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.