Today was the second of the trail run of LBC sponsored Populaires. It was also the first route I had designed entirely from scratch. I think I aimed too high, as the response from the five people who showed up was overwhelmingly positive! Five people was about half as many as I had hoped for, but it was a good group. I had been warning people that it was pretty climby, and I might have scared a few people off who might have come otherwise, and would have been fine. Depending on what you use to measure it, it comes in @3700, 4800 or 5200 ft of climbing. My Garmin 500 is at the low end. RidewithGPS is at the high end.
I couldn't have even hoped for as fine of weather as what we had today, with highs around 80F, cloudy skies and pretty light winds. Skies threatened rain, but other than a few sprinkles, held off. It made me very sad that I was driving a van from control to control to do the paperwork, as I could schedule this every weekend and not manage to luck into the kind of weather we had today. When I had scheduled it way back in May, I had expected a mid-August Populaire to be hellishly hot and humid.
The riders are asking me to put this on again, and no doubt considering the amount of time and effort I put into designing it, I will. However, I don't think I'll put it on too often, as I think it's special enough to dole out sparingly. Perhaps twice a year at most, probably once as a Populaire and another time as a club ride. I'm really tempted to see if I can continue to schedule it as a "Picnic-Alternative", and use it as a Populaire at some other point of the season, perhaps in Spring as soon as Polly Freeze opens. Trying to do it when the leaves are turning is problematic as a Populaire, as I have to schedule so far in advance that I could end up scheduling it on top of Harvest Homecoming, and the route overlap in enough sections to be confusing, which could endanger the HH riders.
Sorry I missed it. We got out early but only did 30 amidst the storm damage. I'd love to do the next Populaire. Hope it jibes with the family schedule.
ReplyDeleteYeah. The storm caused quite a bit of tension. I feared the route may be impassible. Luckily, while there was a good amount of debris on many of the roads, nothing was blocked.
ReplyDeleteThat and I hadn't printed the cues, brevet cards, signin and waiver in advance, expecting to do it after the century on Sat. However upon arriving home, I found I had no power. My UPSes allowed me to check to see what the overall situation was and I figured I'd be back up by morning. By 6am I was loading up my netbook and a printer and getting all the files and paper I needed to go find a coffee shop and plug in. As I closed the door of the van to head out at 7:07, I saw my porch light come on. I headed inside to start printing and finished at 8:05 to head across the river (and grab some breakfast en route)
I'm currently planning the next route, but really want to start and finish at Charlestown Pizza. Not as much selection of nice spots to use as controls in that area on a Sunday, but I'm hopeful. Probably end up with more of a traditional out-and-back brevet route. Flatter for sure.
September 4th @ 10:15: Be there!