10,000 ft. or 11,310 ft.

The Princeton 300K started at 4 a.m. for most riders ... but started long before 4 a.m. for me ...

diane goodwin

I continued on the route - up Jenny Jump and for quite awhile before seeing anyone. Penwell Rd was where I saw David Whittaker again. Jim Bonner and Al Emma were ahead. Al had a flat - so Jim and I helped him out. At least I finally used the floor pump!

While on Flocktown Road, I received the "errors on the cue sheet" phone call from Sandiway. Nate Morgenstern and Sandiway were already at the finish when Chris Schulten showed up and announced mistakes. Sandiway didn't notice because he knew that part of the route - so, no need to read a route sheet. Chris, unfortunately, after having bad luck with a flat and a bad valve on the new tube got lost. It was 4:30 now. I had no way to contact Ginny (bad planning). So, I needed to stop every rider until Whitehouse Station along the route. After Whitehouse I did the same until the end. While doing so, I lost my cell phone - dropping it alongside my car somewhere.

Not too many got lost - some knew the roads from living there and others from scouting with me. Hans Schmidt was a great help - leading the NYC gang in.

Greg Schild, because of the errors, did a double century. He was happy because he can now say he's accomplished this. Edward Poreda was riding with him and he knew how to get them back on route.

You can thank Greg Schild for introducing me to RUSA. He came on one of my NYC rides - we became friends and he told me about RUSA.

Pat Cole, Jay Ambroson, Susan Plonsky, Lulu, Elizabeth Wicks, Sara Schulten and Rick Schulten - were not so lucky. None were upset.

From this experience, I will never hand out a brevet cue sheet without Sandiway double checking. The errors occurred in the leg we knew had errrors. I must have picked up the wrong file. Hans and Jim both noted these errors to me. Sorry.

It was fun to watch Sarah and her dad, Rick, riding together. Sarah rode the 200K and this time Chris and Sarah brought their dad - a family ride. Sarah is moving to Massachusetts over the summer for school - so anyone from Mass. should contact her, as she wants to ride while there.

Most riders stayed a bit to chat. Ellen and Edward Poreda kept track of the brevet cards, medal orders and times while I relaxed a little - FINALLY! It was around 6:30 - 7:30 when I arrived at the end. Ginny arrived around 9:30 p.m. with everyone's drop bags.

Lulu figured 10,000 ft climbing on her Avocet while Andy Domiko's Specialized computer read 11,310 ft. Christa Borras, according to Lulu, would NOT consider this flat. Christa is the guru of cue sheets and rides back to back centuries every weekend of the year. If you want a great ride, contact her through Potamac Pedalers (or Jim Kuehn, RBA of DC).

Sandiway eventually walked (yes, walked) him to the Marriott to insure he arrived. We think Bill was getting delirious. I was too probably. When I took over signing the brevet cards, I needed to ask for help (military time conversion).

Pat Cole and Jay arrived - the only tandem team. They were exhausted - didn't want to comment on the ride yet. (uh, oh!)

The NYC gang arrived - they were a bit out of it too - impatient with the medal orders. I made them take a group shot. All they wanted was sleep.

So, I had all this food and beverages from Whitehouse Station - and my car was a disaster. I was tired. Sergey was still out. Sandiway, with his towel skirt, waited with me. At 11:45p.m., Sandiway decided it was time to drive the route looking. Previous to this, I contacted security because Al Emma had a problem with his car - no power steering. The guard tried to help. We gave him most of the food (yea, less stuff in my car!)

The guard offered to phone Plainsboro Police for Sergey. We declined thinking we'd find him. Yes, we found him and rode him in. Good job Sergey with your Hybrid with the suitecase on the rack!

At Forrestal, all of us went to Denny's. Sergey phoned home. He later took the train home.

I hit the pillow at 3 a.m.

At 10 a.m. I woke up and ordered a carafe of coffee. Sandiway, Hans, Pat Carter, Bill Strachan and I went to an "all-you-can-eat" buffet. Because it was Mother's Day, we couldn't get a table. Hans' quick thinking got us to the bar. Sandiway made a joke "Hans would have taken floor space." He was soooooo hungry!

I dropped Bill off. Pat dropped Hans off. Guess what? Hans and Bill live 1 block away from each other - I didn't need to go to the Lower East Side (I live on Upper West Side!). I arrived home at 4:30 p.m. - getting a space near my apartment - MIRACLE! I unloaded half the car.

In the morning, I woke 15 minutes BEFORE the ticket guy comes by. I remembered I STILL had to unload the car! DARN!

That's it. Now it's my turn to ride. I'm sorry there isn't a 400K and 600K this year. Sandiway and I are planning on them for 2003 - PBP year!

For those wanting to continue with the series, I urge you to go to the RUSA website and check out Berkshires, Boston and DC. All are veteran RBAs and have tough routes - routes needed to prepare for BMB.

If you are on BMB 2002, you'll see me there - at Ludlow Checkpoint.

Keep an eye out on this website for upcoming rides - scouting rides mostly. We'll start to plan for next year.

Cheers and thanks again for making this a great brevet series - without you, there would be no series.

You can also thank Park Lane Litho for allowing me to work on the website, brevet cards, printing the cards, cue sheets, phone calls, faxes, etc... during work hours.

diane

I left Manhattan around 8:30 p.m. The car was fully loaded. I debated whether to go to Whitehouse Station and drop off the supplies for Controle #2 for Ginny Champion. Remembering how crazy the 200K was for me in the early a.m. I decided to make life easier for Ginny and myself.

Arrival time was 9:30 p.m., departure was 10:30 p.m. By the way, I caught a glimpse of the tent, tables and chairs set out earlier by the Fire Chief, Ed Favour - it was beautiful. Ginny asked for coverage - she laughs because all she wanted was an umbrella.

The door was left open for us - so, I didn't need the combination which the Fire Chief gave me. My car was a little freed up - minus 10 huge Gatorade jugs, lots of water, Coca Cola, Fig Newtons, Freihofers bread, P&J, Turkey, Mayo, Mustard (for Pat Carter), cutting board & knife, oranges, Hammer Gels, Sustained Energy, potatoe chips, pretzels, Tums, Advil, Motrine, plates, paper towels, floor pump, signs, paperwork, bandaids, etc... But the car wasn't empty - it looked like the 200K!

The fire chief told me to leave the door unlocked - I did and the supplies were actually there the next day! This is such a small town that while unloading, I thought the police might stop by.

I spoke with a friend almost the entire ride to Princeton (70 minutes) via cell.

My plan was to arrive at Princeton Junction to pick-up Bill Strachan but while waiting - put goody bags together. I arrived just before his train came in - no goody bags.

Off to the Forrestal Marriott - with 2.5 hours of sleep (I won't do that again...), I showered and gathered myself (forgetting the bananas in the room, of course) and headed to the start around 2:35 a.m.

Leroy was sleeping in his car - poor guy! He woke immediately and started helping. Soon Ellen Poreda and Ginny arrived. Ellen helped at registration. Her main job, thanks to Greg Schild, was to hold a light when the parking lights went out. Greg thinks there was a sensor which one of the bikes activated - making the lights think it was morning. Three days later, I realized I could have asked security to turn the lights back on. Next time!

36 riders appeared at the start. Leroy did most of the light checking and Sandiway helped (sacrificing valuable preparation time for his own ride!) Both gave good advice to the riders for future events. Other brevet riders noticed potential problems and alerted those riders (i.e. Susan Plonsky).

Bagels, Hammer Gel, Orange Juice, Biofreeze, flasks, and EmergenC were all at the start.

Off they went - the lead pack separated over RR tracks due to a train, so they stuck together for quite awhile.

Part of an RBAs job is wait one hour after the official start to leave. This was David Whittaker's luck. His hotel, Best Western, did not send a wake-up call. So, after driving from Maryland, he almost missed the ride. Especially since he contacted me before the ride, I was aware of his absence. Andy Domiko also reminded me before the brevet started. David finished in plenty of time - always trying to catch Andy.

The first riders I saw were Jim Bonner and Al Emma at the crossing 523 in the first leg. Jim is from Flemington, NJ and helped me scouting part of the route. Al is from PA and the two rode the entire route. Ginny Champion and Jim are married - so that's how Ginny became a volunteer!

At the resevoir, a few riders decided to continue toward Rt 22 - "didn't you read the cue sheet?" So, they had extra climbing.

Whitehouse Station Controle #2 was set up perfectly. Ginny had it all under control. This was her first time too! Around 7:30 a.m. Pat LaTorra showed up. His contribution was the route from Whitehouse Station to Rt 57 in Port Murray. From Hackettstown to Johnsonburg, I drove whichever roads he chose from the map - we didn't even know what they looked like until we were on them. All this took place the Saturday before the event. His suggestion was to add a loop above Johnsonburg if additional mileage was needed.

Yes, mileage was needed. I was scared because the event was near and there was no time - only nights for scouting. Wednesday evening I left Manhattan at 9:15 p.m. - drove to Whitehouse Station and scouted the route until Jenny Jump Control #4. I went straight to Hope, NJ and caught I-80 and arrived home by 1:45 a.m., went to work, and created the cue sheet! In the midst, I must have picked up an old file, because the 3 errors in the last leg were known before May 11th.

Musconetong Resevoir was scenic. When Pat LaTorra took me on the Musconetong Rd, I remembered riding the Belvidere Boogie ride with Sandiway and his gang. I was happy - I knew these were good roads. Pat did a fantastic wonder to the route. The alternate route would have put you in the middle of Chester - extremely trafficy - not so scenic.

After Hackettstown came Petersburg Rd and Ryan Rd - 2 difficult climbs. While taking photos and trying to get closer to the riders, a dog spotted me from a porch and started barking. All I thought was, "uh, oh, these guys are going to get attacked because of my photo taking." The dog was tied up - no problems....

Passing Pat Carter on Ryan Rd, I thought she said, "I was in trouble." She's my friend, I know she hates hills, but sorry, Pat, we need them. She thinks I'm hanging out with Sandiway too much - picking up his bad habits (choosing the hilliest hills!)

On Alphano Road, I came across Brice Wilson, Mike Davis and Angel Alvarez. They looked fresh and having fun.

At Johnsonburg, I stopped at the General Store where two men were sitting inside. One, Mike, lived across the street and offered Pat Cole use of his bathroom (he was being considerate). The other man, 73 yrs - named Bill, was friendly also. Mike, offered to phone to Leroy's controle if David Whittaker stopped. I told Mike to ask "are you from Princeton?" In any case, Luis Castro later told me David had passed him on route.

Before I reached the NYC gang (Hans, David, Janet and Pat), I was told of David Mandelbaum's unusual new brakes - his feet and sitting on the top tube while riding 35mph down Sunset Lake Rd. He was reading his cue sheet, hit a pothole, handlebars fell, and his brakes were unreachable. Ouch! At least he was safe - no accident. He, I heard, sat down to collect himself.

While at Leroy's stop, Luis Castro phoned - needing a lift. So, I set out to backtrack for him. He was on the "scouted in the dark" part. I found him - further than expected. His wife, Valerie, came to gather him. Unfortunately, his bike had problems and he needed to abandon the ride. He did the hardest part of the route. Next year! Maybe Valerie will be on the 200K - as a rider or volunteer!