Philadelphia Mountain Biking Association - Forums

We've been talking about doing a long, two lapper of Wiss. I was looking at the calendar to see when I would have time for a long 4-5 hour ride like that, and realized that t-giving is in two weeks, and I have no plans for that long 4 day weekend.
Naturally my next thought was, since I'd have so much time, why limit myself to just two laps of Wiss, why not throw in Belmont as well!
I know Ezra had done that ride, belmont + two laps of wiss + belmont and claims it's about 50 miles.

I'm thinking start from wiss, do a lap, scoot over to belmont, ride everything there, and then back to wiss for a second lap.

who's in?

dz

i see you scared everyone off with that description....  ;D

i would be willing to try it but my parents are in town that weekend.

Hey D --

I would be into something like that, haven't gotten over to Belmont since the summer so all the better. What day were you thinking? Or just play it by ear depending on the weather for those days? So long as it's not *on* Thanksgiving day I should be good to go...

-pete

So we have two interested foo... err... parties.  ;)

I was thinking Saturday or Sunday, leaning more towards Sunday. But I am flexible and would be willing to play it by ear depending on the weather.

dz

Saturday or Sunday sounds best to me too, as I'll probably have at least a little food/spirits hangover on Friday.

-pete

Ok. I'm gonna say that after the lap at belmont I will be spent since the original plan was just two laps of wiss. But we'll see how it goes.

I'd think that we would start with a lap or 3/4 of a lap of wiss, then head up to belmont lap it as much as we can and then head back, at that point all participants could decide how much they have "left in the tank", to either continue with more wiss or to bail.  ;)

dz

Sounds like a a good plan.   8)

Yea. I with ya. Pickin up what your puttin down. On board 100%...well maybe like 90%. Am I gonna be the only rider on a freeride sled? whatupwitdat?

Just don't make us look bad riding your twice as heavy bike twice as fast as we do!  :D

dz

Ok, here's what I'm thinking:
VG @ 10 AM - wheels out for a full lap of the park. Maybe a warm up down FD to the Lincoln drive end, and then single track from there.
Tommy Gunns around 1 PM after one lap and lunch there (bring few bucks)
On to Belmont from there. Hopefully we'll have someone who knows it well with us, I know the trails only marginally at best.
Not sure by when we'll get back to Wiss. And can play it by ear from there.

How does that sound?
Who's in?

dz

I think I'm still in. What day are we planning this exactly.

Sunday, the November 25th.

dz

Hi All, I'm new here, I have been lovin' the Wiss for years and I'm glad to be member, now about that ride, i'd be interested but I also have a 42 lb. Schwinn Straight Six, do you think we can keep up or should I bring something else?

Given the distance, I don't think we will be going for any land speed records, but... 42 lbs... Ouch. Well, it's all about the motor! How hard and fast can you pedal that bike? ;)
It sure will earn you some bragging rights if you ride that distance on that bike!  :D
That said, do you have a lighter bike more suited for the long XC ride to bring?

dz

Hey D -- Have we completely ruled-out riding Saturday instead of Sunday? The only reason I mention this is because as of right now, they expect better weather on Saturday than on Sunday. Honestly I think weather is all a guess this far ahead of the weekend, but there was mention of possible showers on Sunday. Just FYI. We could make it tentative until, say, Wednesday or Thursday when  the forecast is more accurate? I'm good for either day.

-pete

The reason I want to do it on Sunday is because I want to go to this http://www.mtbnj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3876 (http://www.mtbnj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3876) on Saturday. This looks like a lot of fun and good riding. Plus I' ve never been to Round Valley and would like to check it out.

dz

That does sound cool, let us know how it is...

-pete

Don't you want to go up with me and play?  ;)

Yeah man I do, I was going to ask you what time you were picking me up... alas I don't have enough time for both Saturday and Sunday fun (home renovation work that should have been finished a long time ago and my wife is not at all happy about that).  ;D

-pete

If you need someone to set a nice SLOOOOOOW pace for your first lap of the Wiss, lemme know!  :P

did I mention the 42 lber. is also a 1x9?  I guess I could true the back wheel on my beloved Yeti, if I'm not feeling too lazy, and give it a shot, count me in!

Do it!!!  8)

Or else!  ;)

I'm still in. I think a slow pace would be the way to go for this long ride. This is if we can keep D from pushing the pace.  :-*

LMAO

Oh no buddy, this one is on you! I always have to chase YOU!  ::)

I was thinking we could covertly puncture D's tire every once in a while to get a break, but he runs Stan's, damned-it.

 :)

-pete

I was going to disappoint you...  8)
But you did it yourself!  ;D
I guess if you keep re-puncturing it often enough, eventually it will in small increments loose enough air to warrant a mechanical stop.  :-[

It's just funny to hear, of all the people, you and Tom complain about the pace!!! You are two machines I always struggle to keep up with!  :-*

dz <- getting smiley faces happy  :o

Alright you guys, everyone still on for tomorrow?  8)

What's the game plan as far as time and location? I guess if we're starting off with a full lap at Wiss then TG's for lunch before Belmont, meeting up somewhere at the south end of the park makes the most sense. But where's best for everyone? I'm good for where ever.

If Tommy Gunns is closed on Sunday's, we can always stop by my house and order some steaks/hoagies/whatever before hitting Belmont. We're going to have to eat and refill our Camelbacks somewhere.

-pete

I was thinking starting from VG at 10, this way we can roll to the south end down FD to warm up, or jump up on the trails anywhere.
But, I'm also good to start as early as 9 if anyone wants to. And any spot at the south end is good. I can only think of the parking at the Lincoln dr parking lot.

So speak up, otherwise I'll see you all at VG at 10.

dz

PS TG sells bottled water for a refill of the camelbaks.

See you at 10

disclaimer:rider may bail at any time

Alright, see you guys (and whoever else, come ride and bail at any time!) at 10a, VG. I hope I can pull through, my main ride is FUBAR at the moment as of this afternoon so I'll be on another bike with chain tension problems and shitty tires. I think I got the chain sorted out but these tires are killing me in the leaves. I was all over the place this afternoon. We'll see!

-pete

Oh yeah, and it seems Tommy Gunn's is open on Sundays so that's good...

-pete

Well... it was just me and Dmitri -- too bad for you guys you missed out on some great riding weather, sketchy but beautiful autumn ground cover at Belmont, and some damned good BBQ.

(http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2359/2062921137_bb34707d04_o.jpg)

I'm sorry I missed it. I had all the intentions last week but after T-day things fell apart. I did get out for a half loop and it was beautiful! I even made it up the Kitchen's lane Hill from Forbidden Dr. for the first time ever and up the technical bottom of the Kitchen's trail leading to our TM day trail.

Well done both of you, and thanks for the awesome picture of the route.

How long were you out?

That is an awesome picture of the route!!! Very cool to see it like that, puts it in perspective.

Wiss was very pretty today, butit was a bit crowded, and trust me, it had nothing on how surreal and magical Belmont looked!!! The colors of the leaves down covering all the ground in yellow-green-red colored carpet! And no people at all!

My time from leaving the car to getting back to it, was 5 hours 30 mins. Pete will prolly have moving time from his GPS, but my guess is that between the lunch and all the stopping and talking to all the friends old and new we ran into on the trails in Wiss, the actual pedaling time is prolly close to 4 hours.

Really, really, really awesome ride! Thank you Pete for great company!!!

Sorry I missed the ride, I was there! I think I was next to you guys at the Green, did one of you have an on-one? I was waiting for a group and there was'nt one! Oh well maybe next time, I took a loop with my friend, we were out for about 2 hours, and yes the day was beautiful. :)

Oh.. Oops... Doh... I guess it would've been prudent of me to post who to look for when advertizing the ride... I assumed that we all knew each other... Sorry man! There was supposed to be a small group, 4-5 people... But most bailed, so it was just Pete and me.

Yes, it was me with On One. I saw many people in the parking lot. Which one was you? Were you with that teal Yety? I remember a guy tinkering with a teal Yety, looked like something was off in the BB/chainrings area...

dz

That's an awesome map of the route Pete. Sorry I had to bail. Next time I hope I can do this. Gonna be a next time guys?

Definitely!!!

Yep D that's about how long I figured it took as well, based on my cyclometer and lunch/chatting/whatnot. Good times!

Yeah definitely gotta do something like that again!

The two bottles of Stone IPA I had after the ride hit the spot!  8)

Tom -- I used Google Earth to plot my GPS data, that program is awesome. I have to remember to use a different pen color (maybe red) next time, the blue doesn't contrast enough. But glad you like it!

-pete

No, I have a red Yeti ARC, my friend and I were along the wall waiting for the ride to form up, no worries though, we'll make it happen next time.

I would say for the record that anyone who has recently signed up probably knows almost no one.  I met several people a few weeks ago during trail maintenance, but only for the first time and then only briefly.  I'd love to meet more people, but I really can't make it to ride during the week until around 7:30 and if I am lucky by 7.  And I almost never make it out to the trails before noon.  So I might see people after they've left for a ride already, or randomly on the weekends, but that ain't no way to meet people.  Maybe another shindig should be thrown soon so newer members can meet people.  I'll bring the Stone IPA.

We'll have to think of a meet-n-greet event soon. A picnic would be great, but we'd have to wait till spring.

Meanwhile, come out to the monthly meetings and meet the gang. Not sure if we will have one this month due to the holidays craziness,but definitely one in January.

dz

Hey John --

I have time constraints as well and can never make any of the currently scheduled rides, except possibly the 7:00p on Thursdays (schedule permitting), so I usually do solo rides. I've been throwing around the idea of a late group ride but I was never sure how many people would actually be interested in this. I was thinking an 7:30p or 8:00p. I'll post a separate thread and see what kind of response there is.

-pete

EDIT: Done. Mondays 7:30p at Lincoln Drive lot.

so how was the ultra ride?

Awesome, as Dimitri mentioned to me during the ride we should have brought cameras, the foliage and trails were a real sight particularly in Belmont. Good stuff!

-pete