Some of the information described here remains potentially subject to modification till the very morning of the event (like for any Brevet).
The RUSA certified route is the same as last year and a preliminary cue sheet will be made available to pre-registered riders as soon as I get one from Laurent.
Controle # 0 - Mile 0, Manhattan NY (Youth Hostel, Amsterdam Avenue)
Opens 4h00am, closes 5h00am (Registration open from 3h00am, mass start at 4h00am, controle closes at 5h00am)
Controle # 1 - Mile 47, Lincolndale NY (Super Delicatessen)
Opens 6h14am, closes 9h04am
Controle # 2 - Mile 88, Dover Plains NY (Villager Restaurant)
Opens 8h11am, closes 13h28
Controle # 3 - Mile 123, Danbury CT (De Giovanni's Pizza)
Opens 9h49am, closes 17h12
Controle # 4 - Mile 176, Yonkers NY (Dunkin' Donuts)
Opens 12h30am, closes 22h56
Controle # 5 - FINISH - Mile 190, Manhattan NY (Youth Hostel)
Opens 13h00, closes 00h00am
The entry fee ($15) gives you the following services:
Usual standard services available on all our Brevets (liability insurance, and rider pack at the start including Brevet Card, cue sheet, Safety Instructions and Hammer Endurolytes).
All controles are commercial establishments where you will have to pay for your food and drinks.
The event starts and finishes at the youth hostel located 891, Amsterdam Avenue (corner of W104th Street), where you may book a bed (212-932-2300).
You are strongly recommended to sleep locally the night after finishing, and avoid any driving of some distance just after completing this tough 300k. We want you to come back home alive!
This route is a fairly hilly course, probably above average at 300k distance. It will require you to have your climbing legs somewhat trained, and it is a good idea to come with small gears. There is no enormous mountain to climb, but the succession of frequently steep ups and downs will be felt over time. Some very steep gradients of 15% or above will be encountered, so you approach this route with big gears at your peril.
Be prepared for the 6 different sections of dirt road you will have to ride on this event, a few of them steep or very steep. No panic, we are talking about very cyclable dirt track.
It will be the first time we will be running this entirely new route. Maps say that total climbing is about 12,000 feet, and my legs do agree. This is a comparable amount of climbing as can be found on the Princeton Classic 300, so don't expect to find an easy course.
This event sends you to upstate New York and into Connecticut over rolling and scenic terrain.
Randonneurs leave Manhattan before traffic has really built up and first enjoy an easy ride while leaving the City as the neighbourhoods become progressively more suburban. The first sharp lump is found in White Plains and sets the scene for the rest of the ride, leading riders through changing scenery mixing forests, lakes, farmlands and some pleasant residential areas including some beautiful houses. The route rolls through the small towns of Harrison, Armonk and Bedford before breakfast at the first controle.
It is recommended to have a hearty breakfast, because the route becomes then more hilly and also more desolate, allowing Randonneurs to test their first sections of dirt road. Main roads with light traffic reappear close to the next controle, reached at mile 88 at a nice family-run restaurant, where, again, it is a good idea to proceed with a good refueling.
At 35 miles, the following stage might seem short but chances are that it will feel longer, particularly after reaching the top of fiercely steep Byrds Hill Rd (on dirt). As riders will reach Danbury, they should appreciate a bit of rest at the pizza place selected as controle point.
At first the route then feels like easing a bit, allowing to relax legs and knock some more miles with moderate effort. This will be short-lived as steep roller-coaster returns around mile 135 to remain for about 20 miles, after what the route definitely becomes more rolling on the approach to Yonkers but clear brains will be required to master the many changes of direction needed to avoid traffic and main roads. A penultimate controle in Yonkers ensures that riders are awake and aware as they re-enter the City at night for most of the field. The route to the finish though is amazingly cycle-friendly bearing in mind that it crosses most of New York City from North to South. It also makes you realize that in case you had not noticed yet, Manhattan is actually built on a hill - but by then, the gradual ascent will feel easy in comparison to what has been climbed earlier in the day.
This route has been entirely created, from A to Z, by New York City Randonneur Mordecai SILVER. You will appreciate the amount of work involved when I add that Mordecai did the work using exclusively train and bicycle as scouting vehicles, like in the good ol' days (presumably) when Pierre Giffard was putting together the route of PBP 1891. Rumour has it that after a while Mordecai left the fixed at home and brought gears instead. Don't say you haven't been warned!