The Dumbest Day ...

shrpshtr325

Infinite Source of Sarcasm
Team MTBNJ Halter's
doesnt strava have a feature that allows you to broadcast your current location so anyone who wants to meet up could more easily find you?

i think its called beacon?!?!?!
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
doesnt strava have a feature that allows you to broadcast your current location so anyone who wants to meet up could more easily find you?

i think its called beacon?!?!?!

Yeah, good call ... I've never used it before so I'll have to play around with it get it working.
 

jmanic

JORBA Board Member/Chapter Leader
Staff member
JORBA.ORG
Team MTBNJ Halter's
There is a similar friend locating function on Maprika that works pretty well,
haven't tried it outside the confines of a trail map though-
But I think there is a base level map off the defined grids.

Oh and love this plan!
(safely, from a distance)
 

Dairyman

Active Member
This sounds like a blast. I rode wiss for a few years and never knew the full potential of the trail system. Would you be interested in doing a smaller loop sooner? Are you planning on running gears or SS?
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
This sounds like a blast. I rode wiss for a few years and never knew the full potential of the trail system. Would you be interested in doing a smaller loop sooner? Are you planning on running gears or SS?

Sure! I ride Wiss multiple times a week - always down for a ride! Give me a shout whenever you're heading out this way.

To answer your other question ... what are "gears"?
 

THATmanMANNY

Well-Known Member
If we can work out a small group to ride higher manageable miles with multiple parks and brews and shuttle back (no doubling back on bike) that would be dope.
 

KenS

JORBA: Director
JORBA.ORG
Would love to do this ride but I'm in Bentonville on the day it's scheduled.

Following this thread to jump on anything else planned, and willing to lead / help on those rides.
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
If we can work out a small group to ride higher manageable miles with multiple parks and brews and shuttle back (no doubling back on bike) that would be dope.

It should be easy to do, but honestly doubling back on the bike is super easy so no need for shuttles. Here is a diagram of that area of the ride:

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If you were to park at the movie theater, than any loop you do puts you barely a mile from it when you finish - whether you hit Belmont, Wiss, Wiss Brewing or Manayunk Brewing, you are only about five minutes by road or bike path from your car when you finish..
 

Patrick

Overthinking the draft from the basement already
Staff member
oh, i thought he didn't want to double back for the same beer :D
since there are two breweries and 2 trail systems, we are good!
 

JDurk

Well-Known Member
Following along as well. If I skip the MASS race that day, would like to join in the fun for Wiss and Belmont.
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
So we are a little more than five weeks out on this ride. A couple of things to mention:

First, I noticed that the planned ride date, June 16, clashes with the MTBNJ Stewart Poison Ivy Mousetrap Race. That's unfortunate, but I totally understand if anyone who was considering joining me for some (or all!) of this insanity opts to go to the race instead. If not, all previous options are still open.

Second, I am really hoping that the timing for a recent discovery works out: it appears that the vacuum created in the North Wales region by the shuttering of Prism Brewing is being picked up by not one but two new breweries opening in the Lansdale/North Wales area. One of them is perfectly situated right off the Green Ribbon Trail at its Upper Gwynned terminus -- Ten7 Brewing, scheduled to open in "Spring 2018". I'm really hoping they're all set by the middle of June. That would make the complete stops (in order):

Conshohocken Brewing
Manayunk Brewing
Wissahickon Brewing
Forrest & Main
Ten7 Brewing
Round Guys Brewing

The logistics, as they stand today:

Depending on how my legs are that day, I may be adding a few extra miles to the earlier part of the ride. IN the last year or so, some MTB trails have opened up in Evansburg State Park near Collegeville. If I am making good time when I reach Collegeville (about 50 miles into the day), I may take a short trip down Ridge Pike to hit some of those trails. The ratio of MTB-to-Horse trails there is really small, so it may not be worth the trip, but if I have a lot of time to burn, I may swing down and hit it up. My timing will depend entirely on my estimated arrival at Conshohocken Brewing - they open at 11, so I don't want to be rolling into there until at least that time. That's about 20 miles past Collegeville, so I'm thinking that if I arrive in Collegeville by 9 am, I'll probably head over the ESP. If it's closer to 10, I'll just keep rolling.

Either way, I'll intend to get to Conshy between 11 and 12.

After that, I'll head down the last few miles of the SRT (passing by Manayunk at first) and try to be starting Belmont before 1:00. At that point, I don't have to be killing myself anymore to finish in daylight, so if anyone is thinking of joining for Belmont, don't worry about the pace being crazy. It won't have to be. Belmont is a slower paced trail anyway because it's got lots (and I do mean LOTS) of log-overs, and it's pretty tight and twisty in spots. If anyone would like to join for Belmont, I'd say try to be at the Manayunk movie theater (where you can park without a problem) by say 12:15-12:30. We'll ride over to Belmont and then double back for Manayunk Brewing, which is less than a mile from the theater by road (and it's the same road so no one will get lost if I have to roll on before you're done enjoying the brewery!)

After Manayunk, I'll roll on to Wissahickon. Wiss is the longest trail system of the day and I intend to hit at least the large majority of it (about 30 miles at this point.) If everything is on schedule, I should be starting that some time between 2:30 and 3:00. If anyone wants to join for Wiss, I'd say park at the same Manayunk movie theater and I'll meet you on the way back from that brewery between roughly 2:30 and 3. To avoid problems with that if we get delayed in Belmont (entirely possible for folks who've never been there before), I'd say let me know in advance if you are planning to do the Wiss portion only and I'll keep you posted on progress throughout the day so we can better keep track of meet-up times.

After Wiss, we'll pop out of the woods just down Ridge Ave from Wissahickon Brewing (and, again, less than a mile from the Manayunk theater.) After that brewery, I am off to head back home on the Green Ribbon Trail (GRT), where I'll pop out in Ambler for Forrest & Main (about a mile off the trail in downtown Ambler) and then finish off the GRT before hitting (hopefully) Ten7 followed by Round Guys for the finish. If anyone is interested in riding the GRT, that could be tricky unless you'r going the full distance -- the GRT is a one-way trail that connects Philly to the suburbs where I live. If you want to ride it, yo'd have to go both ways to get to your car, which is like 36 miles total and we won't be starting that until probably 5:30 or so, so you'd be in the dark by the end of the ride.

So that's the plan. If there is anyone who wants to actually consider doing the whole thing, let me know in advance and what I'll do is get clearance for you to park at Merck's lot right across the street from Ten7. We can meet there and then what we'll do is reverse the order of the brewery stops for Round Guys and Ten7 so we finish right at the brewery where your car is more or less. I'd strongly advise anyone considering the full ride to get a hotel room for the night afterward. There's a Homewood Suites a mile from the brewery and other hotels not much further away. I say that because this is a seriously long, hard day on the bike and you will be putting alcohol in a depleted body as you go. Driving home afterward could be a recipe for disaster and it's one thing I want to be very clear about. For me, I live in Lansdale, so all I have to do when I'm done is roll on home, but I don't want anyone to put themselves in any kind of risk. This is a fun day, but it'll hurt if you aren't used to regular 100 mile rides.

As I said, I totally get it if folks decide to forego this to participate in the MTBNJ race that day. If racing isn't your thing, though, or you have more free time later in the day than the race allows for, please come and join me for some of the ride! It's fun, and I'm always pumped to share the local trails with folks who may not get to ride them much if at all. The goal of this ride is to just enjoy two things that Philly is well-known for: great trails and great beers. If you get a chance to do both, that makes for a pretty epic day.

If anything needs to change between now and June, I'll keep posting updates here. As we get closer, I'll throw out another reminder or two. I would ask if you want to come that you give me a rough idea ahead of time what kind of timing works best for you to meet up. Obviously, I'll be limited in what I can accommodate, but by all means let me know what will work and I'll see what I can do.
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
So quick updates ...

Much to my disappointment, looks like Ten7 won't be open in time (some kind of delay in the equipment they need), so unless I can find another substitute closer to the trails, I may have to go back to the original plan and hit Iron Hill for stop number 5.

Also ... is anyone thinking they might be joining me for any of the Philadelphia stuff (Belmont &/or Wiss)? We're less than two weeks out now and I want to be sure I give anyone who needs them directions to a meet-up spot, and get an idea of the timing to make it work. Again, I'm aware this is the same day as the Stewart race, so I don't expect too many but of course all are welcome.

One side note on weather: if the weather is "bad" (i.e., raining day-of or significant rain in the sun-up to the 16th), I will probably have to postpone. Wiss typically drains well and is rideable the day after a rain storm, but it's taken a lot of punches from the weather this year already and it was unrideable last night after rain on and off on Sunday. Belmont can get downright dangerous when after rain (the log-overs get slick like ice) and much of Green Lane is unrideable after any storm. So if we continue to have the weather we've had for much of the year, where we get like five or six days of rain in a row, I might have to push it off. That really sucks, but I'm not really down with wrecking the trails, my bike, or myself.
 

1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
So final update pre-ride ...

I'll be starting from home at 6 am Saturday morning, and I'll reach Green Lane between and an hour and a quarter and an hour and a half later. 17-18 miles in Green Lane, then head for the Perk Trail. Green Lane is about a 2 hour ride, give or take. Refuel at Collegeville and then finish Perk to Valley Forge and pick up the SRT. SRT to first brewery (Conshohocken, right on the trail.) Should reach that sometime between 11:30 and noon. Then it'll be SRT to Belmont Plateau. Belmont will take about two plus hours (maybe longer if it's still overgrown and chunky after all the recent weather) and then it's doubleback on SRT to Manayunk Brewing. Then it's on to Wiss - hopefully around 2:30-3ish. I rode Wiss last night and Sunday seems to have been the straw that broke the camel's back there - there are quite a few sections that were just washed out completely. Luckily, Wiss is robust enough to still be rideable, but with a few trees down and grooved out trail sections, it could be slower than usual. Hoping to finish Wiss by 5 pm. Then I'll hit Wissahickon Brewing off Ridge, and then it's back through Forbidden Drive at Wiss to head home on the GRT. Right where the GRT crosses Butler Pike in Ambler, I'll hop off to go a mile into town to hit Forrest and Main, and then it's on to the end of the GRT in Upper Gwynned. Then I'll take backroads down to Iron Hill off 309. Then head back through Lansdale to Round Guys for the last stop, hopefully some time around 8 or so. Then it's through town to the finish! Total miles should be around 140-150, give or take depending on whether I have to cut sections of the GRT out for being a mess (I'm anticipating at least one section will be unrideable even if it doesn't rain again.)

So if anyone is around and free and wants to do something kind of stupid this Saturday, feel free to pick a spot and fall-in! Best meet-up spot is probably the Manayunk movie theater where Main Street meets Ridge. It's close to Belmont and Wiss and less than a mile from both Manayunk and Wissahickon Brewing (and only about 5 or 6 miles from Conshohocken Brewing.) I should pass through there for the first time a little after noon and then again twice between 2:30 and 3. I will be dressed in a black and orange kit on a silver Moots SS.
 

JDurk

Well-Known Member
Decided to do The Challenger MASS race tomorrow. Looks like the weather will be in your favor this year. Last night at Belmont was awesome, and trails are spectacular. Last night's loop looked to have been clipped recently and I only remember 1 mudhole on 420 trail. Even some of the stream crossings were low. Enjoy, be safe and looking forward to the pics and Strava.
 
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1speed

Incredibly profound yet fantastically flawed
I got really lucky on the weather. Yesterday was about as nice a day as I can recall all year. I started at 6 am and met up with my buddy Dr. Craig at Green Lane by 7:30. We rode Green Lane, which was in outstanding condition overall. (I was worried about that initially because the Blue Trail has been awful the last few weeks.) In fact, there were vey few muddy sections of any trail all day - the only "bad" section was near the end of the ride not he GRT.

Craig rode with me as far as Collegeville on the Perkiomen Trail, and from there on I was on my own all day. Well, except for the bugs. I think I had to stop to get bugs out of my helmet about a hundred times yesterday. I'd just be riding along and another one would fly into the vents and get stuck. Happened all day.

Between that, and of course, the brewery stops, I only had a few other times where I had to stop riding. Once was to help a girl who was very lost near Valley Forge - she was looking for the trail to Malvern, which is pretty far from Valley Forge by bike. That took a while. The other non-brewery and non-bug stops stop was my low point of the day. By the time I reached 100 miles I was in Wissahickon and I was hurting - I had a splitting headache, and my legs were feeling wonky. I had to stop out on Cresheim and just sit for a while. Eventually, I got some ibuprofen and a coke at a store near Germantown and was able to continue. A rider I came across as I was heading toward Spaghetti Bowl across Lincoln told me not to bother with that because it was blocked about 2/3 of the way through. I was okay with that, and just doubled-back to ride the paved path out to Wissahickon Brewing.

The one thing I didn't think through enough was that, with he extra miles for this year's ride, it was going to be impossible to finish int he daylight unless I never stopped (netting a 12 mph average would have worked, but that was impossible once I started slowing down in Wiss after having to go slower due to the the overgrowth in Belmont.) As it turns out, I was able to average a little under 11 for the day and with stops and total mileage that meant a 16 hour day, which means I was finishing up around 10 pm. I managed to get to the end of the GRT with almost enough light to see what I was doing, and my wife met me there with lights and a reflective vest since I would be on the road the rest of the way.

Ultimately, I got home just after 10, and was pretty wrecked. I ate two massive sandwiches (my first real food all day) and then basically lay in bed staring at the ceiling because I just couldn't sleep. I figure I'll crash later today and probably sleep the afternoon away ...

So that's that, another Brewery Tour in the books ... total mileage was right around 150 (my Garmin ran out of juice with a couple miles to go when I was at Round Guys), and about 8K elevation. A good time for sure!

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Before the start ... everything clean

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On the road in the early morning ...
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The ride from my house to Green Lane is very scenic, but has some tough climbs ...
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Along the Perkiomen Creek near Dietz Mill ...
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Riding with Craig up to the start of Blue in Green Lane ...
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GL singletrack ...
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At the point where Perk meets the SRT ...
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First Brew stop ...
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Fueling up the best way I know how ...
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If it's all logs and rocks, that means you're in Belmont ...
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The outdoor bar at Manayunk only served my choice (their very good Wit) in cans ...
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Sitting down in Wiss to shake off bad legs and a splitting headache ...
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Doubling up on Gypsy Belgian Ale at Wissahickon Brewing ...
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A big damn tree uprooted on the GRT ...
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Just about where I missed the turn off the GRT to go to Forrest & Main ...
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At Iron Hill in Lower Gwynned (I just noticed it looks like my rear tire is floating here) ...
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A Blonde with a Brown Ale chaser at Round Guys ...
 
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