D2R2 ride reports go here

[druptight]

Originally Posted by eBAUMANN

There is one hill that is forever seared into my brain on the 115 though...i think its called "pennel hill road" - that sucker was tough..

Yeah - this is the one I reference above that sapped my will to live. After 2/3 it lets up and you sort of hope it's over, then you turn the corner and realize gets steeper... my legs forced me to get off and walk it. Just didn't have it left in the tank. Still had a blast though. I found Hawks road to be awesome.

[merlinmurph]

Originally Posted by eBAUMANN

whats the deal with josh road? never done the 100k...

Well, with the bridge out, the 100k route had to be tweaked a bit. Normally, after a loooooong downhill, it crosses the river at one point, then after a few miles, crosses back over at the bridge for lunch.

Sandy scrambled and said the 100k had two options.
1. Just stay on J'ville Rd and ride down to lunch, cutting the 100k route down by about 5 miles
2. Start out on the classic route, but take a right onto Josh Rd. Sandy pointed this option out in one of the emails and suggested only fat tires do this option. Here's the cue:


Anyways, I'm just curious. I mean, I saw no one on it at all and the people I was talking to weren't interested in doing it. Too bad, because it was a very cool option.

Murph

[eBAUMANN]

i probably would have done it a few times with you had we been riding together haha, 5 miles of jeep track! hell yea!

[Cat3roadracer]

Pennel Hill was very rideable this year. More gravel recent rain made the terrain quite nice.

[weisan]

Pals, may I say a word of "thank you" for letting those of us who couldn't or wouldn't make it to this very special ride to live vicariously through your wonderful stories and awesome pictures. You are my heroes!

[merlinmurph]

Originally Posted by Cat3roadracer

Pennel Hill was very rideable this year. More gravel recent rain made the terrain quite nice.

That's a lot different than last year where it had been graded just prior to the ride. All the loose dirt and gravel made finding traction just another part of the fun. I had always heard about Patten Hill, but on the PITA scale last year, Pennel Hill beat Patten.

[jbay]

A very quick report here from jbay, as opposed to jaybay. In my case, all food and drink was enjoyed once, and once only, the way I prefer it. I rode the 160km on the tandem with my better half, accompanied by my brother, who was fresh after arriving from Ireland at 02:00hrs on Friday morning. We had a blast, unknowingly to'ing and fro'ing with eBAUMANN and friends for much of the day - nice touch with the "Franklin Land Trust" logo on your jersies, BTW.

I rode the 160km for the first time last year (or 150km, as it was referred to then) and thoroughly enjoyed the variation on a theme, after many years of riding the 180km (including the first year, also on tandem when we were also joined by a friend from Ireland who had flown in the day before!). This year's variation was to do it on the tandem, which worked out well, especially the downhill from lunch.

Anyway, 'nuff said. I'll leave you with some photos:

[eBAUMANN]

ah yes! great shot of that gnarly descent, i loved it!

was great riding with you guys, seriously impressive climbing on that tandem and kudos to your brother for completing the ride on travel legs!

i really liked how it felt like there were far fewer folks out on the 160, so you would bump into the same groups every so often at stops or on the road, made it feel like we were all riding together even within our smaller groups.

[jbay]

Originally Posted by eBAUMANN

i really liked how it felt like there were far fewer folks out on the 160, so you would bump into the same groups every so often at stops or on the road, made it feel like we were all riding together even within our smaller groups.

Agreed. The 160km is particularly enjoyable in that respect.

-- John

[raygunner]

Did the 100k...great time! Beautiful weather, great riding. But I really didn't take enough photos!

[happycampyer]

Hey, that's us on the lookout for christian and the others crossing the river.

[Bruce K]

I talked to the guy in the Zanconato shorts at lunch.

Didn't know who it was.

Dang!!!

BK

[john segal]

The guy in the Zank shorts? That would have been me!

[bcgav]

I rode the 160K this year, my 7th D2R2. 100K in '06, '07, '08, '09, '10 and 150K last year. I absolutely love the 150K/160K route, it's magical: Great scenery, awesome flow, challenging yet if you ride it "within yourself" you're not totally spent at the end even if you ride it at a brisk pace. Started the ride solo, then started yo-yo'ing with a couple of other riders and we rode the last 2/3 together. Another incredible day on the bike. Kudos once again to Sandy, the other organizers and volunteers.

Witnessed jbay navigating sections of that gnarly washed out descent solo on a tandem, + infinity Baller points.















The infamous S Belden Hill Rd climb, short but steep.

http://youtu.be/PJmkBiC3TVQ

[buldogge]

^^^You don't happen to know who that is in the Wash. U jersey in the center of the 2nd to last pic, do you???

-Mark in St. Louis