Start/Finish Weisel Youth Hostel 7347 Richlandtown Road
Quakertown, PA
(215) 536-8749 DIRECTIONS Traveling far? Friday night accommodations are available at the hostel. Make reservations on the registration form. Several chain hotels are also available in nearby Quakertown.
Registration
Mail Registration Form -or- Register On-Line
Pre-registration required
All riders must sign waiver
Field Limit: 40 riders
New for 2009:
No more surcharges for on-line registration!
$5 discount for PA Club Members
Event runs rain or shine.
Refund policy: 90% before event. 50% for no-show
Schedule
4:00AM Sign-in, Bike Inspection
4:50AM Rider meeting
5:00AM Riders depart (27 hr. time limit)
Daylight hours: 5:43 AM - 8:12 PM
Post Ride
Showers available at the hostel -- bring your own towel. Join us for soup/pizza and share your epic tales and goals for the coming year. Relax in the hostel's comfortable great room or porch. A dormatory in the hostel is available to rest before traveling home.
Ride Description This is the in inaugral edition of the Blue Mountain 400k
The course starts out towards Easton ... but instead of taking the killer steep Lower Saucon Road climb, we'll head over to Riegelsville for a kinder and gentler warm-up. We'll then continue north along the Delaware River to Martin's Creek where we'll pay a visit to one of our favorite controles we haven't been to in a while: Aherns Country Market. This is a quaint general store with friendly service and all sorts of interesting decor. We'll then continue north along Little Creek road -- another favorite we haven't ridden in a while. We'll take a turn off of Little Creek road onto Rasley Hill Rd and at the top of the climb, we get a good view of the Blue Mountain ridge in the distance, which is where we are headed.
We cross Blue Mountain (and the Appalachian Trail which runs all along the ridge) at Wind Gap. We'll follow the valley roads, headed south west past Blue Mountain Ski area and on through Bowmanstown. We then continue our journey south west along quiet backroads that generally follow a ridge-line with spectacular views of two mountains -- on your left is Blue Mountain and on your right, you'll see Second Mountain.
The controle stop in New Ringgold marks the halfway point of our south west leg along Blue Mountain. We pass through Schuylkill Haven (where we cross the Schuylkill River) and enter Panther Valley and on to the Sweet Arrow Lake and Pine Grove area.
At Pine Grove, we join the EM1240k route which marks the beginning of the south east leg into the Lancaster area, after a controle stop in Jonestown near Lickdale. We'll head into the Middle Creek wildlife area enroute to a controle stop in New Holland, which marks the beginning of the north east leg along the Rt 23 valley into French Creek S.P. and back to the finish.
There are several steep, extended climbs. A triple or 39x27 is highly recommended.