PA Grand Canyon Ride Report

 What a difference a year can make.

Photo by Jim Vreeland

The 2024 running of the Pennsylvania Grand Canyon 200k was fraught with issues.  A major storm had caused extensive flooding along the Pine Creek in July of 2024.  This flood destroyed the Carsontown Bridge along the Little Pine Creek resulting in a reroute of the course on less than interesting roads back to Jersey Shore.

The situation didn’t get better on ride day in 2024 as another storm dumped over an inch of rain on riders shortly after the start, turning the gravel roads into various stages of peanut butter and raising the water levels to a point where a motorist warned riders not to attempt fording the stream at Babb Creek.

Fortunately, 2025 was entirely different.  The gravel was dry and fast, the bridges had been fixed, we were back to the original course and riders barely got their feet wet at Babb Creek.

Babb Creek at a manageable height (Photo by Jim Vreeland)

All 8 riders completed the course in good time for a 100% completion rate.  Ride results have been posted to the website, please review and advise if their are any inaccuracies.

Both first (Jim Vreeland) and second (Erin Fulton) riders crushed the course record and other than a little dust and worms on the bikes, thetir day couldn’t have been better.

David Stango completed his first ever brevet. Welcome to randonneuring, David. Be warned that the weather or the scenery might not be quite as nice in the future.  

All riders agree that the section from Babb Creek (mile 72) to Liberty (mile 88) are the most difficult.  The number and proximity of paved and gravel climbs on this section are a challenge for any rider.  Fortunately, after the Control in Liberty, the remaining 35 miles are basically downhill; this gives riders time to rest, recover and forget about the pain in their legs so they do not inflict damage on the ride organizer at the finish.

As we were enjoying a post ride beverage and discussing the day’s events, I learned that we were in the company of some very accomplished trail runners.  Unbeknown to me, our ride coincided with the Eastern States 100 Trail Race which was completed in 2016 by first time randonneur David Stango.  I later learned that rider Joe Galioto has run in The Barkley Marathons (I believe he makes a cameo appearance in this movie).  I’m happy these two discovered that 200k on a bike is a lot easier than 160k of running.     

While waiting for the very happy riders at the bottom of Colton Point, I even made a new friend:

What great day indeed!!!