Monday, February 2, 2015

Beyond Hope to Hopewell

*** Update 1 (2/6) ***
Organizer Jon Clamp will be meeting you at the start to send you on your way, and he'll be joined by volunteer Guy Harris to greet you at the finish. The start is at the Milford Bakery, but you should park your car in the big parking lot on Church St -- there is a sign indicating private parking, but PA Randonneurs has secured permission from the owner, US Health (which will be closed). The Bakery will be open by 6AM and in addition to baked items, breakfast sandwich are made to order. The finish controle is at the Blairstown Inn just a couple of stores away from the Bakery.

Reminder: With the limited daylight, lights and reflective gear will be checked at the start.

Guy Harris checked out the course on Friday morning and reports: "... I drove the section of the course from Rt173/Tunnel Rd to Rileyville Rd./518 today. Right side of the fog line is mostly ice and snow so not usable. **In general** the road is clear of ice to the left of fog line and to dry pavement. There is however the occasional melt water / ice at driveways, mailboxes, and shaded areas which can provide a few icy spots to the left of the fog line. Tunnel Rd. and the detour are fine. I suspect that this will be the worst section of ride. Generally 519 is plowed better but I haven't seen it. I am sure Rt29 coming up the river will be great - it always is..."

On Thursday afternoon, I checked out the course between Hopewell and Rieglesville, and found that the roads were generally clear of ice and snow as well.

-Tom Rosenbauer
Eastern PA RBA

*** Original Post ***
A volunteer preride was completed this past Sunday by Jon Clamp and Guy Harris.  The cuesheet has been updated to draft 2, dated 2/2, for a detour around a closed bridge at mile 88.  Guy reports : "...The fixies kept us pretty warm all day! South Hunterdon HS sign even showed 35 degrees! The only snow was just a few flurries coming up Rt29. Certainly warmer than the forecast for next Saturday. Bridge on Wertsville is definitely out - gone. Detour is right at road closed barricade onto Runyon Mill Rd, about 0.5mile to left on Saddle Shop Road, about 1mile to Rileyville Rd./607, then right and back on course. The detour is really just the other two sides of the rectangle.  Roads were in pretty good shape overall. The right side of the road on the descent into Hopewell on Rileyville Rd was a little chewed up.  Leaving Hopewell on 518 about 0.3mile past the BR at mile 94.7 there is a somewhat bad angle RR track crossing. Probably worth noting although there are many worse ones on our rides. The crossing itself is good but the groove seems a bit wider and deeper than normal. Fortunately most people will be going slower here anyway since it is on the climb out of Hopewell.  The Brick Farm Market is a nice control. Great food, warm place to sit. A welcome stop after the climbs over the ridges from Bloomsbury ..."

Jon adds: "... the only thing I would add is that a good deal of the shoulders are littered with winter debris of salt and gravel so end up being a little rougher than normal. There are also the usual pot holes that Winter provides so a keen eye should kept for these..."

As usual, drop me a note by Thursday afternoon, if you'd like to added to the roster.  And be sure to monitor the website and this message board for any last minute updates or postponements.

*** Roster (as 2/6) ***
1 Charles J Arayata -
2 Eoghan Barry -
3 Gavin Biebuyck -
4 Jeffery S Butt -
5 Janice Chernekoff -
6 Jonathan Clamp - Organizer
7 Tim Conway -
8 Alfred Dolich - Guest
9 Robert Dye -
10 Matthew Farrell -
11 William Fischer -
12 Zachary R Goodrich
13 Doug Haluza -
14 Guy Harris - Volunteer Preride
15 Donald Jagel -
16 Robin C Landis
17 Gil Lebron -
18 Lawrence A Midura
19 Peter C Phillips -
20 Christopher C. Slocum -
21 Keith A Spangler -
22 Bob Torres -
23 Gilbert Torres -

1 comment:

  1. Just finished making up GPS routes based on the new draft. See you all on Saturday!

    http://ridewithgps.com/users/169557/routes

    ReplyDelete