Beyond Hope to New Hope 200k Preliminary Results and Report

Preliminary results for the February 4th  Beyond Hope to New Hope 200k have been posted at:
http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/PA200k_Results120204.pdf
...please let me know of any corrections or other issues.  Results will be sent to RUSA shortly, and then become final, pending RUSA approval.

Temperatures at the start were in the mid 20F's, but quickly got into the mid 30F's.  The clear skies at the start gave way to overcast conditions for much of the day.  But with high temperatures in the mid 40F's, there can hardly be many complaints about the weather for an early February event!

The unusually mild weather for this time of year drew a record number of participants: a total of 30 (including the 2 preride volunteers) is more than double the number that usually clip-in at this time of the year. In looking over the hometown of the participants, I would say that many points of the compass within a ~100 mile radius were well covered.  In addition to Pennsylvania, randonneurs from New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, and Maryland were represented.

All 30 riders clipping in at the start, made it to the finish for another 100% completion rate -- congratulations to everyone, for an excellent result.  Of note, there once again were a number of riders finishing their first 200k brevet: Clair Beiler, Cynthia Hearing, Ralph Miller, and Chris Roth.  These riders just need 11 more months of 200k finishes to complete their R-12 and they have one of the tougher months in the bag already.

Also of note, Jon Clamp completed the ride on a single-speed, and Christine Newman joined the "fixed-gear" club on this ride.  Christine writes "...Thanks for a great day yesterday. I have not ridden this route before and I really enjoyed it. I also enjoyed all the food controles - the diner, the bakery and the inn at the finish. It was great to see so many familiar faces in the middle of winter..."  Christine also is a member of the "brevet photography" club, and despite the cold weather, managed to get a number of interesting shots posted here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/canewmandvm/BeyondHope200KBrevet02

Doug Haluza once again, overcame mechanical issues to save his ride.  This time, it was the chain.  After breaking it twice, he stopped at the bike shop in Frenchtown to get a new one.  And despite having it replaced by a professional mechanic, it broke for a third time!  Doug writes: "...I remember you saying that this course was going to be easy and we should be done early. Thanks for that! OK, the best part of the day was after my chain broke the first time, and I stopped at Zekes Place in Warren County to get something to drink since my bottles were frozen. They had country music playing and a guy was eating breakfast wearing a cowboy hat. Someone came in and ordered a western omelette. And I wondered where I made a wrong turn and ended up in Oklahoma...."

As Doug notes, this is a fast course.  And a couple of fast riders, Geoff Brunner and Gavin Biebuyck set a new course record of 7:23.  Jon Clamp and Don Jagel also managed to get in under 8 hours.  Don writes: "... Thanks for putting together 200k brevet yesterday.  The route is a very good early season route, particularly if the weather/road conditions turn bad.  Luckily, we had none of that.  Probably the most difficult part of the course is the return trip up Route 29.  It is just a little too flat.  My legs were a bit tight upon arriving back in Frenchtown.  Once the roads started to become slightly more rolling my legs began feeling better.  We arrived in New Hope very quickly, enjoying the general down grade for the entire way.  Norm, Jon, Gavin, Geoff, and myself all left New Hope together.  Geoff, wanting to finish with a negative split, upped the pace and only Gavin went with him.  They soon disappeared from our view.  They did achieve the negative split, and if I am not mistaken, also trounced the PA Randoneurs record for the fastest finish of a 200K.  Congrats to both...."

Bob Dye, part of the upstate New York contingent, writes: "...30 riders for a February Brevet?! Obviously a testament to your charismatic and dynamic leadership - not to mention good looks. Thanks for another great day in the saddle..." [Thanks Bob, but I think if we had one of those rainy days in the mid 30F's, like we had just a couple of weeks ago, the numbers would've been much lower -Tom R.].

Special thanks to volunteers Len Zawodniak, who joined me for the pre-ride, and Bill Olsen, who staffed the finish controle and made sure everybody got in safely.  And speaking of volunteers, I'm looking for help on the following events:
300k (May 5)
400k (May 19)
600k (June 2)
1000k (August 17)
Volunteers may pre-ride an event up to 15 days in advance (which allows you to cherry pick a good day for riding, I might add).  Please drop me a note if you can step up to help out.

If you have any other comments or photos to share, you can forward them to me or post them on the message board.

Next up is a 200k for the March R-12.  The route will either be the Stillwater 200k or a new route out of Milford, NJ.  And looking ahead to April, there is a brand new 200k course compliments of Andrew Mead.  Hopefully, our streak of good weather will continue.

Tom Rosenbauer
Eastern PA RBA

Beyond Hope to New Hope 200k

*** Update 1 (1/28) ***
A volunteer pre-ride was completed on 1/28 by Len Zawodniak and yours truly (Thanks Len, for the wonderful company!).  We had fantastic weather, with mostly sunny skies for much of the day.  Temperatures were in the middle 30F's at the start and topped out around 50F.  Winds were calm at the start and picked up out of the south west as we approached New Hope.   We got a nice boost in the form of a 15 MPH tailwind for the last 26 miles to the finish.  It felt a lot more like a early spring day than a winter one.

The cuesheet has been updated to draft 7 (dated 1/28) with a couple of minor clarifications and a route tweak in Frenchtown on the return leg.  In general, the course is in very good shape, but some extra care should be taken with the following:
-There was standing water under the underpasses and along the cliffs near Milford...these of course might be frozen over when you pass through.
-There is plenty of loose gravel and sand from recent road treatments.
-The northbound lane of Rt 29 is in very bad condition in several spots.

Reminder: With the limited daylight, lights and reflective gear will be checked at the start.

***Rider Roster (as of 2/3) ***
-Chip Adams
-Mike Anderson
-Ron Anderson
-Barbara Anderson
-Colin Bailey
-Dan Barbasch
-Clari Beiler (Guest Member)
-Gavin Biebuyck
-Geoff Brunner
-Janice Chernekoff
-Jon Clamp
-Rick Collins
-Bob Dye
-Matt Farrell
-Joe Fillip
-Bill Fischer
-Ixsa Golliur
-Doug Haluza
-Cynthia Hearing
-Don Jagel
-Mary Johnson
-Bill Olsen
-Jon Levitt
-George Metzler
-Ralph Miller (New Member)
-Christine Newman
-Tom Rosenbauer (volunteer pre-ride)
-Chris Roth
-Paul Shapiro
-Norman Smeal
-Bob Torres
-Ivan Umble
-Len Zawodniak (volunteer pre-ride)

*** Original Post ***
The Beyond Hope to New Hope 200k is scheduled for Saturday, February 4.  The current long range forecast looks promising, but weather and road conditions this time of year may cause last minute postponements, so be sure to check back the website and message board for any updates.

***Please note the new start/finish location has been moved to Blairstown for this edition***

You can walk across the foot bridge at "Foot  Bridge Park" (where you'll be parking your car) and have breakfast at the Blairstown diner.  The finish controle at the Blairstown Inn is just a couple of stores away from the diner.  

The course routing mainly uses primary roads, since these have the best chance of being cleared and treated for winter conditions.

There is a volunteer preride scheduled for January 28th, so check the website for any cuesheet updates.

If you're planning to ride, send me an e-mail to join the roster -- please let me know by the Thursday before the event.

-Tom Rosenbauer

Eastern PA RBA

PA Dutch 200k Preliminary Results & Report

Preliminary results for the January 1st PA Dutch 200k have been posted at:
http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/PA200k_Results120101.pdf
...please let me know of any corrections or other issues.  Results will be sent to RUSA shortly, and then become final, pending RUSA approval.

Temperatures at the start were around 38F, which was about the high temperature for the volunteer pre-ride just 3 days earlier.  By mid-day, temperatures were well into the 50's.  Hearty upstate New Yorker Bill Fischer even sported short sleeves with arm warmers and knickers since the day was to be "summer-like" for him.  Thankfully, the passage of the cold front held off until later in the day, so those stiff westerly winds did not materialize for the long leg out to Columbia.  Clear skies in the morning eventually gave way to darkening clouds and some rain showers later in the afternoon.  A reinforcing cold front is in the forecast with wind chills in the single digits -- in less than 48 hours after those balmy 50F's!

All 21 riders who clipped in for the PA Dutch 200k (including 4 volunteer pre-riders) made it to the finish, for a 100% finish rate and excellent start to the Eastern PA 2012 season -- congratulations to everyone for being a part of that success.  Thankfully, it was an "uneventful day", and everything went according to plan, due in no small part to the preparations and efforts of organizer Andrew Mead.  As Andrew previously noted, the cue sheet was top notch -- with the many tricky turns through the maze of back roads of Lancaster county, this was a big undertaking -- special thanks to my fellow volunteer pre-riders: Andrew Mead, George Metzler, and Norman Smeal, who all contributed towards making the cue sheet as good as possible.  Thanks also to volunteer Bill Olsen for manning the finish controle, collecting the brevet cards, and making sure everybody got in safely.  With the potential for "epic conditions", which this event has a history of, several volunteers were positioned around the course to greet riders, monitor their progress, and  respond to any eventualities.  Special thanks to these volunteers who stepped up to help out: Bill Slabonik, (on call at Columbia), Curtis Palmer (Lititz controle), and Ted Straub (Honey Brook controle and Conestoga revitalement controle).

Volunteer Ted Straub became a new PA Member in 2011 but has not yet had the opportunity to clip-in for an event.  So this was Ted's first PA event which happened to be in the role as a volunteer.  Ted writes: "...Thanks for taking a chance and letting a new guy, sight unseen, support a ride. I enjoyed the morning and meeting the group, however briefly, on a really nice day! I learned a few things about manning a Controle and being a “waypoint”... at the Conestoga Wagon Restaurant, Bill [Fischer] wins my vote for Mr. Congeniality. Not only for shepherding a first time rider, but also his easygoing, upbeat attitude. The kind that comes from being an experienced, strong rider. A pleasure meeting him, and I wish I could hang at the finish to chat with everyone more when the pressure is off...I snapped some photos that I’ll upload and let you know where to access...."


Bill Olsen writes: "...Thanks for running such a great brevet to kick off the new year. As difficult as the ride has been on all of the previous runnings it didn't seem so difficult with the temperatures in the 50s...although Hilltop Road lived up to it's name and where else but PA can one find a River road that includes a 3.7 mile climb?"

Several riders enjoyed breakfast at the Mt. Penn Family Restaurant to get their ride off to a fully fueled start.  A visiting Maile Neel realized that her helmet had not made the trip up from the DC area.  A quick trip to a nearby 24-hour WalMart solved the problem, though Maile was a little disappointed that there were no more Hello Kittty helmets remaining after Christmas.  You can see Maile's photo album here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcn7/sets/72157628691139331/

First finisher, Geoff Brunner started at the back the field, and casually worked his way towards the front as he met up with the other riders.  He reached Lititz just after 2PM, with the main pack not too far behind.  But with an impressive negative split for the final 37-mile leg that was over 16 MPH, Geoff managed to make it in before sundown and set a new course record of 8:25.

John Capriotti completed his R-12 series.  In doing so, John joins a very select group who kicked off their string of 12 consecutive months of brevet finishes with their very first brevet event.  Congratulations, and Well Done!  Incidentally, John's first event was with PA Randonneurs back in February of 2011 -- his R-12 series was book-ended by two of the toughest months in the northeast, to get in a ride.  You can read all about John's first year of randonneuring at his 'Videlos' blog:
http://videlos.wordpress.com/

Joe Fillip writes: "...Tom: A wonderful (and challenging!) ride to start off the New Year. Please pass along my thanks to Andrew for an excellent job in getting us all organized and sending us off at the start (as well as for putting up with this "late registrant"). ... I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to ride with such a wonderful group of riders, and to ride brevets that have been so thoughtfully designed and are so well organized. Great job, Tom. By the way, I nominated you for American Randonneur of the Year before the 12/31/11 deadline. Hope that works out - you certainly deserve it..." [Thanks Joe!  But looking at the list of past recipients of that award, I have looonnngg way to go before I can even think of rubbing elbows with that crowd -- I think my only chance would be if nobody else was nominated. -TJR]

Colin Bailey writes: "...It was a wonderful ride.  I truly appreciate the camaraderie of the others. It is a wonderful group. ..."  You can read Colin's ride report posted here:
http://cascadianrhythms.blogspot.com/2012/01/pa-dutch-200k-my-first-brevet.html

Houston Joost sent me the following note: "...I just wanted to let you know that Jenn, my wife and I and the rest of our family are moving to San Francisco this month. We are very excited and I plan to affliliate with the San Francisco rando club ..." Best of luck Houston, and of course, you're always welcome to join us, if you find your way back to Eastern PA for a visit!

If you have any other comments or photos to share, you can forward them to me or post them on the message board.

Next up is the Beyond Hope to New Hope 200k, which we also ran in February of 2011.  This route is tailored for winter conditions: we'll be mostly on primary roads with good shoulders and gentle gradients to minimize slick road hazards.  With limited daylight in mind, there is minimal navigation.  Hopefully, our streak of good weather will continue.

Tom Rosenbauer
Eastern PA RBA

PA Dutch 200k

*** Update #2 ***
A few more mental notes from the pre-ride:
- I cannot overemphasize the need to watch for icy patches, black or otherwise.  We received a lot of rain earlier in the week.  The temperature was in the low 20s when we started Thursday morning, so we encountered ice in several places.  Some extended fully across the road.  It is supposed to warm slightly by the weekend, but that's no guarantee that all of the icy spots will thaw.

- While this route is well-known to many, it still requires attention to the cue.  There are so many roads criss-crossing all over in Lancaster County that it is very easy to find yourself off course.  The cue is top-notch.
- It is a LONG way from Controle 2 to Controle 3, not just because of the mileage.  A couple of interim oases have been noted on the cue sheet should you need them.  Watch your time.
- You cannot have too much lighting.  You will discover this on your way to the finish, especially if you don't have enough.

I plan to have breakfast at the diner at 7am and will handle sign-in from there.  I'll be in the parking lot afterwards for bike/equipment checks.

Andrew

*** Update #1 (12/30/11) ***
The cuesheet has been updated to draft 11 dated 12/30, with changes from the volunteer preride.  If the current weather forecast holds, temperatures will range from the mid 30F's to 50F's -- the low temperature for Sunday will be around the high temperature we had for Thursday's  volunteer preride, which included unexpected snow flurries for much of the day.  It also looks like a rather stiff south west wind is in the forecast -- this will make the 45 mile leg from controle 2 to 3 rather difficult.  You'll want to bank some time on the way to controle 2, and keep your stop there very short... and finding a friendly wheel to draft behind would be even better.  In addition to the many cautions highlighted on the cuesheet, you should watch out for icy patches.  In particular, underpasses and run-offs from driveways and farms present a hazard in several spots along the course.  Also, there is some precipitation in the forecast for the evening, and you will be descending the colder, north face of some climbs towards the end of the course.

Organizers, Andrew Mead will be at the start to send you on your way, and Bill Olsen will greet you at the finish.  If you arrive at the finish before Bill does, there will be a sign-in sheet at the cashier where you should record your time.  The cashier will sign your card and hold it until Bill arrives.

Reminder: be sure to park your car in the Rita's lot, away from the diner.  And as always, be sure to check back on the website/message board for any last minute updates.

*** Original Post ***
What better way to kick off a new year of randonneuring than by bagging an ACP 200k?  The 4th annual PA Dutch 200k brevet will be held on January 1, 2012 (yes, folks, that's SUNDAY) to start the 2012 Pennsylvania Randonneurs R-12 series.  We will be riding the route that Rick Carpenter championed, but without Rick since he has now relocated to coastal North Carolina.  Unfortunately that also means we'll be missing out on the fine hospitality of Rick and Lora Beth that has made this event so popular in the past.  We will miss Rex greatly and wish him and Lora Beth the very best.  Since the Carpenter's house on the hill is no longer available for brevet duty, the start location has be moved to the Mt. Penn Family Restaurant.  This may be good news for many as that final 500ft climb to Queens Court is no longer required to finish.
Recognizing that many randonneurs may also be ringing in the new year, the starting time has been pushed back until 8:00am.  This also allows participants to enjoy breakfast at the start since the Mt. Penn Family Restaurant doesn't open until 7:00am on Sundays.  Registration details are posted on the PA Randonneurs website.
A course pre-ride is scheduled for Thursday so check back on Friday for any last-minute updates to the cue sheet.
One final note:  lights and reflective gear are MANDATORY for this ride.

- Andrew Mead, Organizer

*** Registered riders (as of 12/31/11) ***

Barbara Anderson

Ronald Anderson

Colin M Bailey
Jim Bondra

Geoff Brunner

John Capriotti
Blaine Chamberlain

Matthew Farrell

William Fischer
Ixsa Gollihur

Doug Haluza

Donald Jagel
Mike Lutz

Andrew D Mead - Organizer/Pre-Ride

George Metzler - Volunteer/Pre-Ride

Maile Neel

William M. Olsen - Organizer

Tom Rosenbauer - RBA/Pre-Ride

Norman Smeal - Volunteer/Pre-Ride
Bob Torres

If you want to join the roster, please send me an e-mail: trosenbauer@rcn.com

-Tom Rosenbauer, RBA

2011 Final Results and Recap

Eastern PA 2011 Final Results have been posted at:

http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/Results2011.pdf

Validated 2011 brevet cards have started rolling out into the mail ... as of 12/17, I'm up the "L's".   Congratulations on all those hard-earned brevets -- collectively, we officially tallied over 75,000 Km in completed brevets.  Thank you for clipping in and being a part of that success.  But of course, none of those brevets would've been possible, if not for all the volunteers who stepped up and helped out:

- Glenn Ammons           600k finish

- Ron & Barb Anderson Jan. R-12, PBP Vests

- Bill Blank                     Aug R-12 preride

- Shane Beake               PA Wool Jersey, Oct. 200k BBQ

- Victoria Beake             Oct. 200k finish and BBQ

- Jack Bingham               Jan. R-12

- Andy Brenner              400k finish, 600k overnight

- Rick Carpenter            Advisor, Jan. R-12 Organizer, Mar. R-12, 300k & 400k preride

- Bob Dye                     PA Randonneurs logo

- John Freeman             600k sign-in

- Doug Haluza               Oct. 200k preride

- Barbara Harris            300k & 600k course sweep

- Guy Harris                  400k preride and course sweep, 600k sweep

- Mark Kaufman            Jan. R-12

- Don Jagel                    Feb. R-12, PBP Vests, 600k preride and overnight controle

- Andrew Mead             Advisor, Mar. & Sep. R-12 Organizer, 600k sweep, Jun. R-12, PA Message boards

- George Metzler            Mar. R-12 Café & Grill, Aug. R-12 preride

- Chris Nadovich            600k overnight controle

- Christine Newman        600k start

- Bill Olsen                    Advisor, Feb., Jul. & Aug R-12 Organizer, Nov. R-12 finish

- Curtis Palmer              Jan. R-12

- Becky Rosenbauer      600k finish

- Keith Spangler            Mar. R-12, Dec. R-12 sweep

- Christine Torres           200k finish

- Len Zawodniak            200k course sweep, Jul. R-12 sweep, Oct. 200k sweep

This was a year of many notable accomplishments -- too many to list completely -- but some selected ones I'd like to share with you include:

·         Two dozen or so Eastern PA participants made it to the starting line at PBP. While I was pulling for each and every one of you, it was especially gratifying for me to see the following riders have a successful ride: Yiping Lin from Taiwan completed her first U.S.A. brevet with PA Randonneurs; Ron and Barbara Anderson rode their very first event with PA Randonneurs in 2006 (the very first year of Eastern PA events); Christine Newman, with the confidence of an EM1000k and Eastern PA SR series under her belt, found redemption in 2011 after coming up a bit short in 2007.  Eric Keller, Chris Nadovich, Joel Flood, Roy Yates, and Cecilie Adams also rode their first brevets with PA Randonneurs; And Cecilie, as many of you already know, became engaged to Patrick Gaffney at the top of Fox Gap back in 2010 – all went according to plan, with their marriage just before PBP and a post-ride honeymoon in France.

·         There were a record number of Eastern PA Super Randonneurs: Cecilie Adams (2), Shane Beake, Gavin Biebuyck, Rick Carpenter (3), Tim Conway, Joe Fillip, Bill Fischer, Joel Flood, Patrick Gaffney (2), Doug Haluza, Guy Harris (3), Mark Kaufman, Eric Keller (3), Chris Nadovich, Christine Newman, Bill Olsen (3), and Roy Yates.  Well Done!

·         Bill Olsen clipped-in and finished 4060 km of the 4760 km on the Eastern PA calendar, missing only three opportunities to ride – most likely because he was instead riding a 1200k somewhere else!  Bill also notched another PA R-12 series.

·         Several other riders also completed their R-12 series. Of note, Doug Haluza completed an R-12, despite having a number of spectacular mechanicals to deal with on a couple of the rides.  Don Jagel joined the Eastern PA honor roll by completing an Eastern PA R-12 this year.  Rick Carpenter completed yet another R-12 series and is closing in on an R-12 streak of 5 years – Wow!

In 2012, there will be several domestic 1200k's to choose from.  The Eastern PA region will be offering many brevets for qualification and preparation including a complete SR series and an R-12 series of monthly 200k’s. And for those of you who are freshly minted PBP anciens, you just need a Fleche and 1000k to earn the prestigious R-5000 award – and the Eastern PA region will give you an opportunity to do so next year.  But in order to keep running all these events, we need some new volunteers to step up and take their turn at the front (and perhaps allow some of the regular volunteers to sit-in for a while). 

-Tom Rosenbauer, Eastern PA RBA

K-Hounds Among Us

From Dan Driscol:

In years past we have done an article in the American Randonneur congratulating all the K-Hounds past and present.  This year I’d like to share a spread sheet that shows just how impressive this effort has amounted to (see randon listserv for spreadsheet).  A grand total of over 1,417,354 Km's - of individual efforts of more than 10,000 Km's per year within 6 years. No other country in the world comes anywhere close to this accomplishment.

In the past 6 years 54 RUSA members have earned 107 K-Hound Awards for riding more than 10,000 Km in a calendar year, with female RUSA members being responsible for about 30% of these K-Hound Awards.

Although 2011 is not official yet, it will be the biggest pack of hounds ever, with 34 RUSA members earning K-Hound Status.

Congrats to our new 2011 K-Hound Klub members; Ward Beebe, Grover Everett, Stephen Hazelton, Ken Johnson, Spencer Klaassen, Joe Kratovil, Tim Lucas, Maile Neel, Ogden Olmstead, Bill Olsen, John Pogue, Susan Pogue, Bryan Rierson, Bob Riggs, Thomas Russell, and Catherine Shenk.

Congrats again to all for making RUSA such great group of over achievers to run with.

Stillwater 200k Retour Preliminary Results and Report

Preliminary results for the December 3rd Stillwater 200k Retour have been posted at:
http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/PA200k_Results111203.pdf
...please let me know of any corrections or other issues.  Results will be sent to RUSA shortly, and then become final, pending RUSA approval.

Given the heavy rain earlier in the week, and another batch in the forecast in the next day or so, we managed to find another perfect December day for a bike ride: it was a crystal clear day, with temperatures starting out around 29F in the morning, and warming up to around 50F by the afternoon.  With a high pressure system parked directly on top of the course all day, the winds were thankfully calm.  Streams and river were flush from the abundance of rain we've had, with a few frozen seeps along the road early on.

18 of the 20 riders who clipped in at the start made it to the finish.  New participants, Cynthia Hearing and AJ Stachelek are both triatheletes from NYC.  AJ decided to call it quits at Portland, due to numb toes. Cynthia, despite a 30 minute late start, managed to make up the lost time and just keep ahead of the controle closing time by a handful of minutes.  But as she ran out of daylight, she lost her battle against the clock on the Tunnel Rd climb.  Although AJ and Cynthia came up a bit short this time, they promised me they'll both be back again next year. Special thanks to volunteer Keith Spangler for manning the controle at Lafayette and sweeping the course to Great Meadows.   Not only was it great to have a familiar face greet us at the half way point, it was also reassuring to know Keith was there to make sure everybody made it safely through and was there to handle any unforeseen problems.

Rick Carpenter is known to show up from time to time, with a non-traditional bike for a brevet.  On this day, Rick pushed the envelope to a whole new level, with his Fat Sand Boy, which you can see in his photo album posted here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rick_carpenter/sets/72157628274581067/
As the name and construction suggests, it's meant to be ridden on the beach - specifically, somewhere down in North Carolina where Rick is in the process of moving to.  I'm pretty sure that this beast weighs somewhere north of 40 lbs.  And despite all of it's heft, it doesn't even descend very well, due to the 4-inch knobby tires.  Compounding the difficulty factor with this rig, the gears in the internal hub started slipping on the climbs.  Along with this most unusual setup, Rick had a most unusual wild-life close encounter while riding down the road: a small bird smashed squarely into his face.  Immediately after the small bird impact, Rick was then slashed by the talon of an accip raptor, who was in pursuit of the panicked bird -- Amazing!

Of note, Doug Haluza completed his R-12 series -- this one, was uneventful with none of the mechanical problems he's had on a couple of the rides this past year.  Ron and Barbara Anderson completed their third R-12 series in a row for a streak of 36 months.  And speaking of streaks,  Rick Carpenter has one of fifty-something, and closing in on 5 years of riding at least a 200k or longer each month and  Bill Olsen has a streak of 14 months going with Eastern PA finishes.  Bill writes: "...thanks for another great event.  It was nice to experience last month's ride in reverse as some climbs are better this direction rather than the other (and some are worse in this direction) giving one a totally different ride.  Although I like the Retour start out of Portland, and the return home up through Belvidere in the dark, the change of start to Milford was a nice variation and the climb up Tunnel Road wasn't half bad, knowing that once I made it to the top, it was pretty much down hill all the way back home..."

Also of note, Jon Clamp and Guy Harris made it around the course in good time on their fixed-gear bikes.  Remarkably, Jon finished under 9 hours and within minutes of first finisher Geoff Brunner. Guy writes: "...Thanks for another great event.  Milford is a great start/finish - don't know how I resisted a trip to the Ship Inn.  Very sun friendly direction to run this course, morning sun along the Delaware and a nice decent into the sunset..."  Jon writes: "...Many thanks this year for stringing together a host of impeccable courses and cue sheets. Also to all the volunteers for their help in facilitating our sport. It appears seemless but undoubtedly requires alot of time and effort behind the scenes. Saturdays ride was a little brisk and I think everybody must have felt like they had blocks of ice at the end of their legs. I did for one. I rode fixed until the Quick Check control and realizing that we had some steep climbs and a few good descents coming up I decided to "flip" my rear  wheel as it offered a lower gear and the ability to freewheel. I also had the benefit of being able to draft Don, Bill and Matt on the downhill sections as I cannot pedal that fast. I think we were all surprised at our time! ..."

Len Zawodniak writes: "...The ReTour was ReWarding!    Decidedly cool at the start, bur warming up nicely during the day,  a great collection of riders, and good choices for controls. It was  really nice to have a volunteer at the lunch stop, Thanks !..."

Nigel Greene writes: "...Another memorable event by the PA Randonneurs. I really enjoyed the course and look forward to riding the opposite direction the next time its offered. The cue sheet was spot on and the controles were well spaced. .... As you know, this was my first year riding with Pa Randonneurs and I have to say I really found it memorable and enjoyable. Thanks for everything. I Look forward to next year's challenges  ..."
You can read Nigel's excellent ride report with pictures at his Iron Rider blog:
http://eprider.blogspot.com/2011/12/sweetwater-200k-retour.html#more

If you have any other comments or photos to share, you can post them on the message board or forward them to me.

This wraps up the Eastern PA 2011 calender of events -- for me, it was a satisfying conclusion to a great year of brevets.  In the coming weeks, I'll be sending out the year-end mailing with your validated brevet cards, reflections on the past year, and the 2012 calender of events.  The first event of the new year, will be on New Year's Day.  As you look ahead to the new year, I'd be interested to hear what your cycling goals are.

Tom Rosenbauer
Eastern PA RBA