We were blessed with an excellent February day for the Stillwater 200K. It was cold, and the moderate wind had some "bite", but the full sunshine and beautiful countryside make it all downright pleasant. All 17 of 17 who clipped in for the brevet finished in good time (100%). Congratulations and well done to all. Preliminary results have been posted on the website. Please review the results and let us know if something is not quite right. The results will be submitted to RUSA after review and will become official once certified.
The Stillwater 200K is one of the most popular PA Rando routes. This course has been used for an official 200K brevet fifteen times since 2011. It was invented by Tom Rosenbauer and is one of several brevets exploring the Great Meadow region of NJ, in and around the Lackawanna Cutoff earthworks and bridges.
Newly minted randonneur, Joaquin Padilla, was first finisher pacing in the lead group of riders. Of course, their "speedy" finish times were a full hour and a half slower that the sub-7-hour course record set by Scotty Steingart in 2019. Two other newly minted randonneurs, "Jean Claude" Van Lam and Tai Ta were nearer the caboose end of the train. Again, these beginners were bested by a veteran as the RBA leveraged some wrong turns and road closures to finish three minutes slower on the pre-ride, nabbing Lanterne Rouge from them. Kidding aside, it's great to see new riders showing up for the Winter brevets. These cats obviously have what it takes to be tough randonneurs. Welcome to our sport Joaquin, Van, and Tai!
Perhaps the most impressive ride of the day was by Ello Shertzer who looked downright exhausted arriving with Ben Keenan for a sub-10 hour finish on this sneaky-tough course. Chapeau Ello! Solid ride.
Ron Anderson writes....
I had a flat exactly 1 mile into the brevet. I pulled to the curb and quickly found a 1¼" decking screw fully embedded in my rear tire. The temperature was hovering right around freezing and we hadn't been riding long enough to warm up yet. As I settled to assess the situation, I watched my 14 club mates ride away up the road (several of them did ask if I was okay, but I waved them on knowing I had the tools and experience to get myself back on the road without too much delay.) IF my tire wasn't ruined. With a screw buried so deeply in the tread it was very possibly game over for me before my ride really ever got started. As it turned out, I removed the tire to find a relatively clean puncture with no damage to the sidewall or rim. I removed the screw, swapped in a fresh tube, (I always carry 2 spares on brevets,) and carefully placed an old dried out Park peel-and-stick patch as a boot on the inside of the tire. Pumped it up with my frame pump (that warmed me up a little
) and voilà, it held air just fine. At this point my hands were frozen and I was 20 minutes behind my pals, but I remounted and went on to enjoy a glorious February day on a classic and very scenic PA Rando route. I even caught up to some riders at the second checkpoint, mile 49, and enjoyed the companionship of George Retseck and Brian Fitzsimmons. for the rest of the afternoon - much better than riding solo all day...
Punxsutawney Phil has predicted Winter will soon end. Thus, we now turn our thoughts to warmer weather and the SR Series events based in Philadelphia. The first SR event, the Covered Bridges 200K, starts from Chamounix on one of the first days of Spring: 23 March. Hope to see you there!
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