Deerfield Dirt Road Randonee

[C Law]

Any one here doing it?

My riding buddy just bailed on me and I need some folks to suffer with.

[spokenword]

Any one here doing it?

My riding buddy just bailed on me and I need some folks to suffer with. wish I was, but I'll be in France for Paris-Brest-Paris around that time. Enjoy it. It's a tough, but fun, ride.

[bmike]

debating. have some friends doing it from S. VT and they are hoping I'll join them....

[cdale56]

Any one here doing it? .

I thought that D2R2 was the toughest ride I ever attempted, I say attempted because I turned back at mile 60-70 something, just south of the VT border.

I thought that the climb with the 25% grade and horses at the top kicked my butt and took the fun out of it.

Pretty cool as I never did a Rando ride before.

I might try it again, but not this year.

[C Law]

Come on ! nudge nudge.

It'll be fun. I was climbing at killington all day this past saturday for practice.

Anyway, I'll be riding my Salsa Dos niner MTB with fat cyclocross tires on it.

Here is a question for those who have done the event. Would it be worth it, in your opinion to swap out the suspension fork I have on my MTB and put a rigid one on?

I think I am going to do it but am curious as to opinions.

[bmike]

Come on ! nudge nudge.

It'll be fun. I was climbing at killington all day this past saturday for practice.

Anyway, I'll be riding my Salsa Dos niner MTB with fat cyclocross tires on it.

Here is a question for those who have done the event. Would it be worth it, in your opinion to swap out the suspension fork I have on my MTB and put a rigid one on?

I think I am going to do it but am curious as to opinions.

haven't done it, but i think the susp. would be annoying.
i plan on using my cross check with 35 knobbies on it.

[spokenword]

Here is a question for those who have done the event. Would it be worth it, in your opinion to swap out the suspension fork I have on my MTB and put a rigid one on? after my shoulders and forearms started protesting on my fourth descent on a 10% gravel slope, I started getting really envious of the guys with suspension forks. But, still, I'm with bmike in thinking that the suspension would be inefficient for the climbs. I think that if you're conscientious about keeping your weight and posture back on the descents, a rigid fork should be fine.

[C Law]

Well, the fork does have a lockout, but I guess it really boils down to whether or not carrying the extra 2 pounds is worth the comfort during the last 30 miles or not.

thanks for the feedback

I have a 60 mile MTB race on 8/19 in NH and I am way more excited about tackling the DDRR.

[C Law]

OK

Another question for those that have done the ddr2 before

Which of these two tires would you run. knobby cyclocross tires 35's (http://www.speedgoat.com/product.asp?part=40939&cat=320&brand=128)or semislick tires 38's (http://www.speedgoat.com/product.asp?part=40888&cat=320&brand=128)

[C Law]

Bueller?

[cdale56]

Any one here doing it?

So, how did it go?

[C Law]

OK (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=337472)

[cdale56]

OK-116 mile ride with 14,000 feet (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=337472)

Kurt,

Thanks for posting that, I got tired just from reading your report.

Maybe I will go up there sometime this fall and just follow the cue sheet, which is basically what I did last year except I paid 60+ bucks for it.

It is great riding territory up there and I love it up there. We just rode across the Mohawk trail last month and my wife and I scouted out the roads along the Deerfield River north from rte 2 to VT west of Charlemont and that looks better than the D2R2 roads.

[C Law]

^ I was thinking the same thing. Now that I have the cue sheet I can do that ride later in the fall if I feel like it with a small group or something.

Plus, There are so many dirt roads up there that it would be awesome to put together your own route or routes .

[cdale56]

I was thinking of planning a similar (mostly dirt) route down here-there are certainly enough dirt roads to make it interesting, but when scouting them out I sadly discovered that many were virtually unrideabale because of ATV use.

I think that the Mohawk Trail is one of the best rides I have done and that the side roads off of it are just as nice, though I haven't ridden even a small fraction of them.

Riding there in the fall is an added pleasure because the absence of leaves provides views that can't be seen otherwise.

[scotch]

saving up for the GRR (http://newhorizonsbikes.com/page.cfm?PageID=161) on 10/7. anyone else?