Yeah. If you want a mountain-like ride simulation River Rd is the place. Some sections were reminiscent of when I barely was able to finish the Blue Ridge Extreme Century.

I'd say the tequila was well-earned -- quite a ride! :thumb:

If my keying starts to slur you'll know why. :innocent:

dag dude. double century in iffy weather, good job. That's a long day. i do question your priorities, no beer, WTF. I'd offer you a homebrew but the kegerator is empty(hard cider only). End of week should be full on though.

Hey Harry: Did I see you biking on Bellona last Thursday? I was taking my parents out for the afternoon.

200 miles and a 3am start and 16K climbing, holy crap batman.

Hey NR,
Now that you've had time to recover by laying around the house in your slippers and jammies while cradling that bottle of Cuervo...
What did you think of your route? Would you do it again? What roads were good or bad?

Jammies? Slippers? Ok,... I won't go there. There may be children present. :innocent:

I liked the route. I even found a Subway in Elizabethtown for lunch (I wondered where lunch would be).

In Wrightsville, there's a park just south of the Wrightville/Columbia Bridge. I stopped there to use the porta-john and take a picture of the bridge. After crossing the bridge, you make a left turn on to Rt 441 and follow that all of the way to Middletown. There's a little bit of climbing just after you cross Rt 30.

In Middletown I picked up Rt 230. I found myseld on Rt 441 Truck Rt, but I could have stayed on Rt 441/Union St. That would have cut a little bit of distance off my ridden route.

Follow Rt 230 to Elizabethtown then to Mt Joy.

I did miss a turn that would take me south on Prospect Rd, then Rt 462 back toward Columbia/Wrightsville. Instead, I went too far east to Church St, Stoney Battery, College Ave, and then Rt 462. I think I amassed the extra distance between that missed cue and going through Susquehanna State Park to Havre de Grace instead of through Bel Air.

None of the roads were as bad as Baltimore City roads--not many are. Many of them were pretty smooth with at least a small lined shoulder and some with 14 foot shoulders. The hilly section, River Rd to Holtwood Rd, was wet and slightly leaf covered. You had to watch your speed because some descents were very steep. One had a 20% grade warning sign.

The road becomes long rollers on Rt 372 Holtwood Rd heading to Quarryville. It has a very wide shoulder--wide enough to accomodate an Amish horse-drawn buggy. I picked up Rt 272 before Quarryville following it south to Conowingo. Rt 272 has a very wide shoulder. It's very comfortable to cycle on.

Crossing the Conowingo is always a stress point. And, if you want to make the left turn on to Shuresville Rd, you have to time it just right because traffic can come fast from either direction and sight lines are not very clear.

The ride through Susquehanna Park is on rough roads sometimes littered with leaves. It is what it is.

Level Rd has a very wide shoulder, is very smooth, has high speed traffic and the final descent into Havre de Grace is scary/fun. You can hit 40 mph, no problem, but you have to be prepared to make the right hand turn on to Ohio St.

From Havre de Grace, it was Rt 40 nearly all of the way home--wide comfortable shoulder/high speed traffic.

I guess I can say that I enjoyed the entire route. It would have been better if it were dry, though.

Yah, I was out for a short spin on the 520 with cyclocross tires (10 m) found some hills, one that I hadn't ridden yet, Rolandvue off of Bellona, nice climb. Hope I didn't flip you off or anything, I'm really bad at seeing every MV as an adversary.


NR-Just read your double century report, hardcore, especially with those vertical numbers. I don't think I have the mental fortitude to do a 200 mile day by myself.

Thanks, Harry.

I'm sure you could do it if you really wanted to. It's just a matter of getting into the same mindset that the randonneurs have.

Woohoo! 1.5 days more of commuting to hit 13,000 miles for the year.

I don't mind long rides but do them so infrequently that I'm not conditioned mentally or physically for that. I wouldn't mind doing this double century in Death Valley in the very early spring. I did a camp out there in 08, it's a really cool place, no pun intended. February temps are actually incredible, landscape bizarre like you're riding on Mars, and there are long climbs, long flats, and you dehydrate faster than you can imagine.
I did the century ride during the camp.

http://www.adventurecorps.com/deathv...nroute200.html

Gee whiz, that's more millage then most people put on their car. :eek:

Seriously... wow... awesome and almost unbelievable.

I pulled a smart one today, in the rush of getting it together, I forgot........drumroll please..............my helmet. I guess with the balaclava on I never noticed til I got to work. Wife ran it out to me though. The wife was even awake and said bye and never noticed it.

Next thing you know I'll forget my bike and wonder why it took 2 1/2 hours to get to work.

:lol: And here I was feeling like a complete doofus because I forgot my shampoo yesterday! (j/k!) (I refilled the little travel bottle, but made the crucial error of not putting it back in the bag RIGHT AWAY.) I had to wash my hair with the bar soap. Ewwwww.

"We're not worthy! We're not worthy!!" :D

:o

Who thinks I should ride around the block a few more time?

Sorry... ain't gonna happen. ;)

I dare you to walk to work tomorrow.

:roflmao2:

I would like to know what percentage a ride around the book is compared to your year to date millage. :p

Sadly, for me, there was a time where I have run to work in Towson from Essex with a loaded back pack. It was prep for a marathon. I'd run to work (~10 miles) and then I'd run home in the afternoon-- ~ 20 miles for the day.

Those days are gone.

Not much (~.004% as of this edit), but I'd only need about another 1/2 mile to flip the odometer to 13,000 miles (was at 12,999.) I guess that milestone will have to wait until tomorrow morning.

NR, :beer:

CONGRATS TO NORACER ON 13,000 plus miles this year - SO FAR! That is UFB!

NR-You're probably close to the mileage pro racers put up, and that's their job.

I brought my mtb out to Loch Raven for a quick spin on the trails this afternoon. I plan on getting into this for the winter, once a week at least. I was totally off my game, freaky riding over really dense leaf cover so you can't see the rocks. A couple spots were better marked where other mtbs had packed down the leaves. The ups and downs on the fire road between Dulaney and Providence will get your hr up.
I had to be careful.

Thanks! :thumb:

What's weird is that I don't feel like I've put in any extra effort in comparison with the past 3 years.

I think it was more stressful to have to meet at BBC or DC RAND or SPP rides on a regular basis then to go ahead and ride long with a smaller group or on my own. I think I'll be cutting back on the club rides next year.

So, the end of the year is fast approaching. It looks like, barring a long period of winter storms, somewhere around 14,000 miles this year. I'll shoot for 15,000 next year. :D

I still don't have any beer in my house. Can you believe that? :twitchy: :twitchy: :twitchy:

And, I didn't even touch the tequila last time, either. :rolleyes: