The weather was unseasonably warm for a January brevet. It was also characteristically (at least for this past year) WET. Still, all six of the riders who clipped in on Saturday morning finished within the time limit. A perfect completion record was messed up by the pre-rider who re-learned an important lesson about checking equipment BEFORE the ride. Changing a tube along the route is NOT a good time to discover that one's pump doesn't work. There's much more to the story; you'll have to coax it out of me.
Always looking for a silver lining in the situation, Saturday's ride had the following going for it:
- temperatures were in the 40s, not the teens
- the weather forecasters overstated the rain chances. Instead of non-stop rain, riders faced mostly damp conditions with a scattered shower or two.
- the winds shifted during the day to remain generally at riders' backs all day, a rarity on a loop route.
- it was a great way to test rain gear
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| Hearty souls gather in the cold drizzle at the start. |
Chris Nadovich had this to say:
With the weather forecast predicting a cold, rainy day, some might have worried that the Morgantown-Middletown 200K would be too much of a "character building" experience. Yet it turned out to be a fine ride. How often do you experience the luxury of a tailwind for an
entire 200K loop? Yes, it was a wee bit rainy at times, but the temperatures in the mid 40s kept my raingear from feeling too hot grinding up the endless rollers in Lancaster County. I was comfortable
and happy all day, and when the skies cleared and the morning tailwind turned to remain at my back at the Middletown controle, it was all rainbows and unicorns...
Well, maybe just rainbows, and just till sunset. After sunset, it was Castor and Pollux on the horizon guiding me back to Morgantown.
Thanks, Andrew, for yet another excellent tour of Amish country. The Amish in their buggies and bicycles were out in force, especially after dark. I'm very impressed with their lighting systems. The Amish may eschew other tech, but the lights they use on their bikes are as up-to-date as anything a randonneur employs.
And thanks, Andrew, for hanging out with me, waiting for AAA to come to fix the dead battery on my car. Pro tip for other randonneurs: check to be sure your lights are off and doors not ajar before leaving your car all day.
Joe Ray commented, We had a great brevet yesterday! Despite the rain it was not a washout, though it was a good test of gear selection. My hands found their brand new showers pass gloves to be ineffective, but the rest of me was quite happy to spend a day out in the wet. Anyone have a pair of favorite winter/wet gloves?
The route was quite nice - I had only been thru Cornwall Furnace one prior time and that one did not involve the rail-trail which was quite nice. Bill, Jan & I passed the pubs along the river around lunch time and I thought for a moment of ducking in for a bite but we were moving along so well it probably would have cost a significant amount of time. Rutters at the penultimate control may have lacked the ambience of one of those pubs, but I needed some extra carbs and sat for a few minutes after Bill and Jan headed for the finish.
The sun came out soon after I departed that control around 3:30, along with the wind. I got a little, er, disoriented in Intercourse but an Intercourse woman helped get me back on track. Really pleased with finishing the route just as it was getting dark. The pizzeria had great food and the discussion at the table with Patrick, Jan and Andrew was fun, sharing stories of prior adventures and goals for the year - all in all a super start to 2019.
Next up is the Little Britain Brevet on February 2 (Groundhog Day). Registration is open. You may notice that the on-line payment option is now live.
Andrew Mead
Eastern PA RBA
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