F2G2: roll call

[Anton Tutter]

Who here is going?  I plan to. Looks like another great gravel ride, with foliage!

[Jon]

I'm in, and camping at October Mountain SF the night before.

Jon

Watertown, MA

[Jeffrey Kane]

High on my radar -- I'd say I'm 90% at this point -- will run it down to the wire to register and let you know.

On Friday, September 12, 2014 11:56:20 AM UTC-4, Anton Tutter wrote:

[Steve Park]

I'm in.  Driving out that morning. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_1PXZJ6hoQ

[Lenny Rosenfeld]

I'm in. Driving up night before. Camping in Worthington.

Lenny

Brookline MA

[Steve Park]

fyi, I was looking at some of the routes online.  The final 52m route looks terrific. 
One of the earlier routes shows a side-loop through Beartown SF (mile45-56 in that version), but when I asked about it the organizer said that particular section is some rougher trail rough so they left it off.  They are instead considering a bonus loop to the south, maybe to Sandisfield SF or nearby, to make a loop of about 60 miles total.  That mileage seems plenty given the amount of climbing and the quality of the roads.  Should be a nice showcase of dirt in the area. 
In any case, I'm getting excited about this one.  The area is new to me. Should be fun.

[Christian Bratina]

I have ridden that route through Beartown SF and found it some of the best in the northeast.  The only section that is a little harder than D2R2 is Old Beartown Road because it has an overgrowth of 1 foot grass.  Sorry to miss it, we are cycle touring to Ottawa the next two weeks.

Christian Bratina

Litchfield, CT 06759

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[Lenny Rosenfeld]

I mapped out a slight mod to the latest route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/5958960 with Beartown forest added in adding 6 miles of rough stuff but it sounds like the organizier's bonus loop should be a better bet.

[Steve Park]

Christian,
Thanks for the feedback.  Grass sounds alright.

Lenny, Interesting idea.

I will be curious to see if the organizers offer up some options or not.  Maybe someone will be foolish enough to join me in some exploring....

[Anton Tutter]

That five mile descent through the Beartown forest in your detour looks like fun!

Anton

On Friday, September 12, 2014 4:04:49 PM UTC-4, Lenny Rosenfeld wrote:

[Steve Park]

hmmm the detour misses the mile 26.5 water stop at Beartown Mt. Road & Carrington-Battell, but maybe not a big deal since the water stops are close together...

1	16	Cronk & Chestnut Hill	10:00 AM	12:00 PM
2	26.5	Beartown Mt. Road & Carrington-Battelle	10:30 AM	1:20 PM
3	34	Goose Pond Rd & George Cannon	11:00 AM	2:15 PM
4	43.5	Top of Schermerhorn Road	11:45 AM	3:30 PM
Finish	54	Canterbury Farm	12:00 PM	5:00 PM

[Christian Bratina]

This (http://ridewithgps.com/routes/3619738) is one of our regular routes, green is dirt, red is paved.  The Jerusalem road you show is a nice paved and hard packed dirt road, not nearly as much fun as what I layed out.


Christian Bratina

Litchfield, CT 06759

860/361-9163

--

[Lenny Rosenfeld]

I've never ridden thru Beartown, but Dave (rode tan Soma at K2) suggested the detour. I also found this: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/342126101 (same guy that shot this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_1PXZJ6hoQ).

"No garmin, no rules." I'm definitely up for exploring.

[Chris Knighton]

I'll be coming out with Mr. Jon Doyle for the ride! Can't wait!

Chris K.

(Sent from my phone)

On Sep 12, 2014 7:17 PM, "Lenny Rosenfeld" <lenny.r...@gmail.com> wrote:

I've never ridden thru Beartown, but Dave (rode tan Soma at K2) suggested the detour. I also found this: http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/342126101 (same guy that shot this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_1PXZJ6hoQ).

"No garmin, no rules." I'm definitely up for exploring.

[Steve Park]

Course preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwTIrlJ0dfM

course signage...whoa!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNdIhccj8cA

[Anton Tutter]

Wow, the signage is great! Who needs a cue sheet!

[Jeffrey Kane]

No doubt -- I am registered and so happy about it !

[Lenny Rosenfeld]

I've been emailing with Brad (one the organizers) about route suggestions to add more dirt. He's been *super* helpful and added a 7 mile bonus. Here's his response:

Yesterday I went around the Beartown State Forest stuff and partially marked it out.  Check out this video for a little of what it’s like and what the route consists of. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xk4TgzQC_Ho

  

It only adds 7.5 miles, but that’s about all we can do b/c we are using Brace Rd which pushed everything back towards Beartown.  You can actually not take Mt. Wilcox Road and take the next right to add even more, but I didn’t check that out.  If you want that as an option, I could look into it.  You’ll need to be at the 25 mile mark by about 11:30 to add this on and make it to the second aid station before it closes which means if you start at 9AM, you’ll need to average 10 mph which isn’t actually hard to do over the first part of the route, but all the climbing starts at 25 really, nothing major beforehand so as long as you’re not tired at 25, you should be fine, but if you are tired, I wouldn’t recommend taking the longer loop. 

 

I will try to get down there and re-spray paint if I can, but I’ll make up a cue sheet and a GPX file for you to follow in case I don’t.  It’s really easy to follow I think.

Hat's off to Brad and all the organizers. Can't wait for the ride!

[Steve Park]

Wow, Ben is going all out here.

I added the Beartown bonus loop onto the final route and get this: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/6029486

[Steve Park]

Whoops, that's Brad (not Ben). 

[Paul Lohnes]

Looks like an interesting route. RWGPS does so much a better job at presenting elevation profile. Tried a bit of using satellite to see how much dirt, but got distracted..any idea of % dirt? Hopefully some remote sections and "hero" stuff.

[Steve Park]

Following the route on Garmin BaseCamp shows me roughly 38 miles of dirt on the 60 mile bonus route.

[Paul Lohnes]

OK, thanks

[Jeffrey Kane]

So, fellow list-members … are you all still on for this one? I'll be leaving from North-Central RI around 6:00AM. G-Maps says 2 hrs by car. Am interested in the  full route and could easily be talked into the bonus dirt route as well. I don't think I've met any of you guys in person -- except Anton for a minute at the '13 D2R2 -- but I'm coming solo so would be happy to tag along -- or whatever. What time is anyone thinking about starting?

I'm on a tan/butterscotch color Saluki with Bethoud fenders -- probably wearing a Gotham/Toga/NYC Bike riding jersey.

Looks like rain in Becket all day Saturday and a somewhat chilly start, btw ...

[Anton Tutter]

I'm still in, and hoping to add the bonus loop, but we'll see...

Aiming for an 8-8:30 arrival.  Happy to ride with anyone who's as slow as I am! I do like to stop to take photos, so I don't mind dropping back solo.

Anton

[Brian Postlewaite]

Well then Anton,

I will likely be hanging back with you.

As you know, I prefer the pace of the Contemplative Randonneur.

And if the weather is nice, I'll probably bring my camera too.

~Brian

[Paul Lohnes]

So what was the verdict on this ride/route? Worthy of loading into the Garmin and doing this week? How would you compare it D2 or Kearsage?

Thanks

[Christian Bratina]

F2G2 was a great ride, in my backyard.  Having ridden many of the roads on our own, it was nice to tie them into new ones.  The food was incredible, a great mix of riders, like the first days of mountain biking.  Not as long and grueling as D2R2.  All in all, a great success.  We need more rides like this.

Christian Bratina

Litchfield, CT 06759

860/361-9163

 

 

 

On Mon, Oct 06, 2014 at 06:08 AM, Paul Lohnes wrote:

 

 

So what was the verdict on this ride/route. Worthy of loading into the Garmin and doing this week. How would you compare it D2 or Kearsage?

Thanks

On Friday, September 12, 2014 11:56:20 AM UTC-4, Anton Tutter wrote:

Who here is going?  I plan to. Looks like another great gravel ride, with foliage!

[Steve Park]

The ride/route was A+.  I think of D2R2 as having lots of smooth dirt roads, nearly road-bikable.  F2G2 roads were a bit rougher and less predictable -> mile for mile, more interesting IMO.  I was happy that I had a slightly burlier tire at F2G2.
F2G2 climbs seemed steeper but shorter.   About the same feet/mile of climbing as D2R2.

I recommend the Beartown State Forest bonus loop.  It was my favorite section. 

[Jon]

On Monday, October 6, 2014 6:16:36 AM UTC-4, Paul Lohnes wrote:

So what was the verdict on this ride/route? Worthy of loading into the Garmin and doing this week? How would you compare it D2 or Kearsage?

I rode the 61mi Bonus version (ridewithgps.com/routes/6205345) and enjoyed immensely. The route is very beautiful and at times challenging, like D2R2 or Kearsarge. The terrain is much different from the latter, perhaps less extreme, and this route seems to offer a higher percentage of off-road and unpaved riding. 

If you're riding it soon, be prepared for leaf-covered 2-track. It wasn't too technical, but I had to really look for the ruts and rocks under the pretty leaves.

Sidenote: the support for the event was great. Super enthusiastic volunteers, maple syrup shots, cute dogs…the works. Definitely consider signing up next year!

My photos: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk4fjcyi

Jon

Watertown, MA

[Pamela Blalock]

John and I rode this on our tandem.

This was an amazing ride. We were on so many new-to-us roads. From the
get-go, we found ourselves on a lovely narrow hard packed gravel
road, along a gradual climb. A couple of miles in we reached a cue
that said beginning of first climb. I looked down at my GPS, which
showed almost 600 feet of *pre-first* climb. Apparently they only
labeled as *climb* inclines that made use of your very bottom gear!
This route had several *climbs*.

Fortunately, this was not a race, as John stopped frequently to take
photos. Hopefully he'll get through them soon, and get them posted,
but it may take a while. The scenery was photo-worthy, and he tried
hard to fill a memory card. Sometime after the first rest-stop, we
came upon Jon and Chris, fixing a puncture at a particular
photo-worthy spot, and spent the rest of the day with them.

The route took in lots of tiny roads, some of which were permanently
closed to other traffic (some folks may call these sections trails).
The closed roads sometimes had some rough sections, where one had to
navigate around pinch flat causing rocks. The heavy rain on Saturday
also filled a few puddles to axle depth, but it was easy enough to get
around them - although a few tried to ride through with some amount of
mixed success.

Along with Jon and Cris, we also took in the bonus loop at Beartown,
and it was super, with a few more gnarly sections that the main route.

The final climb was the feature climb. The volunteers talked about it
at every rest stop. It was a closed road that climbed up into October
Mountain State Forest. The road was classic Massachusetts pavement
with bits of asphault roughly held together by the gravitational pull
of black holes. OK, I'll concede that most of our *open* roads have
better pavement than this, but if we have another winter like this
past one, that may not be the case for long. The steepness of the
slope, along with the stone filled *potholes* made this long climb, at
the end of the ride, especially cruel. Riders on cyclocross bikes with
typical cyclocross gearing found themselves making use of their cross
skills, i.e. dismounting and pushing. Even as we brought up the rear,
thanks to all the photo-stops, we passed multiple riders who were on
foot here. Randonneuring types with fat tires and low gears spun away
merrily on this climb.

The volunteer effort was over the top. The various aid stations along
the way were staffed with energetic-beyond-words high school kids.
Many of the snacks were home-made by the same volunteers who staffed
the stops. The cue sheet was quite detailed. Where possible, there
were arrows painted on route and every turn wa marked with a sign
(political ad type signs). The sweep picked up all the signs, so you
won't find those on route if you do it on your own later. You also
will miss out of the enthusiastic support staff, and the campfire at
the top of the final climb and the great beer and wonderful burgers
(veggie and beef) at the end. But you will get the same scenery,
albeit with fewer leaves and less color in coming weeks. As Jon
pointed out, leave cover can make it tricky to spot rocks and such on
some of the more trail-like sections.

This really was an amazing route and ride. It was really well run for
a first year event! The route was clearly designed by cyclists and
flowed quite well, even if sometimes the flow was made slower by the
steepness of the incline! I would both recommend doing the official
event next year as well as checking out part or all of the route in
your own time.

pamela blalock
watertown, ma

http://blayleys.blogspot.com

[Anton Tutter]

Pamela and others described this beautiful ride really well, so the only words I'll add are those from a friend who also rode, and whom I saw the next day: "I'm still coming down off the high".

So without further words, I'll just supplement the collective experience with photos-- here's a set of photos I took along the route. I didn't do the bonus loop so missed out on some potentially great views, but here's what I did manage to capture:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/7516215@N03/sets/72157648387763216/

Will be waiting eagerly to ride this route again!

Anton
Somerville, MA
ridingthecatskills.com

[Pamela Blalock]

Awesome photos Anton.

I hassled John to get his photos sorted and we have a post up...
http://blayleys.blogspot.com/2014/10/f2g2-fall-foliage-gravel-grinder.html

pamela blalock
watertown, ma

http://blayleys.blogspot.com