D2r2
 

It was great to see a few Zanks on the dirt today and meet, albeit briefly, some forumites. The weather couldn't have been nicer, and once again, it was a fabulous event. Oh, It was cool to meet Peter at the first water stop. Good to match names to faces. Enjoy the fall folks!

Agreed. Arguably the nicest weather yet for this great event. Nice to see Sandy at registration. Hoping to twist his arm for something extra for the 10th anniversary next year.

Ran into builder extraordinaire Peter Weigle on "Pink". And Mike Kone owner of Rene Herse and Boulder Bikes.

Great turn out, nice ride, river swim and beer. What's not to like? :banana:

Saw Weigle (how could you miss him!) but missed Mike.

It was great. They've done a wonderful job putting this event together.

D2r2
 

The 150k was rad.

So who had the epic-est rode?

Did the 100k and enjoyed it. A few years back I had to bail at apex orchards and take the pavement back missing the last few challenges.

Just got home about 30 minutes ago . . .
 

. . . . with scads of pictures, but I'll have to deal with them tomorrow. I'm smoked like a dime store see-gar!

Rode with Weisan, saw Peter B, MerlinMurph, Angry Scientist, SC53, MisterMo, Christian, Ergott, probably others I either didn't realize or just forgot. Ran into Robot from RKP and got my pic taken with him.

Perfect weather, great organization, beautiful scenery, free beer . . .who could ask for more? :)


BBD

Rode bikes. Climbed hills. Had food. Drank beers. Froze in the morning, then enjoyed the sun. Didn't crash. Had fun.

D2r2
 

Good morning Advil.

I somehow got up at 5:15am, rode the 180k, stayed up 'til 2am, then woke up again at 7:15am today.

Forced myself to go back for a few hours, and feel like I got hit by a truck. So sore.

Alternate to Hawks Road?
 

I had a great ride too. But Hawks Road seemed even more trecherous than last year and I think I could do quite happily without that challenge near the end of the ride. Does anybody know of a decent alternate route around that road?

Don't make the right on Taylor. Make the next right for Old Albany or go straight down 2 miles to big road and make a right.

i had a good time, and rode with some good people. i was with the zank/zank/seven/riv/moots crew.


without a doubt, i geared the bike just right for this ride. nice and low with a 34x32 i wasnt fast on the climbs, but the nice low gearing allowed me to just sit in and enjoy the climbs and the truly beautiful scenery up there. perfection.

this was my first year at the organized ride, and i was impressed with how well organized it was. the crew really nails all the little details, right down to little lanterns in the porta-johns at night, to the expertly run rest and lunch stops.

good times.

Hawks Road was definitely sketchy - I felt like I was riding my bike in snow, jackknifing down the road at times. In an informal survey of two (me and my friend), my friend thought it was the scariest section of the 115, whereas I was freaked out this year by the descent down jacksonville stage road I think - it was exceedingly steep, and I managed to hit a gigantic pothole that rattled me a bit.

And that pink Weigle was my favorite bike I saw, though it's tough to really pick a favorite because pretty much everyone there is riding a super cool bike.

I've done the ride five times and each time I am thinking about the descent of Hawks road during the entire ride. It is sketchy, but you can circumvent it pretty easily if you wish, however I dive into it head first each opportunity... just because it is there. On the other hand, I've seen folks with good descending skills work the descent with surgical aplomb, but I'm not one of them.