Oh Canada ACP 400k

[Jas Dembinski]

A couple of notes as the rider organizer.

Let's hope the Canadian forest fires abate!  Air quality in Vermont is usually great but the fires have had an impact.  I plan on pre-riding next Wednesday/Thursday and will provide a pre-ride report here.  If you can't make the regular ride and are willing to start either at 4 am or noon or 4 pm or 8pm (I haven't made up when I'll get going), contact me.

Any riders interested in camping at our house for the ride are welcome.  Bring a tent or hammock.

For anyone interested staying in a local motel and having trouble finding accommodations: the new owners of Sleep Woodstock, about 3 miles from the start and on the route in the beginning, have reserved a block of 4 king beds for us:

"To help the cyclists and their families have a great place to stay just west of Woodstock at our motel, SleepWoodstock.com, if they call or book online and reference our coupon code, "Oh Canada" they will get 20% off.  This discount will be good for the next 10 days."

This will also be a great ride for PBP and Grand Brevet aspirants.  It has about the same elevation as PBP for the distance and has a lot of rolling terrain and, generally, wonderful scenery. 

No guarantees on the weather, but brief thunderstorms and showers are common in the summer.

Hope to see you this year!

Jan

[Jas Dembinski]

On the pre-ride: I am unsure of the start time but will happily take into consideration others' logistics.  My PBP scheduled start is 8 pm; a friend who may ride with me has an earlier start time but is thinking about a noon start.  Finally, 4 am is the start for the riders and I think a pre-ride may need to begin at the same time as the regular ride.  Correct me if I am wrong.    

Best

[Jas Dembinski]

Vermont was hit hard by the rain over the weekend, and I just saw a weather alert warning about more rain this weekend.  That said, I hope all who have signed up and all those intending to are looking forward to riding as I am certain the incredible energy I am witnessing around here with road restoration will continue and our 400k go off as planned.  New England 511 (google it) is very helpful for road reports.  I will do a pre-route drive as soon as I can.  However, it may not be until next Thursday I can send out a report.  Best

[Bruce...@gd-ms.com]

> Vermont was hit hard by the rain

> I will do a pre-route drive as soon as I can.
> However, it may not be until next Thursday

FWIW, Outages on VT 9 were apparent on Google Maps after TS Irene in 2011 and I've heard this is the worst flooding since; checking the route on it could be helpful.

- Bruce

[Jas Dembinski]

Hi Bruce,

I have other "stuff" on my plate currently.  If you would like to pre-drive the route, I am certain the New England Randonneur community would applaud you--one and all.  Maybe even the international ACP community.  Thanks!

Jan

[Phillip Stern]

People could also check for road closures on this website: https://newengland511.org/

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[Pierre Payette]

It looks like there is a sinkhole-related closure about 10 miles into the route.  Looks like it then narrowly avoids a slope failure on Rt 107 as it heads North and manages to avoid most of the road closures until turning south again around Hardwick at mile 125.  Looks like there are a handful of road closures between there and the finish.  I'm really not sure what to expect, probably will be okay, but road shoes seem like a bad choice.

[Tsun Au Yeung]

Just a friendly reminder Registration for the O'Canada ACP 400km ride this Saturday is closing at 17:00 today, Thursday 7/20/2023.  No late registration will be accepted and please don't be late to register if you are still on the fence!  Less than 12 hours for you to go register.

https://www.bikereg.com/nervt400k

Final Route Detail will be send to registered rider tomorrow morning and possibly .fit or .tcx file could be available to copy to your gps device at the start (but you are taking a chance on your GPS device...).  We will also print out a copy of the cue sheet for everyone since we have to finalize the route so late for sensible riders to take for back up.  

Tsun

Club President 9Fs of NER

[Jas Dembinski]

I just returned home from pre-driving the route.  Good news is the route does not change from the original.  Here is my RWGPS route from this morning: https://ridewithgps.com/trips/128641620.  A couple of notes: I made a couple of miscues on the drive and ended up needing to turn around after Barre.  The turn around after Barre was on account of the road being closed until Friday or early Saturday for paving.  A state official on site was confident the road would be fully pave before Friday's end--if not, then definitely on Saturday.  That's great news, also, as the earliest riders through the area will be passing through in the afternoon.  I hope everyone who is interested rides this wonderful ride.  It's enchanting up to Stowe, tough afterwards up to the northernmost control (Boutin's Market where Justin and Jen, the managers, are expecting us and understand the one sandwich and one drink per rider is covered under the NER tab) then wonderful or grueling depending on how reserved you have been with your energy stores.  There  is a twenty four open Cumberland Farms in Barre after the dangerously angled railroad crossing, mile 206.  There is a long gravel section after Hardwick where the savvy might walk and thereafter the pavement and shoulder is problematic with some shoulders being close to non-existent and in other places spotted with cones, which will indicate a patch of erosion to the pavement. 

Without going into further detail, I have complete confidence that all who show up to ride this event on Saturday morning will have the wherewithal to do so.  I will be riding with the intent to be the sweep and others are welcome to join me.

Very best & bon route!

Jan

[Tsun Au Yeung]

For those who did the 2x200km ride last year, the gastation off I-89 exit 3 in Royalston (the Irving) next to Park and Ride is 24 hours in mile 230?  I would not count on any substantial service (maybe even pizza shop) to be available in Barre since the flood devastation is pretty bad there.  We will highlight known available service on the GPS cue and the printed cue sheet.

Tsun

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[Jas Dembinski]

The Irving Gas Station you mention, Tsun, on Route 107 West just off the highway exit is NOT open 24 hours.  It is open until 9 pm on Saturday and opens at 7 on Sunday.  Riders must be prepared to ride with enough hydration to last from Barre back to Woodstock.  

Earlier in the ride, around mile 30, the Rochester Irving Control is open at 6 am.  I think riders will be past it before it opens.  You can initial each other cards if so, if I am not mistaken.   There is another convenience store in Waitsfield, an Irving as well, that is open at 6.  They will have breakfast sandwiches available and know some of you will be stopping.  FYI, I spoke with two of the store managers this morning and they said they had no news of either the App Gap or the Lincoln Gap being closed--this for anyone interested in the 6 Gap permanent.

Most of the streams have subsided.  There is a significantly long gravel climb, interspersed with pavement, a mile or so south of Hardwick.  This will be a great hill to walk in the evening or at night or early in the am on Sunday.  Please remember that there are a number of sections of gravel on Route 14 between Hardwick and Barre.  The water pump on the Hardwick hill is, unfortunately, busted.  

If anyone hopes to swim/bathe at the "4 Corners" swimming hole across from Boutin's market, be sure to make your way down by following the path that leads from the south west corner of the parking area along the side of the field (to the right).  It will lead you to an opening from which it is relatively easy to walk down to the stream and swimming hold.  "Relatively" being the operative word.  It's easy to have a mishap getting to it if the legs and mind are already beat.  With 120 more miles to go!

Again, the toughest section of climbing is from Stowe to North Troy & Boutin's.  The worst road conditions are from Hardwick to Barre.  The Cumberland Farms in Barre at mile 160 is open 24 hours and is everyone's last place to chow on real food until you get to your temporary home.  Riders needing to may camp in our back field.  It has a fire pit.  We do have running water and operating toilets, etc., in our house.  

Let me know if you have other questions.  I hope all who plan to ride will get all the necessary information through NER.  Tsun and Sarah will have the cue sheets on hand and brevet cards. Tsun and Sarah, you are welcome to post today's email messages or reference them on the Website.

Have a great adventure!

Jan

[Mike A]

FYI the link to the route on the NER event page gave me a "not a public route" message, but when I searched within RWGPS it turned up the route; evidently the current one as it says "updated July 20 2023", and indicates that it is a public route.

Mike

[Tsun Au Yeung]

Hi Mike:  

Sorry about the RWGPS snafu.  I am totally guilty of mucking up GPS file but now it has been fixed.  Please go download.  

Tsun

President Faff 

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[Mike A]

Tsun,

Thanks. Looks like you added the Bobs Quick stop and the note about 24 hour. The length differs by 0.1 mile from the Jul 20 edit. That could be spurious.

Mike

[Mike A]

...by spurious I mean with the calculation not the route itself. In any case I will download the current.