The Road to Somewhere

iman29

Well-Known Member
The 140 route is cued up for Thursday. Looks to be the best weather day this weekend to make this happen. I'll be starting at 6 and going until it's done. Planned stops in PJ and East Stroudsburg for food and resupply. I will have the equivalent of 4 bottles with me on the bike and those stops will be 4-5 hours apart so I should be good. Going over the bike tonight to clean it and get it ready. Going with the gravel bike with 40c tires on it. I'll have a big water bottle on the fork and a big seat bag to take all of my clothing layers with me. Temps look to be from 35-65 ish. I need to be prepared for all of that.

Oh and at the moment I plan on gravel in PA. That’s the plan until I get there at least.
If you can get on the McDade trail highly recommend it. Me and 4 others just did this ride for the first time Sunday we had never been on there. It’s mostly hard packed shale gravel and some cool sections of woods with with a LOT of leaf cover.

We did this going clockwise across the Paulinskill and into PA and then back along McDade. We made a logistical error and didn’t have enough water from our lunch stop mile 37 until we finally got back into NJ after climbing from dingmans bridge around mile 63. That was rough but it was also like 65F at that point so a little warm.

It east stroudsburg we stopped at this awesome bakery on Broad street they have everything you need to refuel. We should have grabbed extra water and drinks after this stop.

This bacon egg and cheese was the bomb.


Route looks epic good luck.

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xc62701

Well-Known Member
If you can get on the McDade trail highly recommend it. Me and 4 others just did this ride for the first time Sunday we had never been on there. It’s mostly hard packed shale gravel and some cool sections of woods with with a LOT of leaf cover.

We did this going clockwise across the Paulinskill and into PA and then back along McDade. We made a logistical error and didn’t have enough water from our lunch stop mile 37 until we finally got back into NJ after climbing from dingmans bridge around mile 63. That was rough but it was also like 65F at that point so a little warm.

It east stroudsburg we stopped at this awesome bakery on Broad street they have everything you need to refuel. We should have grabbed extra water and drinks after this stop.

This bacon egg and cheese was the bomb.


Route looks epic good luck.

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Yea I’m going to do my best to get on McDade. I rode it last year in a big 2 day ride and it was pretty good. It’ll be different with all the leaf cover for sure but I’ll give it a go. It’s waaay better than 209. I’m more concerned with Paulinskill being a muddy hoof print mess but hopefully it’s not too bad. It’ll be a long day.

Now that’s the second person I’ve seen stop at that bakery too. I might have to check that out. My thought was to stop at the bbq joint in stroudsburg, but I could be convinced otherwise.
 
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iman29

Well-Known Member
Yea I’m going to do my best to get on McDade. I rode it last year in a big 2 day ride and it was pretty good. It’ll be different with all the leaf cover for sure but I’ll give it a go. It’s waaay better than 209. I’m more concerned with Paulinskill being a muddy hood print mess but hopefully it’s not too bad. It’ll be a long day.

Now that’s the second person I’ve seen stop at that bakery too. I might have to check that out. My thought was to stop at the bbq joint in stroudsburg, but I could be convinced otherwise.
From where we started behind angry Erik brewery there was one sloppy muddy section where I ended up tipping over like 3 minutes at the start of the ride. Other than that it was totally fine and the only thing we had to watch out for was the piles of horse shit hidden by the leaves.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
From where we started behind angry Erik brewery there was one sloppy muddy section where I ended up tipping over like 3 minutes at the start of the ride. Other than that it was totally fine and the only thing we had to watch out for was the piles of horse shit hidden by the leaves.

Perfect! Yea the only thing missing from my trip is a beer stop. I was eyeing up a brewery in Stroudsburg but Angry Erik could work as well. How's the beer there?
 

iman29

Well-Known Member
Perfect! Yea the only thing missing from my trip is a beer stop. I was eyeing up a brewery in Stroudsburg but Angry Erik could work as well. How's the beer there?
Didn’t get time to stop in for a beer , I crashed at mile 74 of 75 at the end and was annoyed so I didn’t go inside with the rest of the group and went home.

Lucky no major injuries just hurt my pride.

Heard it was good. 🤦🏻‍♂️
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
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It was a success! Lots of miles, lots of leaves, some tasty food in 3 different states, and finished feeling good. I actually wanted to keep going. Maybe I’ll try this again in the summer when there’s more light and better temps. A couple of beers at Angry Erik was spot on to finish the ride. Im looking forward to a nice recovery day tomorrow.

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iman29

Well-Known Member
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It was a success! Lots of miles, lots of leaves, some tasty food in 3 different states, and finished feeling good. I actually wanted to keep going. Maybe I’ll try this again in the summer when there’s more light and better temps. A couple of beers at Angry Erik was spot on to finish the ride. Im looking forward to a nice recovery day tomorrow.

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Wow that’s epic must have been dark on the way back. Kudos for doing that solo that might be too much for me all alone.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I put in 205 miles and Just under 16 hours of riding. I finished up the weekend with a day's worth of firewood splitting and leaf blowing. I'm beat. I usually treat this long weekend as an effort to beat myself up and I think I did just that. I rewarded myself with eating whatever I wanted as my body was just hungry. I'll have a more chill week this week to recover, and then I'll be back to riding and figuring out some more adventures to get me through the winter. No more races(maybe one more)! It'll be good to focus on just riding and having fun for a bit before ramping up for a better 2023!
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
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Here’s some more pics from the 140 ride. I kept thinking at the end that I felt good and could have gone for more. I felt 150/160 was doable that day but I was happy and didn’t want to push too much. In hindsight, I’m thinking with a full day of light and less leaf covered trail, that 200 is not out of the question. I definitely have more thoughts as to how to make this bigger and better next time…

And yes...somehow I got through 10 miles of trails in stokes with this setup. It wasn't that terrible, just the fact that the leaves hid EVERYTHING. I just tried to stay light on the bars and go with the flow. When I got to the pavement at High Point I was much happier.
 
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iman29

Well-Known Member
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Here’s some more pics from the 140 ride. I kept thinking at the end that I felt good and could have gone for more. I felt 150/160 was doable that day but I was happy and didn’t want to push too much. In hindsight, I’m thinking with a full day of light and less leaf covered trail, that 200 is not out of the question. I definitely have more thoughts as to how to make this bigger and better next time…

And yes...somehow I got through 10 miles of trails in stokes with this setup. It wasn't that terrible, just the fact that the leaves hid EVERYTHING. I just tried to stay light on the bars and go with the flow. When I got to the pavement at High Point I was much happier.
Now I see the extra water storage. Did you also run the main bottle cages too ? How’s the steering and balance wirh that on the fork? My checkpoint is just as capable but I haven’t loaded it up like that yet.

We were thinking that our 75 could have also easily been at least 100 if we had more daylight and better planning for food and water stops. We are already planning to do it again in the spring or earlier fall when more leaves are still on the trees and not the trail.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
Now I see the extra water storage. Did you also run the main bottle cages too ? How’s the steering and balance wirh that on the fork? My checkpoint is just as capable but I haven’t loaded it up like that yet.

We were thinking that our 75 could have also easily been at least 100 if we had more daylight and better planning for food and water stops. We are already planning to do it again in the spring or earlier fall when more leaves are still on the trees and not the trail.

Yes I ran the main bottle cages as well. Steering and balance were fine at speed. It really wasn't noticeable or I got used to it quickly. This time of year you need to bring your own daylight ;) Less leaves would have been nice. If I had a MTB for Stokes that would have been preferable, but the gravel setup wasn't horrible and much better for the rest of the route.
 

xc62701

Well-Known Member
I’ve got something of a new route to explore. I’d like to get on some of the good NJ gravel and then take it over to the D&L in PA and loop it back on the Columbia. I’m thinking I’d do this in 2/3 days. Probably credit card packing and in the warmer weather/longer daylight for sure. Why? Because why not. 🤷🏻‍♂️ I need to plan something to keep me motivated and interested. Since the 2022 season is done I’ll be planning some races but some adventures too. This could be a great summer adventure to really get out there.

Any advice as to other areas to stay on gravel or quieter roads would be appreciated. The NJ part I know pretty well the PA sections I’m just guesstimating for now.



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xc62701

Well-Known Member
Took off today to get some stuff done including a bike ride. This is the mini gravel loop that worked out to be pretty tough and soft given the recent rain. All of the climbing was in the second half but it didn’t feel like it. Finally got back to Jenny Jump too. I miss that climb.

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xc62701

Well-Known Member
Hey it's the new year! Same crap around here though. Trying to burn off the holiday pounds and think about what lies ahead this season riding wise. I plan on doing a bunch of races. Some old, and some new. I want to see how things will be coming in from a different mentality than last year. I had no plans of racing as much as I did for sure. I wasn't even sure if I was a racer any more. Here's what I posted in the Stats Thread:

In the other side of stats, I went from thinking I might not race again(and fading into oblivion) to being back in the hunt.

Here's some race stats:
14 races this year
7 Endurance Mtb
5 XC MTB
2 CX

Results:
1st, 3rd, 4th place xc mtb races
1st place fatbike race
3rd place 12 hour mtb race
3rd place 50 miler mtb race
5th place H2H series
1 DFL

Mindboggling considering where I started last year mentally. More like bat shit crazy.

For some I'm sure it seems like bragging, but for me it's more of a shock that I could have done that well. I have raced well in the past, but I thought those days were behind me. I'm not as young and dumb as I once was, but I still try to get there sometimes. Ok maybe it was bragging a little, but I'm still shocked to see that I was able to turn things around from being a fat rider, drop 40 lbs. and then get back in the game. For me it's always been the weight battle. If I can keep the weight low I can ride pretty well.

This year I'm starting the battle at almost 30 lbs less than last year. That's a huge advantage. I raced most of last season in the 165-170 range. Right now I'm sitting at 178. I'm back on the calorie counting and already I've cut some of the weight gains that December brought on. I'm motivated to do well and I'm already looking at races in Jan, Feb, and March to keep the motivation up. Then the bulk of the race season will be April - July, August seems to be a nice summer break for me and then hit some late season racing in September and October. That's how it worked last year and I was able to get in a lot of good family time among the selfish bike racer time. It seems like a good plan in my head. I'll have to see how it actually unfolds though.
 
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