Friday, August 2, 2013

Event Preparations: Update #4

The cuesheet has been updated to draft 4, dated 8/2/13 (Be sure to use the "refresh" button on your browser, to flush any older version of the cuesheet that might be cached on your computer).  This update includes another reroute starting at mile 636 for bridge construction on Rt 405 along with a few minor corrections and clarifications.  There is also another closed road you will encounter, as noted at mile 281.   The reason for the road closure is the road is washing out along a steep cliff.  However, the road is still passable by bike and foot.  Pictures of what you will encounter have been posted here:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/113985568221563154914/albums/5907183065837286801
... as you can see, you will have to negotiate a barrier, and you will want to keep to the left on the short stretch of road that is washing out.   You should also watch out for road debris.  But the advantage to virtually have no car traffic for several miles outweighs these hazards, and is better than the alternative detours we looked at.

There are several other areas highlighted on the cuesheet where you should take caution.  These in particular should be taken with some extra care:
-Mile 37: You will be starting a long, steep descent, and you can easily reach speeds of 50MPH.  But just because you can go this fast, it doesn't mean it's good idea -- please don't go any faster than your Guardian Angels can keep up with.
-Mile 90: See previous comment.
-Mile 92: You will be going down a steep and rutted road that is way overdue for repaving. You need to carefully inch down this descent to pick you way around some big potholes. These holes and ruts will most definitely ruin your day if you hit any of them at speed.
-Mile 402: You will be entering the controle which is a Fying J Travel Plaza from a small side road.  This entrance has recently been changed to a truck exit, so watch for trucks exiting as you enter the controle.

The GPS SPOT tracking device that you will be carrying will allow your friends and family to follow your progress at this link:
http://trackleaders.com/endless13
The SPOT's should be turned off when you arrive at an overnight controle, and then turned back on with tracking enabled when you start the next day.

When you sign-in in at the Hampton Inn start controle, you will be given a rider packet. The packet will have one tag that you should attached to your one drop bag that you will see at each overnight controle.  Your one bag will be shuttled to each of the overnight controles.  When you arrive at the hotel, there will be a message board in the lobby directing you to the volunteer room.  You will be warmly greeted by the volunteers, who will feed you and hand you your bag.  You will then be paired off into rooms, based on your arrival time.  When you are ready to leave, you should return your bag to the volunteer room.  There will be a light breakfast to get you on your way.  By design, the first controle stop after each overnight is an untimed information controle, allowing you two controle stops to catch up on the time limit if you get a late start or you want to stop for breakfast.

Please note that back-up lighting will be checked during bike inspection.  The bike inspection checklist is posted here:
http://users.rcn.com/trosenbauer/BikeInspectionCheckList.pdf

A conference room at the start/finish hotel has been reserved for the duration of the event.  You can store your bike cases there.

Joel has updated his GPS files with the Draft 4 detour, and has also broken it up into segments: 
Complete route here:

Daily segments here:

Control-to-Control segments here:




No comments:

Post a Comment