Farm to SSAP

A few years ago I opted to ride to a few select events. When the idea first came up no one really figured the ride to and from the event would be anywhere close to a century. That was a byproduct of the events I typically used to compete in; none were 'local' and thus at least 100 miles away.

After doing this a few times I've really gotten to liking it. Last year was the first time someone accompanied me (Mike Maggs). Never would I have thought someone would be interested in joining me yet here was Mike eager to ride with me.

Last year I only competed in one race (see last post) and didn't ride my bike as much as I used to (still got out and rode at least twice a week).  Conversations ensued throughout the year and next thing I knew there was quite a bit of interest in riding to the 2015 SSAP. We even wanted to make it a longer ride.

So, here is the official solicit...

Farm to SSAP

Since we moved my place of residence further east this makes the ride longer than it used to. I am estimating the ride will be about 130-140 miles out to Newburgh. People can arrive at the Farm on Friday (March 10th) and get their stuff organized. Given the distance of the ride and my desire to arrive around 5pm on Saturday March 11th we will have to leave before dawn (yup, in the dark).

An option is to meet us in West Hartford (probably Rosey's house) and do only about 100miles.

Lodging Saturday night is on your own. Options include a hotel or camping behind Darkhorse Cycles. I have a hotel room for the night.


Return.... We can ride our bikes back or get a ride in someone's car back. Right now I'm thinking we catch car rides back. I heard through the grapevine Chip might have some space. Ginger will have one or two spaces in her car. We'll have to think about the rest as we determine who is 100% in.

Here is the tentative route:

Mileage could be shorter yet I felt a few extra miles in exchange for avoiding the hills of eastern CT will make the first 30-40 miles a gentle 'warm-up'. We'll head south to Willimantic and then hop on the bike path to Manchester. Then a few roads in East Hartford to Hartford to West Hartford.

Roads out to Farmington. Farmington to the NY border is up and down. From NY to Newburgh its basically downhill. The bulk of the effort is Farmington to NY border.

If you have another option for routes I am all ears.

Plan will be to ride the singlespeed mountain bike. We can get most of our gear shuttled out there so we don't have to carry a lot of stuff.

Email me (dougyfresh at vt dot edu) if you are interested so I can get contact info.

Thanks!

Something Wicked

Back in November I did my only bike race in 2014.

Lessons were taught.

Brapp was had.

Beards flowed in the breeze.

Then we Got Lost...