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10-04-07, 12:20 PM
It appears that RUSA has approved the DC Randonneur's application to run the first Shenandoah 1200K, June 5-8, 2008. It starts in Leesburg, VA. See http://dcrand.org/blog/category/shenandoah1200k/ for just a little bit more detail. I assume that more detail will be posted later as decisions are made.
Some personal observations about riding in the DC area. I do not know what final route was approved. I do know that the terrain around here can be fairly hilly. The average climbing has been a little over seven thousand feet per hundred miles, based on GPS/MotionBased records for the last year and a half, covering 38 rides of a century or longer (including both brevets and un-homologated training rides). By contrast, using the same GPS/MotionBased measurement, the average climbing on PBP was 5,715 feet per hundred miles and on BMB it was 6,692 feet per hundred miles. On the whole, though, I'd say the climbing on BMB is considerably tougher than around here, as BMB combines climbs that are both longer and have sections with more sustained steepness than the typical climbing in our area. But (weather aside) the terrain on PBP felt notably easier than typical local terrain.
Weather in early June can get quite hot and humid. All three 600's I've ridden have had periods into the high 80's or mid 90's. I don't do well in the heat, so thank God for bags of ice. At the same time, it can get chilly at night. I think that parts of the 1200 will be going through higher elevations in West Virginia, and I'd expect nighttime lows coming out of passes could be as low as the 40's.
Some personal observations about riding in the DC area. I do not know what final route was approved. I do know that the terrain around here can be fairly hilly. The average climbing has been a little over seven thousand feet per hundred miles, based on GPS/MotionBased records for the last year and a half, covering 38 rides of a century or longer (including both brevets and un-homologated training rides). By contrast, using the same GPS/MotionBased measurement, the average climbing on PBP was 5,715 feet per hundred miles and on BMB it was 6,692 feet per hundred miles. On the whole, though, I'd say the climbing on BMB is considerably tougher than around here, as BMB combines climbs that are both longer and have sections with more sustained steepness than the typical climbing in our area. But (weather aside) the terrain on PBP felt notably easier than typical local terrain.
Weather in early June can get quite hot and humid. All three 600's I've ridden have had periods into the high 80's or mid 90's. I don't do well in the heat, so thank God for bags of ice. At the same time, it can get chilly at night. I think that parts of the 1200 will be going through higher elevations in West Virginia, and I'd expect nighttime lows coming out of passes could be as low as the 40's.