International Women's Day 107K Populaire Preride Notes

Prerides of the International Women's Day 107K Populaire were completed by Pat & Cecily Gaffney and Ello Shertzer.  The latest cue sheet is Version 12 and the RWGPS file was last modified 2025-03-2 19:44:03 EST.  RWGPS file and cue sheet can be found here

The populaire route is a tour of Fairmont Park landmarks, with a loop out to the suburbs, including rural Evansburg State Park and the interesting town of Ambler. You will visit Laurel Hill Cemetary, Strawberry Mansion, and more.

Course Notes 

The course is in good shape with no major issues or rough patches.  Though there are a few things to watch out for:

There is a large metal plate right at the point you will turn onto the Wissahickon bike trail at mile 5.4, please be careful.

The turn at mile 57.4 is tricky. You make a right at the traffic light at Leverington then an immediate left at High St before the bridge. This is what it looks like:

 On the return to Center City and the finish control you will again pass by the Joan of Arc Statue and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  As you round the museum your GPS may tell to stay to the right and head towrads the Spring Garden Street Bridge, as you did at the start.  Don't listen to it.  To go the finish you want to head left around the traffic circle.  Please be mindful of traffic in the circle.

 EBrevet

We encourage riders to use the ebrevet app to check in at the controls. Search for "ebrevet" by Chris Nadovich in the app store. Your brevet card will have a code to check into the app at the start. Then, you need to open the app at each control, hit “GPS Update” and check in at each control. You can close the app between controls and keep your phone in airplane mode if you prefer. This is not a tracking app - it just allows you to check and upload the time when you are at a control.

Finish Control 

The finish control is the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where the Philadelphia Bike Expo will be in full swing.  There will be free & secure bike valet on the ground floor if you would like to go peruse the expo after your ride.  The area near the bike valet is also where the sweepstakes prizes will be drawn and handed out.  Each registered rider will receive a sweepstakes ticket with their brevet card at the start. Prizes will be awarded at 3:45.  Additional information can be found at the event webpage here.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday!

Stillwater 200K Ride Report

It was cold of course -- staying in the 30s all day -- and the strong wind  created extra challenge, but the good news was that the drizzle late Friday was not frozen into black ice when riders clipped in at dawn. It was above freezing, about 38F, at the start. Although the temperature fell all day, when it reached freezing (at around 5PM) the roads were mostly dry and the lanternes rouges arrived safely. During the bulk of the day, the sunshine and beautiful countryside make it all fairly pleasant. 

A good 16 of 17 who clipped in for the brevet finished within the time limit (94%). 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. 

Newly minted randonneurs, Michael Burns and Scott Holjes, had solid finishes --  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!  

On the veteran end of the spectrum, first finisher Jim Vreeland looked strong as he prepares for his fifth  Iditarod Trail Invitational, a 350 mile race in Alaska later this month.  Prerider  Chris Newman and day-of finisher Nigel Greene accumulated early season miles as they train for London Edinburgh London.  Chris Newman was also the finish control volunteer, thanks!

With this 200K finish, Mike Riley completed his very first R-12. I believe the R-12 is one of the more difficult randonneuring awards to achieve, as it requires consistent commitment over a long period. Chapeau Mike and ride on to R-24!

The Stillwater 200K is one of the most popular PA Rando routes. This course has been used for an official 200K brevet sixteen 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.

Mac Vergara writes...

Chris, thank you for organizing yesterday’s brevet, which as an absolutely beautiful route, even in the dead of winter.

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In March the Pennsylvania randonneuring 2025 season begins in earnest with two great events.

The International Women's Day 107K  Populaire  on March 8th starts at the Joan of Arc stature near the Art Museum and this year has an exciting finish at the Philadelphia Bike Expo.  100% of the entry fees for this event will go towards fundraising for Little Bellas, a mentorship program that gets girls on bikes. 

The Pennsylvania Super Randonneur Series starts March 15th with the Covered Bridges 200K start/finishing at Chamounix. 

Hope to see you all at one or both of these great events.

Hope to New Hope 200K Ride Report

A cold and windy day. But not that cold. It was almost above freezing  at times.  The sun almost came out. And there was no snow. Well, not much snow. So, basically, a nice day by Hope 2 New Hope standards. 

The brevet starts just before dawn. Brrrrr!

Seven out of seven riders, including one prerider, all made it back to the warmth of Frank's Trattoria having bested the gods of winter, for a 100% finish rate.  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. 

Start volunteer and prerider Bob Dye made sure everyone knew what to expect.  Finish volunteer Nigel Greene welcomed the finishers with warm pizza. 

 

RBA Emeritus Tom Rosenbauer writes...

I was pleased to see that everyone made it to the finish in good time -- chapeau to the audacious randonneurs that persisted in such frigid riding conditions.  And even more impressively, all managed to resist the siren call of stopping as they passed their cars at the halfway point.

 

First finisher (by like 3 hours!) Chris Maglieri had enough extra time to snap some photos. 

 

Hope to New Hope 200K Pre Ride Notes

The course was pre-ridden by Bob Dye on 1 January.  The latest cue sheet is VERSION 1, and the RWGPS file was last modified on 2024-12-31 13:59:20 EST. RWGPS file and cue sheets can be found here. 

Prerider Bob Dye writes...

New Year's Day was a good day for the Hope to New Hope 200k pre-ride. The roads are mostly in great shape with many wide and smooth shoulders.   This is a good route for a winter-time ride although there was no ice or  snow seen anywhere. There was a cause for concern just after mile 84 with two sinkholes in the shoulder. These look like bottomless potholes and  there was no warning near them. Also, high winds had left some debris on the road which hopefully will be gone by Saturday. The restrooms at Bulls Island (miles 79 and 94) were open and heated.

The route passes through the flashing-light intersection of Greenwich St and Main St  twice - first at mile 2.3 and then at 48.5. It's a left turn (north) the first time at the flashing light and a right turn (south) later. This may confuse your GPS. Mine was totally flummoxed and directed me the wrong way (which I ignored) and  then insisted on a U-turn for the next 5-10 miles. Be ready to disobey! 

Start time Saturday is 6AM Saturday.  I'm looking forward to seeing you then.