Crush the Commonwealth

About that "new" rule....

2012-01-28T16:42:00.001-05:00

Let's pretend I never mentioned it, okay?

Thanks.

Magic 8 Ball says:

2012-01-08T17:27:00.000-05:00

April 27th.

5:00am

Liberty Bell

Year 7.

Radio Silence

2011-05-25T18:01:00.001-04:00

I'm the worst at post ride communication. Oh well.

Links to ride reports:

Tom Oswald

Darren

Eric Greenburg

Fxdwhl pics

Fxdwhl live blog action

Dean (pics)

Bergy

Dan

Video from Travis

Tom H

Apis:
Got dropped off at the Point in a piss storm after driving about downtown finding it. Met up with the others and departed in the drizzle for a rather spirited "neutral roll-out". Glad I hung on as I wouldn't have found the trail in McKeesport without difficulty.

Rode along with Eric, Chris and Max as they were easing into their pace before I fell back into my "start slow and taper back" mode. Stopped in West Newton to grab some snack time from my pack and Adam rode past. Had a small twig jump up into my chain that required attention. Proved to be an omen.

Caught up to Adam several miles later as he was similarly eating a snack. We continued along together talking at a leisurely pace. Then about three miles or so east of Connellsville a larger stick get itself caught up in my chain and wrapped itself & my rear derailleur around the my cassette-bending the hanger into contact with the small cog.

Collecting myself after the 40+ foot skidding stop Adam and I surveyed the damage. An hour or so later I was single speeding my way back to Connellsville. I called my wife for a bail-out ride home and one of the wrenches there (I wish I could recall his name-great guy) walked up after looking at it and asked what I wanted him to do. Puzzled, I mumbled something about getting a rode home to get it looked at and he said, "I can fix it right now."

An hour later it would be ready, but he didn't have a short cage der. in stock. I was west-bound by car soon thereafter.

Can't wait to hear of the "new rule" for 2012.

Jon Cornibe
Looks like I’ll get to take home honors for DFL this year!

Things started going downhill for me after the Somerset rest stop. I left before the rest of the group to try and make up some time, knowing my pace was a bit slower. At some point, I realized that the signs I was following were no longer for the “S” route, but for some other PA bike route. (Note to future CtC riders: do not follow the signs depicting magic mushrooms.) I wasn’t positive I was off-course, but decided to back track a few miles and eventually found Dean. We rode together on the same course until he too realized this was the wrong way. After consulting maps and talking to some locals at the Subway, we found where we made our error and got back on the “S” route – but not before I biked 10-12 extra miles and wasted an hour or two. Dean and I made it to Breezewood sometime around 10pm. My plan going into this was to bike to Chambersburg for the first day and have a shorter ride on day 2. So sure of this plan, I made a non-refundable reservation in Chambersburg for Friday night. Reality hit me in Breezewood when some quick calculations put our arrival time at around 3 AM if we continued on the 55 miles to Chambersburg. I was in no condition for this. I gave in for the night and got a hotel. Dean somehow pushed on to Chambersburg solo – much respect to him.

I tried to get an early start the next day, but I woke up feeling dehydrated and went back to sleep after downing more water. I eventually got rolling around 6 AM. I found the abandon turnpike successfully and rode through the tunnels without problem – but I wasn’t exactly sure where to go at the end. I missed the access road to the right and instead jumped the wire fence and scaled down the hill of rocks with my bike. I got lost again, jumped another fence, road some more on the abandon turnpike, cut through a residential backyard, and eventually – miraculously – found the “S” route.

I took a quick stop at Cowans Gap and ran into a few other riders passing by (Brian, Bill, and ??). I rode with them as long as could keep up – which wasn’t much farther than Chambersburg. From East Berlin onward I was riding solo. I got into Lancaster around 7pm and considered stopping there for the night, knowing it would be a long night if I tried to continue on. However, I reminded myself this was a race and there should be some struggle/discomfort involved (after reading the ride reports from previous years, I knew I still had it pretty easy). I continued on through the night without any major problems. Entering Manayunk around 2AM was a shit-show and reminded me how much I dislike frat boys. I reached the bell a little after 2:30AM and called it a night.

Look forward to trying this again next year.

Wesley:
While I am at it, here are some more random observations from the route:

rednecks in Somerset and Bedford (aka rude drivers).

Friday night at the dirt track races in Bedford.

some big a** hydraulics on the Yough' and the Casselman

seeing breath while climbing on route 31

mud/muck after closed tunnel heading toward Rockwood on the GAP Trail

how warm inside was the general store in Rockwood!

semi-abandoned Cannondale factory

surprisingly dry TPK tunnels and that the abandoned TPK is way easier to ride in daylight than dark

at the end of the abandoned TPK, did y'all know you can turn LEFT behind the grass/dirt mounds (where the old gas station used to be) and take a paved access road to Pump Station Road? (thanks, SS Ted from '09!)

Turkey Hunters at Sheetz at 430am

anti-Racism 10k race in York that we rode through the middle of

very friendly/inquisitive staff at the Turkey Hill on the far side of York center city (the retro-Turkey Hill)

The ATROCIOUS bathroom at same Turkey Hill in York! (did someone poo in the urinal?)

LOTS! of Harley's out on Saturday.

Have the Amish given up on bicycles and moved exclusively to "kick" scooters?

Mennonites riding Trek carbons (wannabe Floyd's?).

a very, shall I say, "helpful" art gallery owner adjacent to the closed bridge on route 462 that was more than willing to offer help to young cycling men find the detour and perhaps come in for a rest.

on the snake-like route (eby road/weavertown road), seeing an 18 wheeler flatbed trailer full of amish-built kids playhouses almost tip over and crush us on a 90 degree turn, one lane road

Poorly/confusingly marked "route s" on Kimberton/Coldstream road and before VF Park as well.

Phillies fans at the Sheetz in morgantown

Everybody in Philly 'burbs is a Cat1 wannabe on a carbon TT frame with $2500 carbon wheels...riding on a recreational walk/bike trail -!! ..on a crowded saturday afternoon.

Lots of hot girls in Philly, naturally.

did anyone hit South Street for beers after (we went to Copacabana)? ...and being in the bar when the Flyers lost.

fitting three bikes, three riders, wheels, gear into a single taxi cab from old city to the Airport car rental office. (I have a pic and yes, there was a bike in the front seat with a rider and the cabbie).

And the report you've all been waiting for:

Tressler Brother's CTC Re-cap:

Not satisfied with our CTC performance last year, Mark and I set our goal to break 30 hours for this year's edition. We were pretty confident that we could achieve this based on going in the "easy" direction this time as well as learning from all of the mistakes that we made last year such as: 1. Going out way too hard for the 1st 125 miles 2. Loading ourselves down with too much gear 3. Enduring major mechanical issues in Lancaster 4. Nearly losing it from the early stages of hypothermia between Rockwood and Ohiopyle.

The day started out promising with decent temps and no rain anywhere on the radar map as I rode out of the driveway for Mark's house at 4am. 20 minutes later we were standing in Mark's garage watching the rain coming down hard. We waited for the last possible second to take the 5 mi. ride from Greenfield to The Point in hopes that the rain would stop, but of course, it didn't. We rolled into The Point at exactly 5am already soaked before anything even started.

The rain stopped and everyone pedaled the neutral roll out to McKeesport. Eric gave us the all clear and Mark and I immediately put the hammer down with the intention of getting a gap on everyone before the rail trail. 5 minutes later we were all alone as we flew onto the beginning of the trail. When we hit West Newton, we decided to back the pace down a little knowing that it was going to be a long day and we wanted to save our legs for the mountains. The trail was way firmer than we were expecting after all of the rain so we were able to maintain a decent pace without expending too much energy. We caught back up to the rain between Connellsville and Ohiopyle and it kept getting heavier as the miles ticked away. The last section of rain softened trail between the Pinkerton low bridge and Rockwood started sucking energy out of us with each pedal stroke and gave us haunting flashbacks of last year's near hypothermia nightmare. We vowed to never ride the GAP trail ever again (again). After hitting the pavement in Rockwood, we both felt remarkably fresh and quickly climbed up to the Sheetz in Somerset, arriving at 12:30. A planned 25 minute break for food and drink turned into 45 minutes as we struggled to warm up. Our urgency to get back to it was hightened when about 4 other riders came through the door looking to be in good shape and not shivering like us. We threw on the rain gear for warmth and hit the road knowing that the big climbs ahead would have us warmed up in no time.

Upon hitting the road, we noticed yet another rider coming up pretty fast behind us so we picked the pace up and down Route 31 up to Dividing Ridge to get comfortably out in front again. Then we rocketed down the mountain to New Baltimore. Despite the nagging rain, the legs were feeling good and we were nice and warm. Last year, we rode the entire section between Breezewood and Somerset in the dark and didn't get a good feel for it, so our spirits and our speed was lifted considerably when we realized how fast and flat the road to Bedford was unfolding in front of us. Conversely, we didn't remember all of the short and steep climbs between Everett and Breezewood, so I did my best to stay within my limits as Mark crushed it up every hill. We arrived at the Breezewood Sheetz at 5pm feeling really good and almost not believing how quickly we got there. I had to grab a pair of $2 work gloves since my 2 pairs of gloves were soaken wet. Our eating plan was to shake it up and try to eat different things at each stop in an effort to actually want to keep eating. Mark opted to continue living dangerously and ordered an entire pizza while I got a pretzel and some mac-n-cheese. We were surprisingly let down by our food selection at our standby Sheetz this time around, so we scavenged for some food for the long road to York in the form of rice krispy treats, candy bars, pop tarts, and jamwiches.

Just after we downed our 2nd 5hr Energy energy of the day and were suiting up to leave, the guy we dropped on 31 (Bill maybe?)walked through the door, grabbed a water, and walked back outside seemingly unfazed by the distance put in up to this point. We watched him go up the road and then immediately gave chase. Upon entering the abandoned Turnpike, we spotted him just ahead and bridged up to him before the first tunnel. We rode with him through the tunnel and he told us of his intention to stop in Chambersburg to rest. He seemed content to maintain a steady pace and we wanted to get as far as possible before dark, so we left him behind again and rode on back out onto the S Route. Our recollection of the Cowans Gap descent from last year was conflicting. I thought it was pretty steep and nasty and Mark thought it was pretty gradual. Turns out he was correct and we made quick work of the 7 mile stretch up to the gap. We cruised down the backside of the mountain, feeling great that we had made it that far in the daylight. Out of nowhere, we heard a pop and Mark came to a grinding halt as one of his spokes broke and became tangled in his cassette. He wrestled the mangled spoke from the cassette and 20 minutes later I had a new spoke on and the wheel good enough true. It was at about this time that the guy we rode with out of Breezewood came flying by with his lights flashing in the near darkness. We quickly gave chase and dropped him for a third and final time just before entering route 30. In my mind, the section through Chambersburg and up to Michaux is the most dangerous section of the route considering the heavy traffic and high speeds. Our desire to not get run over helped us maintain a pretty good rate of speed through this section. We flew through Chambersburg at 9:30 and made the push up to Route 234. After a quick road side stop for a light battery change, we were off on our way to York. The temps had warmed up a little since descending Cowan's Gap, there was virtually no traffic, and the road was smooth and rolling. This was greatly welcomed after the sketchy route 30 section, and we were really enjoying ourselves flying through the dark and quiet countryside. About 5 miles outside of East Berlin at midnight, my right knee started throbbing and it became painfully difficult to turn the pedals. Ibuprofen and Biofreeze has kept the pain in check up to this point, but it was no longer having any effect. We pulled over in some random auto body parking lot so that I could collect myself and almost immediately, a hugemongous Crown Vic pulled into the lot and stopped just short of running us over. A creepy but seemingly friendly man emerged from the vehicle and asked us if we needed any help, which we kindly said no. Back on the road and determined to get to York, I gritted my teeth and our pace slowed considerably. Hitting York at 1am was surreal. There were drunk people stumbling down the sidewalks, shadowy figures hanging on the corners, and seemingly equally as drunk drivers flying by us slamming music with the windows down. After the long run in through town we finally made it to Sheetz at 130. I iced down the knee and wrapped it tightly with an ace bandage, which eliminated the worst pain. Mark again defied logic by eating a burrito while I ate some bagels and cleaned them out of jamwiches. We re-loaded our camelback bladders and lubed up the chains. An hour passed pretty quickly and our cue to leave was the steady stream of sketchballs that seemed to materialize out of the darkness like in "Field of Dreams", lured in by the promise of late night shmiscuits. We downed 5hr Energy #3 and argued about how many miles were left, 80 or 100, and quickly got out of there.

We had a nice roll down to the Susquehanna, across the bridge, and on out to Lancaster. The Amish country spider web maze section was one of the highlights of the race. We went from 330 - 5am with only seeing a handful of cars. It was unbelievably dark and unbelieveably quiet in an amazing way. We could see the beginnings of the sunrise off in the distance as we neared daybreak. We rode into Morgantown just before 6am. As soon as daylight hit, we immediately hit the wall, started drifting off and were having a difficult time focusing. We were also starving every hour on the dot and had to piss almost immediately after drinking just a few sips of water. We were starting to break down just 45 miles from the finish. Not wanting to pull a Marcus Sommers style crash in the Hell of the West, we pulled over and went for the 5hr Energy one more time. This woke us up just enough to battle through the final road sections over to the Schuylkill River Trail. We had to stop several more times along the way because we were so blown out that we kept questioning whether we were still on course or had wandered off of it. Time had ground to a halt and we were moving in slow motion when we finally reached the trail a little after 8am. We dragged ourselves down the trail towards Manayunk. The weekend warriors were out in full force, clogging up the trail with their aero bars, seat mounted water bottle cages, and TT Helmets. Apparently there are even more Fred's and Tri-dorks in Philly than in NYC. The beat up towpath section of the trail was not fun. We finally made our way up into Philly and were almost intentionally run down 20 times getting over to Market St. Once on Market, it was a cycle of ride 1 block, dodge cars, stop at red light, and repeat until we finally made it to the finish at the Liberty Bell. It is distrubing how many park rangers are shuffling around carrying guns "protecting" a large, heavy, inanimate object. Our total elapsed time was 28:27, with about 25hrs of ride time and 3:30 of stoppage time.

Lastly was the short ride over to Temple to Mark's girlfriend's apt., where we slept for an hour, ate, slept for about 2 more hours, ate again, and then proceeded to go out and get wasted. All said it was a great time on the bike, way better than last year's debacle.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Did I miss anyone?

More Info Trickling In ....

2011-05-02T23:15:00.000-04:00

Added a few more riders to the results in the post below, looks like my rolling count was a little flawed.

26 starters, 19 finished (all well under 48 hours) 7 DNFs.

People want to hear your ride story. Write, blog, post some pictures, tell me about it. I'll get it all compiled here.

Thanks to all the riders for coming out, and all the people out there who helped the riders toe the line on Friday morning.

Quick Wrap Up

2011-05-02T10:30:00.004-04:00

26 people started at 5:11am Friday.

Finishing times:

Tressler brothers
-Saturday 9:39am -- 28:28

Dan B, Lane, Bill, Eric (not me)
-Saturday 2:35pm -- 33:24

Tom Oswald
-Saturday 4:40pm -- 35:29

Wes and Scott
-Saturday 5:03pm -- 35:52

Max, Chris, Dan G, Tom, Eric (this one is me)
-Saturday 10:26pm -- 41:15

Brian, Dean, Bill
-Sunday 12:29am -- 43:18

Nick D
-Sunday 1:20am -- 44:09 (43 bonus miles after getting lost!)

Jon Cornibe
-Sunday 2:40am -- 45:29

19 finishers

DNF
Bruce
Adam
Darren C
Ben
Jamie
Frank
Paul

Contact me if I got something wrong, either email or cell phone (the correct number is 412-980-0662).

Lots of serious looking riders at this years start, decent weather and nice tailwinds. Fastest year ever, including a downright shocking sub 30 hour time.

Send me links to your blogs and pictures, or I'll be glad to post your stories up here.

Stay tuned for a new rule that will take effect next year.

More later....

2011-05-01T13:15:00.001-04:00

Lots of people finishing late last night, last one at 2:40am. Will compile and post complete list when I get home tonight.

2011-04-30T20:35:00.001-04:00

Valley forge. Last push. Ain't making it by nine...

2011-04-30T11:04:00.001-04:00

Got a call from the Tressler brother. 28:27. Egads.

2011-04-30T07:25:00.001-04:00

Breakfast in Chambersburg.

2011-04-29T20:15:00.001-04:00

The oasis of Breezewood! 24 hour truck stop Perkins. time for a milshake.

2011-04-29T17:45:00.001-04:00

Miles of tailwinds. Almost to bedford. Going to be a fast year.

2011-04-29T15:21:00.001-04:00

Somerset about mile 120 or so. Lots of rain, sun is just peeking out now. First Sheetz stop! Fast group of riders this year, hanging at the back of the pack.

2011-04-29T05:05:00.001-04:00

Over 20 riders starting. Departing shortly.

2011-04-28T16:54:00.001-04:00

Well look at this, I can post via text message. Expect increasingly incoherent updates.

Last minute stuff

2011-04-26T11:25:00.000-04:00

Ride STARTS at 5:00 AM at the fountain in Point State Park.

Neutral roll out until we get off 837 and onto the new trail. We will be rolling out a bit slower to make sure we don't drop anyone.

Follow the route. If you get off route, return to the route where you left it.

Call or text to (4one2)980-one219 when you finish if you want your time listed in the annals of CtC.

And of course: No support. Meaning bring what you need to buy/scrounge it along the way.

Less than a week!

2011-04-22T11:46:00.000-04:00

Feeling ready?

Training ride-this weekend in Pittsburgh

2011-04-08T10:38:00.000-04:00

If you are not afraid of beards, sandals and recumbents, Reddan is running a couple of training rides this Sunday and the next.

More info here: http://bike-pgh.org/bbpress/topic/ctc-2011-training-rides.

Is Spring Here to Stay?

2011-03-03T12:34:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel bad I never update this thing. Not very often, but sometimes.

Maybe no one cares.

You got a date and time, what more is needed?

6th annual!!

2011-01-15T11:28:00.000-05:00

April 29th

5:00am

Point State Park

You know you want to, and you ain't getting any younger. This is the year for you.

Getting closer.....

2011-01-05T11:13:00.000-05:00

April 29th is out in front by a good margin.

Once my own schedule settles down a bit, I'll finalize it.

Start time and place remains Point State Park. 5:00 am or whenever I roll up.

2011 dates.....

2010-12-09T17:42:00.002-05:00

Getting to be that time again.

Looking like late April.

Ride reports

2010-05-15T21:12:00.000-04:00

From Eric Goldberg:

Day 1
Day 2

Dan's report

Adam Newman, lots of photos

From Nick:
Jason Oddo convinced me to do this ride with him. I set out with zero training and a drive to have a good time. Spent the thursday in west philly sleeping in someone's back yard after running around chasing pizza and raw milk. At the liberty bell I was surprised by how many riders were planning to do the ride without any gear. Looks like the first year the majority opted not to do this ride self-supported. Leaving Philadelphia on the bike trail we very quickly got dropped by nearly everyone. I saw Chris and two other folks on route 100 and that was the last we saw of anyone else.

I brought a lot of cheese on the ride but left it in my bag for a few days before the ride so it tasted weird, but it still got the job done. Cheese plus gatorade, doughnuts, coffee and sheetz 4$ foot longs is mostly what I ate for the ride. We made it to Lancaster around 1pm and I decided to eat a quart of ice cream, it was a good idea. Friday was a beautiful day. It got dark about 3 hours from Chambersburg, we kept going with our lights on and up some monster hills. After we got to 30 it was a breeze all the way into Chamber-sprawl. We stopped at the dunkin doughnuts and grabbed a sizable bag of doughnuts from the dumpster. Someone called the cops and The Man came and hassled us. We made it to the Farm I worked on last year and slept in the barn. We slept a full eight hours then hung around the farm for several hours in the morning. The chickens we're really happy to see me, so was the barn cat. Although the barn Rat ate my sandwich.

Leaving Chambersburg took a few hours. After we left the farm we stopped at the mennonite mall and got delicious whole wheat butter soaked soft pretzels and mexican food. Then on the way out I bought quart of strawberries from a roadside stand. We talked about making an herbal gatorade out of wild plants that can be commonly found on the side of the road (maybe: coltsfoot, nettles, red clover, chickweed and catnip). This is when the wind started getting really bad. It remained bad all day and night until we finally made it to new baltimore for the night around 12:30am. It just started to rain as we pulled into the baseball field where we would sleep in the dugouts.

We woke up to near freezing temperatures, so we went back to bed, we slept for eight hours. Later when we finally got up, it was still really cold. The climb up to the top of the continental divide was OK. The mountain sheltered some of the wind, not all of it. When we rounded the bend at the very top we were buffeted by one hell of a breeze. Between the mountain top and somerset was horribly awful. When we got the sheetz in somerset it was 36 degrees. I bought a half dozen doughnuts and some coffee and sat outside to eat it. Then I saw snowflakes so I went back inside. We stood around inside the sheetz for an hour and a half eating, talking and pooping. The chocolate milk really hit the spot.

Finally made it to the bike trail around 3pm. We soon thereafter found ramps! lots of them in fact, we brought home about 5 pounds. It got dark around west newton, it got cold around boston. The riverton bridge was cool, we made it to the point at 1am. I called Eric when we got there and tried to trick him by saying we got there on sunday morning instead of monday, it didn't work.
___________________________________________________________________________________
From Dan (dmg)
My report: this year, I tried to 1. take it easy on day 1 to avoid collapsing after the halfway point (as I did 2 years ago) 2. make sure I was eating every hour and drinking every 30 minutes regardless of actual hunger or thirst. I started out feeling terrible, got thigh pain 20 miles into it and was dropped by everyone else on the Schuylkill trail in Philadelphia. Later, I managed to not get off the trail at the right spot and took an unintended trip to Phoenixville, where I somehow managed to get my first wind by the time I made it back to the route. Was feeling good all throughout York, then started lagging again so stopped at Sheetz for a sandwich and milkshake around 1. Met up with and was dropped by Bill somewhere thereafter, ate in Chambersburg, and continued on my own through Cowan's Gap State Park (which was really nice despite inky darkness and a couple of huge trucks. Somewhere after Burnt Cabins I caught up with 3 people from Philly, and together we found our way to the abandoned turnpike. I was somehow feeling better than I had all day, but everyone else was tapping out, and I figured that taking it easy was the best policy. We all split a room in Breezewood, and in the morning two of the Philadelphians threw in the towel and got someone to pick them up.
Eric and I continued on and met up with Ryan, who rode with us to Bedford before feeling like he needed to rest. As soon as we left Somerset, we started getting buffeted by 30-40mph winds that made the climbs oh so much worse, and the descents near death experiences. Finally made it to Somerset in the 3 worst hours I've spent on a bike in recent memory and ran into Jim Logan, who guided us to Walmart for some emergency clothing and then to the trailhead. The trails were littered with branches from the winds, but were otherwise pleasant enough. The trail was rocky enough to loosen one of the bolts that held my front fender in place, which required some emergency zip-tie surgery in the gloom. Stopped in Connellsville for food, and then headed back on the trail in the dark. Somewhere in this section I began to lose my mind, but Jim kept everyone talking and awake during the remaining 40 miles. As soon as we got off the trail around midnight and headed to McKeesport, the temperature fell into the 40s and started raining in earnest, and that plus the delirium sent us 5 miles in the wrong direction. Whoops. Jim eventually figured out our error, and we backtracked from Elizabeth to McKeesport, then got on 837 to Carson Street, to the jail trail, to the Point, and to victory at 3:30am. And then, as a final kick in the pants, I got a flat (the only one of the ride) a mile from my house in the pouring rain. Definitely the hardest day in the saddle that I've experienced yet, but I'm glad I did it. And that it's over.

2010-05-10T22:34:00.002-04:00

Results 2010

Michael Tressler
Marl Tressler
-34:38

Dan Blumenfeld
-37:18

Jim Logan
Dan Goldberg
Eric Greenburg
-46:20

Ryan Ference
-53:20

Nick Lubecki
Jason Oddo
-65:48

DNF (all at Somerset)
Jamie
Ben
Bill H
Adam Newman

Comment or email me with name or time corrections.

Hope to hear more ride reports! I added a link to ride reports right below the title and put one in forom Dan Goldberg. Or click here.

Everybody In.

2010-05-10T09:56:00.000-04:00

Nick and Jason called in from the Point at 12:58 last night.

That should be eveyone. I'll try to get this wrapped up today and post a list a finishers and times.

Anyone who wants to tell the story of the ride, get it to me, I'll post it up here.

Thanks for participating everyone.

2010-05-09T21:54:00.000-04:00

Update from Nick L and Jason O at 5:58pm:

"we found ramps (wild leeks)."

Got a message from Ryan Harris (?maybe, hard to hear the message) tonight, he arrived in Pittsburgh 11:30am Sunday morning.

As of this posting at 9:50pm Sunday evening, Nick and Hason are still the last riders on course.

And then there were Three

2010-05-09T11:41:00.000-04:00

Just got a text from 2 of the remaining riders:

"Jason Oddo and Nick Lubeki are going to finish this race or die trying"

First riders finished

2010-05-08T18:21:00.000-04:00

Michael and Mark Tressler called in from the Point at 3:51 this afternoon.

34:38.

That is a fine piece of work.

Dan checked in last night at 8:03pm in Breezewood, and again at 8:35am from Somerset, one of the worst stretches of this route. He can't be far behind the Tresslers.

Edit (6:30pm Sat): Dan is in at 6:28. He said it hurt. I'm sure it did.

Edit (10:30am Sunday): Jim Logan, Dan Goldberg, Eric Greenburg arrived at 3:30 am.
Two riders pulled out at Somerset, Adam Newman due to hail at 10:44 last night, and Bill H at 8:30 this morning.

That is 8 riders in or off the course, leaving 5 still out and riding.

Edit (Sunday 11:05am) Two more riders out at Somerset, Jamie and Ben from Philly, 7am Saturday morning.

Leaving three, which I assume includes Nick, who may be the only person to start all 5 years of CtC.

Update

2010-05-07T19:05:00.000-04:00

From Darren:

I headed down the Schuylkill trail to meet the riders as they come up from Philly...Here's the way they passed me at 6:15/6:30ish....

By the time they hit Norristown on the Schuylkill River Trail the group was already spend across five miles...Three guys at the front (Dan and two others carrying messenger style bags). 4 mins back another group of three. Two of the guys were from the Pottstown area and they were all traveling very light. I didn't even think they were part of the race, because they only had small bags. Another mile or so back was 'Bill' from Pittsburgh area.

I turned around at that point and headed in the right direction. Getting off the Trail onto the S route two guys came from my left, clearly having gotten off the Schuylkill trail at the wrong place, but some how finding the S route. I leaped-frog these guys and Bill out to New Holland. Never saw the front six again. At New Holland I turned around to head back home. Passed Chris and his riding partner headed to Denver for their first beer of the day. Another sole rider went passed, and then finally two more guys just west of Morgantown, still on Rt 23.

Started

2010-05-07T08:26:00.000-04:00

Word from the start line: 13 people started the ride.

More info as I get it.

Last update

2010-05-05T00:40:00.000-04:00

OK folks, it looks like the McKeesport bridge will be closed this weekend, but the newly opened Riverton bridge is open, solely for bikes and peds. To get there head over the bridge into Mckeesport after the trail from Boston ends, turn left onto Walnut St/48. Right onto Lysle Blvd at the T.

Once on Lysle Blvd, take the first left at the big parking garage onto Locust St and head towards the river. There are a few GAP (Great Allegheny Passage) signs and a big green bike banner at the intersection. The trail restarts a few hundred yards in, and will lead to the Riverton Bridge. After you cross the river things are hit and miss for the trail, and some time will be spent on 837. Stay safe!

View Larger Map

There will be some folks to start the ride Friday morning, the plan is still to be rolling at 5 or a few minutes after.

If you'd like, call me when you finish, or email. Or text me updates. I might try to update the blog as the ride progresses.

That's about it. Good luck.

412.980.0662

ericmckeegan@gmail.com

2010-04-29T22:18:00.000-04:00

Oh man, one week to go.

I won't be a start, but I'll have an appointed starter to at least give a signal to start riding. Maybe he or she will actually get to the start before 5 too, unlike a certain person currently typing into a blog editor.

Reminder. You are on your own. Meaning no support from me, or anyone else for that matter. Start at one end, ride to the other, carry what you need or get it as you go.

Point Park is once again under construction, but enough of it is open to finish there.

I'll post my phone number next week to call when finished.

I'm also looking into getting out of McKeesport. There seem to be some bridges closed. I'll keep you updated. Be prepared for detours. Carry a good map of this area.

Good luck! I'll try to hang out at the end, see if I can get some finishing photos.

Also, if people want to call/text/email me as they progress, I might try to keep a running update going on the blog and/or facebook.

As You Were

2010-03-29T09:47:00.000-04:00

Orginal dates will stand, too late in the game for me to start pulling a stunt like that.

One of the great things about this event is how little any one person really matters to the success of the ride. I can not show up, get someone else to say GO!, and the event happens all the same.

So, see you May 7th. Or not. All is good.

Changing dates?

2010-03-24T14:54:00.000-04:00

Due to an unfortunate scheduling conflict, I've been debating moving the date to May 14th.

Would this create undue hardship on any of you? Can't change vacation plans, etc?

comment here or email me: ericmckeegan@gmail.com

All Systems Go.

2010-02-02T20:30:00.001-05:00

May 7th.

Liberty Bell

5:00 A.M

Do it.

Is this thing on?

2009-12-10T21:40:00.000-05:00

Well, due to earlier than expected requests for more info, I decided to get the ball rolling a bit earlier than usual this year.

Dates I have in mind:

April 30th or May 7th. Leaning hard towards the 7th.

East to West this year, starting in Phllly.

Same time-5:00am.
Same route.
Same rules.

This is a boring event, nothing ever changes, and more of you people show up every year. What is wrong with you?

2009-05-13T21:05:00.000-04:00

Finishing Times (based on 5:20am start time):

Saturday

-Dan B 5:16 pm 35:56
-Jeremy 7:30 pm 38:10
-Ted 8:00 pm 38:40
-Tom D, Wes E 9:47 pm 40:27
-Ted and Ben 11:06 pm 41:46
-Ken 11:20 pm 42:00

Sunday

-dhd 2:08am 44:48
-Chris, Max, Justin, Justin, Dean, Eric 2:20am 45:00
-Nick 6:15pm 60:55
-Bill 8:40pm 63:00

Still up in the air:

-Brandon, Ryan, Chad, Jeremy, Kelsey 11:45 am? pm? Sunday, Monday?
-Carol and Mike-I seem to remember getting a message, but it wasn't on my phone when I typed this up.

That makes 23. I counted 26 starters, one dropped out in Breezewood. That leaves 2 unaccounted for.

Some random thoughts:
I'll have to compare the PA DOT maps to the big download I've got linked on the right. It looks like the route changed, in a few spots, particularly staying on a busy section of Route 30 rather than going around on less traveled roads.
Have to work on the ending cue sheets for next year.
Maybe a 15 mph top speed on the neutral start. As Ken predicted it didn't go as planned.

Thanks for coming out. I never expected this many riders.

Come back next year, East to West is a whole different ball game.

Send me a link to pics or write ups. Don't have a blog? emil your write up, I'll post it here.

Better Late Than Never-2009 Sets Some Records

2009-05-12T12:08:00.000-04:00

Dan B finished at 5:14 pm Saturday night. With the 5:20 start time he crushed the route in 35 hours and 54 minutes.

I took a bit of a vacation after finishing myself, away from computers for the most part. I have to go through my voice mails to get the finishing list together, but I think all 26(?) starters finished.

Some reading to get you started

http://randanneuring.blogspot.com/2009/05/crush-commonwealth-2009.html

More here:

http://lockringnotincluded.blogspot.com/

2009-05-07T13:59:00.000-04:00

Just in case, here is a map to get from Route S to the Liberty Bell

CTC end

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Cue Sheet here

The trail head is right before the route S crosses 422. Turn left into the parking lot, go downhill towards the highway, the trail is obvious.

The link for the maps in Philly on the right over there in the sidebar-----> is no longer active. There are a bunch of other maps on that site to choose from but I don't see an easy way to print them. You won't really need them with the map above.

One more thing, we'll be headed down the Jail Trail to start, over the Glenshaw bridge and on down 837 to Mckeesport. A nice neutral start to the beginning of the trail.

2009-05-04T13:18:00.000-04:00

Map of the tunnels from fxdwhl:

View Abandoned PA Turnpike Tunnels in a larger map

2009-04-25T10:16:00.000-04:00

Less than 2 weeks!

Not much to report on, looks like the back way to McKeesport is closed this year, will probably just ride as a group down 837 to McKeesport unless someone else has a better idea. 5:30 on a Friday morning can't be too busy right? Safety in numbers....

Just to rehash for those joining us for the first time this year.

-Meet 5am at the fountain
-Neutral start to start of trail in McKeesport
-Ride in an easterly direction for 350 or so more miles
-call me from Liberty Bell

No Support! Carry what you need or find it along the way. While camping has been the choice for most folks, hotels are certainly NOT against the "rules". Don't cut the course.

I'll have some cards at the start with my cell # for finishing or dropping out, email me if you want it earlier than that.

Hmmm, anything else? Not that I can think of.

email with further questions.

ericmckeegan@gmail.com

Want some history?

2009-02-25T12:46:00.000-05:00

Some photos and links to the last 3 years of pain and suffering.

http://www.dirtragmag.com/blogarific/4th-annual-crush-the-commonwealth

Dates!

2009-02-07T10:42:00.000-05:00

Getting to be that time of year again.

Start Friday May 8th.

Point State Park fountain.

Finish Liberty Bell.

More info:

ericmckeegan AT gmail DOT com

Finished and updated

2008-05-19T09:31:00.000-04:00

Three tired, cold and hungry riders rolled into Pittsburgh at 2:48 am Sunday morning. It pretty epic this year to say the least. Rain, headwinds and mechanicals took their toll.

I've not heard from anyone else that was still out on the course. Update: Got an email from Rob, all other riders DNF'd. Check out the comment section for some stories.

2008 finishers:
45:43 (all same time)

John
Max
Eric

DNF:
Ted
Rob
Ken
Nick
Wes
Adam
Dan

More later.

Trail CLOSED!

2008-05-14T16:21:00.001-04:00

Just got word that the Yough River Trail is closed between Buena Vista and Boston, which is in the last 10 or so miles of trails.

Looks like a detour is possible on Buena Vista Rd to Renzie Rd, maybe. Looks like we'll have to figure it out when we get there.

Map here

Rules and Routes

2008-03-29T14:13:00.000-04:00

The route can be found to the right in the sidebar>>>>>>

A few notes on the route.
-I just found a bikely route that someone who did this ride in the past must have created.

Pittsburgh to Philadelphia

Share your bike routes @ Bikely.com

Too bad it is going in the wrong direction.

I had nothing to do with the creation of this map and can't vouch for it's accuracy.

-Liberty Bell to Valley Forge will be a neutral start to make sure everyone gets out of the city OK. We did this from downtown PGH to Mckeesporst last year, worked very well.

-Mckeesport to PPG Place in Pittsburgh is a bit hard to get to. I'll get around to reversing the directions from last year and post a bikely map soon.

-The only allowable detours in through the abandoned turnpike tunnels. More info HERE.

RULES:

we are all on the honor system, let's keep this clean.

1) Follow the route.
2)Carry what you need or buy/scrounge it along the way.
-No drops or caches of supplies
-No support car or crews
3)Call in when finished, I pass out the number at the start

New Blog

2008-03-01T23:15:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the new blog, and welcome back to previous year participants.

Race info is in the sidebar, any other questions, ask me at

randoneepa@gmail.com

More soon!