7th Annual HATTARICK - Ride Report UPDATED
The HATTARICK (Hockhocking-Adena Trail To Athens Ride In the Cold for Koffee) ride is from Hocking Technical College to Ohio University in Athens on the Hockhocking Adena Rail Trail. The rail trail is 18 miles one way and we were planning on riding to Athens to eat lunch, then turn around and head back.
When I left my place at 8:15AM it was around 36 degrees and sprinkling. I drove down 33 through Lancaster and Logan to Nelsonville where the trailhead is located and I parked at the Hocking TC parking lot across from the trail.
When I pulled in to the lot there was one car. Eric was waiting for everyone to arrive. I pulled in and started to get the bike and gear ready. Pete and Marty showed up next and Andrew and then Rick was last to arrive. After introductions and photos we were ready to ride.
Sidenote: When you attend rides you will always meet interesting people. Pete was definitely interesting. Sharp wit and shoeless. He was wearing flip flops! His feet were purple, but he said that he didn't have problems with the cold.
I had concerns on Friday about the trail condition and finally got through to Rick as I was on the drive down, but he did not know the condition it was in. The trail was exactly what I expected, snow and ice covered. The temperature dropped to 32-33 degrees as we headed down the trail.
We took it slow as a group from the trailhead. Soon though, I realized we had distanced ourselves. A few of us were riding about 8-10mph picking our way through the black ice, snow, and ice ruts. Everybody else was riding rather slow. We came to find out that Eric headed back after a few miles because his tires were not cut out for snow and ice.
The farther we traveled the harder the rain fell, but the trail slowly cleared up. Once we reached the campus area the trail was clear, except for the duck crap. It was about 15 miles from the trailhead to where we turned off the path in the heart of the OU campus. Marty and Pete also went back to the car as well and drove down to meet everybody else. They pulled into a parking lot and were honking to get our attention. We followed them to Brenen's on South Court Street. It was good to be out the rain and to get hot food and drink. Plus, it was nice to talk to a different group of riders and hear their stories.
After lunch we said goodbye to Marty and Pete who were heading back to their house via car. We still needed to get back to the trail. So we wound our way through the streets and headed down West Union and stopped at Cycle Path Bike Shop This is a cool bike shop with some older classic bikes hanging from the ceiling and nice selection of products.
I recently purchased what I thought were good Pearl Izumi cycling gloves, the Cyclone. Unfortunately they are not well at protecting from rain and cold in the lower 30's. So, I purchased the Pearl Izumi Amfib glove from Cycle Path and they are amazing. When I was wearing the Cyclone gloves I could feel the cold wind pass over my hands. With the Amfib gloves, there is no wind feel and they are waterproof with a soft lining. Very toasty!
After the bike shop pitstop we rode down and hit the trail. The temperature was rising and hit around 39. With the light rain it was enough to clear off the path. The only issue we encountered was the ice buildup on Rick's cassette that caused shifting problems.
Total: 31 miles
Average: 11.1mph
Here is the ride report from Rick who organizes HATTARICK
2008 HATTARICK #7 SUMMARY:
Put another one in the record book folks, this was by far the worst weather, and therefore the best HATTARICK yet!
This one had EVERYTHING... snow and ice on 80% of the trail, sleet, freezing rain, normal rain, wind (mostly mild), 85 year old male in bare feet, beautiful women, brutally handsome men (ok, man, but I already mentioned him once), black market glove trading, keep off the grass violations, spills and thrills, mechanical failures due to ice, black ice, white ice... talk about excitement... I.. I.. I could go on, but... really you had to be there, with your glasses fogged up, to appreciate theexperience.
And seven of us WERE there... 3 had never ridden HATTARICK before! And the other 4 eventually admitted they had.
Some photos are below, but some props first...
2008 HATTARICK Awards:
1. Oldest Rider: Pete Hill (85)
2. Coolest Bike: Ray George
3. Coolest flip-flops: Pete Hill
4. Orneriest: Pete Hill (once again)
5. Shortest Ride: Eric Soiu
6. Most Common Sense: Eric Soiu
7. Best Beard: Pete Hill
8. Most ice in the beard: Pete Hill
9. Scariest fall by a rider in a supporting role: Martha Zinn
10. Snazziest Jersey: Andrew Hall
This is the HATTARICK.
If it made sense, it would be called TOSRV, or GOBA or something like that.
When I left my place at 8:15AM it was around 36 degrees and sprinkling. I drove down 33 through Lancaster and Logan to Nelsonville where the trailhead is located and I parked at the Hocking TC parking lot across from the trail.
When I pulled in to the lot there was one car. Eric was waiting for everyone to arrive. I pulled in and started to get the bike and gear ready. Pete and Marty showed up next and Andrew and then Rick was last to arrive. After introductions and photos we were ready to ride.
Sidenote: When you attend rides you will always meet interesting people. Pete was definitely interesting. Sharp wit and shoeless. He was wearing flip flops! His feet were purple, but he said that he didn't have problems with the cold.
I had concerns on Friday about the trail condition and finally got through to Rick as I was on the drive down, but he did not know the condition it was in. The trail was exactly what I expected, snow and ice covered. The temperature dropped to 32-33 degrees as we headed down the trail.
We took it slow as a group from the trailhead. Soon though, I realized we had distanced ourselves. A few of us were riding about 8-10mph picking our way through the black ice, snow, and ice ruts. Everybody else was riding rather slow. We came to find out that Eric headed back after a few miles because his tires were not cut out for snow and ice.
The farther we traveled the harder the rain fell, but the trail slowly cleared up. Once we reached the campus area the trail was clear, except for the duck crap. It was about 15 miles from the trailhead to where we turned off the path in the heart of the OU campus. Marty and Pete also went back to the car as well and drove down to meet everybody else. They pulled into a parking lot and were honking to get our attention. We followed them to Brenen's on South Court Street. It was good to be out the rain and to get hot food and drink. Plus, it was nice to talk to a different group of riders and hear their stories.
After lunch we said goodbye to Marty and Pete who were heading back to their house via car. We still needed to get back to the trail. So we wound our way through the streets and headed down West Union and stopped at Cycle Path Bike Shop This is a cool bike shop with some older classic bikes hanging from the ceiling and nice selection of products.
I recently purchased what I thought were good Pearl Izumi cycling gloves, the Cyclone. Unfortunately they are not well at protecting from rain and cold in the lower 30's. So, I purchased the Pearl Izumi Amfib glove from Cycle Path and they are amazing. When I was wearing the Cyclone gloves I could feel the cold wind pass over my hands. With the Amfib gloves, there is no wind feel and they are waterproof with a soft lining. Very toasty!
After the bike shop pitstop we rode down and hit the trail. The temperature was rising and hit around 39. With the light rain it was enough to clear off the path. The only issue we encountered was the ice buildup on Rick's cassette that caused shifting problems.
Total: 31 miles
Average: 11.1mph
Here is the ride report from Rick who organizes HATTARICK
2008 HATTARICK #7 SUMMARY:
Put another one in the record book folks, this was by far the worst weather, and therefore the best HATTARICK yet!
This one had EVERYTHING... snow and ice on 80% of the trail, sleet, freezing rain, normal rain, wind (mostly mild), 85 year old male in bare feet, beautiful women, brutally handsome men (ok, man, but I already mentioned him once), black market glove trading, keep off the grass violations, spills and thrills, mechanical failures due to ice, black ice, white ice... talk about excitement... I.. I.. I could go on, but... really you had to be there, with your glasses fogged up, to appreciate theexperience.
And seven of us WERE there... 3 had never ridden HATTARICK before! And the other 4 eventually admitted they had.
Some photos are below, but some props first...
2008 HATTARICK Awards:
1. Oldest Rider: Pete Hill (85)
2. Coolest Bike: Ray George
3. Coolest flip-flops: Pete Hill
4. Orneriest: Pete Hill (once again)
5. Shortest Ride: Eric Soiu
6. Most Common Sense: Eric Soiu
7. Best Beard: Pete Hill
8. Most ice in the beard: Pete Hill
9. Scariest fall by a rider in a supporting role: Martha Zinn
10. Snazziest Jersey: Andrew Hall
This is the HATTARICK.
If it made sense, it would be called TOSRV, or GOBA or something like that.
Comments
Post a Comment