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| The top of Tunnel Rd, January 14, 2017 (photo by Guy H.) |
Preliminary results for the 200k have been posted at:
http://parando.org/PA200k_Results170114.pdf
Results will be submitted to RUSA for certification in a few days.
Persistence and patience finally paid off in January as the postponed replacement brevet for the snow-impacted January 4 event finally got under was on Saturday the 21st. Twenty-six riders started. ALL finished within the allotted time for a 100% completion rate. Congratulations all!
Even though skies remained gray and damp most of the day (there were a few reports of a stray ray of sunshine), temperatures in the 40s and winds that remained calm contributed to some extremely fast times led by the tandem team of Kate Marshall and Victor Urvantsev and Jimmy Aspars caught in the vortex to crack the 8 hour barrier. The day also minted two brand new randonneurs, Dale Houck and Jeff Lippincott.
Organizer Bill Olsen talked with the Milford Bridge Street Bagels & Deli to confirm that it would be open and ready to serve as our starting location. The owners were delighted to be inundated with cyclists on an otherwise slow Saturday morning and memorialized the occasion on their Facebook Page. We plan to use this location again in the future.
Chris Nadovich provided a decent summary of the day's events:
Everybody made good time around the course and post-ride festivities developed nicely. We had quite a crowd gathered at the Ships in after the event. We took over the entire corner by the door.
There were several positive reviews of the Brick Farm Market at Hopewell. The consensus was that Brick wasn't a controle to "blow through". It was worth taking some time and enjoying for a while.
Myself, I enjoyed the chocolate croissants which may now be the best in the land, as the Milford Bakery may be no more.
The epic story du jour seems to have been Doug H's broken spoke. This was a rear wheel, freewheel side spoke on a bike with disk brakes. Until his spoke failed while climbing Tunnel Rd, Doug had been glued onto the fast wheel of first finishers V&K. From what I was told, Doug actually FIXED THE SPOKE. That is to say, he disassembled everything to get at the problem -- including pulling the freewheel! He reassembled everything, trued the wheel, and was on his way. Rando mechanical competence at its finest.
Guy Harris reported, "I too thought the skies lightened for just a brief moment while riding down 579. Generally a blah, foggy, damp day but temperature constant in mid-forties with no real wind. Good day for fast times. Pretty good for January!"
PA Randonneurs heads west in February to tackle a route not used since a certain epic event in December 2009. I've spent a lot of time refining the course to better suit winter riding. The starting location will be Ephrata, PA. Details will be posted soon.
Andrew Mead
Eastern PA RBA
So, yes, I did lose my position as second wheel to V&K due to a broken spoke on Tunnel Hill--I had too far to go with just 23. It was actually a non-drive side spoke, but laced head out, so I had to pull the cassette to fish it through without removing the disc. I also had to pull the tire and rim strip to remove and replace the nipple. I was already putting the cassette back on when the next group finally caught up! Doug.
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