You may be wondering why a 4 AM start for a 300K when we started the Princeton 200K last month at 7 AM? The answer is simple although it makes it a bit harder on the riders. We start at 4 AM on Saturday so that all riders will finish on Saturday.
Despite adjusting my sleep pattern a week before the event, it was still pretty rough to get up at 1:45 AM to be down at Forrestal Village by 3:30. Who feels like eating breakfast that early in the morning. The best I could do in the time I had was a bagel with cream cheese and my morning coffee. I would highly recommend taking advantage of the group rate arranged at the Holiday Inn for the nights before and after this event.
My volunteers also found it tough to get going this early in the morning since we didn't leave Forrestal Village until 4:20 AM. I handed out the cue sheets and told them that they were from 2007 using Laurent's format which puts the mileage to the next turn on the cue below. One thing missing that the riders seem to like is the cumulative mileage between each controle. It makes it easier to set short goals on a longer ride and allows you to reset your bike computer if you happen to do bonus miles.
Navigating at night while trying to avoid potholes, drunks, being blinded by on-coming cars that insist on driving with their high beams on and watching out for deer, is not easy. Between the three of us trying to navigate on roads that we knew in the day time, we still missed a turn within the first 5 miles of the brevet. As the batteries in my head lamp began to die, I left the chore of navigation up to my two volunteers who had far more experience riding at night than I did myself. I resided to the back where my only duty was to call out approaching vehicles and followed their tail lights.
My two volunteers held a relaxing pace of 15 mph and the terrain seemed rather easy to the Bagel +, our first controle. I wasn't feeling that hungry so I simply had a repeat of my early morning breakfast, bagel with cream cheese and coffee. When we left the Bagel + it was bright enough to see the cue sheet without a head lamp and so my volunteers increased their pace. Not long after leaving the Bagel + I began to get an upset stomach. At first I thought that the combination of the coffee and the cream cheese didn't agree with me but I've had this combination before on shorter rides. This leg of the brevet is a bit more hilly than the first section and as I began to lose energy for climbing, I realized that I was bonking. With nothing in my pack to eat, most of the major climbs in this leg of the brevet and almost 60 miles to the next food stop controle, I told the volunteers that we had to stop some place and find something to eat. Well, the reason why the next food stop is 60 miles away is because there is no place to stop and eat. One of the volunteers offered me an energy bar which I graciously accepted.
As we were about to descend Point Mountain Rd (mile 44.2 on the cue sheet) one of the volunteers warned me that this was a very dangerous descent, we should take it easy and he took the lead. As we began our descent we were well spread out should something happen. As we picked up speed I watched my bike computer report speeds in excess of 30 mph and then it happened. With very little warning there was a hairpin turn in the middle of the descent. The volunteer up front did not have enough time to react to it and had to brake in the turn. The road was wet and has gravel on the surface. Fortunately there was a driveway in the right place or he would have went down. So when the cue sheet tells you DANGEROUS DESCENT! SLOW! GRAVEL!!! it is telling you that for a reason, heed my warning! Having seen what happened in front of us, we braked as hard as we could before the turn and managed to make it through the hairpin.
We arrived in Blairstown and saw a group of riders gathered outside the bakery near the post office. We decided to stop and see what was going on. It turned out to be Randonneurs on the PA 300K. Our next controle, the Dark Moon Tavern Deli was only 6 miles away but it was a very hilly 6 miles. We arrived to discover that the deli was closed for renovations. This is going to require some changes to the cue sheet and brevet cards. The post office in Blairstown will be removed as an information controle and replaced with the Gourmet Gallery Bakery on the left just before the post office. Have the person behind the cash register initial and time stamp your brevet card. EAT LUNCH AT THE GOURMET GALLERY BAKERY.
You will still need to stop at the Dark Moon Tavern Deli. I will be there to sign your brevet card and will have minimal supplies with me. As for us, we continued to follow the cue sheet to Rt 46 where we eventually found a place to get something to eat.
After leaving Rt 46 we found a problem with the cue sheet instructions at mile 97.5. The correct cue should be RIGHT @ JANE CHAPEL Rd TRO PEQUEST Rd. To clear up any confusion, TRO means To Remain On (NOT Turn Right On).
When descending Schooley's mountain on Naughtright Road there is a right turn onto Fairview Ave marked EASY TO MISS on the cue sheet. Since I missed it, I would say the cue sheet is accurate. The turn is near the bottom of the descent. Do yourself a favor, if you are carrying too much speed, don't try to make the turn. Do a U-turn and come back to it.
We finally reached the Info Controle at Hacklebarney State Park. Even though it doesn't tell you on the cue sheet, there are bathrooms here with running water if you need it (corrected on current version). The only trash can is in the bathroom, please don't litter. It was starting to cool down and most of us elected to put on our night gear as the mosquitoes were attacking.
There were no volunteers to greet us at the Whitehouse Station Firehouse so we decided to stop a Rite-Aid and I bought some Advil for my knee that had become sore. I replaced the batteries in my headlamp with spares that I brought for my headlight but apparently they were not fresh either because as it became dark, once again I could not read the cue sheet. We pushed on because just like on the day of the Princeton 300K, there is no sag wagon. For those that want to call it quits early you can get a taxi in Hackettstown or try your luck with NJ Transit. The details are in the Safety Instructions. We only had 30 miles left but since I could not read the cue sheet, those miles seem to last forever. One thing I was thankful for was that the volunteers slowed their pace in the dark because I was struggling to hang on to their wheels.
There was one small error on the cue sheet at mile 25.6. It should be a R on Rt 523N (SS), not a TR. I've corrected it so that John Grogan doesn't get confused. Also at John's request, I've increased the font size and shortened each page so that it could be trimmed to fit inside the Zip-Loc bag. Naturally this will increase the number of stops you need to make to turn the cue sheet over but it should make it easier to read in the dark.
We arrived in Forrestal Village at 22:45 giving us 18 hours 45 minutes to complete the brevet within the 20 hour time limit. Here are some stats from the GPS:
Total Ascent: 13,113 ft
Moving Avg: 11.9 mph, Overall Avg: 10.0 mph
Moving Time: 15:59, Stopped Time 3:05
The GPS was kept in my backpack which would affect the time and speed recordings.
Attached you will find the final version of the cue sheet for the 2008 Princeton 300K.