May 13, 2013

Pre ride of Patapsco 100

Jeff and I (Mike) went to try out the course. There will be a race @ Patapsco on July 7th...

BikeReg Link to register and see more info.

The course is 33 miles. For the race there are 33/66/99 (they round up to 100) options.

It had rained the day before so it was a bit muddy, not horrible but it made trails a bit soft and there where spots where water had pooled and other places where the trail seemed to be the drainage route for water.

There were lots of turns. Jeff felt like our ride closely resembled one of the adventure races that he does because we spent a lot of time looking at a map and exploring different trails before finding the correct one. 

The trails overall were pretty technical with lots of short-medium steep climbs. Jeff had a 1x10 and he was wishing he had more gearing for the steep climbs (at least a 32 tooth front chainring rather than the 36 tooth ring he was running). I think the average speeds on this course will be at least 2 miles an hour slower than other 100 milers like the Shenandoah 100 with a lot of people dropping out of this race. 100 miles of this will be very difficult.

The scenery was great.  Lots of look outs, lots of sections of trail following along a pretty river, lots of relics of old built over construction.  Even if you don't finish the race, you're going to enjoy the ride and the views.

Great scenery

Getting ready to duck under a branch

Epic water crossing

Brought clothes across on a first trip across the river, waded back over, and brought bike across on second

Testing the depth of the water

Climbing


Perspective make Jeff look tiny in this pic

Took a wrong turn and bush whacked back onto the trail

Took a wrong turn and bush whacked back on the trail

Tn the parking lot, train passing in background

Riding along the river, enjoying the day

We were lost again - trying to figure out where the trail went

Disc rotor issues


1 comment: