through farmland located atop a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna.  Naturally, the roads themselves are sprinkled with numerous dips and climbs as we cross numerous creeks that empty into the Susquehanna.  The route skips the dip into Fishing Creek (ironically, just written up in the local paper) and instead stays on top of the bluff as we head toward the Muddy Run Pumped Hydro facility.  Riders from last time will be thankful for the omission.  From Muddy Run, the roads plunge you back toward the level of the Susquehanna to take you past the Tuquan Glen Nature Preserve before the route's toughest climb, Douts Hill Rd up to the Mt. Nebo controle. 

Upon departing Mt. Nebo, the route descends (with a few climbs sprinkled in) to visit Safe Harbor. Instead of a climb up River Rd towards Highville or the long slog up to Conestoga that several of you know and love so well, we’ll follow yet another escape from Safe Harbor that features a more gradual ascent and, more importantly, shifts the route toward the Salunga controle to roads with less car traffic.

The route remains unchanged from the 2012 edition between the Salunga controle and the finish.  This includes the finish cook-out at George Metzler's house.

There are a few notes from the pre-ride.
1. The cue sheet has been updated to Draft 2 (9/1/13) to account for the latest round of "is the turn marked or not" changes that seem to plague Lancaster County.
2.  Businesses that previously served as controles for Controle 2 in Port Deposit and Controle 3 at Mt. Nebo are no longer.  The updated cue sheet notes additional services on course to supplement.  As a word of caution, the route between Port Deposit and Salunga features extremely limited services so you'll want to plan accordingly. 
3.  There are several strategically placed portions of new asphalt, including a few on some descents.  Remember to listen to your guardian angel. 
4. We finally documented the turn every brevet organizer want to place on a cue sheet:

Addition details are posted on the event website:
http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/R12ClubSep3.html

Drop me or RBA Tom Rosenbauer a note if you plan to join us.  And as always, be sure to check back on the website and message board for updates.

Andrew Mead - Organizer


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